Moving Fun! (ok, not really)

I just wanted to take a quick second to make a post giving everyone an update on our move.

We just got back to the hotel from the house. Everything was packed up on Thursday and almost everything was loaded on Friday. Turns out they determine the amount of space allocated you on a truck based on estimated weight. Problem is we have a lot of big stuff that doesn't weigh a lot (can you say HUGE beanbags anyone?!) so...well, they ran out of space and another truck had to come this morning. They sure tried hard to get everything on, they even pulled out the ramps, set a piece of plywood across the back and strapped down a bunch of our stuff in an effort to get more on! It was the craziest thing I have seen in a while. I had Katie snap a picture with her phone (for insurance as well as story purposes), check it out.

Of course, I thought this was all kind of funny until I took a closer look at the picture and noticed that my Triathlon bike is one of the things strapped to the back! ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!

So, now my poor bike is strapped to the back of some freaking semi driving across the country with all the weather, road grime, and other things that could do damage! I was not a happy camper!

Anyway, we finished doing all the touch-up painting last night and cleaning the house. The carpet cleaner came this afternoon and I cleaned some windows. Finally, the house is ready to turn back over to our awesome landlord and we are ready to go.

We have been in a hotel with the kids since Thursday, the Comfort Inn and Suites (trying to be budget conscious, plus I don't like my kids destroying other people's nice property) and it isn't that bad.

They have been very hyper (as usual), but nothing that I didn't expect. They are a little out of their routine with all of the changes, but we are hoping to get everything settled down before the end of the month.

We have church tomorrow followed up by dinner at a friend's house. We leave for Utah on Monday morning at 7am. From there, things keep up the hectic pace. We expected to have our stuff not arrive until the 27th, but the driver told us Thursday that it will be there on the 22nd...which may not sound bad, except that I won't be there. I fly back to NY on Wednesday with Dad to get my other car and drive it back to Utah (about a 3-day drive) so Katie will have to oversee the unpacking and unloading by herself! Yeah, we aren't too excited about that.

I get back to Utah on the 25th or 26th with Dad and am there until the 31st when I have to go to San Francisco for work. I fly back to Utah from San Francisco on November 2nd and then leave back for New York on November 3rd (yes, the very next day) and am here until November 10th to finish up things here.

I also just got word that I will probably have to make one more trip out before Thanksgiving...oh boy, it just gets better and better! Can't wait for Christmas!

We want to thank all our family and friends for all their support. We will sorely miss living in NY but are excited to get back to our family and friends in Utah. I am going to do posts of my trip with dad across the U.S., so stay tuned!!

-Cim

Our New Home!

After many hours driving around Utah County this past weekend, we have finally found our new home. We are just going to rent for a little while until things settle down with the economy, but we are really happy with the new home. We will be moving on October 20th and we will stay with Cim's parents in Orem until our stuff arrives. Then we will move to Springville, Utah. The home has 3900 sq ft and is very roomy which will be nice with our 4 crazy kids! It also already has a playground in the backyard and a built-in drinking fountain. I haven't decided if the drinking fountain is a good or bad thing yet considering how much my kids like to play in the water. Anyway, we are happy to be done searching and we are excited now to get packed up and go. Although we are not looking forward to another 5 hour flight with the kids to go back to Utah, it beats 4 days in the car!

Sticks and stones will break your bones...and so will the ground!

We always thought the first broken bone among our children would probably happen to Joshua, but we were wrong. Today during recess Caitlyn was swinging on the playground and she fell off the swing onto the ground. At first she was more concerned about her lip which was bleeding. She went to see the nurse and Caitlyn also mentioned that her wrist was hurting, but it looked fine. So, back to class she went. About an hour later, Caitlyn's wrist was hurting more and it started to swell. So, the nurse called me and I went to pick her up from school. We went to the regular pediatrician first who looked at her wrist and then referred us to an Orthopedic Surgeon. It was swollen, but not displaced or anything and she wasn't crying or upset. She and Caleb (who was home from school with a cold) were even wrestling, as usual. Anyway, they took an x-ray and discovered a small crack in her wrist. She doesn't even have to have a cast. She just has to wear a wrist splint for three weeks. Oh yeah, and as every kid dreams, the break is on her right arm and she is right-handed. So, no writing at school or for homework. She wasn't exactly complaining about that. In fact, she wasn't complaining at all until I told her she couldn't take the brace off because there was a crack on the bone. Up until then she didn't really understand what had happened.
On a side note, there is one thing that I won't miss about New York which I was reminded of again today. I didn't have time to find someone to watch the other 3 kids while all this was going on. The doctor was about to go to lunch so we had to rush over there and the Ortho had said to send us right over after that. We were just running from one thing to another and my kids hadn't had lunch and it was Ellie's naptime, etc. So when the Ortho walked in he said, "Oh, are there any more kids running around here?" Now I know it's not fair to make generalizations about people, but I'm going to do it anyway. People in New York are children-a-phobic!!! Ok I know that's not even a real word. But, I am sick and tired of people thinking I am from another planet because I have 4 children. It's not that big a deal people! Get over it and I will try to do the same about you! Okay I'll get off my soapbox now. I'm going to bed, finally! Good night.

Update on the BIG MOVE!

