Independence Day

Now I am finally to July.  Sorry I've been so far behind.  I'll get there.

We had a nice start to our 4th of July.  It started out by playing in the dirt in our PJ's.

Swimming in our pool later in the day

I finished up another butterfly my Aunt Diane paid me to make for one of her new granddaughters. She bought  the one at the auction and Evi got it, but since she had 2 more granddaughters, she needed 2 more.  I made one for Sam's little girl, and for Shauni's little girl, Molly.  This is one is for Sam's little girl.

Then we met up with the Higley's at the ISP headquarters and watched the fireworks.  It was a nice, low-key kinda day, and Ashton even got to spend it with us.

Girl's Week

Ashton had a week long training for work in Chicago so the kids and I were left by our lonesomes.  My parents came up for a couple nights, and when they left, they took Dex with them.  They were watching Curt and Crystals kids later in the week, so Dex got to have some fun with cousins at Grandma's house.  That just left Jules and I at home.  We had fun.  We watched Tinker Bell, painted our nails, did some sewing, shopping, and ate ice cream.  

We went thrift store hopping with Shauni and Molly, and found the perfect dresser for our TV stand, too.

 I got us a treat from Artic Circle and the whole way home, JJ kept saying, "my ice cream?  Not share any with Decker?"  She was pretty excited to have ice cream all to herself!

We were also able to attend my family reunion that weekend, so I whipped up some cute little snuggle buddies for the auction.  JJ was a very good helper.  She put stuffing in the little monsters.  :)

I thought they turned out very cute!

It was nice to spend time with just her.  She wasn't sure what to do by herself and with just me, but we ended up having fun together!

Finding the Fun

Well, part of moving in and getting settled is finding ways to fun where you are.  One night, Ashton decided to camp outside in our backyard area with the kiddos.  The didn't last the whole night, it got too cold, (mountain air, something we weren't used to) but they sure had fun.  DeeAnn was up helping us get things settled and to see the new place, and while they were trying to go to sleep we could hear JJ talking.  That is one of the biggest complaints from Dex. She talks a lot at bed time. :)

We also learned that sprinklers were fun, not scary.  The kids were afraid of them at first.  They had never truly experienced sprinklers on a regular basis and didn't understand or like them.   We warmed up to them by playing in the water on the sidewalk after they were done spraying.

Moving

This move sucked.  There is no other way to sugar coat it.  It sucked.  Never move in 2 weeks.  NEVER!
We got the truck and loaded it up Monday the 10th and it was awful.  We weren't ready at all.  I was still cleaning dishes and packing the kitchen...we were a mess.  Fortunately, I have great friends.  Serene came and collected my kids for a full day of madness at her house and Katie ignored my "don't come, we will be fine".  I don't know if it was her prompted as the Relief Society Pres. or just being a great friend, but she ignored me and came anyway.  It was so wonderful that she did, because she helped finish us getting packed up.  She was awesome.  Kevin did an awesome job loading the truck.  Ashton swore we would have needed 2 trucks if it weren't for him packing it so well.  Well, we scrambled getting everything packed/loaded only to find we need to rent a trailer, too.  We had to much junk.  So I ran Dex to his 4 year old appointment (yes I scheduled a Dr. Appointment on that day too.  We didn't know when we would be able to get him in if we didn't do it then.) and Ashton got the trailer.  Dex and I said our goodbyes to nurses and to Natalie, our awesome audiologist, and then we raced home to get as cleaned up as we could for the inspection @ 4:30.  Well, I got the 2 bedrooms ready and the rest......was what it was.  She came, walked through directing us clean this, clean that, you get your deposit back minus $25 for the hole in the wall Ashton made a week before.  Ash and I finished cleaning/packing at about midnight, and I won't tell what corners I cut for cleaning.  I'll just say, it all looked clean.

The Sweeten's came over and brought the kids some presents and got the grill.  It was hard saying goodbye.  Serene is one of the closest friends I have, and I so enjoyed having them as close by friends.

We tried to go to sleep on the floor downstairs.  We tried.  We were leaving the keys in the rent box and leaving at 4am.  We only had 4 hours to try to sleep.  It was rough.  We were emotionally/physically worn out or mourning.  Then it happened.  We both ignored promptings to make sure the car was locked.  Sometime, in those 4 hours, someone got into the car and stole the kids and I's snacks and GPS and Ashton's old wallet that had nothing in it but his Eagle Scout card.

Always remember, Heavenly Father can't protect us, if we haven't done our part first.

When Ashton got up, he noticed the light was on in the car and that a box of kleenex was sitting outside.  He went out and checked it out and came back looking like someone had stolen the Uhaul.  When he told me the GPS was gone, I was done.  I bawled.  I had to drive across the country, with no directions, and my 2 kids.  I was done for.

