Home at Last

 

This week has been insane and we are all good and ready to start getting back into routines.  Dan had gotten an airbnb in Portland area for us through Wednesday, by which time we hoped to be in our new home.  Monday we had an online meeting with an online notary to sign the papers to get our house in Texas finally sold.  Papers were digitally signed and we were officially really homeless.  The kids were all going a bit stir crazy - but Monday night we made some soup and had it in bread bowls - it was perfect with the cool fall weather - then we had a fun evening playing Twister and telling silly stories about octopi and sharks who got married and had babies.  Dan thought it sounded like the next Sci-fy channel movie "Octo-Shark"  We were silly and had a lot of fun hearing the crazy plot twists that David added.  :)  

It was so funny because the spinner didn't really work, so we just tried to make it up - David thought it was so fun to call the moves - he would hold the spinner, sit down in a nearby chair and say "hand, blue" and then we would try to figure out which hand.  :)  The older kids had fun asking me to make it hard - so I had fun twisting them up in knots until they fell over.  

Tuesday we went in to the title company here to sign the papers for our new home here!  Dan and I signed then had a nice lunch out together at Red Robin!  YEY!  But we stayed at the rental for one more night since we didn't have the keys.  

Wednesday morning, we cleaned up and packed up and checked out - then we met our real estate agent at our new house to get the key!  We checked it all out, then we emptied the seats out of the van and Dan took Anna to the storage unit to get some boxes and mattresses.  He dug around to find a bunch of the kitchen stuff.  Everyone wanted to help unload the van!  Even David - though there weren't many things he could carry.  

That evening, our real estate agent dropped off Chinese food for us for dinner!  It was yummy and we enjoyed a dinner on folding tables and chairs in our dining room.  After dinner, we had fortune cookies - and this was my fortune.  It's funny how there have been times in my life when I have gotten a fortune cookie where the fortune was just perfect for my current situation - and this was another one of those.  

So here we are in our new home - now we just need to unpack....  

Thursday, Dan and Anna got some more loads and we did some more unpacking, still mostly kitchen stuff, but we were able to get what we needed for making some meals.  It wasn't much fun not having any furniture but the folding table and chairs, but we made do.  

Friday, Gene and Ann got in - we set them up in the craft room and they were a huge help with unpacking and organizing stuff.  We were trying to keep Dan's dad from hurting himself and keeping Dan's work to a minimum so that he would be ready for the big push on Saturday.  Dan's brother Steve also drove down from Washington State and stayed the night to help.  While showing Gene and Ann around the house, we discovered that one or more of the kids had broken the TV - so it looks like we will be with out a TV for awhile.  I have to admit, I'm not really dreading it except that I will miss working out with the Ring Fit.  

Saturday morning, the Jones moving crew showed up.  Dave and Stephanie with their kids, John and Melissa with their kids, and Stephen all showed up to help us move boxes and furniture.  It took 2 loads with the U-haul, but everything was in the house or garage by 3:30 in the afternoon.  

Grandma Jones took David to Fred Meyer to pick out his new underwear.  We've been telling David that it's time to learn to use the potty now that we are in Oregon.  So he had his first day wearing underwear - he wanted to show his new underwear to everyone.  He had a lot of accidents, but we will get there...eventually... I hate potty training.

Everyone was a huge help getting stuff moved in from the storage unit and getting things set up in the house.  These beds were a bit confusing - more so when it was realized that we didn't have all the right pieces yet.  They all tried hard - but this bed didn't actually get done until the evening but Eileen and Anna and I.  

By the end of Saturday, we were all exhausted, but the kitchen was mostly organized, We had couches to sit on, a table to eat at and a piano to play so life was good again.  It was so exciting getting our table up and being able to walk around the whole table easily.  :)  

Saturday evening, Grandma and Grandpa wanted to do an early birthday party for Eileen while they were there, so Dan and Grandpa picked up an ice cream cake from Cold Stone.  We sang and ate cake and Eileen opened her present.  She got a beautiful long sweater with pockets and a couple silicone chewing necklaces to help her stop chewing on her knuckle.  One was an adorable hedgehog and the other a pendant looking dangly thing.  She has been loving them so far!  

