personal history: folk dancing

My scrapbooks are finally out of storage and unpacked, so now I can do more fun personal history entries! This is one I've been waiting to do, and I know a few of you who read this blog will remember these days...

In 1994 while I was a freshman at BYU, I decided I wanted to join one of BYU's many great dance teams. I considered trying out for the Cougarettes, but they a serious dance team with many hours of practice (which included no guys). I actually went to the Ballroom Dance tryouts, but after watching for just a few minutes, I decided it looked too formal for me (and the guys looked much older), so I left. Then my friend told me about the Folk Dance team. I had never heard of it nor had I done any folk dancing, but it sounded interesting so I gave it a shot. I went to tryouts and made it! Most everyone starts at a lower-level team (it was pretty much just a class...you only did about 2 performances a year). But I learned to love it and made some good friends.

Over the next 2 years, I progressed up to the higher-level teams. They hold separate try-outs for the touring teams. In 1996, I made the Spring Performing Arts Company (SPAC). This is a group that, during the month of May (after BYU is finished with their semester, but the other local schools are still in session), travels throughout Utah and does performances at elementary schools, retirement homes, and LDS wards. 63 performances in 20 days to be exact.

In case you're looking for me...I am in the pink Mexico costume on the right-hand side, 4th woman back.

January through April we spent 4 hours per week practicing our show that consisted of 12 dances. We fitted costumes, got to know the other 29 members of the team, and even did a little performance at the State Capitol (see photo above - the trip included a broken bus in a snowstorm). My roommate at the time (Lindsay) was a fellow SPAC member, so it was fun to share extra time and memories with her.

I am in the red, white, and black clogging costume, standing up on the right side.

Then came May! In order to be closer to each other, all the SPAC members (except a few who were married) moved into the same apartment complex. Lest you think SPAC was a glamourous touring adventure, here's a usual day. Wake up around 5:30 a.m. Meet on campus around 6:00 a.m. Have a short devotional. Load up the vans with 30 costume bags, props, and sound system(we had no "people" to do this for us, we did everything ourselves). Drive to first school. Slept, ate breakfast, or braided hair on the way. Arrived at school. Unloaded vans. Stretching & aerobic warm-ups. Got in costume. Did hour-long show, usually in cafeteria on tile floor (note: VERY slippery for clogging). Packed up costume bags, props, and sound system. Loaded vans. Drove to second school. Ate snacks, or re-braided hair on the way. Arrived at school. Did it all over again. Usually 3-4 performances a day. Lunch was usually a short break in the parking lot of a grocery store. Arrived back at apartments late in afternoon. Showered, then hung out with fellow SPAC members, went swimming, to dinner, played games, or watched movies. To bed to do it all over again the next day! Weekends were spent chores such as cleaning, grocery shopping, and laundry.

Troika, a dance from Russia - I am the third woman in on the right

The whole team, including our instructor Delynne, after our very last performance.
I am in the front row, exactly in the middle.

A few weeks after SPAC ended, I was off to Israel for 2 months of study abroad (that's a whole other blog entry), so I was thankful to have built up my energy and endurance. After I came back from Israel, I was invited to try-out for the world-touring Performing Arts Company (PAC). I was heartbroken when I didn't make it, especially since I had two roommates who did and it was my senior year and my last opportunity. But I met Kevin a few months later and I know I probably wouldn't have had time to meet or date him if I was so consumed by folk dancing. I wouldn't trade him for all the folk dancing in the world!

I'm exhausted just remembering it now! I grew as a dancer, I made life-long friends (some of whom I've recently gotten back in touch with thanks to blogging connections), and I learned about true strength and that "the show must go on" when you literally have nothing left to give. I loved seeing the pure joy and entertainment in the eyes of the audience and (occasionally when there was time) teaching them dance steps and playing/visiting with them afterwards. I will forever be grateful for the folk dance opportunities I had and the memories I hold dear.

out of the mouth of babes

This was one of those "had to be there" moments so it won't be nearly as funny when I try to describe it, but it was hilarious and I want to remember it, and that's partly what this blog is for.

