It was
soooo nice to have all our stuff back. We hadn't seen our things for about a month, I couldn't wait to get it all unpacked and get settled. We still lived out of our suitcases for a few more days, but gradually we got more and more organized. The girls were so excited to have their own rooms.
I got a kick out of the packing job the movers did. I would pull out a big huge bundle like this . . .
and find teeny tiny things inside, like this. I found individually wrapped dress up shoes in tones of paper, seashells, plastic toys. They really made sure to do a good job. We must have had a ton of paper by the time we were finished unpacking, though.
A very carefully wrapped seashell. (o:
The boxes made great forts and the kids had fun with them in the yard one day while I got some cleaning done. We still have some box "houses" in our basement. One fun memory for the girls, that I don't have a picture of because I was gone - was the day they were playing in the front yard with tons of boxes like these. Daddy was working on organizing and cleaning out the garage while they played in and on several boxes. Soon, neighborhood kids started to flock over and join in the fun. Hal* said he counted 13 little girls running around on and in those boxes in the front yard. It was a fun first memory for the girls in their new neighborhood!
Another funny thing that happened - could have turned out not so funny if the weather hadn't been so good the week we moved in. On our day of the move in - one of the guys had the brilliant idea to open one of the basement room windows to pass boxes through. We opened a window and took out a screen. I never really remembered seeing them use that window, now that I look back on it. We got busy doing other things and directing furniture placement, we forgot about it. Two days later, we were walking around the side of the house and found several boxes stacked by a window on the opposite side of the house behind our garage! Someone must have gotten mixed up as to which side of the house to take the boxes to and since the boxes could not be seen from the front or the backyard, they were forgotten. I'm so glad the weather held up or we would have lost a lot of books! Another down side to opening that window was that we were so busy that day we forgot it was open. We didn't notice until we came home late that night from getting dinner and realized the downstairs was freezing. Yikes! So much for that brilliant idea.
We love the sidewalk that wraps around to our big back patio - perfect for riding bikes!
One of the first matters of business after our move was finding violin and piano teachers for the girls and myself. We found a great violin teacher for Natalie at the high school right down the street, just a mile away. She is the orchestra teacher at
Riverton. After Nat's first lesson, we came out and heard the marching band playing so we went to go watch them. They were preparing for state competition, I believe. It was fun to get to know the high school the girls will go to someday. It seems like a really nice school!
This was a big project we had to get to before winter set in. You can't really tell from this picture just how many tomato bushes are in here. I think I pulled out about 10 huge bushes (toward the middle and back). We also pulled out several weeds, old potato plants, corn stalks and picked some delicious carrots. We are excited to plant in this great big garden next summer!
Now that looks like a "home sweet home" sort of picture!
A house really feels like a home when friends and family come to visit! This is Angela's new friend, Abbi who lives two houses down!
Hosting our first football party with mom and dad! Hal* made his famous ribs. It was a stressful and exciting game vs. San Diego State. A nail biter for sure, but the Utes ended on an exciting note - 38 to 34, we were whooping and hollering and jumping up and down!! That was one of the craziest games I've ever seen with guys tipping the ball to the other team, blocking kicks, interceptions - all the stuff that makes college football so fun!
A fun night with grandma and grandpa ended with a fun surprise - when we opened the door to say goodbye - 5 fresh inches of snow that fell during the game! Our first snow since moving into the house.
