Here it is! The first reveal of renovation number 13. This renovation has been with us the longest. It's gone thru the most hands and the most clients and finally found her home and purpose with the most adorable family. Full YouTube tour coming! See all of the before and after images below.

The year didn't end or start as we ever expected. Sharing the story here.

      You may be surprised to hear me say that we’ve been lucky. But we’ve been so lucky. With Jake’s KT syndrome, from birth to three, we were in the hospital every 2 to 3 months. A screaming infant, a fever, an infection. He had no words for so long and it was all a guessing game. Is he crying because he’s hurting? Does he have a fever from an infection? Blood draws, IV lines, anesthesia and a terrified baby along with scared parents. And right in the middle of all of that, Steven dies. As I write this, it's still truly hard to believe. I don’t think I’ll ever process that we survived that. That that was MY life. That is my life. I don’t think I’ve ever really taken in what happened in those first few years of Jake’s life because I so often feel like I am in survival mode. But here we are. 11 years later, and so thankful that we’ve been lucky.
     After his two week stay at the hospital when he was three, I put my foot down and demanded answers. I demanded they try this new medication that I read about online that they were doing in San Francisco for kids with KT Syndrome. I told the doctors that if they didn’t do it, I was looking to transfer him there. So they called the San Francisco doctor, and tried it. And for the last eight years, it’s worked wonders. We’ve only had a few hospital stays, little things, treatable symptoms, as KT Syndrome is treated symptomatically. He’s continued care with his hematologist here in San Diego. He gets MRIs regularly, blood draws regularly, and they keep up with his care to ensure that he staying healthy. We’ve been lucky. Then, Saturday happened. KT Syndrome reminds you that it’s around, and that it can come at you with a vengeance. Jake woke up in more pain than I'd ever seen him in. His pain tolerance is already high. So here we are. Fighting it again. Being in the hospital brings it all back. The trauma, the screaming toddler, the times you’ve held them down for blood draws because you know it was in their best interest yet they looked at you in pure terror. Sneaking out of the room to cry on hallway floors and walking back in to snuggle them to sleep. Wondering how much trauma is too much trauma. Being a parent to a kid with a chronic illness hardens you. It forces you to dive deep and find strength you never knew existed. It makes you advocate and speak up and ask questions. It’s heartbreaking and oftentimes doesn’t feel survivable, but I know that he will perk up. His light will come back into his eyes. The doctors and nurses will walk in and not recognize the boy that came in struggling, pale, in pain and sleepy. The boy who’s been tired and uncomfortable since he arrived. The boy who stumped the doctors. I know they’ll walk in to see him sitting up and talking and see the Jake we love and adore. Who can spout bird facts and tell you the deep history of Walt Disney and Charles Shultz. We will get there. Until then, we are here. Survival mode. Living the hospital life I don’t wish on a single soul. The sleepless nights, the chiming of monitors from occultation because it’s hard to keep your arm out straight so long. I’ve become so familiar with this place that it’s not scary and as comforting as that is, it shouldn’t be that way. I shouldn’t know my way around here. I shouldn’t walk in with such confidence. I shouldn’t know about shift changes at 7 and 7 and rounds at 6am. I know resident doctors are still learning and not to take what they say as fact. Once a resident dr told me she didn’t know if he’d make it. Yea. I know when to speak up and when Jakes had enough. When student doctors want to come in and he’s in zero mood, I say no. When the child life specialist wants to cheer him up and he doesn’t respond. I know when to say thank you but no thank you. You learn quick around here. You learn to love and adore your nurses because let’s be honest, they are the real hero’s and they are the parents advocate while you are your child's. You know how to silence the infusion pump when it chimes and page the nurse. You know how to ask questions and when to tell the IV tech to stop moving the needle around in his arm to find the vein because your child is literally losing it and the trauma is not worth the blood draw this second. So stop.
You speak up, you gain strength and confidence. You realize how lucky you are because when all is said and done and Jake is Jake again, we will head home and remember how hard it can be and good things are.
Perspective. We are lucky.

I deleted all of my social media apps 10 days ago.
I cannot begin to tell you how good I feel about it and how much I don't miss it. I no longer want to feel like I need to keep up with the Joneses. I can't force myself to get creative and make reels that don't make me feel great. I cant be forced to be creative. If it's not coming naturally, I just can't.

