Don't Worry, It's Not Broken

It's just really sprained. At least, that's what the doctor at the ER told me. I'll see a specialist next week and find out for certain.

I tried stepping off a curb and tripped. Pesky lack of coordination...

Heavenly Aroma

We're inching closer to having a functional home. As of this week we have a working dishwasher, two working garage doors, a garage empty of moving boxes, and now today a sealed foundation that will (hopefully) stop the source of moisture for the mold. I celebrated by making my first batch of bread in this house. We had BLTs for dinner, so my house currently smells like bacon and homemade bread.

I think heaven will smell like baking bread, fresh laundry, newly cut grass, and Dove soap. Probably not like bacon, but in combination with the bread it created a lovely bouquet.

Girliness Abounds

We have a dilemma. Because we knew we would be moving often, and because we have small children who are tough on furniture, we've opted to stick with our old, inexpensive furnishings. That's fancy for "our stuff looks like we're college students." This week, looking at the mismatched everything, I decided I was tired of it. 

I'm not great at decorating. I'm good at functional, but not so much at pretty. I've been looking at each room in my house, trying to see them for the beauty they could possess instead of how much use I can squeeze out of each one. If you have any good make-your-house-look-like-grown-ups-live-here websites, feel free to send them over. I'm sure I'll be spending time on Pinterest learning how to make our old beat-up stuff look slightly nicer.

I think the first step is making sure everything has a home. The final resting place for some of this stuff will be a thrift store. But for the lucky few that survive the purge, they will be organized. Now let me say that again, but this time imagine I'm saying it like a great general, fist in the air, calling my troops to arms. Ready? "They will be ORGANIZED!"

I spent time on Pinterest yesterday looking for organizational tips. I compiled a shopping list then told Phoebe we were going to the store for things to make our house fancy. She was thrilled. I started with her mountain of hair accouterments. I showed her several options and let her pick what we would do. My inspiration came from here. Phoebe chose the color palate and I got to work.

There was a time when making something like this would have given me heart palpitations, and not just because of the explosion of sheer girliness. I still don't consider myself crafty, but now that I've got a few creations under my belt, crafts don't stress me out as much as they used to. I had this put together in thirty minutes, sixty if you add the ironing and cutting of the fabric and batting.

And look! It's even functional.

Two Left Feet

I really must start checking Phoebe's shoes before we leave the house rather than when we arrive at the store.

Monday and Tuesday

We got on the road surprisingly early on Monday August 4th. Our goal had been to leave Bryan's grandparents' house by 8 in the morning and we were on the road by 8:40. That's really good for us. However, it pushed back a few things we had planned for the day.

The first was meeting some friends at a park in Wyoming. We happened to drive through their town and they were gracious to delay some plans so they could play with us. My friend Andrea and I got to  catch-up and swap food-allergy-mom stories.

The rest of the day was spent driving. We had planned to meet another friend, but our late departure and a bad traffic jam on her end led us to cancel those plans. I was sad that I didn't get to see her. 

On the bright side though, we drove much further that day than we had originally planned. Our intended stopping point was Sidney, Nebraska, which would have been an almost eight hour drive. But there were no rooms available in Sidney for a family of six. Nor were there any in North Platte. We had to drive an additional three hours to Kearney to find a place to sleep that night. While this made for a very long day of driving, we were glad to get so much out of the way. And one long Monday made a very fun Wednesday possible.

Tuesday we stopped at the Visitor's Center in Winter Quarters. One goal I had on this trip was to visit as many pioneer/church history sites as we could squeeze in. The kids enjoyed wearing pioneer clothes and pulling a handcart at this stop. And we had a very attentive sister missionary following us around, telling us stories.

Also on Tuesday our car went from this:

To this:

That's a lot of miles in one year.

Our last important stop on Tuesday was to have dinner with my sweet cousin Elise and her family. We last saw them on our drive out to Wisconsin and I'm so glad we got to visit again! And no, we didn't intend to coordinate for the picture.

That night we rested our heads in Keokuk, Iowa and looked forward to a day of adventure tomorrow.

Clock Reset

Initially, I thought school starting on a Thursday was silly. They attend for two days before the weekend, that's not enough to get into a groove. Now that we've finished those two days I realize the wisdom of it. 

In order to meet the bus on time we all have to be up at 6:30 in the morning. Perhaps that's a normal rising time for some of you, but for us it's early. And now we're exhausted. It was harder to get the kids up and going this morning than it was yesterday. Phoebe almost had to walk to the bus stop in her pajamas. 

At bedtime tonight we were all worn out. Phoebe was asleep within a few minutes of climbing into her bed. I think our bodies will figure out how to wake up and fall asleep at the right times, but the process of getting there is a little rough. I'm glad we have a weekend to recover.

