Heber Cabin Day

June 24, 2014. Troy had a week off between our move and the start of his new job/residency. As I said in the last post, we filled the week with lots of home improvement projects. So when our friends the Garzas called to see if we could meet them at their family cabin in Heber, we jumped at the chance. The Runyans are here doing residency at the U as well, so they came and it was a mini Spokane reunion.

We had so much fun! The cabin and mountains were gorgeous. The kids had a blast exploring. We went on a four wheeler ride. Melissa and Jenny watched the kids for us while Troy and I went. I have missed my Utah mountains! So pretty. We had dinner together, put the kids to bed and then played some fun games together. Round robin ping pong. (I think that's what it's called.) That was a riot. Ha. We needed to be home early the next morning so Troy could get some paperwork done for work, so we left at midnight. We were having so much fun I didn't want to leave. Thanks to the Garzas for planning such a fun get together. I hope we get to see them again next time they visit Utah. xoxo

Planning how to catch a lizard.

June 2014 (Post-Move)

The remainder of June (after the move) was busy with unpacking, fixing, building, family get-togethers, and yard work. There were lots of little things to fix on our house during the unpacking process. (Details on that will come in a later post.)  Our favorite thing about being back in Utah is all the family time. Since we've been back, we've had Sunday family dinners, Grandma days, a baby blessing, and a camping trip. It's been awesome.

For now, I'll focus on what happened those last 10 days in June. Grandma Bushman came up to spend the day with a couple days after we moved in. She played with the kids while Troy and I unpacked and worked on some projects. So great!

Our first family night in the new house we let the kids run through the sprinklers. Gray thought getting hit in the face was so fun. He always stands as close to the water source as possible silly kid. And Jackson wore his ski goggles for protection. There are also some pictures (from another day) of our bottle baby, Gray. He is so attached to that thing. But it makes him happy, so I'm going with it.

On June 28th, my parents watched the kids while Troy and I went to my 10 year high school reunion. I had so much fun. Troy even said he had a good time. He knows a few of my friends' husbands, so that made it nicer for him. He got to hang out with our friend Ryan Dalling the whole time. We also saw our friends Cade and Kellie Close. Troy and Cade were in the same ward at BYU. Kellie and I were really good friends in high school. The only pictures I took the whole night were with them. Can you believe I didn't take more pictures? I was having such a good time I forgot. I can't believe I didn't get a picture with my dear friend Christy, who planned the reunion. She was a busy woman that night. Luckily, the ones we took with the Close family were good. :) The planning committee did such a great job it was a great party with delicious food and I got to catch up with so many great friends.

Lastly, a picture of a lizard trap Jackson made for our backyard. He has been enjoying the new creatures in our yard. There is this very large garter snake (like a good three feet long, and black and scary looking. Yikes) that travels around our yard. I found it weeding and about died. Jackson named it "Long." He told me the other day, "Sigh. I wish my friend Long would come out to see me." Ha. Jackson always has been a sucker for animals and creatures, no matter how creepy looking. Silly kid.

Moving

Moving. Eventually, the morning of June 19th came and after scrubbing my house for 3 days straight, my mom and I were ready to hit the road. Seriously, the move-out list we got from our landlord was insane. And we followed it to the letter. We tried to have as much done as possible so Troy and my Dad wouldn't be left with much to do other than pack the truck. I felt like we were in a pretty good spot when we left.

The road trip wasn't awesome. It wasn't as bad as the one where Clara threw up 10 times. Probably nothing will ever compare to that.... at least I hope so. Ha. But Jackson and Gray each threw up. (Apparently we have a car sickness problem in our family.) And Clara and Gray each slept about 20 minutes the ENTIRE trip. I always think my kids will take solid naps during our road trips, and lately they don't at all. So sad. Gray cried the majority of the trip. It was rough. But, eventually 12 hours passed and we made it to Bountiful. There are a few pictures included of us taking breaks from car seats. Clara and Gray feeding each other french fries, and Jackson sleeping in the most uncomfortable position ever.

During the drive, I called Troy and my Dad for updates on the move. My Dad's flight was delayed from Salt Lake and so had to take a taxi to get to our house in Spokane. He missed most of the truck packing. I felt so bad about this. He had arranged so much to get there in time to help and then the flight delay messed everything up. And then there was the part where our stuff didn't fit into our moving truck. Awesome. We'd chosen a shorter truck this time because Troy felt it would be easier to maneuver with our corolla towing behind. We also felt we'd gotten rid of enough stuff to make up the difference. Apparently that wasn't the case.

When I talked to Troy, it was 10:30 at night and they were taking apart boxes and shoving loose possessions in every nook and cranny they could find. They also had to vacuum the whole house and do some last minute cleaning. I was so frustrated. They needed to get to bed early so they could be up and ready for the 6 a.m. walk through with the landlord (He Who Shall Not Be Named. ;) They were up past midnight trying to get everything done. Troy and my Dad were able to fit everything into the truck and our corolla, except our playhouse. I was a little sad about this, but considering the circumstances, I think we made out really well. We could have had to leave behind MUCH more. Our neighbors Hannah and Jeff kept the playhouse for Carsen.

The walk through the next morning with landlord did not go well. He was not nice to Troy. The house was completely spotless, but he called out a few scratches on wall at the tops of closets and behind the washing machine. Also some dry spots in the lawn. Troy pointed out a small crack in a door that was our fault. The doors in our house were all stapled together and falling apart. Yet, he told Troy he would charge us for a new door and his time to stain it to match. Wow. By the time it was over Troy was pretty sure we'd be getting back nothing from our deposit. We were so frustrated. They also refused to prorate our rent for us. They even complained about us asking to our neighbors. I could hear our landlord talking about us through our open window a couple weeks before we moved. Awesome. Despite all our frustrations, it ended up working out okay. We got more much more back from our deposit than we thought we would. (Since we thought we would get nothing. Ha.) I think they felt our frustration and decided to give us more money back than they were planning on. I was thinking about getting more people involved (have my Dad write them a letter, etc.) because of how we were treated. I'm glad we didn't have to deal with it any longer.

After the unpleasant walk through, Troy and my Dad made it to Utah without further delays. They pulled up to my parent's house just as it was getting dark. I felt like we'd run a marathon and we hadn't even unpacked yet. Ha. Moving is so exhausting.

The great thing about moving back to Utah is that we had so many people to help us move in! Troy's family came up to help. His parents and several siblings were there. Our friend Ryan Dalling was there. My mom watched the kids while my Dad, Lindsay and Jeremy helped. (Ashley was out of town) Several people also came from our new ward. So great of them! I hung up signs to direct people where to put which boxes. It seemed to make things run smoothly.

In a couple hours, we had the truck completely unpacked and we were setting up bedrooms. My dad helped me hang all our black-out curtains. These are always the first thing to be hung in our new homes. ;) He also adjusted all the doors so they would open and close correctly. Grandpa Bushman broke in the backyard with a little baseball with Jackson. We had enough guys to lift our crazy-heavy piano into our house. This is always the scariest part of moving for me. That piano! Too heavy. We love it though.

Jackson rode with Troy to take the truck back. I followed them out there. I got emotional when I saw the Salt Lake City skyline. I am so grateful to be back in this place I love. Near the family that I love. And also, so many of the friends I love! I'm so happy we are in this time and place. So many blessings.