Fathers Day Postponed.

Thomas has been a naughty boy and had to wait a week to enjoy his Fathers Day and open his presents.
All right maybe it wasn't his bad behavior but the fact that we were in the Pitts last Sunday.

He had one request for Fathers Day. His wish was granted.

Have you ever seen The Upside Down Show?

He and Rainier enjoy it together at least twice a week.

Alli on the other hand came up with her own gifts this year and presented them quite proudly to Thomas:

3 hand written coupons.

#1 Ten free spankings

#2 Stop talking for an hour

and

#3 One "go away" coupon

I thought they were quite witty, but Thomas got all sad and started apologizing for ever saying those things to her, which just shows what a good dad he is.

I broke out the ol' fondue pot for some delicious dining.

And we had a delightful evening together.

 Ains slurped down her food through her now TWO missing front teeth.

And these two were wild and crazy and lots of fun.

Even though it was a week late, I hope my childrens father knows that I love him, that I appreciate all the hard work he does for us, and that we couldn't be happier.

Happy Fathers Day, YO.

The Pitts.

Thomas and I have been here in Pittsburgh since Sunday. I was so excited. Excited to house hunt, find a place to start our new adventure. I had hopes and dreams of grandeur and imagined that our seemingly beautiful life in Surprise Arizona would just be relocated to Pennsylvania.

Shock! Blow to the chest! Disgust! Mental break down in action.

The "Rentals" here are, shall we say, interesting. Now keep in mind this city has been around a LONG time. Infact a few streets we have driven on are still the original brick ones, they're a bit bumpy. The homes a huge, but alot have been broken up into little apartments and that leaves for some interesting arrangements.

So we traveled on further, to outlying areas. This area is so densley populated its amazing. We drove to little beautiful towns, with green grass and rolling hills, and cute picturesque homes, and we searched, and searched and searched for rentals. Can you believe out of how many homes exist here there really arent alot of rentals? Well guess what believe it, its true.

Sobbing, fear, trying to come up with ideas of  how I could justify staying in Arizona.

Then a call from a family friend saying his sister was wanting to rent in a suburb here. HALLELUJAH. This had to be right, it was destiny, it was fate. We traveled to this little town and it was right out of the movies. Homes on acreage, beautiful trees towering over magnificent turn of the century homes, all in good repair. We toured around the town, a town park filled with families, a town pool brimming with fun. Long windy streets lined with trees and farms.

This is it, this is meant to be. This is out of an "Anne of Green Gables" book, the town was in Avalon for goodness sake. The home, was adorable, quaint, perfect size bedrooms. This had to be it. It was all absolutely perfect.

So we said to ourselves "Yes! We can do this, we can make this happen."

Sickness, worry, angst, a ton of angst, unending angst.

Why?

Why do I feel this way?

Dread of moving here set in HARD!

Sleep, dread.

Awake, dread, angst, nervousness, no relief.

How could this be, we had found the perfect extension to our life in Arizona?

Talk of renting the only other suitable place we saw begins, a little relief. More talk, questions, answers, PEACE comes. Amazement, bewilderment. Our decision is made, and complete peace and ease of mind that we are supposed to be in that house.

Weird, but wonderful. Unexpected and we've followed that peace.

We have rented for two years, oh my, a 100 year old 3 story colonial duplex, probably about half the size of our home here, but with 5 bedrooms, the one huge "selling point" to the kids. It's not what I had imagined before we came out here but I can't deny that this is where we are supposed to be. I am so grateful for the Holy Ghost and His promptings. For the knowledge I have and the peace of mind I receive from Him.

Pleasant

Wednesday night Thomas and I arrived home late, after an estimated time of 13 hours of travel, a delayed flight and a missed connection. We were returning home from a stressful, mind boggling, trip to Pittsburgh to find a home and I was tired, bone tired.

As we pulled into the garage a little head poked through the door and this is what we saw, an ear to ear grin missing one big fat front tooth, and we were then immediately greeted with a "lispy" Hello.

What a welcome sight that immediately perked up mine and Thomas' hearts.

What a beautiful life I have and how lucky am I that I have so many people to share it with.

Just ONE!

Unfortunately this summer has been a bit busy for us.

I think I have only had ONE day this summer where we stayed in our jammies till late afternoon and spent the morning watching movies.

It was a luxurious day and I gobbled it up sitting next to my girlies with Rainier on my lap, laughing and yes singing along to the songs on Phantom of the Opera.

Heres to more lazy days, sticky fingers, and letting your gutt hang out.

This little girl is not so little anymore.

This little girl is all about the benjamins,

all about the partying

all about the presents,

all about the goodies,

well not really, she was just really into turning 7.

How is it that she's not my 2 year old anymore?

Chi-Town

For our 2009 Christmas present from my in-laws, Thom and Teresa, they did "mystery trips" for the married couples in the family.

What a fun idea. Our mystery location was changed to one not so mysterious do to some time constraints, but we were just as happy to fly into Chicago and go anywhere with Thomas' parents.

We flew in Memorial day weekend, and were promptly taken to get some proper stuffed pizza. I beleive I walked out of that place with my pants button undone. That was one heck of a pizza.

Thomas' younger sister Tatum and her husband came along for their trip as well and we had double the fun with them.

Our trip was non-stop.

 Including a trip to China-Town for dinner.

Rides on the L train. 

A Performance of the Million Dollar Quartet at the Apollo Theater.

A tour of the Sears Tower, now know as the Willis Tower.

As well as a stroll down the historic streets of Geneva for a little shopping. The spice store was Tommy's favorite.

