Big Swimmers

After school today, the kids and I decided to go to Pineview and swim.  The water was a bit chilly, but these guys did not care.  I challenged the girls to swim from the shore to the pennisula and back twice in exchange for a regular size ice cream cone (they've only had the kid size before).

I challenged Ben to actually get in the water, submerge his face and his body.  All challenges were accepted and we all sat outside and ate ice cream from the market afterwards.  Jack was absent from this activity due to some extreme emotions, but he was sorely missed.

While we were there, a lady from Huntsville who was close with some of our friends back in TX met us outside and gave us some fresh homemade bread and apricot jam to welcome us to the Valley.  She had been trying to stop by on two other occasions, but things never worked out.  This kind act of service was such a welcome surprise after feeling so lonely and displaced since our arrival!

Bad News

We got some bad news about our car today, so Ben and I decided to hike around on The Lewis Peak Trail on our way home from the Auto Parts store.  It was a beautiful way to spend a little time with this guy before picking the kids up from school.

Freedom?

To distract us from the reality of today, once we dropped Ben off Kyle and I decided to tackle part of the Wheeler Creek Trail for an hour.  It was chilly and beautiful, making for a perfect distraction.

First Day

Ben's excitement more than made up for my sadness thinking about him growing up so fast.  Half-day kindergarten was one of the biggest reasons for the quick move to UT, and today I was so glad to be able to pick him up only 3 hours later.

Dinosaur Park

Ben, Kyle, Nana and I spent Ben's last day of summer eating a pancake breakfast and hanging out at the dinosaur park before grabbing some Mormon Muffins and picking the kids up from school.

He loved the park and did not want to leave, no surprise there!

BYU Volleyball

After Temple Square, we went to the BYU Creamery and toured around campus until we finally met up with Nana and Jacob.  Our plan was to attend the BYU Women's Volleyball game together before heading back to Eden.

The kids loved watching the game with their cousins and were sad to say good-bye to them, but excited to bring Nana back to Eden to spend a few days with us.

SLC

Kyle made it home last night after driving Jacob to BYU.  They had a fun road trip and then Kyle made his way up to Eden right after the kids were in bed.  It was such a relief not to be a single parent again!  Today we are meeting Michael and his family at Temple Square, but first we stopped at Seigfreid's for some fun German pretzels and goodies!

Dessert at Zeppe's

Afterwards we headed down the road to an Italian Ice place that we all loved.  Ben got ice cream, but the rest of the kids ordered some amazing flavors of ice!

Cafe Rio

We ended our first week of school with a trip to the Urgent Care in Ogden.  Jack, Norah and Ben have been acting weird all week.  I kept thinking they were just tired or stressed because of the move and Kyle's absence, but when Jack started coughing and we heard about Aunt Kristine getting Strep Throat, I thought it best to take everyone in.  After some tests and some tantrums, we were diagnosed with "a virus" and sent packing.  The big kids went to school with a note and Ben and I hung out as usual!

After a long day, we decided to grab dinner at a classic UT restaurant, Cafe Rio.  The kids enjoyed their food and I enjoyed not cooking and eating a delicious salad!

End of The Week

We ended our first week of school with a trip to the Urgent Care in Ogden.  Jack, Norah and Ben have been acting weird all week.  I kept thinking they were just tired or stressed because of the move and Kyle's absence, but when Jack started coughing and we heard about Aunt Kristine getting Strep Throat, I thought it best to take everyone in.  After some tests and some tantrums, we were diagnosed with "a virus" and sent packing.  The big kids went to school with a note and Ben and I hung out as usual!

After a long day, we decided to grab dinner at a classic UT restaurant, Cafe Rio.  The kids enjoyed their food and I enjoyed not cooking and eating a delicious salad!

Enjoying The Show

We loved the outdoor seating and entertainment and in retrospect, I wish I would have skipped cooking dinner and ate here-there were some great options!  We settled for drinks and walking around checking out all the booths.  Kyle comes home tomorrow, otherwise he would have loved this activity too.

Walking

We were early for the Valley's open market, so we walked back over to the store for an ice cream cone before walking back over to enjoy some entertainment in a beautiful setting.

