8 August 2014
I don’t have internet connection at home, so I am not sure how soon I can send this, but I thought I would try to keep up on what is happening with us. It has been a month since I wrote. It has been a busy month.
Neal drove to Texas on July 4th and we enjoyed seeing him. On the 5th we drove to the Austin area to visit Neal’s friend from USU Jacob Carter. It was nice to see him and meet his children. It was a busy week end for Neal. He drove back to Colorado on Sunday with the car loaded with fragile things we didn’t want the moving company to handle.
We went to the Mayborn museum one last time and enjoyed playing in the outside village.
We spent a morning at our favorite park with friends.
The next week went by quickly as I worked hard to finish packing up the house. Then on Saturday the 12th Neal flew to Texas to help with our big move. Monday the 15th the moving company came and packed up all our boxes and furniture into their truck. The kids had a fun day with the Baker’s while Neal and I worked at the house. By that evening our house was empty except for our sleeping bags and suit cases. It was a bit sad.
Saying good bye to our friends in front of our empty home. Caleb didn't want to be in the picture, so you won't find him.
Early Tuesday morning, July 13th, we left our home in Hewitt Texas and drove to Broomfield Colorado to our new home. It took all day and we were all very tired when we finally arrived. Neal went back to work on the 14th and I was with the kids in a half empty house, in a new place. We have lots of biking trails around us and we brought the kids bikes on the back of the Suburban so we explored those first couple of days while we waited for the moving truck to arrive. Friday the 19th the moving company came and were able to unload all our things. I was thankful that we had door to door service, our things were packed into a truck and didn’t leave it until it got to the new house. That helped a lot to keep us from missing things or things getting broken being moved around. Only a few things have been found damaged, so overall the move went well.
The open land behind our home.
Exploring the bike trails. We brought their bikes with us on the back of the suburban, but I packed their helmets in a box. So we didn't have them for a couple of days.
On Saturday the 20th we got in the car and drove to Utah for our vacation. The drive seemed so short. We ate breakfast at home and ate dinner with the Hancock’s that evening. It was so nice to have a shorter trip to see our family. Sunday the 21st we spent with the Hubbard’s. That afternoon Neal flew back to Colorado. He couldn’t stay for our vacation because with his new job he didn’t have any vacation time.
Ruth at a rest stop high up in the Colorado mountains.
The gathering at the Hubbard's home. All the grandkids were there and Grandma had fun giving them cake for her birthday. She also gave the July and August birthday boys gifts.
The kids always enjoy having my dad read them stories. We stayed at the Hancock's home for night time since the Hubbards were so many.
Eating ice cream with cousins can be lots of fun.
Mandy came over and we were able to meet her little guy for the first time.
The kids and I had some fun experiences having a family vacation without Neal. The first week we went with the Hubbard family to Cinnamon Creek campground in Cache Valley Utah. It was a pretty place. We had a nice camping area for the family reunion. Everyone was there, except Neal. We missed him. I managed to get the tent set up with some help from family and we survived all the camping, hiking, fishing and swimming that week.
There was a stream by our camping area that the kids had fun playing in each afternoon, when it got hot.
Spencer and Caleb taking a break during our hike.
Caleb enjoying a snack with Charlotte and Grandpa
More water play with cousins
There were hand carts to help carry camping gear and children
Andrew liked watching the fire
Dallin and May Bo made this neat puzzle that we did together as a family.
We spent a morning at the Porcupine Res. that was close to our camp ground.
More hand cart rides. Get those uncles to work!
The kids put on a skit with their cousins.
Cowboy Caleb with his prize.
Saturday the 26th we left Logan and drove to Rachel’s home in Bountiful. We had a fun swim party at her apartment complex with all of my sisters and some of their family members. It was a small pool and our group were the only ones out there that afternoon. It was a fun way to start a week visiting with the Hancock family. Sunday July 27th we had a Hancock family dinner where many of the family came. It was good to see some of the family I hadn’t seen for awhile.
