James's post about saying goodbye to his parents.

I have been asked to chronicle my side of the weekend since we split up for most of Saturday through Monday. It was a really emotional week for all of us last week thinking about all splitting up for the next few years while my Dad begins what will likely be his last active duty assignment with the Air Force. They'll probably be gone for the next 3-5 years and it's pretty far away (Hawaii). So, while there is definitely excitement to be moving to such a paradisaical place, we are all starting to realize how much we've enjoyed being so close and being able to spend so much time together.

Jeremy, Chelsea, Tori and I all joined my parents for the weekend to take advantage of our last opportunity to spend some time together before they left. We all left Saturday to go down to Glendale (Southern Utah, near Kanab) to visit my grandparents, which was en route for my parents. They were driving down to California to drop off their vehicles to be shipped before flying out to Hawaii. Melinda was very supportive and understanding and took care of our sick baby so I could go down and spend the last couple of days visiting my grandparents and saying goodbye to Mom and Dad.

We got down to my grandparents on Saturday evening just in time to watch the BYU game all together with my Grandpa, the original BYU fan. We enjoyed wonderful homemade meals from my grandma with fresh food grown in her own garden. We had taco soup Saturday night, Hawaiian haystacks Sunday afternoon, Roasted ham and green bean casserole Sunday evening, and Grandma Verla even got up early to make us all French toast Monday morning before we all had to leave. It was so much fun to spend the time all together telling stories, playing pool, going to church and watching one of Grandma's Shirley Temple movies from her collection.

See if you can notice something wrong in this picture. Just so you know, we're not really that dumb. We just thought it would be funny to see who was paying attention to the photo. Can you say staged? :)

Grandma Verla and Grandpa Burdell's House in Glendale, UT

I love my parents so so much and I'm grateful for the amazing opportunity to spend their last weekend here all together. We will miss them so much but look forward to Skyping to hear all about their new adventures! Love you Mom and Dad! 

goodbye.

this weekend has been dubbed as the goodbye weekend. it could also be dubbed as the 'eating out' weekend. we dined at red robin with my MIL's family friday night and at granny annie's with just the eight of us saturday morning. 

we stayed up late visiting on friday night and spent every last second we could together. everyone headed down to southern utah (minus brooklyn and me = the sick ones) to spend time together this weekend and until later this morning when james and his siblings will say goodbye to their parents. saying goodbye is not fun. watching my MIL and FIL say goodbye to brooklyn was heart breaking. to go from seeing her every day for the last several months, to only seeing her a couple times a year will be quite an adjustment. many tears were shed. the one positive is that we will get to see them in the beautiful tropical paradise of hawaii. 

good luck gary and lisa. we love you and can't wait to see pictures of the paradise you get to call home. 

more boxes.

yesterday was a day full of errands and at the end of it all, i had a sick little girl. not super sick. just that kind of sick where you have new teeth coming in, your head's a little hot, and then add a little bit of sore throat and that's what she had. she felt a little better throughout the night, but had times where she just wasn't feeling well. not feeling like herself. that spunky little thing.

more boxes were unpacked (are you sick of hearing about that yet?) and the keys to our fire proof box where i thought my social security card were found. but alas, no social security card. after searching through old purses and wallets, i found it in my underwear drawer. the plan was to go get my license renewed this morning, but the other small detail of a birth certificate will be the darned thing that gets in my way of that. that's in coalville and so i'll have to wait for a few more days to get it. rats. i hate putting these kind of things off. i want it done. now. 

here's to a productive thursday. hopefully a menu for next week will be conjured up. i haven't thought up a menu for over four months now. my brain's a little rusty. wish my luck.

hey jude.

brooklyn has absolutely loved having her own space. mind you, it is a tornado of toys and other random things thrown in there during the move, but she is in heaven. she loves to hear her voice echo off the walls and she especially loves to hear the sounds of her nice hard toys bang against the wood floor. it's music to my ears. honestly. i love that she can stay busy in there while i am busy doing other things. 

those other things yesterday included: putting up my valentine's decor, making muffins (and putting them on my red cake plate! i seriously missed my cake plates. can't help it.), folding and putting away laundry, hanging a few things on some walls, organizing my t shirt drawer, and catching up on parenthood. it was a nice productive day and i feel like even though things are only slowly moving along and slowly coming out of boxes, at least we're moving along right? right.

