Finally and Meeks

Despite some last minute stresses and trips to the bank we were able to finally close on our new home.  It is a bit of an older home and totally different than the one in Idaho but we love it.  It is a forever home for us with plenty of room for our family.  Because it was right before Labor Day we closed on the home, went camping with our family and then went to Idaho to get all of our stuff and moved in the next week.  When we actually closed on the home I had to wait a bit for the girls to get out of school.  Lily and I hung out at the empty house.  A neighbor dog came and made friends.  It turned out he was just being dog sat and really just wanted to play fetch.  We humored the dog for a bit and it was all fun and games until he fell down the window well and I couldn't get him out!  I was totally stressing but luckily he climbed out eventually.  Thankfully he doesn't come around and visit any more.  I don't have anything against dogs but I certainly don't need to fish them out of the window well very often.

 Here is my new kitchen.  The lady that sold us the house left beautiful flowers.  It was nice of her.  We had the most amazing realtor as well that gave us several very nice house warming gifts and dinner for the first night we were there.  We were really blessed to have such amazing people working with us to get this house.  I have never worked with better.

 This is the upstairs.  It was completely empty at this point.  As we slowly get it to where I want it to be we will have to post more pictures.  We have done lots and lots of painting and Bryan has done a TON to the backyard.  There are lots of trees around here that have required a lot of work.

 Right after we closed we drove to our annual family reunion.  The timing was not good.  I don't think we were the best company to be honest.  Closing on a house was so stressful and anticipating packing all of our stuff in Idaho and Bryan getting back to work was a lot on our minds.  Bryan ended up going back to the house and working on the yard while I stayed with the girls at Meeks.  We went to the Mountain Man Convention on the way there so Julia could see the Native Americans and get a dream catcher.

 Her cousins came along.  We ate Navajo Tacos that were delicious and enjoyed people watching.

 Carli brought her face paints and the kids made her do a different face every single day.

 The kids also worked on puppets.  They loved crafting and made quite a mess with paints and such.

 So many face paints.  The older two girls were always running off with cousins while I  was with Lily so it seems like she is in the majority of the pictures.

 Lily mastered the swing while we were there and was so proud of herself.  She up to this point had been terrified of the swing.  We would whoop and holler and demand everyone watch her while she was swinging so they could know she was being brave.

 Fun cousins.  I was glad in the end we came just so my kids could have such a great time with their cousins.

Overall it was a great trip and fun times to spend with family.

The Start of School

When the girls started school we weren't quite in our house yet.  It was a very crazy time.  We had to commute an hour to get them to school and back.  Thankfully it was only a few weeks but we were so glad after labor day to have our own home that was just three minutes from the school rather than a full hour!  We went to the "meet the teacher" night.  I was really nervous for the girls.  This was Audrey's second elementary school and Julia's third.  I just wanted them to have good teachers.  They insisted on taking their backpacks that night even though they didn't need them.  Their teachers have been so amazing this year and they have made lots of good friends.  That has been my greatest relief with moving.  Truly an answer to prayers.  I wanted this to be a smooth transition for them and I'm just so grateful that it has been.

 Julia's teachers have so many fun projects that they have this year.  I feel like it has pushed and stretched Julia and she really needed that.  Audrey really needed an upbeat and enthusiastic teacher and that was exactly what she got.  Audrey comes home every day telling me all about her teacher and makes Lily play school with her.

 This was the official first day of school.  The girls were pretty nervous.

 But they sure looked adorable.

 There is something a little heartwrenching about leaving your kids for seven hours and just hoping and praying everything goes ok for them.  I wanted lunch to go smoothly and for there to be a couple of kind girls that would sit next to them and say hello.  It's always such a relief to see them smiling when you go to pick them up.  Audrey's only complaint was that they went over the rules so much it was a little boring.

 This was Audrey waiting in line the first day.  She was so nervous that entire first week and wanted me to walk her right up to the line and watch her go in.  That only lasted a little while though.  Now she is so worried about being late and runs right in.

 My mom drove up with me that first day of school so we took them to the mall and had a little snack and made a day of it.

