Payden's 10th birthday

Payden turned 10 on June 19th, but with our computer out and with moving, I am just now getting around to blogging it! She had a fun birthday. For her friends birthday party, we had a scavenger hunt at the zoo. I made up notes that had clues, and ran around just ahead of them to leave little gifts. It was pretty crazy, but fun! After that, we had cupcakes and ice cream at the park. There might have been some silly string involved.



One of the little gifts they got was little poppers, here they are setting them off.



It was unfortunately rainy that day, and for some of the part in the zoo we got wet. Then it got really bad when we still had more than a 1/2 hour before the girls parents were supposed to come get them. We piled in the van, and watched a movie!

Here is a picture I took of myself. I had been running around, up and down all over the zoo trying to stay ahead of the girls, all in the rain. Good times!

I made a cupcake butterfly, but the girls kept saying it looked like a bat.

We also had a party at home for her, Marlene and Corrine. She was excited to get a hymn book.

All three birthday girls blowing out their candles!



I made balloon cakes, one for each person. Each kind was a different kind of cake.

The morning of her birthday, we were having a yard sale. But we still made her birthday breakfast request, crepes!

We love you Payden, you are so much fun!

Look at Corrine!

She has been in a big girl bed now for about 2 weeks, With no binkie! She asked for it a couple of times, but has really done well without it. So we did away with it completely, we are now a binkie free home! So far, she hasn't fallen out of bed, and keeping her there isn't as hard as I had worried it would be. I have no idea why this is underlined and in italics. I can't make it stop!




She is pretty proud of herself!

First Day of School 2010

Michaela is going to a HUGE Jr. High school here. It is new and she loves it.

I thought she was so brave. The day before I started them in school, I went and got them registered, and we walked both Michaela's A days and B days so she would be familiar with them. She didn't seem nervous for her first day, she was excited to meet new people. The only thing that showed she was nervous was that she not only let me walk her inside, but actually let me walk her to her first class. I think this was because we were late getting there, and there wasn't any kids in the halls. It was still sweet, though. I felt for her, I know exactly what it is like to enter a new Jr. High in a new state. Scary. But she did good.

Payden was pumped to go as well. The day before they started, I took them clothes and supply shopping, and took them out to lunch. I think this helped them feel more prepared for entering new schools.

Payden was excited because they had lockers. It is unusual to start your kids when school is already in. They have year round elementry here, and the track Payden and Ava are on had already been in session for one week. We missed orientation, back to school night, and all those other things that help the kids feel prepared. Poor Payden even got lost looking for the bathroom in school. To her credit, it is a VERY large elementary.






They also have computers at all the desks, but Payden got "stuck" with a laptop because she wasn't expected. She was a little put off by this, but I reminded her that seating changes in class frequently, and she will get a "real" computer soon enough!


And last but not least, Ava started kindergarten this year. I am glad we moved, because back in Idaho they went to full day kindergarten this year, and Ava would have struggled with that. Here it is half day, every day, with early release every Friday. She couldn't wait to go to school. She wasn't worried at all; she was thrilled that it was finally her turn to go to big girl school! She is a fit thrower, as many of you know, and I had been telling her to not throw fits in school, no one here knows she does that, she can start over, etc. Then I said something I wish I could take back; I told her that the kids might not like her if she throws fits. I was trying to save her from being teased, but this introduced the idea that she might not be liked, and then she started worrying about that. I reassured her that the kids would like her, she is very likeable, she just needs to not throw fits. Gosh, I hate it when I make mistakes like that. Anyway, we got past that and she was ready for her first day of big girl school!



I was having a hard time thinking about leaving her here, in a new school where I didn't know anyone.

She looks so tiny, but so big at the same time!

My fears were lessened when I met her teacher, and she and Ava hit it off right away. Just look at how Ava is looking at her! We got there a few minutes before her teacher, and Ava had a chance to look around the classroom. She was so excited and kept pointing things out to me, saying she couldn't wait to use that, and that, and that.

Here is how I left them, going out to get the other kids. Her teacher really made her feel welcome and safe. The next day when I dropped her off, she ran right up to her like she missed her! It was so cute, as they walked out, her teacher looked down at her and said, "Aww, what a cute little face you have!" I am glad she will love my little girlie.

Ye Haw!

Corrine, you are so cute!

Ava's big summer

Here are some pictures to go along with the post I did a few weeks ago about Ava learning to swim and ride a bike. She really did have a big summer; learned to ride a two wheeler, swim, and moved.

Here she is getting ready for a dive.

She swims with her face in the water, and is so good. A true little fish.