Church here is entirely virtual, so we watched online church today, then held our own sacrament, then Aaron had a virtual Deacons quorum meeting.  It's going to be very odd trying to get to know people here with the COVID situation, and it's interesting to see the way that they are doing things differently here, but it's been a big blessing to find that our new neighborhood is packed full of other families in our ward.  People have been very warm and welcoming so far!  

The end is in sight.... finally

This week has been crazy.  It was so nice to have a couple days at Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house.  It was so nice to be taken care of for a couple days and the kids always love being with Grandma and Grandpa.  The kids got to paint pumpkins and decorate them however they wanted.  They had a ton of fun - Evelyn made a witch pumpkin, Anna made an emoji pumpkin, David made a pirate pumpkin and James made as many pumpkins as they would let him.... but they all had a blast!  

The best part about staying a little longer than planned was that it meant that Dan and I could be there for Olivia when she took out her endowment at the temple.  It was so wonderful to be able to go to the temple and to be there with family and to be there for Olivia at this exciting time!  She is such an amazing woman and I'm so blessed to be her aunt!  

Dan and Anna took off for Portland that afternoon so Dan could be there when our stuff was unloaded into a storage shed.  Grandma and Grandpa Jones and I took the kids to walk around the temple grounds.  The temple grounds workers were there finishing up a service project with some 11-year old girls putting flowers in the ground.  The kids had a great time helping out.  Eileen helped with the spade, the boys with the hose and Evelyn with a broom.  The grounds were so beautiful and it was wonderful to be there together!  

After, Grandma and Grandpa Jones took us out for ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  David couldn't find his sweater, so he borrowed one from Grandma Jones - He looked so cute in it!  

Wednesday morning, Dan and Anna hung out while our stuff got unloaded, and the rest of the kids and I headed out to drive to Oregon.  We got in to John and Melissa's house a little after 4 - Dan finally got there a bit after 5 then we all got to enjoy a yummy meal.  One thing that is always guaranteed at John and Melissa's house is yummy food!  

Sandi after hearing that we didn't really have any rain coats or rain boots for the kids sent Dan home after work on Thursday with bags full of rainboots and coats for each of the kids <3  I have the best sister!  The kids loved them - especially David!  

Melissa invited her sister Sara and her family to come up and have dinner with us on Thursday - it was so good to see her again and so nice to finally meet her adorable family!  

Friday afternoon, we headed out for the coast.  Dan had found an AirBnb at Rockaway Beach for us to stay at for the weekend.  We got in with time enough to spend a little time on the beach, but it was pretty drizzly, so mostly we got unpacked, got some groceries, got dinner and got some laundry done.  

This is Eileen sitting on a pile of laundry just out of the drier :)  

Saturday was a gorgeous day!  It was clear and sunny and warm-ish.  We spent a large chunk of the day on the beach, walking down the beach and walking around town.  The kids had a blast playing in the water and the sand.  They soaked through their clothes a few times and we did more laundry, but we had a fun time! 

We walked around Rockaway Beach town - had fun showing the kids where the family reunion was 2 years ago, playing on the playground and checking out some of the shops.  

Sunday morning, it was back to raining again - I feel so blessed to have gotten that one perfect day at the beach!  Sunday, we packed up and headed back to Portland area.  We have a different AirBnb here through Wednesday by which time, we should be in our new home!  We finally got word this week that things are finally actually ready and they should actually work out this time.  We will sign papers to sell our Texas house on Monday and the to buy the new one here on Tuesday!  We had a bit of church together this afternoon, then we went to go see our house - we all got to walk around and see everything and start planning stuff.  

Homeless....

Well it's been one crazy week - we were supposed to have all our stuff packed up and papers signed closing on our Texas house this week.  Unfortunately not all went according to plan.... 

Tuesday we planned to do the last of the laundry and then we gave our old washer and dryer away to friends in the ward - they came and picked it up for us.  We got that all done - finished up the packing and went to bed a bit early in preparation for a long day.  

