Christmas and the weeks to follow...

Gosh time has been flying and I feel like I can hardly catch up! I've had "write blog" on my to do list for over a week now and I am just now getting to it.  Better late than never!

We have been on the go for about 3 months now.  The week before we left for New Jersey for Christmas, Brandon was working in Castle Rock on the helicopter job I told you about.  We stayed in a hotel Sunday - Thursday night.  Friday morning we got up about 4 and drove back to Sterling so Brandon could work Friday.  Saturday we drove to Lochbuie so Brandon could go to class and then Sunday morning we flew out to Philly! We had been going so fast for so long we couldn't believe we were finally going to New Jersey for a week of fun, family and relaxation!

It was such a wonderful time as always but this time was extra special.  There is just something about the holidays and being surrounded by so much family that just warms my heart.  Sunday we arrived and it was surprisingly warm! Monday we had the Gingerbread house competition with the whole family.  Brandon and I won in the "creative" category but part of me thinks they felt sorry for us.  Brandon says ours was the ugliest "house" he has ever seen! It definitely took some work and there were a few moments I thought we were in big trouble and were going to end up with a pile of frosting and candy but somehow, someway we pulled it together and presented our "gingerbread camper" :)

Tuesday was Christmas Eve and we all went over to my mom moms and pop pops cabin for christmas eve dinner.  We ate a delicious meal, took the traditional family pictures and watched the kids very creative performances.  It was a wonderful night and such great memories.  Christmas morning was so fun!! Bashlyn started to get the hang of ripping the wrapping paper (mostly because she was trying to eat it!) Great grammom, Adam, Jen and the kids came over for Christmas diner and it was by far the best prime rib Brandon and I have ever ate!

Friday was going to the farm in Maryland.  It was fun to see the farm and have Bashlyn there but it definitely put a lump in my throat being there without gramps :(
Saturday was Philly with Adam, Jen and the kids.  We rode the train and of course I had to feed and do a diaper change on the train.  Hey when duty calls you do what you have to! :) We went to the Comcast building and got to see Adams office and building.  Its so crazy, when you go up in the elevator your ears pop! We could see so far from his office building and it was really cool to see Philly from that perspective! We then went to Redding Terminal and  proceeded to get pizza, cheesesteaks and of course chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies for the train ride home! :)

Erin and I got pedicures and it was the first pedicure I had since way before Bashlyn was born.  It was so relaxing and fun to just catch up with Erin and girl talk.  Almost every day we were there we got to go see Uncle Tommy.  Him and Aunt Connie sure put a smile on my face every day, they are so cute together! Bashlyn had a great time too, she showed Uncle Tommy her tummy time, standing up and of course smiling a bunch!

These are just a few of the highlights of our trip.  There are so many more.  It was one of the best Christmases I have ever had and one I had dreamt of for a very long time.  It was so fun to have Brandon and Bashlyn there.  I spent so much of my childhood there, running around my Aunt Seans house and to have my family there was pretty surreal. My mom got to come with, she actually met up with us in Denver! I am so glad she came and spent Bashlyns first Christmas with us there. It truly was so special Christmas morning to just look around and take it all in.  We are so BLESSED with such loving, caring and fun family! Thank you to my Mom, Aunt Sean, Uncle Brian, Erin, 3 Mom, 3 Pop, Aunt Connie, Uncle Tommy,  Chris, Kathy, Logan, Aiden, Jeff, Dawn, Alex, Eric, Lauren, Adam, Jen, Grace, Connor, Becca, Megan, Brandon and my sweet Bashlyn for making this Christmas one of the best ones yet.  It was so special!!