Mountain

The place we felt inspired to build on is located on the road to Powder Mountain and is on Flat Top Mountain.  We were thinking about buying the lot at the highest point in the neighborhood.  If we bought both lots on the street we would have no neighbors and behind us would be green space that is an elk migration trail.  Not a bad place for a dream home!!!!

Hot Tub

We were still wanting to be in swim mode when we arrived, but the weather has not been as warm as we are used to.  The giant hot tub next to the pool has made things bearable though.

Gym Time

The town home we are renting is located next to a condominium complex that has three hot tubs, a pool, and a clubhouse with a very small exercise room as well as some games for the kids.  I have been taking Ben here in the mornings to try and entertain him wtih the air hockey, basketball shootout and ping pong tables while I try to workout.  The walk is amazing and so is the fact that he is wearing hoodie in the mornings.

Lunch Buddy

Not starting school with the big kids really made this guy upset.  He was just as excited as them, but he was stuck waiting an additional week!  I tried to get outside and do some fun hikes and activities with him, but there was so much to get done, especially with Kyle gone.

Fingernails

Despite being a single parent on the night before the first day of school, I still managed to paint both girls' fingernails!!  Ava chose Monarch butterfly wings and Norah chose blue and white with hearts.  They both turned out so cute!

4th Grade!

Jack was ready to go to class, thankfully!  New schools are tough, we don't want to put the kids through this tough transition again!

6th Grade!

Look at this girl, she is smart and adorable-total package!  Her teacher is so lucky to have her in the class this year!

2nd Grade!

Norah was the least excited to move away from TX, but she held it together this morning like a champ!  She had met her new teacher last night, alleviating some of the stress on the first day in a new school.

Valley

By some miracle, all the kids are at the same school this year!!  Ava had been at a new school for 5th grade and Ben had been at a preschool, making morning drives less than ideal.  Here, school starts at 8:45 and its a one stop shop!  Ben doesn't start Kindergarten until next week, but since Kyle wasn't around he had no choice but to drop everyone off at their classes.

Schultutes

Somehow, amidst all the craziness of our trip to NM and packing up in TX, I managed to put together all the items for the kids' back to school cornucopias.  I was able to tape the poster board together and have everything ready in the morning despite Kyle's absence.  The kids weren't sure if this tradition was going to happen since we had just gotten to Eden the day before.  I seriously did not get enough credit for pulling this off!!!

Lake Trip

We headed to Pineview Reservoir this afternoon and while Kyle and I sat on the shore, the kids loved every minute of their time there.  We headed home after a bit so Kyle could pack his bag for his work trip in AZ this wee.  He met his Uber at Valley Elementary while the kids were having their meet the teacher night.  Not having him around for our last few days in TX was hard, but I anticipate him being gone the first week of school in a new state is going to be so much harder!

Last Day of Summer

We got up this morning and decided to hit a local place for a pancake breakfast.  We were all excited about the idea of eating outside after being in TX where the weather was never really cooperative.  Pat's raspberry pancakes hit the spot and then we headed next door to the Valley Market for some groceries.

Barely Made It

The drive to UT from AZ didn't start until around 12PM, after the homecoming.  We didn't get to the rental until 11:30PM.  It is a dark zone in Eden, so there are no street lights.  The town home was also  brand-new and there were no neighbors with lights on to guide us to the right place.  Without Google's help, we relied on an email from a property manager and me walking around with my phone flashlight looking at a for sale sign and eventually trying the code we had on a doorlock.  It ended up being the correct house and we got all the kids to bed as fast as we could!  It had been a crazy week and tomorrow would be their last day of summer before the first week at a new school!

Practice

After the airport and a lengthy stop at 5 Guys, Jacob made it to house and all the boys practiced the song they would be singing the next morning at Jacob's homecoming.  Each brother/brother-in-law would be singing a line of the song "I'll Go Where You Want Me To Go" in the language they spoke on their mission.  Kyle was the only singing in Deutsch and Michael was the only one singing in Portuguese, the 3rd verse was by all the Spanish speakers and the last one was sung by all in English.  Considering how moved we all were at the practice, tomorrow is going to be amazing!