I pulled myself together, got dressed, loaded the kids in the car, we all waved goodbye to our home, and then we dropped the keys off.  I stopped at the Stinker station with the dinosaur on the corner and picked up another Pepsi and some snacks.  Then we were off.  We waved goodbye to Iowa, to Creighton, and Omaha, eventually Nebraska, and made it to our hotel.

It was there that we realized that there were still blessings for our car having been rummaged through.  Ashton's laptop was in his backpack.  We noticed it was unzipped, but somehow, the laptop was missed.  We found it at the hotel.  Also, we had put our TV in the trunk.  It was covered by mounds of blankets to protect it, but it was still there too.  The thief could have really hit it the jackpot, but we were still blessed.  AND we all made it to the hotel safe and sound.

One other thing that made this move even more fantastic, we didn't have a move in date.  We knew we had an apartment, we put a deposit on it, but we didn't have a move in date, despite desperate attempts to get one.  So we tried one more time in the hotel with no luck.  Yes.  Here we are all packed up with no place to go.

Next morning, we got up and left.  The kiddos and I stopped in Lyman, WY at my cousin's house for a leg stretch.  It was so nice.  We had stopped there 4 years before on our move out.  Then with a pretty drive through the Ogden canyon, we made it.  We made it to Idaho.

We spent a couple of days at my Mom's till we got the okay to move in.

Dex rode in the Uhaul for the ride up to Boise.  He was nervous, but had a lot of fun.  

We got out keys, our ward helped us move in, Shauni and Blake came and brought dinner over while Ashotn and I dropped the Uhaul off.  While we were gone, Blake got our beds put together.  :)  Gotta love family,  and Shauni helped to unpack the kitchen.  While unpacking the kitchen, I realized, I didn't unload the knife drawer.  We left our knives in Iowa!  After many attempts to get them back, they are gone.  The complex in IA says they aren't there.... but I know I didn't pack them....I had a lot of anxiety/stress over it.  So much so, I almost got in the car one night and drove there, just so I could see with my own 2 eyes.  

It was not good.  

I was a mess.

And as if it couldn't get any worse, I go to make soup for dinner and realize, we left our big pot there as well.  I do remember unpacking it and putting something that fit in it's spot better, and putting the pot back in the cupboard.  Why? All I can think of is out of habit.  And I think when I checked all the cupboards, I may have seen it, but it didn't dawn on me that that should be empty, in my mind, it was simply put away.  I also know I never opened the knife drawer.  Why?  Who knows.

So there you have it.  The move sucked.

Silver lining, when we got the check from the apartment complex, it was $90 more than we were expecting.  We some how overpaid, and even with the $25 deduction, we were given more than we put in for our deposit 4 years ago.  

Birthdays and Farewells

 Dexter turned 4 this year!  He is so tall and is growing up so fast!  He loves sharks, sports, and can spout off anything you may want to know about sharks and then some.  He is very independent and loves to help in the kitchen.  He learned how to top strawberries this year using a butter knife even.  He is very smart and a sweetheart.  For his birthday, he got a shark remote control car.  He's had a lot of fun with it.

His birthday was shark themed.  I finished his shirt.  I think it turned out pretty cute.  If you can't tell, it says "duh dun, duh dun."  Think theme to Jaws.  That's what I tell my kids sharks say if they ask :)

For his birthday celebration, we turned it into a birthday/farewell party.  We invited over the Bourne's, the Nordbys, and the Sweetens.  I'm such a dork and didn't take pictures of anybody.

We had yummy hamburgers/hot dogs and sides.  We also had these awesome shark cupcakes.  I lucked out on finding the frosting.  I went to Hy-Vee to pick up some vanilla to tint blue, and found this blue frosting with fish sprinkles.  How perfect!

They were pretty yummy.  Just ask Jules...

The kids had a lot of fun playing and Grant was so sweet as to oblige them in playing baseball

Here is the last picture of our kids and the Bourne boys.  We've had a lot of fun with these friends the last 4 years! 

It was a bittersweet evening.  I did fairly well holding back the tears until we said goodbye to the Bournes.  I knew we'd see the others one more time, but this was it for them.  Man, we had a good time.

Last Time at the Winter Quarters Temple

Early in June, we had a special family home evening and we went to the temple grounds.  We had done it once before when Dex was JJ's age, but hadn't done it with Jules.  It was also nice to get to spend some time together at the Winter Quarters Temple, Cemetery, and Trail Center one last time as a family.

We stopped at Zip's and got some ice cream and ate it at the picnic tables outside of the trail center.

When our ice cream was gone, we made our way to the temple

That night, I was so grateful for everything we had been blessed with, and had experienced in our four years in Omaha and Council Bluffs.  We learned how to be a family there.  We made great friends, and it was the best ward we have ever been in.

I am so grateful for temples.  I am so grateful that these 2 littles are mine and will be mine in the eternities.  I'm so grateful for Ashton and that we will be together for eternity, too.   

