Tim's parents flew out for a week to see the new house and visit with the boys. Aaron is finally starting to feel a little bit better and Ian was happy to see familiar faces. Aaron is still pretty glued to me -laying in my lap playing with blocks.

We were able to do a lot of the fun things that Utah Valley and Salt Lake have to offer. Plus relax and enjoy some time at home. One of our favorite places is the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. Ian was digging for dinosaurs here and thought it would be fun to splash grandma with water. Looks like he did a pretty good job too!
Shark Bruce is trying to eat us.
Another one of Ian's favorites is Pirate Island. When we were talking to him about moving to our new home we would always include that it was by pirate island. This night they had a balloon person there making balloons. Ian wanted a parrot.

Jim had wanted to eat at Tucanos Grill because he remembers eating there years ago and loving it. We all loved it! It was delicious. Even Ian could not get enough of all of the Brazilian Meats and dishes. Oh and he loved using the tongs as actual silverware.


Name also brought a bunch of clothes from a boy in her preschool Luca. He has the cutest clothes and they are all in very good condition. This is Aaron wearing a hat that Luca sent.They also brought our a toy car garage for Ian. Who would have guess that Aaron loves it even more than Ian. Since moving to our new home Aaron has taken off and is crawling everywhere like crazy. His favorite part is the car wash roof to chew on.
Sometimes he quickly grabs a toy and crawls away from Ian. The expression on his face is showing that he might have meant to grab something else.

Happy Baby! (Finally -he has not been himself for about a month)One of my favorites -I love the peas all over his face.

Ian and grandma enjoying popsicles on the deck.Aaron and grandpa playing with the measuring cups and spoons.
We were so glad they were able to come and visit. Thanks for all of your help and hard work in helping us fix up the house. We can't wait to see you in August!

Moving Day -New House

After packing, unpacking, and repacking it is finally time to load up the truck and go! The boys are not to excited but lets be honest neither am I. They do pretty good at putting on a happy face. Aaron trying to attack Ian through the crib.

Tim has been at work all week while we have been having fun. I have been trying to pack but I have been unable to get very far...
Ian helping me pack the linen closet. His method was to throw everything out and onto the floor. Then you would think he would put it into the boxes? Nope boxes are specifically meant for caves and only caves. Oh and to color on.

We did a few touch ups around the house. Anytime Tim uses the hose outside Ian must get completely ready in his rain gear to play with the water.

Aaron and I supervised. Both boys are a little attached with all of the changes happening.
All of the rooms in our town home are color coded with colored duck tape to rooms in the new home. It made things go much faster and a lot easier. They have a lot of duck tape colors to choose from. Since our town home feel through last minute we decided to keep the house staged with furniture and take everything else. We rented a penske truck to haul everything down in. I had decided to go with the bigger truck 26" because it was the same price as the smaller truck. I am not sure how and I don't really want to know how but we filled the entire truck from floor to ceiling. Did I mention we did not take any of the large pieces of furniture -couches, table, beds, dressers. Yes I am slightly sickened by this.

Our timing was impeccable when moving. The night we loaded up in Smithfield there was a ward event going on. Luckily my family and a few wonderful neighbors were able to come and help us out. My mom packed most of our home because the boys are attached to me. We started piling everything together and Tim got up in the attic to get down the Christmas decorations (which he has safely done every year for 5 years). We were all downstairs and after hearing a loud bang followed by a few choice words we came up to find this...
Tim had slipped and went straight through the ceiling. He had caught him self on the studs with his shoulders. I am not sure how he did not get hurt but thankfully he was just fine. However our ceiling and light fixture had seen better days. Below is all of the insulation that fell out as well. It made a huge mess and was everywhere upstairs.
Luckily my dad was able to fix everything while we continued to move things. It is now built better than before. On Friday night me and the boys stayed at my parents house while Tim and my dad headed down to our new home to unload. Did I mention our timing was impeccable? The Elders Quorum in our new ward was having a party that night and they were unable to help. My dad and Tim did most everything and a couple of our new neighbors were also able to come and help afterward.

Our new home.It is a ranch style home with a very open floor plan. There are 3 bedrooms up and 3 bedrooms down. We mostly just live upstairs but when guests come to visit we open up the basement. We have tons of room for plenty of visitors (just this week we had six adults and one teenager staying with us and there was plenty of room for more).

Upstairs family room, dining room, and kitchen.