When we got back from our trip we went to Castle Rock for a week for Brandon to work.  We came back to Sterling Friday night to no furnace :( We tried everything we could think of to get it to reset and come back on but nothing worked.  I knew we were out of warranty on our 5th wheel so I thought I had to go through the furnaces warranty which was two years.  Well they were not open on weekends so Monday morning I talked to them.  Our dealer called me back too and said we had an extended warranty and we should go through them instead of the furnace company.  Turns out they are open 365 days a year and the repair shop that fixed our furnace WAS open Saturday so we could have had this mess fixed Saturday instead of TUESDAY!! :( It was a long, cold 4 days, bundled up in the bedroom with space heaters.  Turns out the board went bad in our furnace but we got it all fixed up and I am so thankful for heat!! On a sad note though, when the furnace went out our pipes froze and now one of them is dripping.  Frozen pipes are not covered under warranty either so thats just great :( Brandon is going to take a look at it on Friday and see how bad it really is, we're hoping its just a fitting that separated.  Have I mentioned I HATE winter!!! :(

Brandon is turning 6th step in less than two weeks! I can't believe how fast it is going.  One step closer to being able to decide where we work, and it WONT be in the freezing cold! Hawaii, Cali, Florida, they are all looking pretty good right now!

Being "on the road" while on the road….

These last couple of months have been crazy! Brandon got offered to go work on another crew on the weekends down in Colorado Springs.  Our original plan was Bash and I were going to stay in Sterling and Brandon would stay in a hotel with the other guys and be gone Friday through Sunday.  We decided we didn't want to be apart and Bashlyn away from Brandon for 3 days a week so Bashlyn and I have been going with on the weekends.  It makes for some pretty crazy weeks but we are getting into a routine now.  Friday mornings I get us all packed up for the weekend and get the truck loaded up.  Its amazing how much stuff you have to bring for 3 days!  When we were going to Colorado Springs, it was about a 3 hour drive one way, now we are going to Pueblo and its about 4 hours.  I drive because I know Brandon is so exhausted from working.  Bashlyn has been doing great, pretty much sleeping the whole time, but sometimes she wakes up and Brandon gives her a bottle.

During the week he is usually home by 5 but he has homework to do and early to bed so the drive to the job with Brandon is great because it is a good chunk of time we get together, we can talk, catch up and reconnect.  He leaves about 5:30 Saturday morning and is back "home" to La Quinta about 5:30 or 6.  We usually go to dinner and then its straight to bed.  Sunday is the same thing except I get kicked out of our hotel room at noon.  I usually try to run some errands and then I head back to the hotel and hang out in the lobby until Brandon gets off work.  The last couple of weekends have been great though.  His foreman said I could come out and watch them work!! Bashlyn and I went out and it was just so cool, and reassuring to watch what he is actually doing.  There is also another line wife down there so we've been hanging out, trying new sushi places and getting starbucks! Gosh I am TOTALLY getting spoiled!! Brandon is usually off work around 5 or 5:30 on Sunday and then we hit the road for the long 4 hour drive back to Sterling.

Its really crazy "being on the road" while on the road.  I honestly never thought I'd be living out of a suitcase and hotels because I thought we'd always be in Piper. You can never "think" in this trade,  always expect the unexpected.  Its been a lot of driving, a lot of adjusting to our new situation and Brandon is putting in some major hours but its all worth it.  He is getting such amazing experience and working with really great guys.  He is getting hot time during the week and working transmission on the weekends, every apprentices dream! :)

Sunday we're headed to Castle Rock again.  Brandon will be working on a HELICOPTER Job! Whoa…..he is literally going to be in a basket being pulled by the helicopter…he is stoked, I am stoked but a little freaked! It should be a two day job so we'll head down Sunday and he'll work a couple days (yay for being in a big city on my birthday!!)  and then we'll head back to Sterling.  He will probably work a day or two, then we pack up and head back to Denver.  Brandon has class on the 21st and then the 22nd we fly out for New Jersey for Christmas! I swear we are going a million miles an hour!

Between class and working Brandon has only had two days off (Thanksgiving and Friday after) in like 7 weeks.  He is incredible for all his hard work and I am so proud of him.  Speaking of Thanksgiving, we had such a great time! We went to Denver to Chances Aunts house.  Everyone welcomed us just like we were a part of the family! It was one of the best Thanksgivings we've had and I didn't have to cook! Bashlyn loves her Uncle Chance and was smiling like crazy to him.  He even held her for the first time and he did great!! We are so lucky to have such great people in our lives.  I am very thankful for the Brotherhood and the friendships we make, such a blessing!

NSUJL High Voltage 5k!