Wednesday was moving day.  I took all the kids (except Anna) and went to the zoo with Grandma and Grandpa Cox.  We had a fun morning walking around the zoo and chatting and looking at the animals.  There were new baby lion cubs too and that was so fun!!  After, we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house and my parents set up the projector and the kids and I watched movies in their little theater.  We watched Dora the Explorer and Hocus Pocus.  We had dinner down there which was just pizza, but it was nice not having to worry about dinner or about the kids getting in the way of the moving.  After, we headed back home to an empty house and went to bed.  

Thursday morning, we loaded up the vehicles and said goodbyes to our neighbors before finally pulling out (later than we wanted, but not too bad) and heading towards Colorado.  It was a long tiring trip, but we made it safely into Colorado that night.  We stayed with friends out in Strasburg.  The Guinns were so kind to offer their home to us!  Friday we took it a bit easy.  In the morning, we walked down to the park and played for a bit, then I took the kids and we went to visit Becca and her kids.  Then we stopped by to have a quick visit with Kay and Reggie, then we headed back for a yummy dinner with the Guinns.  

Saturday morning, we set out for Idaho.  We stopped at Little America and got in WAY too late at night.  The kids are all sick of travelling by this point, and by this point we know that the closing on our house is being pushed back again, which pushes back the closing on our house, so we don't have a home to go to, or a place to send our furniture and boxes....  So well before that day's driving was done, the kids were grumpy and sick of the car and driving.   We stopped at Little America for ice cream cones.  David was so excited about his - the rest of the kids just devoured theirs and then went to play.  

We finally got into Meridian very late and got the kids to bed as quickly as we could and then crashed.  The next morning, we had a fairly lazy morning - but since David ended up sleeping in our bed - Dan and I had spent the whole night getting kicked and pushed out of bed, so we hadn't slept very well.  We had a wonderful church together - we got to see the broadcast of their fast and testimony meeting.  We did some scripture studying together, we played games, we took naps and we had a wonderful evening chatting with Sarah and Rob and their family who came over for cake and ice cream to celebrate Grandpa Jones' birthday.  Since we have nothing pressing us to be in Oregon next week - we are going to stay here a few more days - we will get to be here to go through the temple with Olivia and get to rest for a couple days.  

Yep.... Still Waiting....

 Well - new plan....  So we were supposed to head out this week and close this week, but both have been pushed back a bit.  We have readjusted plans and are now planning to have the movers take everything on Wednesday, then we will drive out on Thursday.  We will do a remote close part way through our trip out to OR.  

Monday, my parents came up and brought lunch.  It was much appreciated since we have packed up most of our kitchen, we don't have the ability to cook much!  We then had a friend from church drop off dinner for us.  

Weather has mostly gotten lots cooler, so this week was wonderful for being outside - even to the extent that when going on walks in the morning or evening, I've often taken a sweater!  :)  Because of that we have spent a bunch of time playing and walking outside.  Dan took David walking down to the mailbox - and David insisted that he needed to wear a sweater - so he wore mine.  

I took James and David to the park on Tuesday morning - thankfully it was pretty quiet there - unfortunately none of the older kids wanted to come with us.  But the younger boys had a great time running around and playing and being out of the house - the weather was perfect and we had a great morning.  

I decided to take the kids on one last library trip - we needed some books to get through this week of waiting since all of our own are packed up!  We had fun picking some books out and then headed home.  It was nice to have some time where the kids weren't complaining about not having anything to do.  

Tuesday night, we went and watched the presidential debate with some friends.  It was disheartening to watch the behavior of grown men who our nation thinks are qualified to lead our country...  

Wednesday was supposed to get into the upper 80's, so I took the kids and we headed down to my parents house.  The younger four kids swam - my parents heated up the hot tub some, so they didn't get too cold too fast.  They had a lot of fun - then once that had worn off and they had dried off some, we all walked down to the turtle pond.  The kids had fun feeding the turtles and the fish.  Evie saw a baby near the shore, and Eileen managed to catch it.  It was so cute!  After walking back - the kids were all sufficiently hot enough to want to go back in the pool.  After a little bit of that, my dad started showing Evelyn pictures of previous Scotland Trips to get ideas for her trip whenever it happens - eventually all the other kids trickled in to watch also.  Grandpa had a great time showing pictures to the kids.  We headed home for dinner - but all in all, it was a wonderful and tiring day!  

