Part 4- SLC Wrap-Up

The kids and I spent Monday-Friday back in SLC wrapping things up there. I was working on preparing things for Kai and Andrew's friend birthday party and getting the house ready for the renters. We were camped out a bit with out air mattress for me, foam pads for Kai, pack n' play for Rori, and paper products for eating. The days were so full of constant motion that we barely even noticed though.

Kai went to his last week of school which involved lots of water activities and culminated in an Olympics themed day. Rori spent most of the mornings with Grandma Utah playing and picking up Kai from school. it was such a huge help!









On Tuesday night Kai and Drew had their joint birthday party. The boys had their first friend party when they were 2 years old so it was pretty neat to see them so grown up. As usual Rochelle made the most amazing space themed birthday cake and they made an amazing spaceship pinata also. Look closely at the pinata pictures and you will see that they blew up a picture of the boys taken at the Planetarium awhile back that worked perfect. The kids played in the water toys, had cake, whacked at the pinata, and opened presents. Kai had a blast and it was fun way to say goodbye with these kids he has grown up with over the last 5 years. I was a bit teary pulling away from Andrew's house. So many sweet memories there of 1st play dates, Rochelle watching Kai while I did some work at the U, co-op preschool days, carpools to bigger kid preschool, and on and on.




















In addition to all of the inside and outside house projects we also tried to get in as much time as possible with family and friends. We did a cousin photo shoot, did a Toy Story 3 Movie Night, celebrated Uncle Dave's Birthday, had lunch with Amy, Amanda, and Matthew, and on and on.

On Friday we went boating in the morning at Jordanelle. The kids had a blast being on the boat for the first time this summer. They especially loved helping grandpa drive the boat and playing in the tube and the water with all of their cousins.











Rori and I left a little early to put the final touches on things back at the house. Kai returned a little later and we said our final goodbyes to the Wilkinsons over some popsicles. Then a few more tears and a quick sweep through to say our goodbyes to our house on Commonwealth. The pure exhaustion combined with tender emotion had set in that point making it all the much harder for me to keep it together. We are so excited and grateful for this new adventure, but it is still hard to leave a place we loved so much.

We drove over to Grandma and Grandpa's for some dinner and birthday present opening for Emme, Kate, Kai, and Rori. Then Grandma and Grandpa took us to the airport for our flight back to Las Vegas.

We were SOOO happy to be reunited with Lance. Rori fell asleep in the car on the way back from the airport, but Kai ran around the new house checking things out. After a good sleep we spent Saturday putting more stuff away, exploring the house, taking naps, and finding old toy treasures all over again.

But we were still weren't done yet.........

Part 3- The Move

After our travels to IL we finally got the kids to bed after a quick bath and settled in for the night well past midnight. After sleeping in a little the kids went off with Grandma Utah to play with their Mullins cousins who were in town from Seattle.

Lance and I worked on some last packing items before heading to pick up the rental truck around lunch time. After some more packing/ organizing the kids renturned for naps and then left again with Grandma Utah. Just the beginning of many big thanks to Grandma!

That night we had several guys from Church show up to help pack the truck. They had everything loaded in the truck in less that an hour. To say we were grateful is not nearly saying enough. It was a bittersweet reminder of just a fraction of the great support system of friends we have had in Salt Lake.









The next morning we got up and loaded the last items, packed up the car, sent Kai off to the Cabin with his cousins and Grandma and Grandpa Utah, and pulled out. Rori rode with me in the car as we followed Lance in the truck all the way to Vegas. We made one quick stop in St. George for gas. Rori was awesome. She's never been a fabulous car rider, but thanks to food, a good long nap, and movies she was an All-Star. We were thrilled to finally pull in to our new neighborhood around dinner time and begin unloading what we needed for the night.

We had asked for help moving in from what will be our new Church in Henderson and were holding our breath that there would actually be helpers Saturday morning. Rori and I can really only be so helpful to Lance when moving in large pieces of furniture. Thankfully helpers arrived and once again we had the entire truck unoladed by mid morning. Again we were SOOO extremely grateful.

Around lunch time my parents and sister drove in from San Diego. They had gotten up very early to make the long drive with a super heavy TV and other goodies for us. We had fun showing them around the new house. Then we all quickly jumped in to unloading boxes and getting things put away. That night we made a Cafe Rio and Target run. I'm pretty excited that we will have both of those things close to the new house. We think Rori rather enjoyed having Grandma and Grandpa all to herself that night.



Kai meanwhile was having a blast at the Cabin. We missed him but felt so lucky that he was doing something he was enjoying SO much better.


By the time Mom, Dad, and Whitney left the next day we had made major headway with the unpacking. Big thanks to Mom and Dad for all the help and hard labor! After a little nap and some clothes unpacking we headed to the airport to put Rori and I on a plane back to SLC to claim Kai and wrap up things there. That left Lance just a few quiet hours to himself in the house to rest before beginning his new job the next morning.

I'm tired just remembering all of this as I write and we aren't nearly to the end of the jouney yet. :)

Part 2- Navoo

Before leaving IL our little family did our own quick side trip to Navoo. Lance and I had been several years ago, but we were excited to go back with the kids and explore some.

On the way there we stopped at my Aunt and Uncle's house for a quick lunch visit. There house is on beautiful land and has tons of exciting things for the kids to explore. They loved the barn with the horses, watching the cows in the distance, and playing in all the open space full of prarie flowers. Lance and I loved learning more about the history of the area and the history of my family. We also loved all the super delicious and fresh food- think salad fresh from the garden, beef from their cows, and on and on. We had been dreaming about my Aunt's homemade applesauce ever since our last trip several years ago. YUM!!

















It was raining some when we got to Navoo, but we braved it and made our way to a few of the main sites near the Mississippi River. After checking in to our hotel and getting some dinner we headed down to the Navoo Pagent. We had been looking forward to this since we planned our trip so we were thrilled when the rain cleared up and it turned out to be a beautiful night. Before the pagent began they had all sorts of kids pioneer games and acitivities. It was a perfect age appropriate way to bring Navoo to life for our kids. We didn't make it through the whole pagent (we may have been more tired than the kids) but we had a great taste of it all.
It was a fun quick adventure and a special family memory.

















We had one last lunch with IL family before heading to the airport for the trip back to SLC. Kai was thrilled to receive his own little toy gator from my cousin Matt as a parting gift. We spent a few hours in the Dallas airport again and then finally got back to our house in SLC around midnight.

July 2010 Adventures Part 1- Illinois

July has been quite the month for our little family. Big changes and big adventures.

We spent the first 2 days of the month working on our moving packing before flying off to Illinois to visit family and celebrate Great Grandpa Michael's 85th Birthday. We met up with Grandma Whitney in the Dallas airport and then flew on with her to IL. The kids were thrilled to see her and do the second leg of the trip with her.

We had an awesome trip in Illiois. Our kids were beyond spoiled by everyone there. Being the only little kids among lots of loving and patient adults has definite advantages. They had at least 2 adults doting on them at every moment. Kai is still talking about my cousins and their wives in just about every other sentense.

We had so much fun celebrating the 4th of July, celebrating Great Grandpa, and even celebrating our kids birthdays a little early. The trip was also full of lots of Gator riding, swinging in the hammock, swimming, getting spoiled and fed by great grandma, playing with poppers and watching fireworks, tons of yummy food, sleepovers with Grandma, a parade with tons of candy, getting to ride in a semi, and getting to explore a H-U-G-E Combine and drive a real tractor, and on and on and on...

It was fun to see this place that has always been magical to me become the same way for Kai. Big thanks to everyone who made it all possible!