Caleb had fun with chalk on Grandma Hancock's porch. Funny thing was that he said he wrote the alphabet backwards. Notice he made it mirror image as well as starting at Z.
Grandma Hancock had cake and ice-cream for the August birthday boys.
Ruth with her cousin Jessica and aunts Rachel and Susan. I am sure Ruth will be the tallest in this group some day.
It was fun to see baby Garrett
The kids had fun playing with their cousins. Jessica was surprised to see that Ruth was as tall as her, she laughed and said “that wont last.” Knowing that Ruth will continue to grow. Mandy’s kids were excited to play with us, as we are the cousins that are the same age. It was a nice evening.
The next week we spent with the Hancock’s. We did many fun activities. Tuesday we enjoyed a day at BYU. We went to the newly remodeled Bean Museum. It was really nice. Then we ate lunch in the WILK and went bowling. Then the kids wanted to walk to the science building to see the physic things they have out to play with. We did a lot of walking that day.
Playing with a baby is fun.
We spent an evening at my mission presidents home, it was good to see them.
At the Bean Museum at BYU
Our bowling adventures at BYU
The science building
Having fun with statues at BYU
Another day we drove around Orem and I reminisced with the kids. I showed them the house I grew up in. We stopped at Geneva Elementary school and played on the play ground and walked around the front of Mountain View High school. I guess I was feeling a bit sentimental because it was the week of my 25th high school reunion. (I decided not to attend it, because it was Saturday evening and we needed to drive home that day.) Things have changed so much since I was a kid. I was trying to tell the kids what it was like back then, but Geneva Steel is gone now and most the orchards, so it just is a different place. Orem is a bigger place than it was in the 70’s and 80’s. I did enjoy seeing things though.
Wednesday the 30th we went to visit with Great-Grandma Johnson. We enjoyed having Grandma Hubbard there too. The kids loved exploring in her garden and finding raspberries and squash. Then Grandma treated us to lunch at McDonald’s. It was a fun morning. That afternoon I took time to go to the temple. It was nice to have some quiet time to myself. The kids stayed with my parents. I didn’t get too many breaks from parenting and it was nice to have some time alone.
Thursday the 31st we went to the new Aquarium in Draper, Utah. Mandy and her kids came, Rachel and Jessica were with us too. It was a nice place. We enjoyed seeing so many things. We ate our sack lunch and then went to Temple Square in Salt Lake City. It was nice to see things there too. We didn’t have time to go into the church history museum, but we did look around the visitor centers and walked around the Temple. Then we did a tour of the Conference center. That is an amazing building. The kids thought it was neat and even Caleb recognized it as the “church on our computer.” Meaning, it is where conference is held and we watch conference on our computer.
There were lots of neat things to see at the aquarium
There was a cool rope bridge at the aquarium
at Temple Square
Grandma Hancock did another cake for the birthday boys
Friday August 1st Neal flew to Utah in the morning. We met up with him at the Hubbard’s home. (His mom had picked him up at the air port.) Then we went to Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City with Neal’s parents and May Bo and her boys. It was a fun day. The zoo has been remodeled and had some really nice areas to see the animals. I think a high light for the boys was that we went on the zoo train ride. We enjoyed being with Neal for the day too.
At the zoo. We enjoyed seeing the bird show.
The kids liked the statues at the zoo and wanted their picture with all that they could find.
On our train ride at the zoo
Playing with marbles at Grandma Hubbard's house.
Our good bye pictures with our parents.
Saturday August 2nd we drove home to Colorado. To add to our adventure Ruth got sick on the ride. Thankfully it was all contained and she was able to sleep in the back seat most the ride. We arrived home about 6:00 pm. Just in time to join a block party on the street. Neal had planned for it and we just had to get some food from the kitchen and go out and join them. It was nice to meet some friendly neighbors.