The boys have started a new comparing game, for example: "which is faster...a cheetah or a snail?" or "which is stronger...a horse or a pig?" Usually it's them asking questions (sometimes to each other, sometimes to us), sometimes it's silly, sometimes it's serious. Sometimes we ask the questions to see how their little minds work, sometimes we use it as a distraction or as a quiet game, and sometimes we use it as a contest to get things done, "who can clean up faster...Brandon or Tyler?" Guaranteed it's always interesting & entertaining.

So a few nights ago at dinner the boys were getting silly and distracted from eating (it happens a lot around here) and started playing this comparing game with, "which foods were healthier...bananas or rice?" They went on and on. After they were done comparing all the foods on the table, they started thinking of other foods. The game got louder and louder, as they competed with each other to ask questions, and Kevin & I got more and more frustrated that they weren't eating. Kevin suddenly turned the game around on them and asked, "who is louder...Brandon or Tyler?" Tyler got very serious and looked right at Kevin and shouted in all honesty, "WE'RE BOTH LOUD!" He was so proud of himself for getting the right answer. It was cute and funny. Kevin & I got a good laugh and it diffused the whole situation. You gotta love this kid!

feeling domestic

Between having stuff in storage, keeping the house clean while it was up for sale, then getting packed, moved, and unpacked it's been a few months since I've had time or energy to do some of the domestic things I used to do. But my beautiful new kitchen was beckoning to me. And thanks to extreme temperatures & high gas prices I am not motivated to go anywhere, so I finally took a bit of time to be domestic and make my mother-in-law proud! Here are the results:

Homemade cinnamon rolls

Homemade bread - I can tell it's been awhile since I've made this - I'm a bit out of practice and definitely not used to an electric oven!

I need to do some pressure canning, but now that I have glasstop range (they are too heavy for it), I need to buy a turkey fryer so I can do it outside. Guess I know what I'm buying myself for my birthday next month!

I've made dinner every night since the second day in the house, tried 3 new recipes (2 were keepers, 1 was disgusting), and I even organized my huge pile of clipped recipes into notebooks and onto recipe cards that I've been wanting to do for several years.

I guess the heat & high gas prices are good for something...

personal history: my 50-cent friend

Back in 1991 when I was 16 years old and read Teen Magazine, they used to (maybe they still do...I haven't read Teen Magazine for awhile) have a program where you could fill in a form with information about yourself and send in 50 cents and they would give you a pen-pal with similar interests. I honestly thought it wouldn't work and would probably be a waste of time & money, but I couldn't have been more wrong...

They sent me the name and address of a girl Meredith who lived on Long Island in New York. I wrote to her and she promptly wrote me back. We wrote regularly (this was of course back in the good ol' days of paper and ink) and had much in common including boys, clothes, music, and dancing. We always wrote about how fun it would be if we could meet someday, never thinking it would actually happen. In the summer of 1992 my mom allowed me to fly by myself for the first time (we lived in California so it was all the way across the country...what was she thinking???) to meet Meredith and visit New York. It was so fun! I got to meet her family & friends and see all of Long Island and some of New York City.

Meredith & me with her dad in the subway station - I remember I was terrified something horrible was going to happen to us!

Meredith and I have kept in touch now for 17 years. During our college years we weren't as regular about writing (remember that was still the pre-email era), but occasionally wrote and always remembered special events such as birthdays and Christmas. Since email emerged, we have been much more consistent about keeping in touch and updated with each other's lives. Meredith got married a few years ago and now lives in Massachusetts with her husband and two young sons. I can't wait to meet them someday!

As I was unpacking I ran across the photos from my trip to New York and the very first letter Meredith wrote to me. I scanned and emailed it to her and she got a big laugh out of it. Even though I've only met her in person once 16 years ago, I count Meredith as one of my best friends for life. Truly the best 50 cents I've ever spent! Now if only I could convince her to blog...

swim lessons

The boys have been doing swim lessons the past three weeks. We (okay, I) decided to put them in private one-on-one lessons this year because the group lessons we have done every other year with Brandon did not accomplish anything. In group lessons, they only got several minutes of instruction, and the City lessons are more focused on playing games and singing songs than on actual swimming. At almost six years old, Brandon still could not even get to the side of the pool to save his life if he fell in (literally). And around here with most homes having pools and pool parties being the norm rather than the exception, knowing how to swim is a necessity, not a luxury. So we spent the time and money and just did them. You can judge the results for yourself...