Returned With Honor

We all made posters yesterday and the kids were thrilled to be able to hold them high for Jacob to see as he walked off the runway!  As we stood lined up at the exit from security, someone exiting the plane said that an Apostle was on the flight!  We were stunned when Elder Rasband walked out and said hi to us before heading on his way.  We found out later that Jacob had no idea he was on the same flight!

When Jacob slowly came out, all the grandkids ran over and hugged his legs followed by Mom Komenda and the siblings/spouses and finally Dad Komenda.  It was a heart-felt emotional reunion, one we were so thrilled to be a part of!  The kids will never be able to forget this moment!

These guys had to do something funny with Jacob at the airport before we all headed back to Michael's house for lunch and a blow up water slide in their backyard.

Made It

We spent the first night in a hotel and then finished up our drive to AZ and checked into our rental house.  We grabbed some take out and got the kids to bed.  Kyle went over to his parents and hung out for a bit.  We got all the cousins together in the morning at Nana's house for some games and playtime before heading over to a bounce house place and then home.  It was such a fun day with the family, tomorrow we will all welcome Jacob home from his mission together!

Great Wolf Lodge

Our last few days in TX, the weather was cloudy and rainy-very unusual for August, but thankfully the majority of the slides and pools were indoors.  I'm not sure why I thought I could handle taking the kids to a water park by myself, let alone after such an insane few days without Kyle around to help-but I did!!  The kids were pretty good about staying together, Jack took off by himself a few times, but got scared and ended up staying pretty close the rest of the time.  The slides were super fun and the lines weren't too bad.  Ben took a spill on one slide after him and I switched places on the tube.  We ended up flipping and he got pinned underneath.  He got a scrape on his knee and pretty shaken up, but got back on the horse after some cuddling and coaxing.

Kyle grabbed the room key from the front desk around 6AM, snuck into our room, grabbed the Infiniti keys and headed over to the house to pack up his office and fix a shelf the kids had broken yesterday morning while "helping!"  He was supposed to be sleeping, not fixing stuff, and then we found out there was a showing right after he was done with the shelf, so he took off to the church building to get released from his calling and wait for the people to leave the house, so he could finish up and catch an hour nap.

The days are filled from start to finish with stressful situations these days.  Moving is so complicated and hard-hopefully we won't be doing it again!

See Ya House

In addition to all the partying, hosting, and hanging out we have been de-cluttering, packing and tossing!  It is amazing how much the kids and I have been able to accomplish while Kyle has either been travelling or working.  In fact, he has been gone since Sunday and we have been managing our last few days without him.  He will be meeting us at a hotel tomorrow morning after he gets off a red-eye flight from Portland.  We plan on only driving 6 hours tomorrow, since we will all be pretty wasted.

This morning was no relief even though it was our last day here.  We cleaning, packed, staged and cleaned some more for about 6 hours only to pack the car, get in, and realize the battery is dead.  Without Kyle around, I pretty much had a mental breakdown from all the stress.  He ended up calling a friend from church, since none of our neighbors are very reliable, who rescued us with a jump and followed us to O-Reilly's where we had the battery tested to ensure our trip to AZ and then to UT would not end in a breakdown.

Before heading to the auto parts store, I realized we had forgotten to take one last picture of the kids outside the house, so we asked our friend to wait and snapped this photo and then zoomed away for the last time.  Talk about your anti-climatic ending to our most treasured home on record.  Right after I snapped this, I told the kids about our surprise stay at the Great Wolf Lodge after we get our battery checked.  They were so incredulous after such a crazy morning, but were thrilled that they would be spending the afternoon at a water park instead of on the road.

See Ya House

In addition to all the partying, hosting, and hanging out we have been de-cluttering, packing and tossing!  It is amazing how much the kids and I have been able to accomplish while Kyle has either been travelling or working.  In fact, he has been gone since Sunday and we have been managing our last few days without him.  He will be meeting us at a hotel tomorrow morning after he gets off a red-eye flight from Portland.  We plan on only driving 6 hours tomorrow, since we will all be pretty wasted.

This morning was no relief even though it was our last day here.  We cleaning, packed, staged and cleaned some more for about 6 hours only to pack the car, get in, and realize the battery is dead.  Without Kyle around, I pretty much had a mental breakdown from all the stress.  He ended up calling a friend from church, since none of our neighbors are very reliable, who rescued us with a jump and followed us to O-Reilly's where we had the battery tested to ensure our trip to AZ and then to UT would not end in a breakdown.

