Life keeps comin’ atcha.
Seems like things keep going quicker and quicker!
We started off at the beginning of October by selling our house.
What a momentous event. It was going to work out, we had prayed about things and felt like this was the end of our time in Arizona. We had grown to love this state with searing hot temps but incredible storms, great sunsets, and perfect winter weather. However, it was the end of an era. I never would have thought for a second I would have a kid in this state- little loan two! Here I am owning a house, having 2 kids, and really enjoying life in this state I had once despised.
There was a photo I caught while we were packing things from our house – again, Arabella was asleep in a storage/moving tub. This girl can sleep anywhere but tends to like locations like these. I wish I could sleep like this but I couldn’t even fit in it.
As I spoke about earlier, with moving and that prospect – all of the stars were aligning. We had been displaced, given severance – afforded an incredible opportunity to move to a place where we had more family (Maryia’s side and my side too). The church thing was no longer a concern as we had someone whom we could trust in that area moving to the area. Only thing missing was a job. We believed that would come too. In the meantime, we would make our best go of things.
Contrary to what you may believe: I kept applying to jobs at American Express this whole time. Only once we got to the point of no return with the house did I stop looking. At that point I also contacted Ashima and she was sympathetic to the fact that I was having to uproot my family and got some additional time to look for work. I actually didn’t technically have my last day with American Express until November.
Anyway, after we were able to finish all of the documents, we packed up and headed for LA. It would be a stopover of sorts until we were able to find something more permanent. We rented the cheapest thing we could to take what we had and made the move. Smooth sailing, that is until we dropped the Budget truck off at their lot. They have a sign that says you can return the truck at any time. Well, the next morning we had a call from the company saying that the tank was empty. We had filled it up before dropping it off after hours. We went out to the rental place to find that there was a big puddle of gas where someone had come in their lot after hours (and after we had dropped it off) and stolen the gas. We filed a police report but Budget said if we didn’t fill it up they were going to charge us a lot more. This was super aggravating, and I can’t say that I would rent from Budget again, at least not for a truck rental.
We went to Dunkin Donuts afterward and tried to make the day better. The kids were excited to see Halloween donuts in the shop.
Once we got settled in a little more we ventured out to see another filming sight for the show Big Love. This time was one of the houses (I believe it was Roman Grant’s house) but it has been a few years since I’ve watched it. The house itself (seen above) is pretty much in the exact condition it was then, less the fact that they have repainted slightly around the windows.
Fun story: I once reached out to Grace Zabriskie (Bill’s (who was played by Bill Paxton) mother. I found her website and she was making all sorts of things – this was back in 2013. I contacted her to let her know that her character was just amazing, had so much depth, and was fun to watch on screen. She responded to me – thanking me and letting me know she had been busy with her new endeavors. It was a fun moment for me to hear back- as I didn’t think I would.
Random fact: Bill Paxton and Grace Zabriskie were both born on May 17th (the same day as Elijah).
We also took a trip over to Vasquez Rocks. Lots of different movies have been filmed at that location – even some of Star Trek. The wife colored her hair purple so that is worth noting and showing a picture of. Then we went on another trip. Up route 395 over to June Lake. Why? Well, we wanted to get out of my parent’s house – it was going to be VERY quiet. My parents took a trip and went to Australia for a little. It was something they wanted to do for quite a while and we were fully supportive of them doing so. It also put the thought in our mind that — hey we have all those airline miles and now we have this time off, what should we do? if anything…?
Here is just a small snip of June Lake. It is one of the most incredible places to go to see the leaves change. Seriously, I think this has got to be one of my favorite places to visit for the fall. It was a fun trip to take. We went down back roads and found different viewpoints. If you have a lot of time on your hands you can go back and look at my Instagram from this time. Wowwwww just wow.
After staying a night near Mammoth, we decided to take a drive up to Yosemite National Park. We had the NP Pass and figured we should make good use of it. It is a beautiful park and we plan to someday go back when we can take a day or two and explore additional spots. We made our way back to Los Angeles and had a chance to rest up, do some laundry (and Lijah had to show me his feet, of course), and then we made our way for the weekend trip to Arizona.
Why AZ? Well, we heard of some free events that were going on (as we had just recently moved out of the area). We wanted to do this little carving event they were having, apparently, it was something to be seen. We took the trip and were not disappointed. The pumpkins came to life (if you can’t tell, look at the Carefree sigh, the pumping is giving a peace sign and holding on while laying down. There were lots of areas where they were working, creating art, or doing something else. In addition to that- they also had these intricately carved pumpkins throughout. The boy liked it, the girl did too.
Finally, we made our way back to Los Angeles. Not before stopping to see some more fall foliage. This time it was a pit stop at Big Bear (and it did not disappoint).
How did we end the month? Well, we took the kids to Tina’s Pumpkin patch in Los Angeles (dressed Lijah up in the same outfit Ara once used) and let Ara be a ham (quite literally as she was dressed as a piggy). Drawing near to Halloween, we purchased a few pumpkins and let the kids get inside of them. They really enjoyed this and it made for some unforgettable pictures.
just Pray
note: this post was published on 08/01/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of October 2017 to keep chronological order.