Bashlyn and I decided we couldn't stay in Sterling on the weekends so we've been coming to Colorado Springs with Brandon.  This weekend was the first annual 5k and I was excited to run to somewhere cool instead of at the park in Sterling.  Brandon of course had to work so it was just Bashlyn and I.  I decided to go to Garden of the Gods and do our 3 mile run.   I highly underestimated the difficulty of this run.  I had been running in Sterling at the park, which is completely flat! Garden of the gods is seriously nothing but hills, if you are not running UP hill, you are running DOWN hill.  Add in the fact that its at 6500+ ft elevation and I was having a hard time breathing.  I Finished my 3.1 mile run in 36 minutes.  I was really hoping to break 30 minutes but I was nowhere near trained enough to do that on the hills so I am happy with my time.  It feels so good to be getting back into my exercise routine.  I have 8 pounds to go until I am at my pre pregnancy weight and 12 pounds to go to be at my "ideal" weight.  We'll see how it all goes, going into the holiday season I don't know how fast those pounds will continue to come off.  I'm not going to stress over it or not eat my favorite holiday foods, there is way more to life than the number on the scale.  

Gosh I got off track there, back to the run.  

Brandon couldn't do the run with us today because he was working so Bashlyn and I did the run together.  I got to Garden of the Gods early to hopefully find parking for Brandons huge truck.  I was able to park in the oversized vehicles parking, pretty sure its intended for buses, but I parked there anyway.   The entrance of the park was so crowded with people so Bash and I walked for a half mile before it started to thin out enough for me to be able to run.  I ran out to the road and started up my first hill.  An older gentleman was running down the hill and he goes "wow now THATS impressive!" haha it gave me a little boost of confidence just when I was thinking to myself "what have I gotten myself into". 

Now that I'm recovering from the run I am actually glad that it was harder than I had anticipated.  Every time I wanted to stop or I thought how much my legs were hurting, I thought of the reason for the run.  Fallen and injured linemen was the reason I was running.  I thought about the linemen that lose arms and legs causing them to go through months of physical therapy to learn how to walk again with prosthetics.  I thought about the linemen that get sent to the burn wards with most of their body burnt, never to have the same skin again, gosh the pain they must go through.  I thought about the families that lose their linemen, the Mommas that have to explain to their children that Daddy isn't coming home, the wives that have to learn how to live without their love.  A pain I cannot even imagine and pray nightly I never have to go through.  I thought about all the pain these families go through way too often in this trade and suddenly the pain I was experiencing was so minimal, it almost made me feel silly. 

The views were breathtaking, every time I got to the top of a hill I could see another beautiful view and best of all, I had a downhill run for a bit.  There were people mountain climbing throughout the park, several other runners and a few people on road bikes.  It was really cool to be surrounded by such athleticism.  It reminded me a lot of my favorite weekend in Cda, Ironman.  I really wish Brandon could have been there with us to experience it.  

Bashlyn and I finished the run and made our way back to the truck.  When I got there I was sandwiched into my parking space by two Subareas.  I had to do a little Austin Powers 100 point turn to get out.  Thankfully an older gentleman came up and helped me so I didn't have to keep getting out to see how close I was.  He said "that truck is way too big for you" Yeah Yeah I know! All in all it was a wonderful run :) 

Last night we were able to meet up with a lineman Brandon worked with when he first got into the apprenticeship at Sturgeon.  He is working on the job Brandon is working on during the weekends and he has his wife, Amanda with him.  It was so fun, we talked for 3 hours straight! Its alway so fun to meet other line families on the road but its even better when you are telling a story and they go "wow that is our EXACT story as well".  I am super excited to have another friend in the Springs on the weekends, Tanisha and now Amanda! I'm seriously going to get so spoiled! Another cool thing, while we were waiting to be seated a guy started talking to us because he noticed the shirt Brandon was wearing.   We were able to talk to him and his son for a good 20 minutes.  He is a lineman for a utility in Pueblo and his son is just finishing line school in a month and getting ready to apply to the JATCs.  Its just so neat getting to talk to people and relate to them all over the country! This is such an incredible brotherhood and I am so excited we get to be a part of it all.  I could have never imagined we'd be blessed like this in our lives and I couldn't be happier! 

