Moving/Holidays/Turning Two and Much Change

It has been a long while since I have posted and for good reason.  Since the last post regarding Austin's speech therapy, we had six months full of whirlwind, starting with a new job for Matt!

Yep, Matt left the beginning of September for two and half months to start a new job with a company called Baldor Electric Company in Marion, NC, while Austin and I stayed back to keep things as normal as possible and until some things were set up in North Carolina to make the transition as smooth as possible.  Matt would come back to home every couple weeks for the weekend to visit and we even made a trip up to attend a company picnic and see our new temporary home.  In the middle of all this, I was training for my FIRST marathon, so, needless to say it was hectic!

October 28, 2012

 

Austin and I followed, officially, the weekend before Thanksgiving and we are really enjoying it here.  It is a slower pace, which is welcomed, and the area is really beautiful as you get into the foothills and farm land.  We are not to far from some snow fun, only 4 hours away from Atlanta and Matt's family, and about 7.5 hours from Jacksonville and my family (yes, they moved from Colorado to the East Coast!).

View from Mt. Mitchell

Marion, NC is about 40 miles east of Asheville.  It is a small town, about 6500 people, with McDowell Hospital and Baxter Pharmaceuticals as the largest employers.  It used to be host to many textile plants however they have all closed down as the jobs were moved over seas.  

For the holidays, we went back to Atlanta for Thanksgiving and went to Jacksonville for Christmas.  While Matt and his family made an unexpected trip to California the week later for his Grandfather Black's funeral, Austin I zipped down to Jacksonville in between to spend even more time with my folks and THE BEACH!

"Have no idea what he is yammering about mama, no idea"

Meredith was thrilled to visit from Paris to see Austin's tummy just after Christmas

Shell picking

And of course, Austin turned TWO at the end of December.  Such a big boy.  We celebrated at my folks house the week of Christmas.  With my brother visiting from Colorado, he was able to officially meet Austin as well.

Appreciating the tree this year

We don't look alike do we?

With all that traveling, we hunkered down for the month of January and tried to develop a routine that is smooth as easy as possible, with a short business/family visit trip to Atlanta in between.