A Westerly Motion

In the midst of all this craziness, B.A. had a birthday. We tried to make it special. Grandma had us over to her house since ours was missing furniture and being sorted. It was a great night! She asked for ice cream sundaes so that's what she got.

Nine. Nine doesn't bother me so much, but thinking that she'll be 10 next year is freaking me out. She is really becoming such an awesome young lady. I know I've said this a million times, but I love that she laughs so easily. She has a great sense of humor. I'm amazed at how friendly she is. She makes friends so easily and kids like her. She is way smart. Her favorite thing to do is crafts. Still. She views everything she sees as a potential creative project. Paper, trash, scraps of fabric, etc. It's great. I'm sure she'll always be like that. She really cares about her siblings and wants to take care of them. I love her heart.

I asked B.A. what she liked most about age 8, and she said getting baptized was definitely the highlight. For her year at age 9, I think she would like it to just be better than last year. She said she didn't like last year so much.

Happy Birthday!

P.S. I have to explain that red dot on her head. She will probably be mad at me, and be embarrassed, but it is worth it just to remember it. She stuck one of those little circle poppers on her forehead! Not once but twice. It left a nice bruise for about a week. She was really embarrassed about it. For the few days when it was really dark, she pushed the front of her hair down so it would be covered. Hilarious! Lesson learned, I guess.

Last Day

We stayed our last hotel night in Pittsburgh. I didn't take any pictures there. I think I was losing my enthusiasm. We had a great dinner. Then when we were sitting at the hotel watching the Suns game, the electricity went off. It sucked. Bad. It was pitch black, and the kids weren't sleeping yet. And to top it off, it got super hot. It was a bummer. The next morning we were on our way to our new home!

I couldn't resist posting this picture! This is somewhere in Pennsylvania. We did this several times on our road trip.

Crazy. I know I'm a dork for taking pictures of signs. Actually Nate took them. I was driving. Nevermind that I made him do it.
This was our first night in our new apartment. Some things never change.

We live in a 3 bedroom apartment in a suburb of DC. It is really nice. We are on the 6th floor, and we have plenty of space. We are all just trying to get used to apartment living. The kids tell me they miss being able to go right out the door into the outside. Our car is also in a parking garage that makes bringing groceries home tricky.

The first Sunday we were here we drove downtown so that Nate could make sure he knew where he was going for Monday. This was the highlight of my Mother's Day (the rest of it kind of sucked). I took these pictures while driving around. So they are not the best, but my Mother's Day present nonetheless. It was really quite exciting to see these buildings.

Chicago

We decided to stay 2 nights in Chicago so that we could take a break from driving, and do some sight seeing. When we got there, we were able to have a home cooked meal! An old friend invited us over for dinner. Even though we are a pretty big bunch, Nicole still wanted to be hospitable. We couldn't have refused after so many meals out. It was delicious, and it was really great to visit and catch up after all these years. Plus the kids got to play with other kids, and toys, and run around outside. It was wonderful. My only regret is that I didn't take any pictures.

We stayed right in the middle of downtown Chicago. We could see the Willis Tower from our window. It was nice. The next day we started out very touristy by buying tickets for the double-decker bus/trolley ride and making our way to all the sights.

It was pretty cold that day. It was funny because B.A. really wanted to bring her jacket but I gently encouraged (forced) her to leave it. I didn't want to end up holding everyone's jacket by the end of the day. Turns out, we all wish we would have had them. Ha ha! That's what you get for listening to me. It was windy, and even more so on the top of the bus.

The tour bus turned out to be totally worth it. We got to see all kinds of things we wouldn't have otherwise, and we learned a bunch about Chicago too.
I couldn't believe how big the lake looked. It looked like an ocean.
Navy Pier.
We had to have Chicago dogs! They were great, except the peppers were a bit hot for the kids. And the sweet potato fries were yummy.
Do we look freezing? We were.
More tour bus pictures.
Hershey's store. I didn't think much of it, but the kids loved it. They all got a free chocolate bar. We also went to an American Girl store. Rich people probably love that store. Non-rich people, not so much.
Here we are at the top of the Willis (Sears) Tower. I couldn't figure out how to get a picture of the view and the kids. So we'll settle for their silhouettes and the cool view.
There is a glass bottom cage-like area that hangs over the 103rd floor of the building. It was a little unsettling to say the least. In fact, it took me a few minutes to get up the courage to go out there. I just couldn't see how the stupid thing even held together! And then I had to wait while all the kids got their fill. In my head, I kept picturing the wall falling off. It wasn't pleasant.
There is just something unnerving about your kid hanging over a super tall building.
And more tour bus pictures. This one was actually a trolley.
The Bean. I think it might have another name, but that is what everyone calls it. It was really cool!
And it made for some great pictures!
Just one more picture of the fam and the pretty city.

We had Chicago-style deep dish pizza that night. We waited for more than an hour. It wasn't a big deal except we had to go get Wesley from the "day care" by 9. All the waiting basically took up all of our eating time. We scarfed our pizza and hurried to get him.

I loved Chicago! I almost liked it as much as New York. I am very glad we decided to stay.

Omaha and Iowa

Next stop - Omaha.

Nebraska was interesting. There were farms everywhere. There was never a time on the drive that there wasn't some kind of farm house or crop to look at. That was interesting to me. On the drive to Arizona, there are little towns here and there, but you go for miles and miles without seeing signs of people. I guess that is because it is so flat and you can pretty much settle anywhere.