Yes, social media has its blessings and have brought some amazing relationships into our lives. We have shared our daily life and thankful you have followed it. As the last year has been in turmoil, plans have been put on hold, things have felt out of our control, social media was the space I lost myself in. I felt the pressure to keep up and at the same time, I just couldn't. This is my form of self care. I have organized more spaces in our tiny home, started reading a book and working on taking deep and filling breaths. 

I don't know if and when I'll return, but for now, this just feels so right.

So, keep up with us here! I'll blog as often as possible to keep you in the loop of our life and share the big and exciting things to come. 2022 should bring in a year of big changes for our family. Something we thought would come this year, but the waiting game continues and I will continue to practice patience and acceptance through being present. Ill also blog for myself, because this space can be such an outlet. 

So, what's happened in the last 10 days?
We had a visit from my aunt and River very much enjoyed her pup. We celebrated two of our favorite girls 2nd birthdays. Our friends daughter Charlie and the Queen Granddaughter Grace. We visited with friends on the beach and had dinner at our favorite pizza place. We saw both sides of our families for Thanksgiving this year and enjoyed the food, especially Bryce who was proud to tell us about having a slice of every piece of pie. We visited with Travis' high school friend in town. We added Christmas Lights to the chicken coop and it's feeling a bit festive around here. 

Keep up with us @ourlivelytribervrenovations, as we share daily during the week over there. We will finish up the Outback renovation next month and send her along to her new family. We also had the next renovation arrive! This Class A is going to be a beast of a renovation and we cannot wait to give this family a cool space to explore. Looking to get your RV Renovated? Contact us here or read our FAQ page. Looking for a consultation? We do that too!

One last thing, check out our special for our Open Shelves! Snag your shelf for $99 using code BlackFriday.

Thanks again for following along with us.
I hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving. 

-Erin

P.s. GO BLUE 💙 💛 🏈 

Don't let this thumbnail fool you, Travis is a super happy guy, I just thought it was funny and it also showed off the front entertainment center the best. No frown faces here. 
Watch the YouTube below to see whats happening in the Outback. This rig is FOR SALE. We decided to leave the front room untouched and when sold, we can make that space anything! A garage? Bunkhouse, office space, you name it. 
For real time updates, follow our Instagram 

I have to believe in the karmic law. I’ve always believed in putting good energy out into the world, you will receive good. Your energy is felt by the world around you, moving plans in directions that you desire. Our karmic bucket was full yesterday and we cannot believe we got into this festival.
Story time….
This festival did not feel meant to be from the start. We’ve been going to Ohana Fest since the first one in 2017. Only missing one when we were traveling and friends grabbing us the poster from the festival while they were there, knowing we were sad to be missing it. Why this festival? Eddie Vedder. The lead singer of Pearl Jam and Kelly Slater (surf God) started it to raise money for the @surfrider foundation and a night with Eddie, yes please. A concert on the beach, we’re there. It also falls on Travis bday weekend so yes, it’s our thing. When we bought tickets last year, we had hoped the pandemic would cool down and we’d be there but it was rescheduled to this year and we were still stoked because not only was Eddie closing out one night, Pearl Jam was closing out the last night. We splurged and got tickets to both. Then, Travis best friend scheduled his wedding on what happened to@be the weekend of Ohana Fest. As bummed as we were, we knew we couldn’t miss his wedding so we sold our tickets, lost a little money and moved on. It wasn’t meant to be this year. All good.
Then, they announced a 2nd weekend, never done, encore weekend with Pearl Jam closing out both nights. When we decided we could actually make the last night, tickets online were sold out. Someone posted they had tickets for sale, just as I had when I sold mine and I snagged them. Cheaper than face value, was stoked we were able to make our annual date night to a place we love.
Cut to walking up to the front with my barcode in hand to get our wristbands. The couple at the front working the ticket stand immediately looked at Travis’ hat and said “oh! You’ve been to the UP? We’re moving there!” We talked about how beautiful it was and where they were going, then I handed her my barcode. Scammed. I had been scammed. Continued in comments….
I truly had so much hesitation purchasing them from a 3rd party but did research and felt it was okay. I also just wanted to believe in humanity and believe in this person I was sending money to who sent me the tickets. It all felt and looked legit, but it wasn’t. The lady at the ticket counter told me sorry and when I went up for a second time to see if there was any option, she told me they did have tickets for sale, for double what I paid. We would have been nearly $700 in the hole from one concert. I felt the tears welling up. I told her I’d go talk to my husband when in reality I just couldn’t hold it together enough, I was so disappointed in humanity and that I was dumb enough to make this mistake. I also couldn’t imagine dropping so much money. I went to Travis, he hugged me and said it was okay, we’d go find something else to do. We agreed hat the person who took the money had better really needed it. I told him they had tickets for sale and he said well we’re here, might as well. Credit card in hand, he walked up to buy them while I stayed back, crying, which I don’t do, I was just so effin mad at a sucky human.
Travis walks up to the counter and the lady won’t make eye contact with him for a few awkward minutes. Finally she gets her husbands attention, says something and he hands her a wrist band. She hands it to Travis. Blown away, she says it was an extra and it should work. Travis says his thank you’s, shocked and goes to buy a second one. At that moment, the lady gets a text message, reads it, and hands Travis a second wristband. She said she was holding it for a friend who just said they can’t come. As Travis is walking back to me, his smile and shrug of his shoulders, throwing his arms up like “what the heck just happened” I knew he didn’t pay for them. The lady gives me a wave and a thumbs up and we stand there, in shock.
We said 100 thank you’s to the couple behind the counter, to the sky, to the Karma Gods and walked in. Then, travis’ band doesn’t work. I get pushed on ahead and I’m standing inside while Travis is outside, with security. He tells them where he got it and he then gets pushed in thru the gate. We were in.

