A fun baseball + get away

I drive through Boardman and one hundred memories enter my brain.

Looking Back; Boardman was a three year adventure that taught us a great deal about ourselves. Boardman is where it was confirmed that we love country living. Flood irrigating was a highlight. Our Oregon memories are pretty special.

We learned a few weeks before my mom died that we were moving to Boardman, Oregon. We were leaving a town, school district, and community that we really liked (Moses Lake) for Vance to take a new job in Boardman. He would be a big part of the start up operation there! For Milky Way. 

My mom was not sick, well we did not think she was. 

She was excited and supportive of the move. 

Before my mom passed away I had all the energy and adventure in the world to move to a new town!! After she passed away, I lost the energy and adventure. 

Vance was house hunting. I suggested he pick a house, any house. 

I was trying to navigate life without my mom... Phil, my youngest brother, was in 8th grade. Matthew was in high school. We were all pretty lost, trying to find a new normal.

We had built a beautiful house in Moses Lake - Vance and I.  We moved to a 1970's fixer upper, shag carpet, smaller home in Boardman, Oregon.

Let me guess, you are waiting for the good memories there. 

It was so quiet and a bit lonely in this new place that the conversations Vance and I had there and the family and friends who came to visit were God sends.

A hot tub came with the house. :-)! 

Lissa and Travis (two of our best friends in the world) came to visit us often. 

Lesha and Rob came to visit us often. 

A LOT of family from Lynden made that 6 hour trip to our 1970s house in the very quiet town of Boardman, Oregon! Lesha, Matt, and Adie were all there within 24 hours of Merit's birth.

Matt went to college in Walla Walla while we lived there! His weekend visits were always a highlight.

My Aunt Jill ( my mom's sister) lived in Portland when we lived there. We got to see her often over those three years. 

A wonderful blessing, Merit being born in Hermiston, Oregon... and the list goes on. 

I loved substitute teaching in Umatilla! I taught elementary and middle school. I met some amazing people over that time.

A few important lessons I learned there; 

Love makes a house a home. 

I cooked more in that run down kitchen than I ever cooked in our newly built kitchen in Moses Lake. Fancy does not equal better.

Lonesomeness can cause you to soul search. 

A new start in a hard place is redefining.

This baby was born when we lived in Boardman. He is 16 now, will be 17 in October. 

I can't believe how fast time flies. 

One of the weekends Rob and Lesha came to visit, Lesha and I scrapbooked at our dining room table for hours upon hours while Vance and Rob watched sports on TV. We ordered burgers from C and D, the same burger place Merit and I visited TODAY! A favorite burger joint of ours! 

This weekend Merit played in Portland and Vancouver. It was a great tournament! The guys played well and the company was terrific. Merit pitched a great game yesterday.
We ate at Gustav's, near our hotel. The food was amazing!!

The nearly five hour road trip I took to get there I was by myself. The drive was peaceful. Good music, good time to think :-) Vance had been there the first two days of the tourney. We traded places.
It was a great weekend. I am thankful.