JJ wanted her picture taken with the temple.  So, here is Juliette at the Winter Quarters Temple.

Dex at the Winter Quarters Temple.

They both wanted their picture taken together right next to the temple.

This spot in the cemetery, between the 2 trees, to the right of the grouping of headstones, in the south west corner, is a special place.  It's where I stood 4 years before, and received unquestionable confirmation that we were where we needed to be and that we'd be alright.  I'm so grateful for having had that experience, and I never want to forget this wonderful place.

I remember feeling so grateful for Ashton.  I just loved watching him teach his children about the pioneers and what happened here.

He is a remarkable man.  I adore him.

I love these entrance doors to the temple.  I walked through them many times, with many different acquaintances to clean or do sessions with, and it was wonderful.

And as we left, we snapped a picture of the Trail Center.

The End of May

The rest of May was spent soaking in the warm sun and getting as much play time in with Lainey and Serene as we could.

We met at the park a lot and swung.

We pushed our bikes,

or rode them

And we drew with chalk to our hearts delight.

Job Hunting

After graduation excitement died down, real life settled in.  With it brought the realization that we still didn't have a job.  Here we were all graduated and jobless.  Ashton finally got a couple of interviews lined up and so we were excited.  Our first interview was on over the phone with an Albertson's in WA State.  While he was interviewing, the recruiter asked if Ashton had his pick where would he like to end up?  Ash told him the Boise area, and he said, "well, it isn't online, but we have a floater position available in the Boise area."  They concluded and he was told that he would call us on Friday, but if not, no later than the following Tuesday.  Well, we also had an interview lined up for a job in Quincy, Illinois with HyVee on Saturday.  We didn't hear anything on Friday, so we went ahead with the Quincy interview.  We packed us all up and drove the 6 hours there.  Missouri is a beautiful place.  I thought Iowa was green but Missouri is even greener.

We stayed in Hannibal, MO across the Mississippi River from Quincy.  There was a huge basketball tournament in Quincy that filled all the hotels.   When we got there, it was raining so Ashton ran in to his interview and the kids and I ate some lunch in the car before we wandered around HyVee.  It was a nice store and looked like a nice quaint town.  Afterward, we went to lunch at a local Irish pub style family friendly restaurant that was recommended by the interviewer and drove around Quincy.  It was a very charming town.  It had a lot of big beautiful, old homes, and is about an hour away from Nauvoo.  We drove up and down a couple streets just guaking and dreaming of living even near one of these streets and if he did get the job, just where we would try to find a house.  Well, a few houses down, was this cute 2 story house.  It was a few doors down and across the street from the start of all the big charming homes.  However, it was for sale and we decided that if he got the job, that would be the house we would try to buy.

We drove to Hannibal and got checked in to our hotel room.  We ended up switching rooms, because the ceiling was falling apart and it smelled like a locker room in there.  Apparently, there had been a tornado go through just a few days before, so they still had some damage to repair and apologized for that room being deemed ready when it wasn't.  After we got that taken care of we crashed.  

The next day we went to church in Quincy and checked out our potential new ward.  The building was old and small and had been added on a few times.  There were a lot of hallways and it was kinda confusing.  The chapel however, had a beautiful stained glass window behind the pulpit.  It was quite charming.  After ward, we drove back to Hannibal and tried to find Mark Twain's childhood home.  I just couldn't couldn't pass up the chance to see the fence that inspired Tom Sawyer. 

In this picture Tom Sawyer's fence is the tall portion next to the white house (Mark Twain's home)  The rest is added on by the society that is preserving this square.

This is Becky Thatcher's home (Tom Sawyer's first sweetheart).

On the drive home, we took pictures of a lot of signs.  We were surprised at what was all around us :)

We could go to:

I missed it's sign but we also could have gone to Amazonia.  

The kids also tolerated the trip well.

JJ fell asleep

And Dex was being silly.

On the ride home, we got THE phone call.  HE GOT THE JOB!!!  He asked if he could give her a response on Tuesday and take a couple of days to figure things out.  

Well, remember he interviewed for one in WA and we were finding out on Tuesday the verdict?  It was the longest wait ever!  Tuesday came and no phone call, so finally Ashton called him.  Apparently, they had a guy who was wanting to transfer to Boise, so they were waiting for a response from him, so they knew what or if they had a job to offer Ash.  He said he was his #1 choice, for Boise, and #2 for WA.  So he made a few phone calls and called us back with a job offer in Boise! 

We had 2 job offers!  

It was a hard decision, and one that is still mulled over.  The Hy-Vee offer was great.  It was better than the offer with Albertson's and I thought it would be another fun adventure to live in Quincy and Nauvoo.  We knew that it wouldn't be permanent, 3-5 years max, but it would be a fun experience and that house was calling my name!  

So what did we choose?  Being close to family won out, and we moved to Boise.