Kitchen with old appliances. Tim has been quite the handyman and has replaced all of the appliances.Basement family room.
View from the back of the house. This picture does not do it justice. Our view is amazing, that is what really sold us on the house. We have a great view of the Timpanogos Temple, all of Utah Valley, and Utah Lake. There is a large grass yard in back and in front. I guess you will just have to come and visit us and see for yourself.
Now that we are moved in life has been....difficult. Ian is not loving it at all. He continues to ask to go to his other house and play with his friends. Our neighbors have four boys one is just a little younger than Ian. They seem great and Ian has loved playing in there huge sandbox. We went to our new ward and it seems like it will be great but right now it is just not home. However, there are tons of boys everywhere. Ian usually loves nursery but another boy was hitting and pushing him so he does not want to return. Andrew told him to hit him back (oh great). The next week he went willingly (probably because Andrew encourage him to hit) but when we went to pick him up he was sitting in the room by himself and his leaders had already left. Don't get the wrong idea I left straight after relief society. Who would I talk to I don't know anyone yet. The next week Tim was working and I will be honest we did not go because I did not want to deal with it. I know I am sure I will be struck by lightning soon. But next week just sounds better.

We had planned on returning to Smithfield to stay and visit with friends. We have gone up a couple times but decided it would be best to just stay with my parents as to not confuse Ian. As for Aaron. Aaron has had a horrible ear infection with high fevers and has not been a happy camper. Pike is loving life and his new found freedom. He especially loves the doggy door that Tim installed for him to head out to the garage and take care of business on his potty mat whenever he wants. Pike is also loving the neighbors boys that come to take him for walks about 5 times a day. Me, well right now I would rather be home hanging out with my friends too. Tim, he has been working 60-70 hour weeks so he doesn't have much time to think about anything else right now. Let's just hope that we all start adjusting! Fingers crossed, try to see the cup half full :) Atleast we have visitors coming soon!

Beware picture overload. I found that if I group the pictures together in Adobe it makes it a pain when I go to make my blog into a book. So from now on they will all be left as individual pictures! Which actually makes blogging much easier.

Last Week in Smithfield (Second week of June)

We have had way too much fun this week! We have had plans every night and have loved every minute. It has been great because we have not had to cook one thing at home. We have been going to luncheons and dinner invites, doing all that we can possibly fit in before we go. I absolutely love where we live! I love that we are so close to my family, we are surrounded by wonderful friends, and look over by a wonderful ward and community.

The ward put together a going away luncheon. I really did not expect many people to be there. It was a little chilly and had been raining a little that morning. In the afternoon the rain let up so off we went. Much to my surprise there were tons of friends. People that have helped us through may rough times and helped take care of our family at a moments notice.

I would go through and name everyone but do to privacy issues I will just be naming them in my actual blog book.

Aaron slept in Andrea's arms almost the entire time. He absolutely loves her!

Ian and Jonas could have played in the water for hours. Did I mention it was cold outside. Plus they were drenched in cold water. Ian absolutely loves Jonas and when they get together just watch out. Between the running and the nerf gun shooting you are bound to get in the way.The night before we were able to get together with the Gosnell's enjoy a wonderful barbecue and finish up our Camp Rock marathon. I will blog more about this later (still need pictures)

We also were able to get together with the Thompson's one night. As usual Ian and Ellie keep themselves plenty entertained. They were playing house. Ian is currently wearing Ellie's clothes because they also found the hose earlier and were soaked from head to toe. Ellie was the mommy, Ian was the daddy, they had a baby (doll), later on they even got a dog (pike).

Erin and Isaac.

Brock chillin' and drinking some milk.

Aaron was fascinated with Brock. Brock also enjoy tackling Aaron when he would get up on his knees to attempt crawling. Aaron didn't mind for a few seconds but not much longer than that.

I can't believe that we are leaving. I wish we could at least spend the summer here with our friends. Enjoying water play dates, barbecues, hanging out with friends, and so much more. Thanks for all the wonderful times and the great life long friends we have made. We will miss you!

Birthday's

Hunter wanted to go bowling for his birthday which is the 28th of May. So we all headed to the fun park in Logan. Ian had never been bowling but now he feels that it should be a weekly event. I would like to say I remember who won but I have no idea. If I had to guess I would say Andrew, why??? Because he usually wins most everything. Ian liked using the bowling helpers

and tends to do better than as shown in the video.

The next day we had the family over for buzz lightyear birthday party for Ian's birthday which is May 29th. He woke up that morning to balloons everywhere and his bedroom door all decorated. We had homemade Mac & Cheese, , teriyaki chicken on the grill,homemade bread sticks, peas, and lemonade. All of Ian's choices -besides the peas.

