Reflections on Year Four

Year Four, the year of ADVENTURES
Steve switched jobs this year and started working for Liberty Security(as previously mentioned). It was a great change of pace for him and his job as a Technician is basically right up his alley. This was an extremely busy year work-wise and so I learned how to do the single-parent thing for weeks and months at a time. Steve learned how awesome his wife is.

• Steve got to spend quite a bit of time in the Maritimes that summer. It was really hard to have him gone so much that year since Brynlee was still so little and Kalea was getting way more mobile, thus I was extremely busy and torn in two directions all day everyday. It was over those months that I really grew to appreciate Steve's presence in our home, you really don't know what you've got until the man is gone for a few months. I was functioning on pure survival mode for those long times apart and then as soon as he'd walk in the door I would bawl my face off for a little bit and then we'd go through adjusting to having Daddy home again. Good times.
• This year was also the year that we got to go try living in Saskatoon, away from all of our family and friends. It was short-lived but we had a really fun time together living in a house that had a HUGE yard, and exploring a new city, and all the perks of living somewhere that was super family friendly. I had a massive kitchen to play in, and I had so much fun trying new recipes, Steve and the girls loved it too, although it didn't really help me in the losing weight department, I gained quite a bit while we were there, oops! It rained tons while we were there and we missed our babysitters, namely Nana and Papa. They did come to visit us though and that was really fun. Anyways, it was fun to have that much time together because we knew once we got back home that Steve wouldn't be around much the rest of the summer, so we savored it.
• ROUTINE: The girls and I had to have a routine while Steve was gone for so long. If I had no routine I have no idea how I would've survived those long stretches of him being away. Bedtime for the girls was my saving grace and I would get so excited for Steve to call at the end of his crazy days to tell me all about them, or about some crazy new word that he heard someone say. It was kind of like dating again in the sense that I really did get giddy as a schoolgirl waiting for him to call and then afterwards I could fall asleep no problem. If he missed calling because he worked so late, this would interrupt my routine and I wouldn't sleep as good- true story. Routines save lives in my world.
• Because of Steve's hard work for Liberty in year four we were able to go to Mexico for a much needed week away from our kids. We went for the first week of January 2011 and it was so much fun to go experience a place that was new to both of us. It was a good way to cap off a very busy year and we were both a bit burnt out, so we got some great relaxation time in that week. It was also fun to meet people who Steve works with and some of the other wives who get to suffer through selling season too, at least I'm not the only one right? We loved that trip and are so happy that we have those memories to enjoy for years to come.

It was a year of learning how to sustain a relationship when the other person was absent, and we had to put a lot more effort into it because we were so far apart. That being said, a lot more effort for us just equated to a lot more communication-again. I would jot things down throughout the day so that Steve would know what crazy thing Kalea did or funny thing she said, or some animal we saw outside, etc... It helped him to feel a bit more attached to what was happening here at home even though he was across the country. The worst part of Steve being away was always the adjustment back to co-parenting, haha. I would have my routine and he would get home and disrupt it completely and I had to learn to step back and let him have his "role" back. I think we are a lot better at that adjustment now, but year four gave us a lot of practice in that area. From this year we also learned that we really don't like to be far apart for very long, the scriptures are true, it's not good for a man or a woman to be alone, we function way better together! Our home is a happier place when we are all in it and the kids do a lot better if they have even just 15mins a day of Daddy-time, so do I!
Year 5 recap after my weekend off!