7s and Coloroado Springs

Monday after we returned home from the Rodeo, Brandon called me about 10 am and said he had some great news! His foreman had told the whole crew that we would have work in Sterling until Christmas! Yay so I can finally relax a bit!! Then he told me that his crew has been offered to go to Colorado Springs on the weekends and help another Hooper crew on their job.  Brandon was ecstatic but I gotta admit I wasn't very happy when I first heard this news.  I didn't see how it would work driving 6+ hours every weekend and staying in hotels on top of working 7 days a week.  Brandon said to just trust him and that it would all work out, this is what he wanted to do.  Well last week was the first weekend he worked.  Bashlyn and I went with him because the rest of his crew wasn't going.  It was ok, it was nice being able to see him each morning and night.  It was pretty hard on Bashlyn though. We didn't leave Sterling on Friday until about 2:30 and the traffic was HORRIBLE so it was about 5 1/2 hours to get from Sterling to a hotel in Colorado Springs.  The guys will be able to leave right when they get off work and shouldn't hit rush hour traffic, hopefully!   Between the long drives and checkout being at noon on Sundays, that left Bashlyn and I with 6 1/2 hours to keep ourselves occupied.  I thought it would be fun to take her to Garden of the Gods and I thought it was a great idea since there was a Broncos game on Sunday…it wouldn't be very busy…WRONG! I drove through the park for an hour trying to find parking and there was none so we went back to Colorado springs and kept ourselves busy at Starbucks for a bit until Brandon was off work.  It sounds like Brandon will have the opportunity to work these weekends into next year.  Bashlyn and I might go with him once a month or so but for the most part we will stay in Sterling.  Brandon and two other guys on the crew will go down together and man camp in a hotel room Friday and Saturday night and return home Sunday.

We'll really be missing daddy 3 days a week but its ok because we get to see him so much Monday through Thursday.  He is usually home by 5:30 at the latest and doesn't go to bed until 8:30-9 so we get to catch up and Bashlyn gets to get all her snuggles in! I really never planned to be a part from him while on the road, since I am on the road I thought I could ALWAYS go with him, aside from storm but I know this is just a small sacrifice that will get us really ahead in the long run.  It will help so much since our place hasn't rented and I see it is starting to snow back home….makes me nervous! We did have two showings last week so please pray one of them wants it! :)  Another huge bonus, actually the biggest bonus, is Brandon is getting a lot of hot time on the jobs in Sterling so at this rate he should have all his hot and cold hours by January!! That is so exciting and is going to be such a huge relief! 

So all in all even though I wasn't super on board in the beginning I am excited about the 7s now. I know it will all be for the better in the end and it will help us out A LOT financially! Plus Brandon is on a great crew in Colorado Springs doing different work than he does in Sterling so he is just getting TONS of great experience every day! 

International Linemans Rodeo!!!!!

I swear our life is going 100 miles an hour CONSTANTLY!! We were supposed to leave Thursday to head to Kansas for the International Lineman Rodeo.  I didn't know WHEN we would leave Thursday but I knew it would be Thursday.  Wednesday afternoon I drove an hour and a half to Brighton to go to a Just Between Friends sale because my little baby is just TOO little to wear any of the cold weather clothes I bought her.  She only had about 4 outfits that were long sleeve and pants so we headed off to the sale to get her some more newborn size cold weather clothes.  The sale was a madhouse and crazy so I didn't get home until after 8. At this point I hadn't had time to pack or get anything ready for our trip so I did a little before going to bed but just figured I could do everything in the morning.  We woke up Thursday morning to no water again….we think there is something wrong with the park cause our foreman is freezing up too and he's plugged in as well.  I had a load of laundry to do and put it in (with soap) before realizing we didn't have any water.  I turned on the bathroom faucet so I could hear if the water started coming, I told myself if we didn't have water by 7:30 I would go to the laundry facility and put it in there.  7:30 came around and no water so Bash and I loaded up our soapy clothes and took off.  I thought the washing machines were $1.75 and I scrounged around to find that many quarters and of course it was $2.  Luckily I found a quarter under my seat in my car.  We get back to Piper not even 5 minutes from when we left and guess what, full on water running!!! Grrrr I was so frustrated but relieved at the same time!  