Tyler (age 3, above, in the red swim trunks) - knows the basics and even when he accidentally fell in the pool during lessons with his teacher at the other end (she sent him to walk around and get a diving toy for her and then he suddenly jumped in the deep end with it...it was truly terrifying) he turned right around and swam to the wall as she had been teaching him to do. He did everything with a huge grin on his face and no complaints.

Brandon (almost 6, above, in the blue swim trunks) - has always had buoyancy issues and does not like to put his face in the water (even with goggles). He pulls his head up every two seconds to take a breath, therefore dropping his legs down and losing his momentum . The teacher literally had to hold his head down so he realized he could do it (sounds mean, but it worked and they had my full consent). When he swims he has good kicks and arm strokes, he just lacks courage and confidence. But I'm thrilled with his progress and we will continue to do lessons through the winter to keep his skills up and increase his confidence. He may not be a proficient swimmer, but this kid can do backfloats like I've never seen! It's amazing how panicked he gets while trying to swim but he can somehow relax his body completely while on his back. He even broke the teacher's record and floated on his back to the count of 100!

We have next week off and then we will do a two-week swim session through the City. Mostly because I cannot afford more of the private lessons, but partly because I am tired of sitting out in the heat with Natalie and I want to do a Mommy & Me class with her. I don't expect the boys to learn anything, but hopefully it will be a fun way to keep cool and practice what they've already learned.

first day of summer?!?

I had to chuckle this morning when I saw on my calendar that today was the official "First Day of Summer." Around here kids have been out of school and into swimming lessons for a month, and it's been in the triple digits for weeks already! Today's high is supposed to hit 114 (low of 80). For those who don't know what that feels like...you know when you're cooking something and you open your oven to check it and you get blasted by that wave of heat? Yep, that's what it's like everytime we walk out the door. Try not to be too jealous!

So, what do people do in this lovely summertime weather here? Well, if your children are older and well-behaved (and you have a husband who gets lots of vacation time), I'm sure you'd do fun things like take vacations, go swimming, to the water park, shopping, and movies. But with a husband who works long hours, and three rowdy kids under six who don't swim (two of which nap on opposite schedules), unfortunately we don't get out much. Which leads to a grumpy mom, lots of fighting, and stir-craziness being cooped up inside together. I am definitely counting down the days until we go to California (unfortunately not for another 3 weeks) and I am certainly looking forward to July 28 when Brandon starts school again. I'm sure SOMEDAY I look forward to a fun, enjoyable summer with my kids out of school. Not this year...

the host

Don't you hate it when you have a million things to do (like...put together a WHOLE HOUSE!) and you finally get the book you've been waiting on hold for from the library??? Such has been my dilemma this week...

I honestly have a love/hate relationship with Stephenie Meyer and her books. I LOVE the books. They are intricately, fabulously, well-written, clean novels with fantastic character development. Hard to believe this is only the 4th book she's ever written! I HATE that her books turn me into a crazed monster wife & mama, totally ignoring my husband & children and getting irritated that I have to stop reading to feed myself and them. The answer in our house the past few days has unfortunately more-often-than-not been, "I don't care...go play...leave me alone...can't you see I'm reading?" But I finished the book last night so it's back to normal mama again (still ignoring the kids the best I can, but at least I don't forget to feed myself & them!).

For those who haven't read it yet, The Host is a bit slow & strange the first 100 pages or so. Give it a chance - it gets better! Who would have thought science fiction and romance combined could be so cool? I won't spoil it for those who haven't read it by giving my thoughts on the rest of it...just that it's good & enticing! Well worth the time, in my opinion. Now I can't wait until August 2nd when the 4th (and final) book of the Twilight series comes out.

getting settled...slowly

We've been in our house 2 weeks now and are feeling mostly settled. Since I haven't moved that much (thank goodness) it's always hard for me to adjust to new appliances, new floorplan, strange noises, etc.

Here's a list of some things that I love:

* Master bathroom shower is a frosted glass so it does not require wiping after each use. Master bathroom also has a giant bathtub (not that I've had a chance to use it...but I can dream, right???).

* A master closet that is truly a "walk-in" closet (it's more like a room)...it can actually hold all our clothes AND a bunch of storage!

