The Long Trip (Part I)

When Mike got the job here in Utah, we discovered that in a 3 1/2 week period of time he would be gone training, being trained, on work trips that we could not follow him in during most of June. As I hadn't seen family in almost a year, we decided I would jump ship for the same period of time, journey back to California and visit with family and friends. Of course, being prudent and not telling people the house was vacant for a month was another a decision we made, so I have not blogged.

The kids really missed their dad. I didn't think it would affect them as much as it did, but they loved the conversations they got to have on the phone with him, cried at times that they missed him and were so happy to be home with him when we got back. It was a great discovery. I think they would miss me that much if I was gone that long...I am hoping more...but don't tell Mike. It just happens to be my full time job, so I hope it would have a bigger impact. At the same time, I would enjoy a nice cruise alone with my husband, but that is another subject.

Before we left we tied up a few loose ends. First there was some gardening that needed to be done. This is the front flower bed. It had flowers, but I felt it was a little anemic for my tastes. I have been looking forward to having my own gardening space for awhile. Next year I am hoping to put curbing by the entrance, starting at the closest corner of the cement below and then curving it around to the front corner of the house. Maybe even the back corner. It is a little sad back there. Then I will put in some nice bushes that will help the front window not look like a hanging space ship.
Here is the final product. I put in a Japanese Maple that will get about 10-11 feet tall. I moved all the pansies to the edge...saved some money there. Put in some more annuals and closer to the middle a bunch of perennials. It makes me happy to look out at my flowers.
This is the same place from the back. The backyard had a flower area also...you just couldn't tell. Getting all the grass out that had grown through the landscaping tarp took me most of a Saturday. Here is the back yard one. It is a little more anemic...I will add more perennials next year. I took out the "volunteer" tree they had let grow in this one also. It is still a vast improvement. The only problem I am having now is that because this is an aspen, there are bugs feasting on my flowers. I need to spray them to keep them healthy/alive.
Katie put flowers in her hair that had come out while I weeded hastily. It was very cute...
Before we left we also had to celebrate Christian's Birthday early so that Mike could be a part of it. Although that ended up being very confusing for him...it was what we did. We just did a really simple birthday cake with ice cream, opened presents and sang to him. He loved it. He got spoiled at Grandma's house when she wanted to make a cake for him there too. She didn't want him to feel unloved. It was a shared with one of his cousin, but it was all his as far as he was concerned. Katie is wanting three celebrations this year too. Life isn't fair though...
Christian lost a lot of teeth in the last month. On the "celebration day" he was sporting his Tow Mater look as the tooth loosened and stuck out. It is now gone.

Here is a little video from his party. Katie made up a little song for him.


(To be continued...)

Scouting is the thing...

After unpacking, shopping, meeting neighbors and settling in for two weeks the kids joined their dad on a scouting event. The kids had fun going with him and I had a much needed break to go and do some errands that would have bored the kids out of their minds (buying myself shoes and getting a haircut...much needed, I might add). It was time for this Councils Scout-O-Rama and the kids have always had fun going and checking it out in Phoenix. As Mike is new in his job he was apparently stopped every so many feet, much to the chagrin of Katie, but it was still fun. I got back just in time to see them get in a row boat. They had waited for 1/2 an hour for the chance to get it in one.
Christian wanted to sit right next to his dad and he was holding onto him for dear life at first...

but Mike quickly got him paddling. It is harder to see them here, but I think Katie's pink shirt sticks out in the sea of blue and orange. Isn't it beautiful there. Look at all the green...I am still getting used to it after all the brown and red in the desert.

They were out for a little while until Mike got tired, as he was the one doing most of the work.

They had fun being with their dad, on the job. I whisked them away with me so that he could finish up his day and clean up at the end. Scouting is fun!

Two Cars, Two States, Two National Parks, One Day.

After a restful night in Williams, Arizona we headed on up to the entrance of the Grand Canyon. It is not unusual for those living in Arizona to have never seen the Grand Canyon before. It is 4 hours away from Phoenix and it is common to hear people say that you go up, look in, and drive back. (In other words, it isn't worth your time). However, I decided since we were going to be driving "right by it" on our way to Utah, we better go look at it. Otherwise, we might never get back and do it. So off we went.

We stopped at the entrance to take pictures with the official sign. While taking the kids picture, Christian looked around and asked, "So this is the Grand Canyon?" We were still a few miles from the "hole", the innocence of children cracks me up.
Some wonderful people came by and took a family picture for us, so now we have proof we were all there.

This is the view right as you drive up into your parking spot. It was spectacular, quite amazing. It was easy to see why it is one of the official wonders of the earth.

Katie was enjoying the sights. It was really hard to get the kids to move on, they were really entranced by the vastness of the canyon.

This picture really doesn't do the canyon justice. It is really beautiful.