She LOVED swimming lessons. She couldn't wait to go everyday.


She looked so cute in those goggles!

She also learned how to ride a two wheeler. She has two bikes, this tiny one and a big one. We took the training wheels off the tiny one and she went for it. She is so proud of her new ability.


She is pretty speedy on that little bike!

Our big move

Who is ready to go? The girls were! Here they are inside the moving van. I had tried to tell Jason that I thought we needed TWO U-hauls, to which he replied he thought we could "get away" with one. Um. 15 years and 4 kids worth of stuff is a lot of stuff.


How heavy is a piano? Just look at this picture and take a guess.

Here is our caravan. Not a very good picture, but we had our extremely overloaded U-Haul, Marlene's horse trailer packed full, a trailer Brian borrowed from a neighbor at the last minute when it became clear we needed more room, and my dads little trailer. All overloaded. We could have used a second U-Haul. Oh, well, we made it! We had many ward members help us load up, and lots of friends and family who helped clean, pack, load and drive.


Here is a picture of our new house. I thought I would show you these, then show you "after" ones later! This one is like Where's Waldo only Where's Corrine.


Oh, boy. I packed it all up myself, and unpacked it all myself. What fun.


Our first night there, we went out to eat with all of our helpers. The second night, we toasted to finally being in Utah!


Ahh, together at last!



Too cute.


Such a gourmet dinner to go with our toast, I think it was bratwurst!


So there you have it, here at last. I am so glad to be here, all together, and finally unpacked!

We did it!

We are finally here in Utah, together. I wish I could post pictures, but we just got our computer set up and are not that far yet! Just in the knick of time, we were able to find a house to rent that would accept our pets, and I have to say, it is a pretty nice house. Could be cleaner, but I fixed that. We really like the layout. We found out we got the house on a Tue., and had to be out of our house on SAt. It was a pretty crazy couple of weeks. Jason had been down here in Utah trying to find a house during the week, while I was all by myself packing the whole house, working, taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, you get the idea. It was rough. We were so grateful to get this house, and there is just one house between us and Jon and Carrie! (Jon is Jason's cousin, he was staying with them while he was here during the week for work.) When Jason heard about the house, ( through Jon, I might add, that was a huge blessing) I told him we would rent it sight unseen. We were that desperate. Jason got to see it, but the first time I saw it was when we moved in. That was an adventure!

For those of you who don't know, we were unable to sell our home, so we rented it. We will rent it for two years, then see if we will try to sell it again or rent it again. That forced us to rent in Utah, until we file our taxes. At that point, we can count the money collected for rent on our home as income, and can carry two mortgages. Then we will buy down here. It actually worked out great, because now we have time to look for a short sale or bank owned when before we didn't.

The girls are all in school. Michaela's Jr. High is just one year old, and huge. She loves it. Payden is in 5th grade at an enormous elementry here. She is making new friends and loving it. Ava started kindergarden at the same huge school (1100 students!) . It was so hard to drop her off at a school I had only been in to register her, not knowing any of the staff or teachers. But Ava was her usual friendly self, and made friends the first day. She loves her teacher and loves to go to school. Payden and Ava are in year round school, which is interesting. Michaela is not. No teasing goes on about that at all.

I have not started at my new job yet, I am working on getting my Utah license. Lots of hoops to jump through. I am anxious to start. I will only work one night a week here, I am looking forward to that! Two nights a week just got to be too much sometimes.

Jason has a 45 minute commute each way, which has been a change for us. More gas money, and he is home much later. Oh, and his car doesn't have air conditioning. Feel very sorry for him!

We really like our area. We went to church for the first time this Sunday and enjoyed meeting new people. No callings yet, but expect them soon. I heard they were having trouble with nursery leaders, oh help me. Maybe they will forget about us.

We are adjusting to the bugs, namely mosquitos, here. We also live close to the airport and hear planes all day and night. The worst are the fighter jets, sooooo noisy. But not as loud as a train whistle, so there ya go.

We really feel so blessed to be here, all together. They kids are all adjusting very well, even Corrine went into nursery on Sunday without a problem. I haven't gotten lost once, and have been quite a few places. We are almost all set up here, the downstairs is unpacked, now I am starting on the kids rooms. Ava and Corrine are sharing a room, which has its problems but is only until we buy a home. I will post pictures of the house and first day of school when we finish setting up the printer.

Thank you so much to our friends and family who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us move. We couldn't have done it without you Corey, the Merrells, Marlene, Mom, and all of the help we had from our old ward. (It sounds weird to call it that!)