First and Third

The boys started school today. Peter has been ready for about a week. Cooper was nervous last night as he tried to fall asleep. I was the least ready. I genuinely enjoyed spending time with the boys this summer, which is (sadly) surprising. They aren't always (meaning never) the easiest kids, but this summer was much better than last summer. Anyway, I was sad to see them go.

I told them I would buy them a shirt of their choice for the first day. Cooper's says "They said I could be anything...so I became a ninja."

One thing that sets this year apart from all the earlier years is that the boys are riding the bus. This is a dream come true for Peter. Bryan, the girls, and I walked the boys to the bus stop at an early hour this morning. Then Phoebe and I had a girl day at home (we painted our nails and watched a Strawberry Shortcake movie she had picked out from the library) and when the appointed hour arrived, we headed back to the bus stop.

As glad as she was to have a girl day, I think she missed those brothers.

Both boys had a great day. Peter has a locker (a glorified cubby) and went to Spanish and gym today. Cooper went to music and told me about a funny book his teacher read to him. The schools (they're not at the same campus, though they have the same rules and bus) have strict rules about peanuts, which is comforting. And for the first time during his formal education, Peter is not the only kid in his class with a peanut allergy.  Hooray for strength in numbers!

And now, if you'll excuse me, I have lots of beginning-of-the-year paperwork to fill out.

The Reunion Tour

It's time for me to inundate you with pictures!

I know you've been itching to find out how our drive across the country went. Well my friends, your wait is over, at least partially. I'm not going to cover a whole week in one post; that would be crazy.

But I will write about a weekend.

We finished cleaning and checked out of our Washington house on the last day of July. It took longer than we had planned for (as always) so we didn't even start our drive until dinner time. This meant that we didn't arrive in Boise, Idaho (our night's destination) until 3 in the morning. We had lots of late nights on the trip, but that was the latest.

Since I knew we were traveling across the country I looked to see which friends and family members we would be passing. It turned into quite a reunion tour. First we saw my friend Elise. She lives halfway between Boise and Utah Valley (which was our next stop) and let our motion-starved kids run wild through her house, for which we were thankful. And she fed us! It was lovely.

That night in Utah we had a big ol' sleepover. Remember the friends that drove up to see us when we were in Utah in May? Well they offered to let us crash at their house. It was sooooooo fun. It was also the best night sleep I had had in weeks. The next morning we didn't want to leave. We just wanted to stay and play with our friends. We finally pulled ourselves together and returned our friends' home to a normal decibel level. Thank you Brett and Ben!

As luck would have it, my brother Isaac and sister-in-law Falisha happened to be visiting Utah Valley from Idaho, so they spent the afternoon wandering around BYU with us. I loved getting to see them and the kids loved getting to play with them. Bonus: we went to the Museum of Art on campus and saw the exhibit advertised in the picture below. It was really cool. Phoebe especially loved all the ball gowns they had on display.

Bryan's brother Spencer came and spent time with us as well, including a stop at In N' Out, which really doesn't require an explanation. Also, I found it amusing that my youngest brother and Bryan's youngest brother had a great time chatting about math, calculus if memory serves. Sure boys, whatever makes you happy.

We also saw two more dear friends that day, but somehow I failed to take pictures. I've been kicking myself about it ever since. Charlynn, thank you for taking time to come see us! Gretel, thank you for letting us stop by! I'm so happy I got to see both of you.

After haircuts and a mall stop for some new jeans (I don't recommend eating bread and jam while traveling at 2 in the morning, you'll probably spill), we headed up to Bryan's grandparents' for the night.

The next day we went to church with Bryan's brother Dallin and his wife Melody. Phoebe adores both Aunt Falisha and Aunt Melody, so seeing them in the same weekend was kind of a big deal for her. Sadly, I again failed to pull out my camera for most of the day. I did catch this fun exchange between Dallin and Sophie.

I squeezed in one more friend visit before the traditional family Sunday dinner at Bryan's grandparents' house. Sophie and I drove twenty minutes to see my friend Makana and meet her sweet newborn baby girls. If we had come through the next weekend I would have missed her, but I caught her before she and her family moved to Texas.

Bryan and I stayed up late on Sunday night making sure the laundry was clean and the car was packed to begin the big drive across the country the next morning.

Crisis Averted

Good news, folks: I found my keys! Actually, Phoebe found them for me. After a week without them I was starting to fear the worst.

I know you were all concerned.

Also, we got internet today! Stayed tuned in the next few days for all kinds of travelogue goodness...

Read Me a Story

It's blurry, but it's one of my favorites.