Daddy and Katie, she was really into taking pictures here...we had hardly any pictures of Christian...he was not into it.

The end of April was a great time to go as it was not yet too hot. It was gorgeous weather. A great time to move.

Double self portrait. I found a couple of these. They were having fun with the camera.

This is the first stop (our last as we were going out that way) from the eastern entrance to the park. We went in the lookout tower. You can go all the way to the top. It was really quite something.

It was really fun to go in and up the narrow stairways and look down the center of this very tall building. I stayed close to the kids, just in case they got the urge to see if they could jump and make down to the bottom. One of my friends told me they went to every stop and visitor center in 2 hours. They are fast. We way under budgeted our time there and felt pinched for time after leaving 4-4 1/2 hours after we got there. I could have stayed longer. We were way behind schedule, but we were glad that we made the time and effort to go.

A few hours later we crossed the border into Utah. The kids were excited that we were in Utah but were wishing we were closer to our final destination.

Our Mapquest directions took us on Highway 9 to get to Saint George, Utah to stay the night with some of our friends. However, that highway is now no longer free...I don't know when that changed...but as I pulled up to the park ranger station I was a bit frustrated. It is no cheap thing to go through a park. By law, he had to charge us again for both cars to go through a different park. After spending $50 on just my car in one day, we decided $30 more wasn't much to throw in there for an annual National Parks Pass. We just need to plan to go and enjoy. It was a spectacular drive, worth the price of admission. The summer after I graduated from BYU I had been to Zion's National Park and hiked Angel's Landing and the Narrows, but had not been back since. Some people have a natural and early appreciation for nature. My parents tried. We went to National Parks, camped (in trailers), got us out to see the world, but I just took it for granted. Now I appreciate it. It was gorgeous. Had I known that we were going to really go through there (and pay for it), I would have scheduled a day in to see it. It was really stunning and it has some great hiking there also. Here are a couple of pictures while I was driving slowly through the sharp curves. Don't worry, we were the only ones around at the time.

There is Mike driving in front of us. Look at this view! It is better in person. There were more that I could have taken...but I was being safe! Hopefully we will go back soon. Maybe a weekend this summer. There are so many parks in this state.

We finally got to Saint George, where we met up with my cousin four hours after we had planned. They were troopers and we were so glad to see them. The kids had been looking forward to seeing Miles for the first time. He is adorable. The next day we were someplace and supposed to be slightly serious (I don't remember why), and Christian started to bust up laughing. Mike started to get after him until I asked him why he was laughing. "When Miles was doing...", he laughed as he told us what he was remembering from the night before. Christian knows how to entertain himself. Thanks Rob and Staci for meeting up with us so late! It was fun to see you again!

We headed for one of Mike's past boss's house who retired in St. George. Kim and Cindy live in a beautiful historic house downtown, which I forgot to get a picture of. It was really pretty, beautiful gardens and they were such great hosts, ast we dropped in late and left early since Mike had an appointment the next afternoon. We loved getting to see old friends and family on the trip.

Last Tiger Cub Meeting

We finished getting the truck packed, the house cleaned and last Joe's BBQ meal eaten and we headed off for Christian's last Pack meeting in Arizona. He led the posting of the colors with the help of a scout leader. He stood at attention and was very grown-up about it. I guess this Boy Scout program does work...who knew. (wink, wink)
He led the pledge...

And the cub scout motto...he did an awesome job. If I hadn't been so exhausted and proud, I think I would have cried. I never was a crier before, but I think this whole motherhood thing has done a number on me for certain things.

Here we are with Christian during the advancement ceremony. He was all business.

He was so excited to get the powder Tiger paw print on his back. He was thrilled.

Dad putting on the award...

Getting their beads and other awards they had completed. They got blue and yellow paint on their faces. He was so proud of that he wouldn't wash it off for two days.

Because we were moving a month early, Christian got his Bobcat award and advanced to Wolf a month earlier than the scheduled time.

Dad switched the neckerchief. No more orange, he is onto yellow.

His Tiger Cub leader Necole was just awesome this year. She loved the boys and had so much energy and enthusiasm, not to say anything about patience...you have to with this age. We are going to miss her!
Proud of that paw print, which got smudged through the night of ceremonies.
Excited and exhausted, we left the pack meeting early to head up to Williams, the first leg of our move. Sleep is far from their minds.
A proud papa with his son. It was a good night. He has earned getting his Bobcat turned right side up by doing a good deed. Now if we can only find where dad put it safely for the trip...
Congratulations, Christian! We love you!

