Ashlyn's 5th Birthday

Ashlyn turned 5 on October 1st.  She invited her cousins and some of her new friends to celebrate with her.    It was really important to Ashlyn to take Miss B to her birthday party at Build A Bear because that's what the big kids have done for their birthday's.  Lauren and Maddy helped Ashlyn decorate the bus for her big day.

They also played games with the kids on the 25 minute drive to Build A Bear.  I love having little party helpers!  They were awesome!

Jessica and Austin brought their friend Chloe along to help out and to do some shopping in the mall while the little kids made their bears.

 

 My sister-in-law, Jen, came along to keep us company.

 I love that all the kids love to play with Paige. Even Austin can't resist an opportunity to make Paige smile!

 

When we got to Build A Bear, we were assigned a party leader and the kids picked out theirs bears.   I can't remember our guy's name, but her only had one hand.  The kids were all so respectful!  Nobody asked about it or made any comments. I was so  proud of them and impressed with how well the guy used his arm and what a happy, fun guy he was!

The kids took turns stuffing their bears.

They were each given 2 hearts.  They played some cute games with the hearts while they were waiting for their turn to stuff their bears.

When all the bears were stuffed, they gave lots of love to their hearts and everyone put one of their hearts into Ashlyn's birthday bear!  She felt so loved and was excited to know that everyone put a heart in for her.

The other heart went into their own bears.  Lauren and Maddy were happy to help Paige with her bear.

Then, they gave their bears a bath.

 It was so cute to see how serious the kids were about it.

They picked out a clothes or accessories for their bears and then they were done! 

 

Paige saw the kids taking a picture and dove out of my arms so she could run over to be in it!

Paige was so excited about her "Berrr" and the bear's "home".  She took the box with her everywhere for several days!  The box was sort of a pain so it "disappeared" one day. It was almost as big as her!

Ashlyn opened presents on the way home in the bus.

I love how excited she gets about girly things!  She has so much personality!  We just adore her.  She makes life fun!  We had cupcakes and ice cream sandwiches while we waited for parents.  Easiest party ever and the kids loved it!

 

The Rest Of September

Most of September was spent unpacking boxes and trying to find places to put everything.  I don't think I took any real pictures, but I often would take pictures on my phone to text Jason while he was at work to ask his opinion.

So here is the dining room.

 

 The Office.  Trying to decide if we should keep both desks in there.  We did.  It's been a great homework room because we can close the doors.

Getting the playroom set up. Yep Ashlyn is in her pajamas and Paige in diaper.  That's what happens when mom is busy.  The playroom had a trap door with a rope that went down to the rock climbing wall room.  Really fun for the older kids, but we decided it was too dangerous for the little ones.  We took the rope down and put carpet over the entire floor.  Nope, no picture of it finished.

 

This next picture still makes me laugh.  I had sent it asking if I could cover the wires in the basement or if he needed access to them.  My kids don't like that they can see through the walls.  They think it is creepy.  So... I used the packing paper and a staple gun and made walls!  Lol!  The basement has been my fort since we moved in.

This area was floor to ceiling boxes.  I was pretty excited when I was down to just these two things to go through!  Do you like my walls?  :-)

And here is a picture of the back of my house that Lauren took.  Nothing super exciting, but you can see we are right up against the mountain and don't have much of a yard. 

 Ashlyn loves my new tub!  It is so deep!  It has jets and goes to my shoulders when I sit up straight.   For Ashlyn and Paige, it's a small pool. For me, it's heaven!

Paige in a diaper once again.  She loves to be like the big kids. She climbed up on the stool and started brushing her teeth without anyone telling her to.  Her hair is getting longer and her personality is really coming out.  She is just so much fun!

Lauren convinced Ashlyn to be Belle for Halloween and wanted to practice doing "Belle hair".  I love to see them take care of each other.  Ashlyn decided a few weeks before Halloween she wanted to be Supergirl. 

Austin and Lauren made a very quick trip back to Clovis with Janelle.  They loved seeing their friends, but I think it made them homesick.  It made me homesick just to see the pictures!  Miss these kids!

 And that's all I have for September. :-)

A Few Differences

Utah is different than California in a lot of ways besides the obvious mountains and cooler air.   In California, we had a neighborhood cat.  Here, we have the neighborhood deer.  The are 5 of them. It looks like a family.  I don't know anything about deer, but there are three small ones and two larger ones.  One has antlers, so... a family to me it is.  We see them everyday, often in our backyard and sometimes napping under our trampoline. We saw these guys on our way to the bus stop.  I love it!  Our neighbors say we will get sick of them, but I love Paige interrupting dinner conversation with a loud "DEER!" and pointing into our backyard.