We first ate dinner then opened birthday presents. Hunter had already opened his the day before but had a few left. Transformers for XBox 360

We had Ian go upstairs then we pulled out his presents. He thought it is so much fun he kept saying, "I'll go upstairs and you get another one to surprise me." So he would go and sit on the stairs and we would pull out another present and place it in the middle of the room. As you can see in the video (that is not uploading -MOV 0685). He loves his bike and was so excited to open it. It fits him perfectly!

He also received: water toys, toy story towel, bubbles, puzzles, flashcards, remote control car, and a builder airplane.
Here is Ian riding his bike! I love that he stops to stomp on the dandelion then continues on his way. He is most definitely all boy!

He got a toy story helmet however it was much to small and needs to be exchanged.

Ian was very specific on what he wanted for his birthday this year. As you can tell by the theme and the dinner menu. He also did not want a cake but he wanted cupcakes instead. I had bought a cake mix quickly at the store to make cupcakes but came home to make them and realized I had picked up a sugar free cake mix. Gross! Thankfully my mom had plenty of sugar mixes and she was able to make the cupcakes. We had a wonderful day even in the mist of all the moving chaos. I just can't believe that he is already three years old. I am not sure where the time is going. Happy Birthday Ian! We love you!!!

May 27 -Last Day teaching high school

It is official as of today I will no longer be a high school math teacher. I love my job and absolutely love the people that I work with. Below is a picture of some of our math department. The week after school finished we all got together and had a math department bar-b-que. It was a blast!

From Left to Right: Chase, Me, White, Handy, Smart, Weeks
This year started out insane with class sizes in the upper 40's. My highest class was 46 students which was intermixed with resource, esl, and students that struggle with math to begin with. Did I mention that it is also the dumping grounds. When another child acts out or is a behavior problem in another math class they are sent to this class. I don't mind, they know that they are not allowed to misbehave in my class.

Below is a picture of my classroom. Currently there is seating for 37 students. Where do the other 9 students sit? On top of the A&C unit and table to the right. Luckily they hired a part-time math teacher mid way through the year which helped immensely.
My smart board in the front! I could not teach without it!

My desk. I have been packing up the house as well as my classroom here at Logan High. I have taught at Logan high for 4 years. My desk is rarely messy so my students know that if there are papers on my desk or it looks a mess to leave me alone. Since we have finished end of levels and have a week left of school my students have been helping me clean, pack, and haul things to my car. Many of my old students have been coming to my room as well to lend a helping hand. They like to say they are my "free labor." I just wish I could have them all come help my move my home as well! I have mixed emotions about taking a break from teaching altogether to stay at home with my children. I had always dreamed of the day that I could stay home and teach my own children. It just did not seem like that day would ever come. Now it is here. It will be great not to have to stress about finding babysitters, or what to do if the kids are sick. Not to mention putting together a whole new curriculum for the new math core that the state of Utah adopted. However, I absolutely love teaching and love my wonderful students. It is a great reward when you get students that have struggled with mathematics and all of the sudden it clicks. Don't be mistaken not every student is this way. There are still those that feel that one day I will see them on MTV Cribs, even if they can't add 2+7. But overall they are still all wonderful. It is weird to think that I will not be returning in August. Hopefully I will survive being a stay at home mom?!?!?!

On May 20th we received notice that our town home was no longer under contract. The buyers wanted a two month extension which was just not possible. So back on the market goes our town home.

The problem: We still have to close by May 31st on our new home in Cedar Hills. The investor has already had over 10 other offers on the home that were all higher than ours. However we are already under contract. Therefore if we do not meet every deadline the investor would probably be happy to tell us good-bye. Not to mention due to the fact that we had signed on our new home before the investor actually had the title we were all being investigated for loan fraud. Which means triple the paperwork and a pain in the butt. Every check deposited from the last year had to be proved as to where the money came from (nothing like calling relatives and asking them for copies of checks they had sent you for birthday, etc), all taxes from the last couple of years were looked over, bank statements, everything and anything you could possibly think of. I think I would have rather had the IRS audit my taxes it would have been easier. After much stress, headaches, and complete and udder craziness we were finally given the keys to our new home!

Step 256,865: Start unpacking and re-staging our town home for sale.

Step 305,112: Pack everything else and move it to our new home.

Ian loved to "help" pack and move things to the trailer. Don't worry we did not let him actually walk outside like this. Tim was able to borrow my dad's truck and grandpa's trailer just to get a few things out of the house for Ian's birthday and to show the house.

Step 368,974: Ian's Birthday is tomorrow! Plan and prepare!

Step 368,975: Don't forget to breathe!