For the 4th of July Jared's sister and her family drove up for a visit. Courtney definitely knows how to have good time and the kids love spending time with their cousins.
We had fun jumping in the sand dunes, exploring a cave, swimming in the river behind our house, 4 wheeling, bowling, mini-golfing, movie-going, playing at the park watching fireworks from the shed roof, and spending a day at Yellowstone. We also had a lot of laughs listening to a prank call app and doing some crazy lip sinc videoing
Alyssa found some buried treasure at the dunes... a DIME!
Jacob with our new dog.
It was great to have Jared's dad and brother up for the first few days. Rebecca joined us for Yellowstone, then headed off on her own adventures for her National FCCLA Competition so we missed having her around, although I'm sure she's having a blast.
Rebecca got a ukelele for her birthday and learned to play it at a class offered at the local library. I love hearing her beautiful voice, especially as she sings "Patches." She played it at the reunion and her new little cousin Owen looked entranced by the music.
One of my favorite parts of family get togethers is playing games like Catch Phrase, Guesstures and Authors.
The girls had fun finger painting using the supplies I had prepped for Alyssa's birthday party but totally forgot about.
The kids had fun swimming in the lake, using the paddleboats and 4 wheeling.
Alyssa celebrated her birthday soon after we moved, but fortunately she had already met several new friends and chose to have a swim party and then eat out with the family.
I made a last minute whale pinata by wrapping candy in several sheets of tissue paper, cutting some slits and attaching a huge rubber band. It worked even better than the typical paper mache ones I make and was a lot less messy with no time needed for drying. That always seems to be the highlight of the party for the kids so I was happy to find an easier way to throw it together!
The girls decorated their cupcakes with gummy whales, swedish fish and pearls.
They colored shell necklaces and of course wanted to do a crazy picture to show them off.
Emily made this cute sign and Alyssa was so excited when she saw it. Alyssa was elated to pick out a bean bag chair for her birthday and loves cuddling up in her "Big Joe. "
We also went to the lunch park and had fun posing near this tree stump. My kids are growing up so fast.
Jacob's birthday was a bit more chill since it fell on a Sunday and he just wanted a family party. So we ate our favorite - Texas Fudge Cake. Our new Bishop caught him off guard when he invited to share his favorite article faith on the spot after announcing his ordination to become a teacher. Jacob gave him a puzzled look, and then got the congregation laughing when he announced that he loves all of the Articles of Faith so much that he can't decide which one to share so he didn't share any, just said they were all true.
People got to see a bit of his wit again today when he spoke in church about his Aaronic Priesthood experience going to the hospital to do sacrament services for a person undergoing cancer treatment. When they asked for volunteers to help, he admitted that initially didn't really want to go because he was "starving" and wanted to go home and make some water brownies to eat, but he took the opportunity and felt the Spirit when they were able to help more people who wanted the opportunity to take the sacrament. It ended up being a really memorable peaceful experience for him where he felt the Spirit of the Lord through service.
This week we went as a family to see "Miracles from Heaven."
I love movies based on true stories and this was an inspiring tearjerker for me. I especially loved the message that there are miracles happening all around us, we just need to open our eyes and see them. I have felt so blessed during this move process for the many miracles that have happened to ease the transition.
We found a buyer for our home before we even listed it.
Our timeframe matched their timeframe perfectly.
We made an offer on our new home the day it listed when we already had plans to come up.
I felt a wave of peace on the Sunday we visited our new ward before finding our new home.
This enabled us to make a quick decision on making an offer on our home.
I was able to transfer my landline # to a new cell phone.
Kind friends brought dinner, offered housecleaning and watched our kids during the stressful days of moving.
The weather was perfect on moving days so the kids could play outside.
Our car was having clutch issues before we moved, but it made the journey just fine.
The Allen's brought us dinner and then invited our children to an end of school party the day after we moved in so they could meet new friend's right away.
A family of 9 invited our family of 8 over for dinner - amazing generosity!
When I signed up my girls for Dance Camp the teacher offered to help with carpooling even though we have never even met.
So many new neighbors and friends have reached out to us and our children at church and in the neighborhood already.
When the new move blues started to set in, Jared called and asked me to go out to lunch with him.
Our new neighbor is a builder and offered to help us with the RV pad.
Scout Camp and Girls Camp were early in the summer so my kids were able to make some great connections with new friends at the beginning of the summer.
Feeling so blessed today!
We were able to attend Alyssa's Kindergarten graduation while the movers were busy loading up all of our belongings on the moving truck. She enjoyed learning the songs and practiced the songs all week with Emily at home. She's my first girl who actually seems to enjoy performing and singing in front of people, so it was fun to watch her expressions during the graduation. 5 Down, 1 more to go :( I'm not ready to end this fun phase of life!
The kids were so excited to have their friends come up and hang out at our new house while the Budges went to the temple. The weather was perfect for a stroll to the river and some fun 4 wheeling. We thoroughly enjoyed visiting afterwards and again I thought "Why does it take big changes for us to fully appreciate and spend time with those we love?"