Brandon got off work, we packed up and hit the road to drive through Kansas.  It was about 9 hours.  Kansas is a big state but nothing compares to the time we drove through the entire state of Texas! The drive was great.  We decided I do much better at the driving part than Brandon and he does much much better at the navigation so it was a very happy drive.  Bashlyn did great, she slept most of the time, but did start to get fussy when we were about an hour away.  We stopped several times to let her stand up and stretch out those legs! We made it to our hotel about 8:30 and relaxed for the evening. 

The second day of the Expo started at 9 so we slept in, had some breakfast and went to the convention center. The one thing I will say about the International is there is LINES everywhere!! we got there about 8:30 and stood in line before getting in.  Once we were in it was a madhouse.  I had never seen anything like it and certainly didn't know what to expect.  There were hundreds of booths and they were all giving out t shirts, koozies, flashlights you name it! Brandon got a lot of garb and even little Bashlyn got a shirt (that she can wear in 3 years, hahaha) a book and a mini grunt sack.  We were able to see all the vendors and Brandon was able to check out some of the new tools going on the market.  We were able to meet the guys behind Bashlin Industries and talk with them for a good while and it was such a great time! Of course we also hung out with the wonderful NSUJL ladies and chatted with them :) It was such a fun time at the expo but next year we definitely have to be there Thursday because I can only imagine what it was like on the first day! 

Standing in line at the Expo

Look who we ran into!! Lineman Barn :)

Tammy and Jimmy Kent

Rod and Rob Paul with Bashlin Industires

We went and had some wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and then made our way back to the convention center to get ready for the Storm Soldiers showing.  The movie was awesome and of course we pre ordered it! You can pre order yours here : http://stormsoldiersmovie.com  All of the profits from sales of the movie are being split between 3 charitable organizations…one of them is NSUJL :) After the movie there was what is called "trade night" we had no idea what this was but its so cool! So every local that goes to the rodeo creates a shirt for the rodeo that year.  Trade night is where you can go and trade your shirts so you get a bunch of other locals shirts too! We obviously didn't have any shirts so we just made our way to the BBQ.  After the BBQ we made our way back to the hotel about 8 so Brandon could get to bed early.  

Saturday morning we were up bright and early at 5 am.  Apprentice testing started at 7 and we were about a half hour from the rodeo grounds.  We got to the grounds about 6:30 and it was FREEZING cold, I'm taking 34 degrees cold!! We walked through the grounds trying to find where the apprentice testing was.  There were tents set up everywhere for different locals, they all had hot food and coffee and everyone was eating and hanging out.  I really wished we were with our local at that point, we were so cold!!  We walked around the corner and saw the biggest line ever for apprentice testing!! Brandon ended up standing in that line for an hour and a half freezing cold before he was able to test.  The test was 50 questions in 15 minutes.  They don't tell you your time until you are done, If you go over 15 minutes its a 2 point deduction and over 20 is another 2 point deduction.  Brandon finished in 14 minutes. He said he was so cold though he couldn't even write his name when he first got in there. We sat in the car for a half hour with heat on full blast trying to get him warm again. 

 

It started to warm up a bit around 9 and we made our way to hurt man.  Brandon did great on hurt man, everything went smooth and he was happy with his time and no deductions! After hurt man was the pole climb.  They have to climb the pole, put a RAW egg in their mouth at the top and then climb down.  If you break or crack your egg you get a deduction.  Brandon did the speed climb in 30.15 seconds with no deductions!! He was happy but was hoping to get under 30 seconds.  After speed climb was the mystery event.  Brandon stood in line for about an hour and a half, maybe two hours waiting to start the event.  Thank goodness for Cayla, Amanda and Brandi or I would have been all alone all day!  It was so much fun getting to have Cayla by my side throughout the day.  She has been my go to girl throughout this apprenticeship and has sure been my shoulder to cry on.  It was fun getting to experience a fun day for this trade with her <3 

I was walking around and every time I saw him he hadn't moved…well wouldn't you know I was walking around, saying bye to Cayla and I went back to check on him.  I couldn't find him in line anywhere, I kept looking and looking and then I saw him on the pole!! Dang it I had missed the first half of his mystery. I got to see the second half but I was still pretty bummed.  After mystery he went and did his first aid/cpr, then picked up his test score for the written test and then he was done!! By this time it was almost 3.  We went to Local 53s tent for a bit, hung out and ate some food (THANK YOU!!).  