      

James has been wanting to play with the wiffle ball and paddles every day - so he and I have spent some of almost every day out playing - which usually leads to others coming out to play with us.  David thinks it's great fun - though James gets frustrated with him.  It's fun to watch James have fun and get better.  

It's hard to believe that it is already October.  We had friends bring over dinner for us on Thursday and stay to eat with us - the food was super yummy and the girls and Dan and I all really want the recipe.  We are so blessed by the wonderful people in this area!  

This weekend was General Conference.  It seems like we just had the last one - time has been going so fast this year...  The conference was just amazing.  So much wonderful council and it's so peaceful to know that the church is led by men and women who are honestly trying to live what they teach.  It made such a stark contrast from the presidential debate.  I am so grateful for a prophet to lives the gospel and shares his experiences and his light with us.  I am grateful for council and advice from wise leaders and for their comforting council during these crazy times.  

So we are counting down again.  And praying that this will be the last postponement....  

Counting Down....wait what?

The kids didn't have school on Monday - Evie and her friends wanted to get ice cream together, so I took Evelyn and her friends plus James and Aaron, and walked down to the ice cream place and got ice cream.  The kids had a good time.  We almost got rained on, but it held off mostly until we got back.  

The kids had school on Tuesday and then we withdrew them from school.  Except Anna.   Then we buckled down to packing.  ....Mostly

Wednesday morning, I had the opportunity to go to the temple in the morning.  It was so wonderful to be able to go.  My heart and soul felt so much better for being able to go and be there and feel the spirit.  

After, I went home for a quick lunch before heading over to Lori's house for a bit.  We were able to sit and chat for awhile and catch up.  It was so good to see her again!  My heart and soul needed that visit too.  All in all - Wednesday was a wonderful day!  

Thursday started with packing, then I met up for lunch with the ladies with whom I've been serving in primary.  We had a great lunch and a great time chatting.  

Friday, the girls and I went down to my parents house for hair cuts.  Eileen, Evelyn and I just got a quick trim.   Anna chopped it all off!   She went with an adorable pixie cut and she looks so cute!  

My dad also pulled out some things from my grandmother's hope chest.  Including this gorgeous coat and two beautiful dresses that she knit herself.  He had the girls try them on - they looked beautiful in them!  

We are officially into the "eat whatever food you can find" stage of packing up.  So for dinner one night Dan had a smoked pork, mashed potato, stuffing, mayo, mustard and jelly sandwich on some of my dad's home made bread....  He loved it - so did James.  This is a picture of the epic creation.  I did not try it. 

Saturday started a bit rough.  My parents are struggling with our move and my mom and I had a text conversation with both of us getting rather teary.  My mom beats herself up too much sometimes.  She is such a wonderful mother and I'm so glad we have at least had some time living down here with them again.  

Saturday evening, Evie headed to a birthday party with her best friends and the rest of us headed over to the Tilton's house.  It was strange to drive back through our old neighborhood and drive past our old house.  It was also a blast being with the Tilton's again.  The kids all had a blast playing together, and the adults had a great time hiding in a different room chatting.  Before we left, we did a photo re-create.  Megan had this picture of Eileen and Sonora from back in the day, so we made the girls re-create it for us.  Such cute little girls and such beautiful young women!  

And this is the original :)  

Sunday, we got to go to church and I got to play the organ.  The talks were about the Love of God for all his children - it was beautiful and uplifting.   After church, Evelyn wanted to make cookies with her friends - but we were missing ingredients and basics like mixing bowls and measuring cups were already packed up, so she found a recipe using only what we had and borrowed some equipment from her friends houses and they made cookies...  at least she is determined!  The cookies came out good though!  

We had a quick dinner of cereal and whatever we could find still in the house, then we went out to our front yard to play and say goodbye to our friends and neighbors.  We had friends from the ward and neighbors come and chat and play.  Dan pulled out some balls and things to play with in the yard and we had a great time!  David had a blast chasing big kids all over the place.  Even Koopa got in on the fun by escaping the house and hanging out with us outside - he was even well behaved mostly.  