One night we woke up to a really loud sound in our backyard.  We looked out and saw what looked like a deer with his antlers stuck in a small tree.  He was thrashing around pretty violently.  Jason ran down stairs and turned on the back lights.  The deer stopped and pulled his antlers out of the tree and just looked at Jason like "What are you looking at?"  They had a stare off for a minute and then slowly the deer turned and walked away, leaving the tree in pieces on the ground.

 

The other thing I am still getting used to is that you can get church books or materials just about anywhere.  On a quick trip to Ace Hardware we saw the Visiting Teaching Message for sale at the register for $2.50!  So funny to me!  There are signs near neighborhood entrances reminding you about an upcoming ward activity or welcoming home a missionary. 

Another thing we have loved, is the freedom to ride our quads and go cart around. 

 The girls love to go for a ride when ever they can.

 Austin and Jessica ride the go cart or their quads to friends houses.  Jessica was out riding her quad one day when we say a helicopter circling around the neighborhood.  It was black and had a gold star on it.  We assumed it was a police helicopter.  We were concerned and called Jessica to have her come home.  We watched as the helicopter landed just behind our house over the hill.  There are some very nice homes behind us and we were concerned that maybe there was a break in or something.  One of Jessica's good friends lives near where the helicopter landed so she called to see if everything was okay.  Her friend said,  "Oh that's just (I can't remember the name).  They live there."  Jason and I started cracking up.  We are not in California anymore.

In The Kitchen

It seems like we have been spending more time in the kitchen.  I think not having anything very close has forced me to be more organized.  There isn't such a thing as a "quick trip" to the grocery store or to Target.   I've been trying to make a week menu and use the extra time I have from not driving around so much to try out new recipes.

 

Everybody loves to help!  Even Paige.  I decided to try to keep her busy one day by letter her wash potatoes.

Just testing.

 

Jessica is such a crack up.  I left her to chop onions and came back in to her wearing motorcycle goggles!  She has been spending a lot of time in the kitchen.  She can make spaghetti all by herself using a recipe and she has been making cupcakes pretty regularly so she can practice frosting them using different tips.

 

 Jason is the best egg maker in our family.  A few Sundays ago, Lauren asked Jason if he would teach her how to make scambled eggs.  I love moments like thses.

Thanksgiving Point

We are loving all of the family time we are having here in Utah!  One Saturday, after watching Tyler's (my nephew) football game, we went with Billy and his kids to Thanksgiving Point for ice cream and to wander around.  We got ice cream for our whole family for less than five bucks!

 We had such a good time, that Jason and I took the little ones back about a week later and bought a membership.  We loved the Dinosaur Museum! (and I'm not a huge dinosaur fan.)  It was amazing!  Really cool place.

 Paige and Ashlyn loved the farm!

 Paige calls most of the animals by the sound that they make.  The Moos were her favorite.  She was very excited when she say the Neighs, but practically scrambled out of my arms when we got too close!  She was happy watching from a safe distance while Ashlyn went for a ride.

I've actually been terrible about pulling out my camera since we moved. 95% of the picture I have are from my cell phone, but it's better than nothing!

Like Rain Drops

The weather here is so different. 

 It rained a couple weeks after we got here.  In August.  While we were wearing shorts and t-shirts. 

 

It happened to match my mood perfectly. 

I love the view from my front porch.  The mountains are majestic and beautiful and somehow comforting.  Most days, the blue sky outlines them perfectly.  But on this day, I could barely make out the tops of the mountains.  The grey clouds hung low and on and off, throughout the day, were just too heavy and the rain would begin to fall.

Before we moved, we had talked all about how the move would effect everyone.  Jason asked what about me?  Would I be okay?  I told him I thought I would be.  I knew I would miss my friends, but most of my life was lived within the walls of my home.  I have babies.  I do laundry, naps, and play taxi driver most of the day.  I told him as long as we were all together, I would be fine.

And I am.  But my heart had been heavy.  I really missed my sister.  We have been close for as long as I can remember.  There is a connection there, that I just can't explain.   We are totally opposite in a lot of ways, but we get each other and are always there for each other.  One of the ways we are different is how we deal with things that are hard.  For both of us, me moving was going to be hard.  For Jen, it was easier if we didn't talk about it.  I think she hoped if she could pretend it wasn't going to happen, it would go away.  