Brandon with the egg in his mouth

We went back to the hotel and got ready for the banquet and award dinner that evening.  It was supposed to start about 6:30 and we got there about 6 just in time to stand in line again :) The dinner was delicious, prime rib, salads, rice and beans! We ate and chatted until the award ceremony started about 8.  They played a couple videos they had put together and a couple different guys spoke.  We were watching the awards but not paying super close attention because we were all chatting at the same time.  All of a sudden I hear Tammy go "Brandon they just announced your name!!!" as she pointing at the big screen.  We both looked up and were shocked, Brandon goes "What do I do" I said "GO UP THERE!!" hahaha. Him and Tammy started heading up there, I pretty much threw Bashlyn to Amanda (THANK YOU!!) and then got my phone to take pictures.  Brandon got second place overall apprentice contractors division.  It was just so crazy because it literally came out of nowhere.  We didn't think he would even come close to placing! It was by far one of the coolest moments and I am so happy we were able to be surrounded by so many of our friends at the table!

As Brandon was standing in line all day he talked to a lot of guys.  He was the only guy not wearing a local or company shirt.  One guy asked him why he was wearing a Bashlin shirt and not his company or local and Brandon was like well I paid my own way here.  The guy pretty much just stared at him blankly, not able to comprehend that.  Everyone else there was either forced to go by their company or local or was paid for by their company or local.  We decided we wanted Brandon to be able to go and get this experience of competing at the international as an apprentice.  When we had all the unexpected expenses come up earlier this month we still decided this was a priority because this is the only year he can do this.  Next year he will be a  Journeyman and he will have to put a team together to compete so we wanted to make this work.  I am so glad we did, all we were going for was the experience and we left there with so much more.  We left with many new friends and priceless memories!! 

A little Update :)

Gosh these last few weeks have just flown by! The days are going so quickly, 5 comes around and I wonder what did I do ALL day?  I certainly feel busy from the minute I wake up til I go to bed!  I have kept myself busy with laundry, emails about our rental, accounting, dealing with insurance and the hospital about our medical bills, ect.  Speaking of doctors, Bashlyn had her two month check up on the 4th.  Her doctor said she is doing great but they are worried about her weight.  At her 1 month appointment she was in the 32nd percentile and at her two month she is only measuring in the 6th at 8 pounds 15 ounces.  The doctor thinks it must be their error (different nurses weighing her) but still want her to come back in 2 week for a weight check.  She's just a little baby! I can attest to the fact that she eats ALL the time! :)  She had her shots that day and I was on the verge of tears all day just thinking about it.  I was hoping I was making it out to be a bigger deal than it was but I wasn't.  It was so hard, I cried and just felt horrible.  Luckily after a few minutes she was fine.  The doctor told us we could give her some infants Tylenol later that night if she needed it but most kids don't.  I didn't really think much of it, so I didn't even have any at the house.  Well flash forward to 6pm and she woke up from her nap and was screaming just as loud as she did when she got her shots.  I tried feeding her but nothing would calm her down.  So I left Bashlyn with Brandon and I raced to walgreens to get some infants Tylenol.  I was crying on the way there because I just felt like the worst mom in the world for not already having it at the house for her.  When I got to walgreens I got this picture from Brandon:

So after we gave her some Tylenol she was fine for the rest of the night and was her normal happy self the next day.

We went to Lochbuie with Brandon on Saturday so he could go to the upgrade class.  Upgrade class is a class apprentices can go to before they sit for the journeyman test.  They have one every other month. Brandon is going to go until he can sit for his test which should be in August.  Bashlyn and I hung out at the class yard for awhile until Brandon was done and it was so cool.  There was also 1st year guys going to class that day (probably their first class of the apprenticeship) It was just so awesome to see these hard working guys getting into such a great trade.  I've said this so many times but this trade has changed my life.  I have met so many incredible women and men who will be in our lives forever.  We are so lucky!