* An office/den with a REAL desk. We gave up our office when Tyler was born 3+ years ago. The computer has been on a table in our bedroom (and most recently a small printer stand with camping chair since March). Here is the before, during (building our desk), and after.

* A kitchen that actually has enough counter/cabinet space for all my kitchen stuff! It almost invites me to cook...

* A granite sink that doesn't require scouring (like the white ceramic ones) and doesn't show water spots (like the metal ones). I would take a photo, but that would require doing the dishes!

* My laundry room is large and has a huge sink (it was nice to clean up a poop blow-up somewhere besides the bathroom).

* Our huge backyard that doesn't feel crowded with a bunch of kids running around.

* Our huge 3-car extended length (4 ft.) garage. No more worrying about exactly how far to pull the van in! And plenty of room for storage (including the huge crawl-space we found on Saturday). Plus we can actually park both cars inside!

* Neighborhood park is only four houses away. Close enough for a short outing, but around the corner so the kids aren't bugging me all the time about wanting to go.

And of course some things that I'm still getting used to:

* Smaller master bathroom shower (we were very spoiled in our old house). Makes leg-shaving an interesting experience!

* No blinds/curtains on our sliding glass patio door. Not that we run around naked or anything, but the east sun in the morning (which of course hits the kitchen table exactly when we eat breakfast) is brutal. We are working on a prompt solution to this...

* The side-by-side refrigerator. I like the water/ice in the door ease, but the way it is positioned in the kitchen makes it very challenging to access. I know (based on the cubic footage capacity) it is larger than our old one, but somehow it seems smaller. Or maybe I'm just having a hard time organizing my food properly in it.

* We have really gorgeous tile (brown with brown grout...it shows NO dirt...I LOVE it!) throughout most of the house that unfortunately has rough decorative edges. The first week was very painful. I tried wearing shoes/slippers, but they made my feet too hot. Then I actually stooped low enough to buy these crocs (I swore I would never buy these kind of shoes; I think they look ridiculous). They are not very comfortable (probably because I bought the ones off the clearance rack for $1.98), so I've opted to just toughen my bare feet up on the tile. It's getting a bit better.

* Glasstop stove. I am still getting used to cooking with electric (we had gas previously). It takes a lot longer so I am trying to be better about planning ahead. But I love that you can just wipe it clean! I am going to have to buy a turkey fryer for outside so I can use my pressure cooker (you can't use them on glasstop stoves - they are too heavy).

We are very thankful for our beautiful new home and know that all these things can/will be changed or adjusted to over time. More photos to come as we get all our rooms finished and our artwork hung...

fun & productive weekend

We had a great weekend with my parents visiting. It was nice to have a home big enough that they could stay comfortably with us. We accomplished much and the kids were properly spoiled. Today the kids have what I term "post-grandparent letdown:" they are whiny, struggling with being told no, and having a hard time finding ways to entertain themselves. Here's a glimpse of our weekend:

Friday we went to the park. These days around here with the heat that means 8:00 a.m! Grandma is a good sport and even climbs & plays on the equipment with the boys (I won't torture her by posting any of those photos!). And Natalie ate her fair share of wood chips. I guess it's better than sand, right?

Saturday my mom watched the kids inside while Kevin, my dad, and me (after I finished making Natalie's ladybug cake) worked hard to get the garage organized. The backyard shed was reassembled and filled, the baby gear was stored in our huge crawl-space above our garage, and the garage storage shelves were built and organized. And for the first time in about 3 years, we were able to park both cars inside!

The den/office still needs some work, but since my parents were staying in there, that wasn't really possible this weekend. It's my project for this week. The majority of the artwork around the house still needs to be hung, but other than those things, I feel mostly settled & organized. Saturday night was Natalie's birthday party and Grandpa gave wagon rides.

Sunday was Father's Day and we all attended church together at my sister's ward. Natalie shares a birthday with my nephew Ryan who turned 12 last week and was ordained to the priesthood. Afterward, we had a combined Father's Day/birthday party dinner at my sister's house.

Overall, very fun and productive...my kind of weekend!

happy father's day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY KEVIN!