Sunday we had a quiet morning while we were getting use to our house full of things. Neal had done a lot of work at getting things organized while we were gone. He had beds together and furniture in place. He had unpacked things for the kitchen. One thing he hadn’t been able to find was the hardware for the bunk beds, the book shelf pegs, and the screws for our small kitchen table. So he hadn’t put those things together yet. He asked me where the hardware could be. I couldn’t remember, he was the one that took things apart. As we were driving on Saturday I was sitting quietly with my eyes closed and started to think about our last day in Hewitt. I had come to my mind our small red tool box. I then remembered that was where the hardware had been put. As soon as we got home Neal went to the tool box and the parts were there. I feel that it was an answer to prayer and I was inspired to know where it was. Neal was able to get the bunk bed put together that evening so Spencer and Andrew could sleep in their beds. He put together the table the next morning, so we had a table to eat at. Our dining room table is over carpet. We are concerned about eating over carpet, especially since the carpet is new and we are just renting. So we have been eating in the kitchen this week, I am glad we have a table for that.
We enjoyed going to our new ward, the Red Leaf Ward, last Sunday. Everyone was so friendly and kind to us. The kids were all so happy after church and talking about their new friends and teachers.
This week has gone by quickly. We have been exploring the biking paths more and have found three parks we can get to by walking/biking. Maybe there are more. There is a lot of open space around the houses, it is nice. Especially where the yard is small, I am glad we have somewhere to go. The kids have set up trains in the basement. They like playing down there. I am liking having a basement to store things and have our food storage all together and easier to access.
Tuesday August 5th was Andrew’s 9th birthday. That morning as I was getting ready for the day I felt like I needed to get to the schools. My initial plan was to just play with the kids and make it a fun day for Andrew and go to the schools on Wednesday. But I felt I needed to get to the schools. We went to Westlake Middle school first and found that morning was registration for new students to the district, that meant us! I didn’t know that and I was thankful I followed the prompting to go to the school that morning. We were able to get all the paper work filled out for Ruth that day. She had to choose a music option, between choir, band or orchestra. She choose band. So all my worries last spring about her not wanting to do music were for naught. She still gets to have an art class at her new school too. To remind you about last spring, she had chosen art over music for her elective class. She plans on learning the clarinet. We also visited Mountain View Elementary school that day. The boys were a little excited to see their new school. We were able to get the paper work for them and brought it back the next day. So the kids are now registered the in the Adams 12 district.
Andrew's birthday at home
Andrew is happy to be a Bear cub scout now
After we did the schools we went to the city library. It is a nice library. In fact the children’s room is probably as big as the entire Hewitt Library. It will be nice to have more to choose from, but I will miss the small feel of the Hewitt library where all the librarians knew me.
Wednesday evening I took Andrew and Ruth to the church for their activities. Ruth had fun meeting new girls and learning about leading music. Andrew enjoyed doing some geocaching in the neighborhood with the other cub scouts.
Thursday I got sick with what Ruth had last Saturday. I felt pretty miserable all day. I couldn’t get up to get the kids breakfast and so I let them do it themselves. I could hear the commotion and hoped they didn’t make too big of a mess. They just did cereal, but it sounded pretty crazy. I managed to get out of bed and dressed so I could help with lunch. I was doing well enough that I was able to go with Ruth in the late afternoon to the middle school to pick up her schedule. We were able to have her paper work turned in in time so that she was in the system and we were able to get her student id card and her class schedule and locker assignment. We walked around the school a little bit. It is a big school but she will learn it.
That catches me up to today. We went for a walk this morning, I have been feeling better. I slept almost 10 hours last night and have been able to do things today. I am thankful I am not still sick. I took time to help the boys organize their room this afternoon. They were so excited about being in a new room that they had dumped out all their stuff on the floor earlier this week. It was a big mess. We worked for close to two hours today and got all the pile organized. I am glad that their beds and dressers all fit in the room and they still have some walking space. They have a nice play area in the loft and also the basement.
I feel blessed to have my family all together again. I am glad that we can spend time with Neal in the evenings again. It was hard to be apart for about eight weeks. I hope that this can be a good place for our family. We miss all our friends in Texas. I am thankful for the church connections we have and that we will make more friends here. I am also thankful we were able to visit with so many of our extended family in Utah this year. I am thankful for family.
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