Work is still crazy.  Brandon pretty much knows there is enough work for the next day, then they get another days work, so just like we have been since June we are just taking it one day at a time.  I would be ok if we got moved, I would love to see another state like Wyoming or Montana.  I am also ok with staying too, I really like Sterling and the RV park.  So here I am just a bubble on a wave :)

We are headed to the International Lineman Rodeo next week in Kansas!! We are so excited!! I wanted to go last year so bad but we were in NM and Brandon was working 6 days a week so we couldn't go. Now we're only 8 hours or so away so we are going!! I can't wait, we are finally going to get to meet SO many of the wonderful line families I have become friends with over the last couple of years.  One of my best girlfriends, Cayla is going to be there working the booth for NSUJL and I am over the moon excited to see her and the NSUJL booth! I can't wait to get some swag so if you are going, make sure to check out their booth too and show some love! We are going to get to meet Tammy Kent, the woman behind Lineman Barn who has helped me so much through this journey of life on the road and I THINK we will even get to meet Rod Paul with BASHLIN Industries!! I am seriously so excited and thats just Friday! Saturday Brandon will be competing and of course I can't wait. I love watching him work, or simulating work!  Since its international I think there will be guys from Australia there too and they have different climbers that kinda wrap around the pole, it will be so fun to see how they work.  There is a big BBQ friday night and then an awards banquet on Saturday.  Bashlyn is going to get to check off 2 more states she has been to! This girl is going to see more states by the time she is one than anyone I know! :)

"The Breakdown of a lifetime…"

Where oh where do I even start this post!  As many of you know in the apprenticeship things change from week to week, day to day.  Since about June we had been told work was getting pretty slim in Sterling and there would be a big chance of a layoff anytime.  That of course had me very nervous because I was due in August but in the end it all worked out and I got to deliver Bashlyn in Greeley (yay!).  We had been putting off going home because we just figured we would go home when Brandon got laid off, introduce Bashlyn to all her friends and family and finish up things with my dads estate, ect.  Then we got word that we may be in Sterling for awhile longer so Brandon talked to his foreman about going home before the snow hits.  Driving 17-18 hours is not fun period but really not fun in the winter.  Brandon talked to his foreman and he said, "well next week would work".  I wasn't surprised, in fact I was semi prepared to leave at the drop of the hat.

I had my 4 week Doctor appointment on Thursday at 1:30 in Greeley.  Brandon got rained out Thursday afternoon so he raced home and got home a few minutes before me.  He started packing up the truck and I started racing around the 5th wheel frantically trying to pack our clothes and bathroom stuff.  Bashlyn of course just wanted to be cuddled the whole time so I was able to use our front pack for the first time and she LOVED it! She instantly fell asleep and slept the whole time I was packing.  I packed and got everything clean and in order in Piper so we could come home to a nice clean house.  After a couple hours, we were on the road by 7ish Thursday night!! This was great news, we would pretty much get a whole extra day in CDA!

We drove 5 hours to Casper, WY and got a hotel.  We stayed at the C'mon Inn and it was so fun! They gave us a double room though so Brandon and I had to sleep in separate beds, I definitely felt like I was on an episode of "I love Lucy".  Friday we drove about 12 hours and made it to CDA around 10 pm.  Bashlyn did AMAZING!!!! She slept pretty much the entire drive, only waking up to feed.  Surprisingly she still slept her usual schedule that night too!

We had such an incredible trip home, we got to see all our friends and see all the sights of beautiful Coeur d Alene! We had wonderful whether for the most part and enjoyed it to the fullest.  We went on a bunch of hikes, coffee dates ( with actually good coffee!!!) and meeting up with Friends, it was just perfect! We even had time to sneak in a family photo shoot, so fun! I will forever cherish the memories of seeing our friends meet and hold Bashlyn for the first time!!