 Another day when I was stuck waiting with them and waiting for Bryan to finish work we found this great park that they played on for hours.  I couldn't get them to leave.  We made the most of this crazy time.  At one point we got a hotel near the school and did that for a few days as well.  It certainly made us appreciate being settled!

 Lily and I met Bryan for lunch a few times and walked by this beautiful park near the hospital.

Before School

We decided to squeeze in as many fun things before school started despite the fact that we still hadn't closed on our house and poor Bryan was commuting from Wyoming to Utah every single day.  Bryan's work sponsored a minor league baseball game and gave us tickets to attend.  The view from the stadium was so beautiful.  I have been surprised at how much I missed the mountains and how much I love living by them again.  I feel like my few is pretty year round.

 They even gave the girls cute hats and headbands.

 We also had some fun BBQ's down at the pit.  This night was a particularly beautiful and the moon was so big.  My girls love going down and roasting marshmallows and having delicious dutch oven cooking.

 While Bryan was at work one day my mom and I took the girls back to the Uintas for some hiking.  It was so pretty up there.

 Julia and Lily walked like this the entire time.  Julia kept making up stories for Lily.  It kept her entertained the entire time.

 Isn't that view amazing!?

 Bryan and I took the girls to Bear Lake one Saturday.  It was insanely crowded but we had so much fun anyways.

 Eating treats on a beautiful beach is high on my favorites list.

 The water is so clear and beautiful.

 Julia particularly loved playing in the sand and collecting shells.  She was fascinated that Bear Lake had shells.

 My cute Julia and me.

 Audrey loved going out deep in the water with Bryan.

Overall with all the craziness, I am so thankful we were still able to have a great summer.  We just had to squeeze in the fun while we were trying to get everything squared away with a place to live!

Time Before the New Job

Bryan had a little time before he started his new job and so we tried to squeeze in a few more fun things to take advantage.  We went on a few walks down to Bear River State Park.  It was always so beautiful.  It makes me crave summer again.

 We had to make a few trips to Utah to get our new house purchased.  It was stressful and required so much paperwork.  I felt like I had to send something new every single day.  Luckily our new home has lots of fun things to do.  We found this great little squirt park I think we will return to frequently.

 The girls had been begging Bryan for a camping trip and this was the best time to make it happen.  Luckily the Uintas are super close to my parent's home and we could go up for the evening, Bryan spent the night with the two older girls and then I came back in the morning for breakfast.  Other than Julia accidentally breaking Bryan's fishing rod it was a perfect trip.

 The campground was by this pond with tons of lily pads in it.  It was so beautiful.

 Does it get better than this?  My dad had bought the girls little fishing poles and they put them to some use.  Thankfully there were lots of fish and we caught quite a few.  We even threw one on the grill.  Nothing is more delicious than fresh caught fish.

 Julia caught one all on her own.  She was so excited.  She would have fished for hours.

 My parents were so patient to help each of the little girls.

 The Uintas rank up there with prettiest places in the world.

 We also took a day and went to the Alpine Slides.  The views were amazing.

 Lily was terrified of the entire experience.  I thought she was going to have a complete meltdown as we tried to get her on the ski lift up to the slide.  Thankfully she calmed down and enjoyed the slow ride down with my mom.  They wouldn't let one of us ride down with Audrey which was a problem because she isn't strong enough to push down the lever.  So we were at the bottom of the slide waiting for a really long time for her to come down.  It was super frustrating because eventually we could see her, panic in her eyes and they wouldn't let me go up there and help her.  I felt so helpless just standing there yelling at her to push down the lever and her trying with all her little might.  The guy behind her was yelling at her because she couldn't get her sled to move which was even more infuriating.  Bryan was ready to go and tell that rude man where to go.  Needless to say we probably won't be doing Alpine Slides again for a little while.  Thankfully we went and got a delicious lunch after this and the day ended up being a fun one.

 We took the girls to the river with tubes to do a little floating.

 This was a highlight.  Bryan would float a ways down with them and walk back and take another child.  Pretty soon it was back to work for him but I'm so glad we got to have a few weeks of free time before he had to start another job.