I know you all THINK you have the best husbands/fathers, but I'm here to tell you that you're all wrong...because Kevin is the BEST! I feel like I just wrote a lot about him for his birthday and our anniversary in May (P.S. - for those of you who have been faithfully reading my blog, I finally got around to posting our wedding photos that I promised to on my anniversary entry - scroll down to May 22 or just click here) .

Anyway, back to Father's Day...there's just so much to say about this wonderful man! All three of our kids are definitely "daddy's kids" and they love him to death. He plays with them, he teaches them, and he toughens them up. I trust him implicitly and we share very similar parenting philosophies, which makes life much easier around here. He has always been willing to step up and change diapers, make bottles, wake up in the night, and give me my desperately-needed "mommy break" each night. He shares household cleaning responsibilities equally with me, and always backs me up when I'm trying to discipline. He is a hard worker and always gives 100%. I couldn't ask for a better husband or father for my children. We love you and honor you today. I think Brandon summed it up best when he said, "Dad, you rock!"

Enjoy your new BBQ (yes, we are STILL stimulating the economy)! There's nothing quite like a father's day present that he has to do ALL the work for: buy, lift into the car, out of the car, assemble, and then cook for us on!

personal history: my dad

Happy Father's Day to my dad!

You've read quite a bit about my mom on this blog, with her cancer and her frequent visits here. I realized I don't write much about my dad. Even though I may have inherited my mom's personality, I think I look more like my dad. But some characteristics I get from both: being strong-willed, being neat & organized, and my love of chocolate! Anyway, here's my dad in a nutshell:

My dad is quite literally a rocket-scientist (this was a bit intimidating for Kevin when he first met my dad). He got his degree from Art Center College in Pasadena (which I recently learned is a very prestigious school). I inherited absolutely NONE of his art talent. Kevin often asks --in all seriousness -- whether it's me or Brandon who drew the picture on the magnadoodle! My dad worked in the aeronautics industry and for the space shuttle program for many, many years doing design & engineering for them. He is passionate about anything having to do with airplanes or cars and has a classic 1965 GTO fully restored in his garage. He is one of the smartest, most well-read people I've ever met. He is a history-lover and nearly unbeatable (except occasionally by my brother) at Trivial Pursuit. As children, he would often bore us to death on vacations because we had to go to literally every single historical landmark, national park, and museum we passed. But looking back, I am grateful for the time & money he spent to help educate us. My dad LOVES amusement parks and lives in Southern California which thankfully is a mecca for this. His philosophy (and mine) about roller coasters is: the taller, the faster, and the more time upside down, the better! My father retired 16 years ago and spends his time these days sleeping, reading, and volunteering at our church family history center.

Even though he complains about the heat, I am thrilled that he came to visit this weekend. It's been many years since I've been able to spend Father's Day with him. I even made him a special pan of his favorite fudge (with nuts of course). Thanks for being a great dad (and for all your help yesterday getting our house organized).

I LOVE YOU DAD!

party time!

Last night was Natalie's birthday party. I was a bit worried that she would be uncooperative or overwhelmed. Friday she had her doctor's appointment and got 4 shots (she's still a perfectly healthy, petite little girl) so she was grumpy all Saturday morning. Then a few hours before the party she slipped on our tile trying to walk while holding a blanket and jammed her pacifier into her nose and teeth. But she did well and the party went off without major incident - fairly significant considering there were 12 kids ages 12 and under there. It was a simple family event with Kevin's brother's family, my sister's family, and my parents (who happened to be in town this weekend). The adults talked inside & the kids played outside (hey, it was only 110 yesterday...thankfully with our west-facing home our backyard is completely shaded late in the day). Then we opened presents, and had the ladybug cake that I made. I've never really been into the "strip the baby down to their diaper and let them smear cake everywhere on their first birthday" idea, but I just couldn't resist giving Natalie the ladybug head that was black! It was really cute & funny at the time and amazingly she didn't get any her hair. However, I kind of forgot that she would be tinted gray for a few days. We might get some interesting looks at church today...

like mother, like son

A few days ago Brandon asked me for a sticky note. Not an unusual request - he oftens wants to draw pictures or write little "notes" to his friends (which "mysteriously" end up in the trash can after he leaves them on the counter for a few days -- am I the only mean mom who does this???). When he was done, I asked him what he wrote. He said, "I made my list." I asked, "What list?" He answered, "My list of things I need to do on Sunday before I go to church." Then he stuck it right next to where I had about 4 sticky notes with my various lists of things to buy, errands to run, etc. Now there's a kid after my own heart! Here's his list. I won't bore you with mine.