(that's her 'hey jude' face...obsessed with that song right now)

a wig.

oh my goodness. our monday (which was apparently the most depressing day of the year according to experts...sad) was full of doing laundry. well kinda. on my second batch, the washer turned to almost facing my dryer. so that stopped that. i didn't dare do any more until my FIL got home to fix things. and the rest of the day was unpacking boxes and playing with things we found in those boxes. mostly brooklyn on the playing.

chelsea came over in the evening to provide me with some trader joes jewels (their mac and cheese...my goodness) and also some good entertainment. after all was said and done, i was pooped. totally exhausted. brooklyn took a whopping fifteen minute nap and was wired for the rest of the day. 

hopefully this tuesday brings more unpacked boxes, more treasures uncovered, and maybe a nice long nap for brooklyn. 

(crazy wig at great grandma's house)

p.s. less than a month til the lover's holiday. yay. i better get scheming up some super amazing ideas. not right now though. way. too . tired.

the move.

the movers got everything out of the house today (thursday) by three o'clock, a day and a half ahead of schedule. they finished just in time for the snow to start. and it didn't stop FOREVER. we all bundled up and ventured out to get a few things for painting, repairs, and to clean the carpet. because of that darn snow, it took us a lot longer than expected. 

we're exhausted.

pooped.

wiped out.

but...

the carpets are cleaned. most of the other cleaning is done. the holes in the walls are full of puddy. and we're ready to move in. it is crazy. it's also tiring. it will be nice to be all settled and just enjoy the next week with my in-laws before they make the move to hawaii. 

for now, it's time to sleep.

will post progress on monday. 

(family room) 

(living room) 

(master bedroom) 

(brooklyn's room) 

(almost every item on the countertops are things they are not allowed to move with them. we scored in the cleaning products department.)

we labored.

our labor day was spent laboring. not really. but the day WAS spent organizing, cleaning, and doing laundry. i honestly thoroughly enjoyed myself. i like living in an organized space, so doing the organizing was almost fun. almost. we started the day with a little jog/walk on a nearby trail. little because brooklyn wasn't feeling the jogging stroller. stinker. breakfast was muffins and milk, and then we got busy.

brooklyn took an almost three hour nap in the afternoon. i think she did it on purpose. she knew her mom and dad had lots to get done. what a sweet baby. i honestly think that the last week has absolutely worn her out. she made up for all the late nights and missed naps.

the evening brought family dinner at a family favorite. especially the dessert. we enjoyed visiting and eating. a nice wind down before the busy work week starts. we ate early enough that our little family of three had time to enjoy a little shopping and then some football game watchin'. so darn enjoyable.

(i bought these jammies for her last night and she would NOT face the camera)

packed up and moved.

we did it. we moved this weekend. what a lot of work. i had forgotten how much work. a huge thanks to our family who helped us A TON. we'd still be sitting in our old apartment, probably crying, if it weren't for all of your help. even though it was a lot of work, we still had a great time together. eating pizza. a target run for chels and i. braving a huge rain and hail storm with a full load. the list goes on. it definitely is a good day to have in the past however. it was a long one.

sunday was spent in coalville celebrating BIL chuck's birthday and then just lounging and eating. i even took a nap. a most glorious nap. we enjoyed a nice evening on the deck. it ended with some naked swimming (only by brooklyn). this weekend was successful and mostly tiring. today we'll be organizing our stuff into our new life and space. wish us luck.

h a p p y  m o n d a y