Then the rain storm that would be our life started.  Our renters sent us a text late Thursday night saying they wanted to talk.  Friday afternoon they told us they were moving out (in a month!!), breaking their 3 year lease and had no intention on paying anymore rent.  We spent most of our day Friday dealing with that, going to the place, inspecting it and then trying to decide what we were going to do.  We decided at the time I would come back in two weeks and deal with getting it rented again.

Saturday morning we started our drive back home to CO.  We were driving along, talking about our trip and talking about our rental situation.  We decided we would look into property management companies because dealing with a rental 1,000s of miles away was just not working.  We got to Missoula and were driving on I90 and the truck just shut down.  I was driving and I told Brandon, "there is something wrong with the truck, its not going"  It had died, so we coasted to a stop and Brandon had me try to start it again.  It turned over but just wouldn't fire.  We sat there on the side of I90 with semis and cars flying by us, frantically trying to figure out what our next move would be.  Brandon was doing some things under the hood but didn't know what was going on.  He got back in the truck and said "well should we call someone, I don't even know who to call, we don't have AAA" Then I remembered we had roadside assistance on our insurance so I called them and arranged for a tow.  It would be about an hour and twenty minutes until the tow could get to us.  We started calling every repair shop we could find on google in Missoula, most were not open and the couple that were open did not work on diesels.  We decided to have it towed to the Ford dealership because we didn't know what else to do.

Then we had to figure out what WE were going to do now.  We decided to rent a car and continue the drive to CO, we HAD to get Brandon back to work.  I called a couple rental car companies but they had closed at noon on Saturdays and it was now 1:30. I found a rental car company and she asked me what time I was going to pick up the car.  I explained to her our situation and that I need to get to CO.  she said "Oh I'm sorry our vehicles are not allowed to go to CO, they can only go in the northwestern states".  My heart sunk, I really didn't know what we would do now.  I started looking at plane tickets to Denver and one ticket, one way from Missoula to Denver was $798 for Brandon to fly out on Sunday.  Then Brandon said well what if I fly out of Spokane.  Thank goodness he thought of that, I booked him a ticket flying out of Spokane for $258 leaving Sunday! We rented a car and we drove back to CDA.  It was so crazy to be getting back into CDA Sunday night when we had just left 12 hours ago!

So Sunday, Bashlyn and I put Brandon on a plane to go back to CO.  Saying goodbye to Brandon at the airport was honestly one of the hardest goodbyes I've ever had to do.  We got there and there was a HUGE line for security so I ran to the restroom really quick.  When I came out Brandon was all the way up the ramp, too far up for him to be able to bend down and kiss me and way too many people for me to be able to work my way up to him.  He had to hand me Bash over the railing and we had to just wave goodbye.  My heart just broke instantly and it took everything in me to control the tears so I wasn't a sobbing mess.  I wasn't ready to leave him, I didn't have any time to prepare to be away from him this early with Bashlyn and not even knowing how long we would be apart.

The past three days I have been running around meeting with property management companies and a repair guy to fix damages at the house.  I think everything will work out for the better, IF we can get it rented before the snow flies.  Ford was giving me the run around and wasn't looking at the truck so I arranged to have it moved to another shop in town.  Ford of course charged me $100 for an hour of "shop time".   Its at another shop now and hopefully I will hear some sort of progress about it today. Now Bashlyn and I are just waiting on the call that the truck is fixed and we'll start our drive to CO to see Daddy.  The sad thing is though, even when we get home we won't even get to spend time with him because he has class all weekend from 8-5 Saturday and Sunday.  You better believe we'll be driving to Denver with him both days!!

This has honestly been one of the most trying weeks of my life.  I keep trying to tell myself, "its only money, we'll make more, 10 years from now this will just be a memory" but I honestly feel like its just getting to be too much.  Then the emotional toll this is taking on me is so hard.  The stress from the rental, the stress of the unknown amount of money we'll have to pay for repairs at the house and the truck to be fixed, the stress of being away from my husband and a few other emotional things that have blown up this week is wearing me down.  If I could get a hug from him, if I could see him hold and love on Bashlyn it would make this all so much easier.  At what point is it all just too much? I know it will work out in the end and I know God knows what he is doing.  I am not trying to question him or change his plan.  I am just so tired and I just want a hug from my husband :(