Keeping up with the Yates Family

Monday, April 30, 2012

Change is in the air...

Okay, okay... I know it's been a LONG time since we last posted on our blog. Since we are going to be moving, I figured now would be a good time to revisit our family blog and recommit to keeping it current. I've been bad about resorting to facebook posts and face to face conversations to keep everyone up to date on what we're doing, but now that we're moving, I know that will be harder to do.

So here's the nitty gritty on what we've been up to... Travis' company approached him almost two months ago about possibly taking on a new position with them in their Bellevue office. He expressed interest, but there was no way we were going to move if I didn't have a job. So... I did what any smart person who works for an amazing company (who also by chance has an office in Seattle) would do. I asked if I could transfer. Knowing that there wouldn't be full-time HR work and knowing that I was (let's be honest here) a little burnt out on HR, I asked if they would consider me for a part-time Business Development position. Once we got all the details discussed and worked out, the end result was we were moving to Seattle. So part 1 of the process was done - jobs - check!

Now to figure out what to do with our house. We've only been in it two years and when we bought it we really did envision raising Merrick in this house. It's in a great neighborhood, close to parks, walking/bike riding distance to the library, shopping, etc. We were considering renting it, the rental market in Portland is in high demand right now, but then I ran into an acquaintance at the park and we started talking about how quickly houses in the neighborhood were selling. Trav and I talked about it and decided maybe we would take the plunge and put the house up for sale. That was almost a month ago. We spent three weeks getting the house ready to sell and it officially went on the market on Friday, April 27 and by Sunday, April 29 we had three offers to consider. We've worked out the details and now we're headed to home inspection and a closing date of June 15 (only 6 short weeks away). So part 2 of the process - sell house - check!

Now we'll spend the next several weeks packing and apartment hunting in Seattle. We decided that for the first year we want to live in an apartment or condo and not have to worry about maintaining a house, plus it will give us a chance to really check out Seattle and figure out where we want to live long term.

We are super excited about this new adventure and we knew that 2012 would bring change, we just didn't realize how much!

Monday, September 7, 2009

Staycation

I had some vacation time to use up, so I've been off work since August 27. It was nice to have some time off before and after Hood to Coast. Merrick went and stayed with Poppa and Grammy while Travis and I did Hood to Coast. Then on Sunday, August 31, I drove down to JC to hang out for a couple of days. We spent time picking blackberries, plums, apples and pears. I brought home lots of stuff to can and Becky and I made blackberry jam and plum jam.

I also knew that we were going to work on potty training Merrick. After a couple of days with just a few accidents, we've been accident free (when it comes to #1) since Wednesday. #2 is going to take a little more work. The good thing is it only happens once a day =)

During my time off we made a trip to the Zoo and had a picnic play date with the Zuckerman's. We made it to Sara Sitter's annual kickball party and were able to spend some time with the Alt family on Sunday. It's amazing how fast this summer has gone.

Showing off the big boy underwear

Superman!

Hood to Coast

Van 1 - Mulvanny G2 Team

(L-R - Jim, Brian, Ruthie, Anna, Travis, Brannon)

The last time I did Hood to Coast I was 8 weeks pregnant with Merrick. I had forgotten about all the craziness surrounding H2C and how hard running is on only a couple of hours of sleep. Travis and I ran on the Mulvanny G2 team, Trav running leg 2 and I ran leg 3. For those of you not familiar with H2C, it is a 197 mile relay race from Mt. Hood to Seaside. There are 12 runners on a team and over the course of 28+ hours, you run anywhere from 15 - 20 miles. I personally think it's almost harder than doing a marathon because you have 6 -7 hours rest in-between your legs, but you are cramped in a van, have very little sleep and not eating regular meals. I would much rather run all my miles at once and get it done with, but that's not an option unless you're crazy like the guy who ran the whole thing by himself.

Decorating the rig. Almost all teams decorate their vans, some go with a theme, as you'll see the Top Gun teams rig below.

Start of H2C, teams start in 15 minute waves starting at around 7 am. We had a 10:30 am start time. The earliest I've ever had.

Trav getting ready to start his first leg.

A trip to Seattle for Quin's birthday

Quin showing us how old he is

Merrick and I made a trip to Seattle with Poppa and Grammy to see Auntie Kira, Uncle Erik, and cousins Quin and Micah to celebrate Quin's 5th birthday. Merrick had a great time playing with his cousins and all of the boys wore Poppa out.