We did so much, it truly is hard to list it all, swims until 3 am, alot of eating, I may have gained a good 10 pounds, nice nature walks for breakfast, more swimming, and alot of touring around Chicago.

We really couldn't have had a better time.

My Inspiration

So it's been a crazy few weeks here in the Gearhart Household.

Whew! I am beat. After coming home from the beach I packed everyone up again and we left 2 days later for Chicago, well Thomas and I went to Chicago, and the kids had their own little fun vacation with some friends here, I'll post about that later.

But onto my ABSOLUTE FAVORITE subject: Tommy.

So after coming home from Chicago 3 days later we packed up AGAIN, and went for a quick weekend trip to California.

Why you ask? So we could drive over 500 miles both ways so Tommy could run 26.2 miles, that crazy guy!

We dropped the kids off at my sisters and drove the remainder of the way to San Diego where Tommy treated me to a great night in down town San Diego.

We had a delicious dinner, with a terrific view, and off to bed early for Tommy to wake up at 4 a.m. to run.

I was awakened around 6 by some drumming, and some man on a microphone yelling "Wake up San Diego!" Since it is the Rock in Roll Marathon every few miles they have bands to perk those lazy runners up.

Anyhow by 6:20 I looked out my window and this is what I saw; people already making it across the 7 mile mark.

I hurried and got ready and walked out in front of our hotel to keep watch for Thomas. I was amazed at the sheer number of people passing by and by all the lunatics running it. I saw people running it barefoot, in sandals, men in kilts, quite a few Elvis' and even a man running with a can of beer.

And after a little while I saw this STUDLY dude striding by.

Only it was a little bit too quickly to zoom out with my camera.

Shoot, this picture will have to do.

And then, he was off before I could say "Cheese."

So I walked down the road to see the band, and was amazed by everything that went into such a massive production, drinks, cups, bands, set-up, clean-up, closing streets, volunteers, etc. Mind boggling I tell ya, mind boggling.

So while Tommy was running the rest of his marathon, I worked really hard building up a sweat while laying out at this pool. One of us sure got the raw end of the deal.

I guess I worked a bit too hard at the pool and unfortunately missed Tommy running through the finish line. I'm lame, I know, but I did catch up with him to watch him eat his banana, does that count? I hope it counts for something.

Anyhow as if running a marathon isn't enough for this amazing man, we found out Friday that he was accepted to Carnegie Mellon. So we're off to Pennsylavania in about a month or so. I must say what a great feeling it is to see things that your spouse works so hard for be acheived. Just a year ago he decided he wanted to start running and he has already done 2 marathons. Grad School is something he has wanted for a long time and he was very dedicated to acheiving this as well. I am so proud of him. He teaches me everyday that we really have no limits of what we can do here on this earth; that if we have righteous, worthy goals, with our hard work, the Lord will bless us.

 I guess I'm not going to have any time to recover from the traveling I've done, but I'll tell ya one thing, anything I can do for this man is well worth it. He works so hard for our family.

We both feel that going to school is something the Lord wants us to do and with all of the doors He has opened for us to do it, there is really no way to deny it.

So here's to one more crazy month of packing, this time the whole house instead of a few suit cases. 

One SWEET trip.

School ended on the 20th and the girls and I headed down for a quick trip to California to play with my sister Carrie and her sons while her husband was out of town.

My siblings were gracious enough to venture down a ways to go out to dinner with me, and to entertain me, and most likely the other customers, with kitty masks.

We are quite obnoxious I'll admit it.

Most of the cousins stayed back at Carries for Nerf Gun wars and basketball games, while we dined at a scrumptuous Italian Eatery.

Day two landed the girls and I at the beach. Along with 4 cousins cool enough to ditch school for us.

Aunt Carrie gathered all around to explain rip tides and how to survive them since she and I are, unfortunately, such horrible swimmers. Look how attentive they all were to her instructions.

Rainier had a delightful time digging and pouring sand every where, or my rightly 'throwing' it every where.

His bird friends appeared and kept him busy for quite some time and I enjoyed dropping crackers all around my sister while she was tanning to see how close they would come to her without her knowing. Amazingly enough they would come quite close. She wasn't too impressed by my new found information.

The girls enjoyed the boogie boarding.

My sister and I enjoyed being dorks as usual,

and Claire enjoyed being the cute kid that she is and rocked the surfer look in the body suit she borrowed from her cousin.

Unfortunately my sisters oldest son broke his hand early on in our beach trip, and after about an hour or two of  "waiting it out" we decided that it was probably definitely broken and she should take him to the doctors.  Poor kid was such a good sport about it all, so the rest of us stayed at the beach and dug holes, while he and my sister went to the doctors.

Rainier enjoyed his mediations and walks.

And the rest of the kids went to search for shells. Talmage found this massive conk shell complete with a living creature inside,

and by the end of the day thye had found quite a treasure full of  shells including a few sand dollars. I was a bit jealous.

The next day, while my poor sister again took her oldest son to the doctors, I was able to take my kids and my sweet nephews to this fun park close by.

It did make me envious of Califonians a bit. Green grass and trees.

Pleasant temperatures at the end of May,

and unique parks to play in.

This trip made me willing to move back, well maybe.

It was such a pleasant trip for me, besides the broken hand part that is, and by the end it was hard to go home. The kids played so well together, and my sister and I did too. In the end it was off  home to Arizona and my sister went in the other direction to Utah to visit her husband.

Thanks Kee Kee for the great trip you are truly the Hostess with the Mostess.