It was tough to do because my life was consumed with the move.  As I was getting settled in my new house or would have a funny neighbor come by, I would want to call her to tell her about it because I know she would know where I should put the desk or laugh with me about my new experiences. But I didn't call.  I didn't know if she was ready to hear about Utah.  I didn't know if she was ready to accept that I really did move and I really was in Utah.  So, there was just a hole where she was supposed to be and my heart ached for my sister.  I didn't know if I could make such a big change without her.    

Throughout the day, the tears would escape, just like the rain drops.  I would see the boys (my nephews) post on Instagram and suddenly my cheeks were wet.  I missed seeing them everyday, even if it was just when I was picking up my kids or in passing.  Wes would still text me occasionally just to chat and I loved it.  It made me feel like I wasn't so far away, but I still missed them tremendously.  I missed little Brynne and her giant monkey hugs!  I started to worry that we wouldn't be close anymore.  I worried what I would miss...

On the way to Home Depot with Jason that night, he asked me how I was doing with everything. I let the tears flow.  I told him I really missed Jen.  He told me I needed to just tell her.  I  had been trying to be there for her by letting her deal with it in her time, but I needed her now and she would want to know.  He was right.

I sent her a text so she could process it on her time.  I told her I loved her and missed her and that I moved, but I still needed her.  I gave her the heads up that I was going to call her the next time I felt like it.  

She said she wasn't in denial anymore and slowly, order has been restored to my universe once again.  I still miss the day to day, but regular phone calls help fill the gap. 

Definitely the hardest part of the move for me so far.

Alpine

We loaded up the bus and left first thing Saturday morning.   My mom came out to Utah with us to help unload and drive my car, so I could help with the kids in the bus.   Austin posted this on his Instagram as we were leaving town. 

The trip was long and I was grateful for the bus so we could stretch out. 

Sweet Austin fell asleep laying down with Paige.  I found the note Kristie had put in my purse the night before.  I couldn't hold back the tears as I read her sweet message.  I wish Utah wasn't so far... I leaned my head on Jason and watched the road disappear under us.    A new adventure.  A new chapter.

We arrived in Alpine around 2am (I think).  I was wide awake as we drove through the dark neighborhood, anxious for the first glimpse of our new house.  As we came over the hill, I was surprised at how pretty the neighborhood was!   It looked so charming, I thought. 

The house looked like the pictures from the outside, but we were all still anxious to see inside.   The sleeping kids woke up quickly when we stopped and couldn't wait to run through the house and pick a room.  They were disappointed when it really sunk in that there were two less rooms than our other house.  We tried to decide if we could make the office into a bedroom, but with french doors and no closet, it didn't really make sense.

We brought cots and mats to sleep on while we waited for our furniture to arrive.   We decided we should unload and get the little ones back to sleep.  My mom left to sleep at my Aunt's house.  She offered to have us stay there as well, but we were anxious to get used to our new place.   We got the kids settled and I kept walking room to room trying to figure out where to put everything.  Jason finally dragged me to bed, reminding me that the truck wouldn't arrive for a few days and we would have time to figure it out.

I woke up a couple hours later when the sun came up.  Everyone was still asleep, but I couldn't help getting up and wandering around the house again.  As I came down the stairs, this is what I saw out my window.  Mountains. 

Yep we are in Utah.     I just stood there and took it in. 

When I finally pulled myself away from the window,  I wandered all through the house and the unfinished basement and then did it again.  I walked back upstairs and peaked in on my sleeping family

and eventually crawled back into bed with Jason and Paige to try to get a little more rest.

 

We were all finally awake around 9AM.  My mom's friend had dropped off a basket with all sorts of yummy food for breakfast for us in the middle of the night.  We did a search on our phone and found out church started at 1.  As we were finding everything we would need to get showered, our doorbell rang!  Who even knew we were here?!  We were still in our pajamas and looking road trip worn from the day before, so we sent Austin to answer the door with instructions that we were in the shower. Haha!  As Jason and I hid, Austin endured small talk with one of our new neighbors who had come to welcome us to the neighborhood and brought us freshly baked bread, butter and some tomatoes from their garden.  After they left, Jason walked around and closed the blinds!  LOL!  I made a quick mental note to shower first thing in the morning and wear a bra at all times, just in case! 