Translation: Button (meaning his shirt). Fix my bed. Go Puotty (potty). Bugl (buckle) belt.

In other funny kid news: Both Brandon & Tyler announced this week they wanted to be construction workers when they grew up. Guess maybe his next "list" should be: reasons I need to get a college education!

happy 1st birthday natalie!

Natalie turns one today. My sweet girl is not a baby anymore! She is full-fledged temper-tantrum-throwing toddler. But with her big, blue eyes and her heart-melting smile, this girl is sure to get anything her little heart desires...especially from her father! I have never been approached by strangers as often as I have this past year; everyone seems to have a comment about her terrific smile, her beautiful eyes, or her mellow personality (thankfully she puts on a good show in public). She is tough girl and tolerates well the abuse and over-loving from her brothers. She is an absolute joy and we are delighted she is part of our family.

We love you Natalie ~ HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY!

I stole this photo idea from my friend. I thought it was a fantastic way to document her monthly growth. More photos to come after her party on Saturday...

personal history: swim lessons

My boys have been in swim lessons this past week (I am working on a post about that), so I've been thinking a lot about the swim lessons and teacher I had as a child. My sister, brother, and I all took lessons from a woman named Pat for many, many years. I can still hear her raspy voice in my head shouting at me under the water. And I can still smell her sunscreen on her wrinkly brown skin. When I go back to California and we are driving in the area of her home, sometimes I am tempted to stop by and say hello (and of course get a Dum Dum sucker which we got at the end of every lesson).

You would think with all the hours of swim lessons I had and growing up near the beach, I would feel comfortable in and love the water. Not so. It's really a shame since we live in one the hottest places on earth! But I am thankful that my mom spent the time (and my dad spent the money) to help me learn. Though I hope it never happens, I feel confident that I could survive in water.

I am the one sitting out of the pool!

stimulating the economy

We're definitely doing our part to "stimulate the economy" with our tax rebate. As if buying a new home last week wasn't enough, here are all the other things that we've bought or fixed, either because of home selling/buying or because they've broken in the past few weeks.

* fixed our old dryer so that we could leave it as part of our house sale

* bought a new washer & dryer (fancy front loading ones!), though I couldn't cough up the extra $400 for the pedestals. A decision I will likely regret, but they are plastic stands for crying out loud!

* bought a new digital camera (it broke last week)
* bought a new waffle iron (it broke a few days ago)

* our toaster broke today and will need to be replaced

The waffle iron & toaster were wedding gifts and were 11 years old, so they were due. But on top of buying a home and all the miscellaneous expenses that go with it (new racks, hooks, trash cans, utilities transfer fees, etc.)...this is turning out to be a very expensive year.

And we'll probably have to buy a new bathroom faucet - Tyler might have broken it already. Of course, he broke the screen door when we were just viewing the home. And he & Brandon have already pushed their closet door off it's tracks. And yes, we've only lived in the home 3 days!

moving week!

What an busy week it has been....full of adventure and chaos! Here are the highlights (and of course a few lowlights):

MONDAY: Picked up moving truck at 7:30 a.m. Of course their internet was down, so it took them almost a half-hour to figure out how to process it manually. Kevin thought I was totally nuts when he saw the size (24 ft.) of the truck I had reserved. The rental guy said the total capacity was 1300 cubic feet. Our old home was 1273 square feet. I was going on the "better-too-big-than-too-little" theory, since we couldn't exactly make two trips. Kevin mocked me until the truck got filled up completely...a perfect fit! Our digital camera decided to die while I was taking pictures of the men loading, so I only have a few photos. We had about 12 guys show up and it was all loaded in one hour. We packed up the van, picked up our kids from my friend's house, and headed up to my sister's house. We unloaded our freezer (since our house sold so quickly I never got a chance to eat everything), took showers, and set off to buy a new washer/dryer. Best Buy was busy since it was Memorial Day, and terribly understaffed. We were grateful it only took us an hour to buy ours after we heard that the lady in front of us had waited two hours to buy hers. We tried to buy a camera there also, but didn't find any good sales on what we wanted. After a BBQ for dinner, Brandon splitting his lip open on my sister's fireplace, and getting the kids to bed, Kevin & I headed out to Circuit City to look again for cameras (still couldn't find anything we wanted at a price we were willing to pay). We then back to our old house to finish the final cleaning. A very long, exhausting day.