"You are nowhere." Ha ha. That is funny.

They aren't kidding.
They are faking.
See! They didn't have to share one bed. Just for the record. This was just for fun.

I thought Omaha was beautiful. It was really green and hilly. We pretty much just found our hotel, went to get dinner, and went to bed. Uneventful still, but nice.

The next day we drove through Iowa on the way to Chicago. Nate had heard about this Maid-Rite place, so we decided to try it. We will probably never get the chance again. It was good! The people in Iowa are extremely nice. I was glad we stopped there even though it put us back about an hour.


Did I mention how windy this trip was?

It was really cool to see Chicago on the mileage signs. So strange, but cool.

Cheyenne

I know these posts are boring. But I don't care!

We started our new life on May 3rd. That is the day we left our hotel in Sandy and started our drive. Our first stop was Cheyenne. Honestly, there isn't much to say about it. The drive was uneventful, but manageable. There wasn't much to look at on the drive, but we stayed entertained with electronic devices.

Here we are pointing to Cheyenne on the map. How cute! Isn't that special?

This is driving into Cheyenne. I learned that it is not a big city. Not that I was expecting a big city, but dud. There isn't much to it at all.
The hotel room was big, and that is important. It reminded me of those hotels you see on haunted house shows. I knew if I thought about that too much I would get freaked out, so I thought about other things.
They had these painted boots all around the city. Kind of like the moose in Park City. They were kind of cool. For cowboy stuff, that is.

It was so windy! I'm pretty confident that it was the windiest wind that I have ever been in. We were told that is pretty much how it is all the time. I'm just glad it wasn't a snow storm.

That's it! We didn't do anything interesting there. I was tired. I was still trying to recover from the late night at Jake and Rachel's. And we just wanted to get going.

30, 5, 252

This was the girls' last day of school. They got lucky this year and got to skip their last 5 weeks of school. I am going to "home school" them the rest. I was sad for Dare because she didn't want to miss any kindergarten. She loves school, and she loved her teacher, aides, and classmates.

Mrs. Brown

Dare got a little teary. Her face is a bit red.

I didn't get a picture of all her friends. Elise is who she played with the most.

Rhon's class. She got a shirt with a picture on it and all the kids signed it. Rhon did not have tears. She's a rock.

Savvy

Miss Peterson

Tori

B.A. didn't get sad either. I was surprised. Even though she looks a little crazy in this picture.

Savannah

10, 6561, 84081

Utah. We lived there for 9 years. A lot longer than I expected, but it was right and we loved it. All of my kids were born there. All of them with the same doctor and the same hospital. (Except G. He was born in the new one. But it was essentially the same one) We lived in a duplex, an apartment, and a house. I wish I could have enjoyed the last days I was in Utah a little more. It was kind of crazy and hectic. I will probably forget a lot, but these are the things I will miss about Utah. Mixed in with some pictures of our last days there.

1. The mountains, of course. I know that is a given but I couldn't leave it out. The mountains made me stop and look almost everyday that I was there. Especially around the changing of seasons, and on super clear days.

2. My neighborhood. I already said this but it really is the greatest place to live. The people who buy my house will be lucky to be there.

3. Leatherby's, Red Iguana, and Mountain Mike's. When I visit there is no way I won't go to Red Iguana. In fact, I might visit just to go to Red Iguana.

Here we are at Leatherby's for the last time in a few years. We spent a lot of time, and consumed a lot of calories, there. We got to the point where we didn't even look at the menu. I'm sure the servers got sick of us because our orders were so complicated. Delicious!

4. North Star Academy. Great school. I will never forget how awesome all of our teachers are. Plus, the girls got a great education that prepared them for the international schools. I'm not going to miss the drive though.

5. Having a church (or two or three) within a mile of my house. Having a lot of Mormons around isn't so bad.

We spent a few of our last days in Utah looking for shoes for Nate. Nice outfit, huh? If you don't know him very well, he is particular to say the least. It's okay though. He is happy with his selection and we were able to spend our time like this...

Playing with the camera!

Mads loves to take pictures.

6. Fry sauce. I don't even like fry sauce. I've only ever eaten it at Red Robin, and then very little. I just like that I could get it if I wanted it. Pretty much anywhere.

7. Temples. I lived within a half hour drive of 7 (about) temples. We watched the Oquirrh Mountian Temple being built. We drove by it almost every day, and I was able to clean the Celestial Room one night. That temple will always be special to us.

The kids were able to take swimming lessons the last month that we were in Utah. They loved it. Too bad the last class was cancelled.

8. The weather. I'll admit, there were a few late winters that I wished it would warm up, but for the most part, I loved the weather in Utah. The springs a falls were amazing. The summer was warm, but cooler at night. And the winter brought us snow that was beautiful and fun to play in.

This was the last night we spent at our house. B.A. was a little sad.

9. Outdoors. We camped, hiked, rode bikes, and went to parks. I will miss the open air, and large spaces. I think apartment life will be challenging.

10. Costco, Smith's, Harmon's, Walmart, and Target. Yes, I have a Costco and grocery stores, but I think I will miss the familiarity. I think about that crappy Jordan Landing Walmart every time I need something. And the Costco here doesn't have the same stuff! It is very disappointing. No more uncooked tortillas.

This is as we drove away from our house the last time. Watch out for Wesley. If he gets mad enough, those glowing eyes will shoot lasers at you.