The Moving Birthday Parties

So, what does any sane person plan to do the weekend they are getting packed and moved? Have a Moving Birthday Party, of course. I had a few people express that it was a bit crazy to do, and so it was, but we just had to do it. We have been doing birthday parties every other year and this was the kids year to have their parties. Last year, I thought that this might be a problem, but Mike assured me we wouldn't get another job that quickly after our 3-year commitment was up. So we waited. I knew that they really would want to have parties with their friends that they had in Arizona so we did them a moved it up to the weekend of the move so that they could. However, we probably would have had a moving party anyway, so it was a two-for-one deal in the end. I was a little anxious that it go well, but it was just fine. I am not a detail oriented person, so I forced myself to put all the details on Excel so I would hopefully not forget anything with all that was going on. It worked out great.

Luckily, the kids were excited about doing their parties at the same time and wanted to do the same stuff, maybe I just really sold them on the ideas. In addition, over half of the kids that came for Christian were a brother or sister of a girl that came for Katie's party, to make it easy we did it together and they loved planning it. We had a water game themed party since it starts getting hot in April. We were really lucky as the weather was a little unpredictable that week. I was praying that we wouldn't fry and it wouldn't get cold and rain. We didn't get either of those, although it was really windy. But I would take that any day over the other options.

Katie wanted to play the game to see who could pop their balloons the fastest and here the kids were getting ready. The team that got them all popped first won. And if their balloon blew away, they had to chase it down and pop it. Just additional excitement added. They had a dead tie and it ended in laughter.

Then we played water balloon volleyball. Thanks to my friend Melanie who not only brought her badminton net, but also helped me fill and tie MANY water balloons for the day. She also became my camera woman...didn't she do fabulous? The kids loved it, even if they hardly volleyed. It was really about getting wet.

We had a water balloon toss...the oldest boys won, of course...

We had to have a water balloon fight and the kids loved it. I bought 1000 balloons. We still have at least half left. I think we will have to fill some up in July and do it again here with the neighbors.

The balloons went fast...

Then they played cold potato, which you get a water balloon, poke a few holes and you don't want it to pop or have it empty when it gets passed to you. The kids had a lot of fun. I popped a few on myself as I was poking them. It was great!

They were loving it...

I think their favorite game was splash tag. We had 4 sponges...there should have been more...and if you got hit, you were it. It was a great game.

They played this while we set up for the pinata and cake and ice cream. When everything was over, many went back out and played this until their parents arrived. Whoever said that tag was out of fashion? Okay, I never heard anyone say that either...just checking. :)

The pinata! I cannot tell you how excited Katie and Christian were that they had a pinata. This was one huge pinata too. They helped fill the pinata in the morning which was a huge help!

Just to be destroyed...

In the end, by this guy...Christian's favorite babysitter. Isn't that cool that he came? Christian really wanted him to come and this 14 year old boy did. He was great. And he helped out too when we needed it. Like putting up streamers because he could do it without a ladder...unlike me.

Christian picked out an Iron Man cake. Hey, I have my limits while moving. Making the cakes...not happening so much. Albertson's was great!

Katie is growing up. No pink on this cake allowed. Indigo blue was wanted and purple was allowed to be the accent color.

Can you see how windy it was? But it was warm...so it was okay.

Christian's friends...one final picture. Memories are what we can take with us and that is what we made. His two best buddies Kristin and Reagan in the center with him.

Here is my little shy girl with all of her friends. It was the end, and I nearly started crying. I had to hold it together as I hoped that she would make friends quickly this time around and that she would be able to keep in touch with these special friends that she loves! I didn't know 9 years ago that my heart could ache that much for another person. (She is really doing well though, I have been happily surprised! And she is keeping in touch.)

A few more pictures as people were leaving. She loves them all, but just a few cute pictures that I wanted to comment on. Katie has proclaimed Maya as the funniest person she knows. They played basketball together at recess and were in class with each other every year of school.

Emily, her good friend that she met in Girl Scouts. I didn't want to do it at first when we moved to Arizona. It had been Mike's idea. They were never in the same class at school, so I don't think they would have ever met without Girl Scouts. I hate to think of the friendships we would have missed if we hadn't done it!

What can I say...look at that face. Christian got Luke and Leia action figures and is ready to play Star Wars with Kristin when they come to visit. She is Leia on the playground, people. Don't mess with her. She has been such a cute friend!

And my two DEAR friends, Melanie and Cindy...I could not have done this party without them. They volunteered to stay through the whole thing and helped me wrangle the kids and keep me organized and didn't mind me giving directions and usually anticipated what I or Mike needed before that. Thanks for helping me! You rock.

Thanks also to Terrie and Sonja who both "lent" their bathrooms to us for the party, as this park didn't have any. It would have been disastrous without that. You can't put a price on that!

Since I haven't found another place to put this, we have also had other dear friends that during our last days in town fed us, offered to help us pack and clean, and many who wanted to help in some way. What a wonderful place we called home for three years. All of my friends truly made it that and we love and miss you. Thank you for everything!

In the end, the kids had a great time celebrating while also getting closure to a wonderful chapter in their lives. They are adjusting well to the changes but are eager to see their friends again someday! Come visit...we have room!