 While we were outside enjoying a last bit of time with our friends, we found out that the buyers on our house are asking for an extension of the closing date.  They want to move the closing date to Oct 10th.  So now we are trying to figure out what that means for us and the move.  We will know more once we talk to the moving company tomorrow, but for now, it looks like we will be here a bit longer than we planned...  Now to find out if we will have any furniture while we are here....  

Birthday Fun

 Holy Moley it's been a busy week!  

Monday was my 41st birthday.  We had pineapple upside down cake and nachos for dinner.  David helped me blow out my candles and he wrapped up a couple of his cars to give me so I could play cars with him.  He and daddy wrapped them up in the morning, so he was excited all day about getting me to open my presents!  

These are just David being cute.  My dad sent some bread home with us when we went down to visit - and David loved it!  (so did the rest of us!)  

David wants to spend all of every day "playing cars."  Sometimes that actually means playing with the cars - sometimes it just means, "come play with me mommy."   On Tuesday it actually meant playing with cars since we needed to play with the cars he wrapped up for me.  :)  

Wednesday was Evelyn's 11th birthday.  She had Butter Chicken for her birthday dinner and sheet cake for her cake.  She got some really cute clothes from Grandma and Grandpa Jones and a fuzzy sweater, a stuffie backpack and fidget cube from mom and dad.   

Eileen and Anna wanted to re-do their hair to get the color brighter - I thought they looked awfully funny with their hair in cups waiting.  

She and her friends wanted to do a baking competition - I was a little worried about how it would all work out - but it ended up working out ok.  Some of the girls had more experience than others, so they needed a bit of supervision and we had to stagger baking of the cookies.  They had a blast and made a mess and then we took plates with one of each cookie to have all the parents judge (Dan judged for our family since I knew who had baked what so I wasn't impartial)  Emily and Leah ended up tying, but all the cookies tasted great!  

After we finally finished all the cookie baking and judging, the girls convinced all their parents to sleep over at our house.  Evie had passed out by 10:30 while the other girls were still awake - but they had a great time and Evie loved getting to spend some time with her friends before the move.  

Saturday started out with waffles and lots of girls.  Then after lunch, Evelyn with out for ice cream with Grandma and Grandpa for her birthday.  Evie also got to talk to her adopted grandma Sister Cottrell.  Then in the afternoon, we took the whole family and headed down to Medieval Times for a fun evening together!  The kids loved it - even David was enthralled and James was crazy excited for the whole thing.  Evie got one of the flowers after our champion won an event, and we all had a wonderful time!  

I got to play organ this week for church and of course that meant some practice time too.  Before church on Sunday, I had the kids get their yearly picture taken.  James was reluctant, but quick and easy.  Aaron was quick and easy and liked it when I had him take a picture with his vampire teeth showing.  James wanted his picture taken over and over and over, then wanted to get into everyone's pictures and of course, he wanted to see all the pictures too!  Evelyn was easy once I got her to tilt her head in a way that would remove the glare on her glasses.  Anna was the easiest of all.  Eileen just tried not to laugh at me while I told her to think of cute fuzzy moths and caterpillars so that I could get a nice smile out of her - she hates smiling! Oddly enough my favorite picture of the bunch is not a big smile, but the picture is just so her.    I sure do have cute kids though!  

We also took a headshot of Dan - we need proof that once his hair was this long.  He likes the first one better because he is all dressed up and looking stylish, but I just love the second one - It was taken before I took the kids pictures just to get the lighting in a good place.  The smile is just so genuine! 

I'm certainly not the best photographer, but this was fun and I like how they came out - and it's much cheaper and easier.  

Church was wonderful - but Dan and I were exhausted, so we took an afternoon nap, then after dinner we played some games with the kids.  

Dan and I are spending spare time packing.  We are trying to get to say goodbye to all our friends.  We are trying to get the kids school work done.  I'm ready for this all to be done.  We spent some time trying to nail down our trip out to Oregon and figuring out how it will work out and where we will be when.  We had hoped to stop by Paul and Candace's house in Utah, but that is looking like it won't happen.  Paul may have COVID, which worries us for him and his family, for now he is just quarantining, but either way, we won't be staying there.