Karma. It’a good.
Yes I’ve reported the person on all accounts and on all levels. I’m not so much worried about getting back the $200 as I am to make sure they don’t do it again, but if they do, karma will not be kind to them.
Moral of the story, stay positive, put good into the world for the shear fact that it’s just good to do so.

We may share a lot on here, but when we are in the thick of it, I tend to stay quiet. I feel like I've been in the thick of it a lot this year, which may be why I pop in and out so often. This one, I haven't shared, but it will soon be obvious. I wanted to address it just to clear the air. To explain it once and not again. This may sound like not a big deal but for some reason it snuck up and feels like a big deal.
Let's talk about my face mole. Oh, this should be fun.
I've had it since childhood. Honestly, never even noticing it because who looks at their own face all day? I only ever noticed it when each of my kids were old enough to find it on my face and poke it. Otherwise, I never had much thought of it. It was just there. I think to the rest of the world, it was noticed. Many years ago, while visiting a cousin, she pointed out that she had a mole in a similar spot on her face. We are both my grandpas only grandgaughters, and my grandfather had it too. Sorta felt like a cool club. 
After having River, it changed. It got bigger and changed in color. After many failed attempts to get it looked at by a dermatologist, thanks to insurance and medical workers who forget to submit paperwork and such, I finally met with a dermatologist last week who decided that removing it was going to be the best option, just to play it safe. The assumption is the changes are hormonal but it's always better to be safe than sorry. I was sad. Sad to lose it. Travis was sad, the boys were sad. It's weird. But peace of mind is more important. 
So, here we are. As I'm typing this, the spot burns as the numbing wares off. I will have results in two weeks as it is sent off to be checked for something more serious.  We all know what that is. 
Praying it comes back okay. That's it. Thats the story of the face mole. Let's hope this is THE END.

How we homeschool is a topic I get asked about a lot. Like a lot a lot. We are going into year 4 and the first day was tough. No matter how long you do it, you are always learning how you can do it better. Adjusting and changing to the ebb and flow of your child's needs. We had a bumpy start but survived. See it all in our latest YouTube below!

Open shelves and more!
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Outback renovation, shelves and more! 

Ready to snag your own custom built Open Shelves? Grab them on our Shopify Page! 

This month we also jumped into the Outback Renovation. With the paint and flooring complete, we are working from the back to the front to complete this rig. She will be available around 10/1 and will be perfect for a family to fulltime travel in. Contact us for more info! 
Also watch our latest YouTube for all of the details. 
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