September 21st marked one full year since we moved our family from Portland, Oregon to San Jose, California. I thought I’d commemorate the anniversary with a year-in-review post!
Overall, this year has seen some of the biggest ups and biggest downs of Matt’s and my lives.
Moving to the US’s fifth most expensive city in which to live, knocked us on our asses. We thought we did the math before we accepted the new job. We thought we did our research. We were sorely mistaken. This past year, we have been at our absolute lowest point financially. Ever. But it’s been a HUGE learning experience!
I learned how to meal-plan and budget our groceries, and having little to no “fun money” meant getting creative with the activities I did with the girls. When we were finally on the financial upswing, our family activities took on a whole new value. The most impressive part of surviving our financial woes this past year, is that our marriage survived! HA! (No but seriously…)
The “ups” from this year are much more fun to remember, so I’m going to spend the majority of this post reminiscing about all of the wonderful things our family has experienced in this great state of California!
Here we go…
Leaving Portland, Oregon, my home of 16 years, was an emotional and difficult move. Posts about leaving Portland are here and here.
On Friday, September 21st, the girls and I flew from Portland to Sacramento to spend the weekend with Matt’s parents, while Matt had the unbelievably difficult task of packing and cleaning the rest of the house. He survived only because of the amazing generosity of our dear friends, whom we actually consider to be more like family. 🙂
While we were unpacking boxes and settling into our new life, Cadence turned 10 months old!
We experienced our first California heat wave on October 2nd…102!??!
Then aunt Dana came to visit and we did some awesome touristy things! We visited San Jose’s Japanese Friendship Gardens, San Francisco (twice!) and the pumpkin patch.
Matt and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! By doing nothing…we had no money, but we were rich in love! 😉
Cadence turned 11 months old.
The girls dressed up as fairies and we went trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood for Halloween!
Fall finally made its debut in early November and the girls and I walked to the park to enjoy the cool crisp sunny day.
We FINALLY moved Cadence into her very own, full-size, beautifully painted crib!
Made edible finger paint.
Had an indoor water-play day!
Visited Santa, just before Thanksgiving. Neither of the girls was particularly excited and Adelaide refused to take a picture with Santa all-together!
Had a lovely Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Bauer!
Celebrated Cadence’s first birthday! Posts here, here and here.
Started our Christmas Countdown activity. Made a pie, cookies and a christmas wreath.
I gave Cadence her first ever hair cut, in an effort to de-mullet-ize her little head.
On December 16th, Cadence made her first real attempt at walking!
Had a week-long Christmas in three cities.
Adelaide on Christmas Eve
Attempted sister photo
Enjoyed our first visit to the Children’s Discovery Museum!
Adelaide cut her own hair, which lead to her first ever bob-with-bangs haircut.
At the end of January, Cadence was 14 months old.
Had fun with Adelaide making our own Valentines.
Cadence’s vocabulary expands to include “Cinderella”.
Princess Tiny Feet (aka Cadence) gets her first pair of “real” shoes!
Matt and I got to escape for a day of snowboarding!
I shared recipes for corn dog muffins and whole wheat oatmeal banana pancakes.
Cadence turned 15 months old!
Summer started in mid-March, and we promptly got outside to start enjoying the weather.
Gave our kitchen a much needed organizational overhaul.
We started harvesting oranges from our backyard orange tree.
Enjoyed St. Patricks day with “green eggs and ham” quiche and Bailey’s coffee!
Endured more head colds than I thought possible: here and here.
Took the girls to the beach for the first time!
Celebrated Easter with Grandma and Grandpa Bauer.
Made some coffee love artwork for my walls, and yours too!
Cadence turned 16 months old!
Took a family trip to San Francisco.
I cut Cadence’s hair into and adorable Toddler Pixie Cut.
Celebrated Mother’s Day with a relaxing day visiting Grandma and Grandpa Bauer.
Celebrated Adelaide’s 4th Birthday!
Enjoyed LOTS of backyard pool time.
On June 14th, we turned Cadence’s carseat around front-facing! This has REALLY helped with her carsickness!
Celebrated Father’s Day with a BBQ Pool Party in Modesto with friends! Cadence and Audrey get along great 🙂
Traveled to Denver, CO for my sister Dana’s Wedding.
Celebrated the 4th of July!
We started our Summer To Do List with a trip to Apple’s Headquarters.
Then Oakland’s Fairyland…
And a family trip to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.
Cadence turned 20 months old and I celebrated with a photo collage—one picture for every month of her life.
We visited Happy Hollow with friends.
And checked out Campbell’s Farmer’s Market.
We had messy backyard play days, trips to the park, friends over for playdates, visits to the Discovery Museum and we discovered how much Cadence looks like her mommy 🙂
I shared a recipe for Maple Pecan Scones and one of Adelaide’s favorite toys.
And our Summer To Do List officially ended with a family trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium! Such a fun trip!
Matt and I got a much needed “date day” at Great America, followed by a stop at Orchard Valley Coffee, dinner at La Pizzeria and an impromptu stop at a wonderful used book store!
Our family took one last trip to San Francisco over Labor Day weekend to give Adelaide her first ride on a Cable Car—another great family outing full of memories!
Our year certainly ended on a high note! Now that September is coming to a close, our family is gearing up for another big change—a move to Denver, Colorado!
In spite of our struggles this year, we will look back fondly on our year in California’s Bay Area! We met wonderful people, experienced some of the best activities the Bay Area has to offer and soaked up every drop of sunshine we could.
Here’s to new adventures!!
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This was an awesome post to catch up with you all! So great it was all documented w pics <3 Dan and I are three years into living in one of the world's most expensive cities, and there are very few times we forget it! It's definitely caused stress and disagreements but like you guys, at the end of the day we have our adventures and our health. Can't ask for much more!