Category: Family

I know how much you love the life-size blow-up snowmans. Here are a few shots of our neighbor’s house, which was done up on November 2.

We’ve had an interesting time of it since we’ve been back. Trying to get back into some sort of routine. You can see that I’ve failed (blogging at 3pm on a Tuesday). The girls have done quite well getting back into school and a music/dance class that they really enjoy. Gwenyth just gets naughtier and naughtier.

Here are some of the things we’ve got going on around the house:

Conveniently, Dan needed to come down to Phoenix for the day, so we promptly put him to work on one of Julie’s projects that would have taken me 4 weeks to do. And I think the quality is a little better with Dan’s bit of experience.

Even Lily made it down for the fun and mess.

And, believe it or not, the kids were swimming all day Saturday. I’m not sure if they’ve thawed just yet. Luckily for them the hot tub was hot and available as well. Unluckily for me, the hot tub was hot and available for them. The water is a little, er, discolored?

I’ll try and post updates as I get more and more shots of great big blow up stuff in the yard. Just for you, Ali.

I’m sure my other girls have done this as well, but it seems particularly interesting with Lucy. Here is the sequence she usually follows (and don’t tell me that you’re so powerfully spiritual that you don’t do something similar):

1. She runs down the list of things that she did today
2. She runs down the list of things that she wanted to do today, but didn’t get to. And if I’m the reason she didn’t get to, she’ll stop and look at me until I look at her
3. She runs down the list of things that she wants. This is the “stuff” list
4. She stops, looks around the room, and rattles off all of the things that she sees that she’s thankful for. Hopefully she’ll remember me and the rest of the family. But it usually centers around dolls and food.

It’s even more interesting when I’m praying. She’ll continually nudge me and/or whisper things to me that I need to say. And if I don’t say them, she gets continually louder. As the prayer goes on, if she’s satisfied with things, she’ll just decide to either lay on my lap or get up and start dancing.

Gotta love Lucy. She’s wired differently than I am, but I’m glad she is.

We went and had the family dinner last night. I think there must have been 87 people there. My mom is getting even more efficient at feeding the masses.

Surreal is the only way to accurately describe the last week or so of our lives. It’s been quite the whirlwind. Saying goodbye to folks up there was much harder than I ever thought it would be. The girls especially had made such good friends that they ran around with nearly everyday. It was much like it is here in Arizona. Abigail and Grace are running after each other and their friends . . . Lucy tries to join in the fun . . . much to the chagrin of all around. The same cycle.

It was especially hard for us to say goodbye to Julie’s family. We really enjoyed being around them and had some great times together. I especially enjoyed the meals that Julie often cooked for the great company we had.

We tried to make the whole thing as “normal” as possible for the girls, taking them out trick or treating and what not the night before the move. Even Julie got into the action. She loves Halloween and could not resist.

It was a bit hard for me to be my normally festive self when I saw this out the front door:

The trip back to Arizona was quite grueling. Mikey came up the night of 10/31, slept a few hours, and then took off early the next morning while we tried to get things sorted out. He kept sounding more and more concerned as he would call me from Fillmore, Beaver, and then Kanab, and we hadn’t left yet. I think he got home around 7pm, which is probably around the time that we were crossing the border into Arizona. Thanks, Michael, we couldn’t have done it without you. Now I owe you *big* time, instead of just big time.

One of the crazier coincidences about the whole thing was that our friends, the Steeles, were moving from Arizona back to Utah on the very same day. I would guess that we passed each other along the way somewhere, but we didn’t see them.

I was driving the truck that was also pulling my beloved Hyundai. I couldn’t go much faster than 65 MPH. I don’t know if I’d even want to go faster than 65 MPH in that thing. The girls kept themselves occupied by trick or treating to each other in the van the whole way home with candy they had collected the night before. The were a lively bunch for sure. Julie . . . not so much. She took a good power nap in Kanab while I took the girls and ran out on some golf course to try and get the wiggles out.

Since we’ve been back, we’ve been able to get Abigail and Grace back in school at Marley Park. They’ve got some good teachers, which is reassuring. And the school seems to have really improved just in the year we’ve been gone. Lucy started preschool on Tuesday, so she didn’t really miss a beat. Though I think she got a little spoiled by her setup in Pleasant Grove. Her new school wasn’t quite the facility that her old one was. And I doubt that they’ll have stuff like this at the new one:

The first few days back were a little too overwhelming for us both. So, for those of you who stopped by and wondered what in the world our problem was, we apologize. So many were so good to us in welcoming us back. Our refrigerator was full of food and we had some great stuff waiting for us when we got back, including a few great meals. Thank you. All of you.

Once we got everything off of the trucks (which was much more of an ordeal than I was anticipating), the real fun began. Julie has some ideas for the house, which will be great. She always makes things work.

I mentioned the surreal feeling above. Sometimes it feels as though we never even left. Sort of like the past year was nothing but a dream. But I consider how Julie and I have both grown, and I know that there’s some reality to it. Some of you may wonder about what happened to Brian, and that’s fine. I’m just happy to have 5 of the most beautiful and talented girls in the world in my life, no matter where we are. I am extremely grateful, which I guess is what this time of year is all about, so that’s rather convenient. Eh?

Here is a link to all of the pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

Here’s a sneak peak at some shots from our photo session a bit ago. It was a perfect fall day and we just walked around Pleasant Grove. Kelly McCaleb took the pictures. She really worked with the girls (including Julie) and is a new favorite of Julie’s. She’s the sister of one of Natalie Kidd’s friends out in Surprise. Thanks for the tip.

These are the only ones we’ve seen as well. We hope to get the rest soon.

Meanwhile, we have finally begun packing. Though it seems like we have less and less to pack. Craigs List has been wonderful up here. It’s like the greatest garage sale in the world. And we’re doing the selling!