Back to Our Routine

After spending 2 weeks housesitting my parents' house while they explore Alaska and Canada, Nick, Kyla, and I are back to our routine and back to our apartment. While reflecting back on the past few weeks, I've come to a few conclusions...

• I want my own house where I don't have to wake up to 20 kids in the swimming pool every Saturday and where I ALWAYS have parking.
• We've always grown up with multiple dogs that were normal but Kyla hasn't been "our dog" for the past 2 weeks. She's been Karra's personal torture machine.
• I big house is A LOT of work to keep clean.
• I do NOT have a green thumb. (I really hope I didn't kill my parents' rose garden.)
• With 900 satellite channels, we could NEVER find anything to watch.
• Don't discipline an 80+ lb Red Lab by hooking your middle finger in her collar. She's a brute! She will always win and your finger will likely end up fractured or some sort of not-so-goodness.
• Lazy Boy recliners are great for sleeping and not great for cuddling with your husband.
• When Kyla ran through the screen door, we had an instant doggy-door!
• I'm convinced Karra eats and digests metal fencing perfectly fine.
• And last but not least... It was awesome having the space to enjoy a BBQ with great friends and family!

So here we are, in our little apartment, watching something good on our ancient TV, and snuggling on our old couch with our puppy. Life is good!

Packing up and moving out...sort of...

Not since 1993 have my parents taken a REAL vacation together. I'm not counting the trips to see various relatives, weekends away at my horse shows, or the rare out-of-town weekend for some reason or another. I'm talking about a real vacation that takes planning, packing, and some serious thinking. Our 1993 vacation took the Patterson family to Canada for two weeks in August. This vacation is taking my parents to Alaska for a tour of Denali National Park and a luxurious cruise from Anchorage to Vancouver (I think, maybe I should verify that).

So this leads me to the "packing up and moving out...sort of..." Nick and I are packing up Kyla, Bailey, and our necessities to move into my parents house for the next two weeks. Other than the occasional need to pick up our junk mail, we won't really need to come back to our cozy little apartment. It's going to feel weird sleeping in my old bed...with my husband...and married. I've slept at my parents once since the night before my wedding and that was on the futon before a day of fishing (which I didn't really consider sleeping so much as restless napping). With our one year anniversary almost upon us, I'm amazed that it's been almost a year since that last night as a single woman, surrounded by my amazing girls, and anticipating the most wonderful day of my life.

Back to packing! Having just returned from Tahoe, I feel like we have to pack everything back up and then some. We not only need Kyla and her stuff. We need Bailey and her stuff. Plus work clothes, everyday clothes, gym clothes, hanging around the house clothes, swim suits, bathroom essentials, food items I just can't live without... The list goes on and I haven't even started making a list!

So with that said, Nick and I are taking a mini-vacation from our apartment and moving back into my parents home for two weeks. I should really stop thinking about packing and go pack. And so the lists start again...