TUESDAY: Kevin went back to work. Brandon went back to school. I went to do our final walkthrough on our new home. The few minor repairs we requested were done & everything looked great. Funding & recording happened on our old house, we closed escrow that afternoon, and we were officially homeless. We were off to Brandon's kindergarten graduation that evening which was cute, but VERY long since each teacher gave each student (125 of them total) an award and read a paragraph explanation accompanying it. We were sad we didn't have a camera. We had to leave early and raced back to my sister's house to meet our escrow officer who was kind enough to come to us to do our signing at 8:30 p.m. since the loan documents didn't arrive to their office until very late that afternoon. 4 round-trips back to the area where we used to live from my sister's house = 3 hrs. in the car (and probably $100 worth of gas) this day.

WEDNESDAY: Brandon's last day of school. My sister & I decided to take the other kids to the park that morning. Tyler fell off some stairs and landed on his head. He was scared, but okay, and got a split-lip to match Brandon's. We kept waiting for the phone call to tell us that our home purchase was complete, but it never came. Documents kept coming that needed signatures, were forgotten, or were revised (their fault, not ours). We were finally told the deadline for funding/recording had passed and that it would be done on Thursday morning. Our seller was nice enough to not make us file extension paperwork.

THURSDAY: I kept waiting for that "magic" phone call in the morning, but it never came. Finally at noon I called our realtor. After some phone calls, he found out at 1:00 that our lender never got the correct/complete homeowners insurance and lien information that they required, so they were holding up funding our loan. The deadline for funding/recording for the day happens at 1:30, so I frantically tried to track down my agent (who of course is on vacation this week). I finally got his assistant on the phone at 1:15 and pled my case, half furious and half in tears. She got the information to our title company, but unfortunately not in time. So we missed that day's filing deadline and were scheduled for it to fund/record on Friday morning. Kevin was assigned another huge project at work, so he didn't even get home that night until 9:00 p.m.

FRIDAY: Thankfully our seller was nice enough (again) to allow us into the home before we officially took possession of it and allowed us have the carpets/tile cleaned, as we had already scheduled. The guy cleaning them was our realtor's son, so I think that made her more comfortable with the idea. This was also the day I think we all hit "burn-out" at my sister's. The kids were grumpy & bored of each other and the toys, and it was too hot to play outside for long. So we took them to the mall play area but that was crowded. But I finally got the "magic" phone call telling us that our loan was funded, the title was recorded, and the house was officially ours. I guess the old adage applies, "better late than never!" My sister and I went down that night so she could see the house and we took a load of stuff. Thank goodness she was there, since I couldn't get the lockbox open that had the key. She was smart enough to figure it out.

SATURDAY: Moving day again! This time we only had Kevin, his brother, and 3 guys from our new church ward to help, but they were efficient, hard workers and got the whole truck unloaded in a little over an hour. The boxes even mostly managed to end up in the correct rooms. Pest control came and sprayed, and our new washer and dryer was delivered. I went back to get my kids from my sister's and came back to the daunting task of unpacking.

SUNDAY: Thankfully unpacking seems to go much quicker than packing. I am trying to get as much done as I can before Kevin goes back to work tomorrow, since I know it will be harder to work while trying to referee three children. The only major hurdle left is to get the storage unit stuff moved here (including the big, heavy piano), which we will do next weekend. Natalie's birthday party here is in two weeks, so that gives me a good "deadline" to work towards for getting stuff organized and put away.

We feel very blessed that everything went fairly quickly and smoothly, all things considered. We are grateful to the men who volunteered their time (and their wives who supported them), my sister for putting us up (and putting up with us) for the week, my mom for coming to help pack/clean/watch kids, and for all our other friends/family who have watching our kids and lended their support & prayers throughout this adventure. THANK YOU! We are relieved this chapter in our lives is almost complete...