Before heading to the auto parts store, I realized we had forgotten to take one last picture of the kids outside the house, so we asked our friend to wait and snapped this photo and then zoomed away for the last time.  Talk about your anti-climatic ending to our most treasured home on record.

Besties

I picked Ava up from her closest friend's house after our ice cream date with the Wilson's.  These girls met in 4th grade when Madeleine's mom was Ava's teacher.  The two became close quite fast and thoroughly enjoyed their 5th grade year at Sloan Creek together.  Madeleine gave Ava a best friend necklace and hopefully the two will keep in touch.

WIlson's

The girls both had some school friends invite them over this afternoon, so I took the boys to meet up with some of their friends at a restaurant in McKinney.  Teresa and I kept in touch when they moved from Allen to California for two years, so when they came back in January we made it a point to get together, especially once we decided we were moving.

We met up at a place I wished we would have been to a few more times.  The homemade ice cream was so creamy and amazing, and we didn't even get to try the Mexican entrees they offered.

Kid Party

We planned a big going away party for the kids on Friday night, but the weather was being weird and we spotted lightning, so we cancelled and just hung out with Grandpa and Grandma.  Kyle left Sunday after church, so there was no way I was planning on hosting a big bash at our pool, thankfully some of our friends just finished building an amazing backyard wonderland and offered to host us all this morning.  It was a rainy, cloudy morning, but it was so great for the kids to see their friends one more time and this backyard boasted a bridge AND a lazy river!

Good-bye

This morning, these guys left before we headed off to church.  Kyle was at his meetings still, but the rest of us got in one more hug.  We are so glad they came, even if it was only for a few days and at a seriously stressful time!

Farewell Party

Tonight these guys threw us a going away party.  We invited almost 40 friends and neighbors.  The evening was filled with lots of hugs and explanations.  It was an exhausting event, one we extended all the way until 1AM (and Kyle had to go home and write a talk to deliver in the morning after his early morning bishopric meetings).  In the end, though, it was so wonderful to be able to say good-bye to everyone we have loved knowing here in TX.

Some friends didn't make it, but the ones we will miss were there!  Everyone else left around 10:30 and then we just chatted with our first friends in TX.  We closed on our homes in the same neighborhood in Allen the same day back in 2007.  When they moved to Fairview, we followed about a year and a half later.  We knew we would see each other at church the next day so there were no tears here, but I knew they would come!

Visitors

House guests really stress me out, but it was definitely the best thing for us this weekend!  The kids loved seeing Grandpa and Grandma and it was nice to see them again since we aren't sure how or when we will again for awhile since they don't fly and UT and TN are pretty far apart!

Girl Party

While the boys were at their final home Rangers game, the girls both invited their closest girlfriends from school over to swim.  It was a hot day and perfect for swimming.  Everyone enjoyed themselves and although the good-byes were tough, I'm so glad we planned and executed this date!

Best Scout Leaders

The kids definitely have friends in our ward and at school, but when asked who they will miss the most, they said church teachers and scout leaders!  These two in particular have been amazing folks to rub shoulders with on Sundays for Kyle and I myself and when Jack made it into their scout group-he couldn't have had better teachers.  These are some amazing people that will definitely be missed!

Six Flags

We made our Texas Checklist on the drive home from Angel Fire.  You better believe Six Flags made the list. It was a hot one, but we managed to enjoy most of it.  Ben even went on Texas Sky Screamer-the world's tallest swing ride.  Being strapped to a lawn chair by a chain as thick as my thumb at 400 feet off the ground gave me a panic attack back in Vienna so I sat this one out!  Ben loved it though!

USA Volleyball

The night before we left for New Mexico, we went to see a national volleyball match between USA and Australia.  We had amazing seats right behind the up judge.  When we got home from our month trip, Kyle saw the match being replayed and decided to record it.  We snapped this picture of us and our friends.  Vicki didn't quite make the cut, though, as she was directly behind the ref!!  It was super fun evening, even though none of the starters played the entire game-it was just fun being with our friends, I'm so glad we were able to capture this moment on film.