It payed off.  The next few days was a parade of unannounced visitors, all so incredibly sweet and all with a yummy homemade something and something from their garden.  The only exception was Lori, who showed up on my doorstep with cinnamon rolls.  "Hi!  I'm Lori.  I live just right down the street.  I don't bake, but these looked really good, so I hope you like them!"  Oh my gosh!  My favorite surprise on the other side of the door so far!  Loved her!  I asked if she had a garden and she said she did.  I guess we are going to have to grow a garden...

Paige and Ashlyn eating watermelon from one of our neighbor's garden.

I actually enjoyed the few days without our furniture.  No TV.  No Computer.  I did miss having somewhere to sit.  The stairs worked well enough though.  We had an ice chest and our new neighbors brought us dinners and treats.   The kids played on the rock climbing wall in our basement to help pass the time.

Registering the kids for school was quite a fiasco.  Utah requires an extra immunization that California does not.   Our health insurance was California based and not available in Utah and I didn't have the information of our new insurance or a computer... blah, blah, blah.  I finally had to pay $25 per kid to sign a waiver. $100 later, I thought we were good to go, but they said needed custody paperwork for the three oldest!  What the heck?! Really?  Yep.  Can't go to school without it.  I wasn't sure I even had anything like that.  Travis and I have always just agreed on things.  The school said it should be in my divorce paperwork.  Hmm.  I don't even know if I have that and if I do, it would be buried in a file, on a truck that is probably somewhere in Nevada.  They wouldn't even let Travis fax something in that was notarized saying I had custody of the kids and they could go to school in Utah!  In California, they go bonkers if kids miss school for even a day, but our new school wasn't concerned about how long it would take to get the paperwork or how behind the kids would be getting.  Grrr.  We eventually found a loop hole and had Travis sign a power of attorney regarding the kids and school.  I was glad I wasn't trying to unpack boxes and deal with all that.

After filling out oodles of paperwork for each of the kids, getting schedules for the older ones and teachers for the younger ones, we were ready.   I got a call the next morning from Ashlyn's school.  "We just noticed Ashlyn's birthday on her birth certificate.  She doesn't quite make the cut off date for kindergarten."  I told them she had already started school in California and asked if she could enroll as a transfer student.  Nope.  Utah law says no one can be in the public school system that is not 5 by September 1.  Ashlyn's birthday is October 1.  I called the district office and talked to a lady who had moved to Utah in February with a kindergartner whose birthday was in September and they wouldn't even let her finish the last three months of her kindergarten year!  So, no way around it.  Ashlyn wasn't going to be in Kindergarten.

I got a call from Lauren that afternoon.  I had given her Ashlyn's teacher's name and the room number she would be in with instructions to go straight there when class was out to pick up Ashlyn so they could ride the bus home together.  I had forgotten to leave Lauren a message at the school to let her know that Ashlyn wasn't going to be in school.  She had gone to Ashlyn's classroom and she wasn't there.  Worried, she asked a teacher to help her find her little sister.  They walked onto every bus and asked if Ashlyn had gotten on that bus.  No Ashlyn.  They went to the other kindergarten classrooms, the bathrooms and the office and no Ashlyn.   Lauren was panicked and called me sobbing.  I could barely understand her through her sobs.  "I can't find Ashlyn! I've looked everywhere!".   I felt to terrible!! 

And Austin, who was just starting his first year of high school, found himself in "middle school" for another year.  I actually think being the new kid, it's better to be the oldest than the youngest.   And I was happy that Austin and Jessica would be at school together.    

Finally, the truck arrived.

Check out how stacked in there everything was!  That's Jason's motorcycle on the top "shelf"!

I SO did not like the crew of rough necks that showed up to unload!!  This guy creeped me out the most, so I smiled and asked if I could take a picture of him.  I really just wanted him to know I had one... just in case.  I wanted my kids out of the house as quickly as possible!  Luckily, my mom was around to help. 

As the boxes piled off the truck, it was glaringly obvious that we weren't going to fit in this house.    There were five guys and one HUGE Samoan that counted as two, unloading things faster than I knew where to send them.  They would ask where this went or that and I felt like I was running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, checking for space. Finally I just started saying to send it to the basement.  I really just wanted these creepy guys out of my house.  Frank (the truck diver) assured me that they have all had background checks, but he had just met them that morning.  When the box came off the truck with the security cameras, I made a point of asking them to set it off to the side.

 

Finally, they were gone and I was once again surrounded by boxes.