In case you haven't heard, Tahitian Noni, the company that Cim works for, is relocating us back to Utah. Cim will be starting a new position and will be working in Provo. So, I have spent countless hours looking online for homes and we are heading out to Utah next weekend on the 26th to look at homes. We will return on October 1st and will then have 2 weeks to get ready to move. Originally our plan was to fly out to Utah on the 18th, but we just found out that the Primary Sacrament Program is on the 19th, so we will probably leave on the 20th. We moved to New York exactly 3 years ago today! It was a huge adjustment at first and took some time to get use to the NY way of life, but it has grown on us and there are a lot of things we will miss. We have made some really wonderful friends here in our ward and we will really miss them. Fortunately, we know that most of them will visit Utah every once in a while, so we know we will see them again. We will really miss the schools and the special ed programs! Caleb only has 8 kids in his class here with 1 teacher and 5 assistants. Caitlyn only has 7 kids in her class with the teacher and 1 assistant. It will be hard to find those ratios in Utah schools. But, we really feel like moving back to Utah is the right thing to do. So, this adventure we call life continues! We will keep you all posted and let you know where we end up, when we know.

Joshua's 3rd Birthday!

It's a small miracle I know, but Joshua survived to see his third birthday! There were days when I had my doubts that he would make it. Oh yeah, and I survived to see him turn three too! Even though he is 40 pounds and wears clothes the size of a 4 year old, I swear he's only three. We like to call him "mini-Cim" although there isn't a whole lot that is mini about him. Joshua loves all things animal and dinosaur and decided he wanted a "dinosaur birthday party". (Go ahead Wiggles fans, sing the song. I know it's hard to resist).


Here is the dinosaur birthday cake that I made.




Cim is lighting the candles and the volcano. These are Joshua's buddies here in New York. From left to right we have Cim, Max, Joshua, Mercer and Elliott.





Here's Joshua opening his present (sea life creatures).

Happy Birthday Joshua! I love you!

Happy Birthday to my Best Friend!

Today is Cim's birthday and I just want to say how happy I am that he was born. Even though he is in Switzerland today without me, I still love him! :) Unfortunately I can't make any jokes about how old he is because, as he always reminds me, I am 2 years older than him. Well, I honestly don't know what I would do without my better half. I love you Cim and am so grateful for you. Thanks for making me laugh, for helping me through all the difficult times and for helping me to be a better mom, wife and person. Thank you for loving me in spite of all my weaknesses. Happy Birthday!

Birthdays and other stuff....

Well, we are behind in our posting. Summer kind of gets a little crazy and these types of things tend to slip unless you are on top of them. Katie has been asking me for a few weeks to post pictures of the kids birthday party at their respective schools and since other things have happened since then, I figured on good post of everything would get me caught up. Hope you enjoy!

Caitlyn had an absolute blast at her birthday party at her school. She wanted a Cinderella theme, which the boys weren't to fond of...but she knew that going in and didn't care so we went with it. She was sooooooo happy, she couldn't stop smiling. She helped us hand out the cupcakes and treats to all her classmates and they all sat together and ate while Katie and I dolled out additional juice boxes and napkins as needed. Joshua wrote on the class white board with a Sharpie, you can see his legs at the top of the picture in the act....

As you can also tell, Joshua was enjoying the Cinderella cupcakes. If he has my genes, this may be the only moustache he ever grows.

We did the same party at Caleb's school (without the Cinderella theme). He had a great time as well. Caleb's good friend, Ryan who has Down's, is in the bottom-left of the picture. They are inseperable at school and we are glad they will have another year together.

And yes, Joshua did enjoy the cupcakes at Caleb's party as well. As you can see, he has graduated from the blue moustache to the full brown goatee.

4th of July
A few days after we celebrated the kids birthday it was the 4th of July. We did a simple bbq with some of the ward members who were still in town and then headed over to a local park for the town's fireworks show. There was a little carnival there and the kids rode rides for a few hours until the fireworks show started.

Here is a quick video clip of the fireworks show. Yes, it was raining and Caleb and Caitlyn weren't too excited about all the loud noise, but they handled it well and we all had a good time!


Trip to Utah

About a week after the 4th, Katie, Caitlyn, Joshua and Ellie flew to Utah. Caleb and I stayed behind for a few days so Caleb would miss less school, but joined them that following weekend. It was great to see everyone again and to let our kids reacquaint themselves with their cousins and grandparents. Dad has build a kid's wonderland in the backyard, with a fort, trampoline and sweet sandbox! The kids were in heaven!

This is a great picture of the "girls"...Ellie couldn't get up the ladder fast enough to be part of the shot.

Everyone know understands Ellie's obsession with ice and popsicles...

Joshua loved the sandbox! He is so into building things and has a very creative imagination and would spend hours in there playing and getting dirty!


Fish Lake

While we were in Utah, we split time between my parents house and Fish Lake. Fish Lake has been a gathering point for Katie's family for decades and is a tradition we try to participate in whenever possible. It was the first time that Joshua and Ellie had been there and they had a blast. Caleb and Caitlyn played with their cousins, got dirty, and had a good time as well. It is such a beautiful place.

Here is Caitlyn with Megan and Emma on the lake.

Ellie though that stumbling around the boat as it rocked from side-to-side was fun...until she fell and hit her head! This was taken before that took place....

Joshua loved being on the boat and immediately wanted to fish...

Jeremy (Katie's brother) let Joshua put a flat fish out the back of the boat first and within the first 5 minutes, he had caught his first fish. He was so determined to reel it in that he would only let me do it when his arms got tired, but then grab it right back when he had recovered. He was so excited about catching it!

Caitlyn also caught her first fish. However, she wasn't that excited about reeling it in so I did most of it and she was even less excited about getting close to it once it was in the boat. But hey, at least she caught one, right?


After Fish Lake, we returned back to my parent's house for a day to get ready to return home to NY. We got back Saturday afternoon and Katie and I were exhausted. I think family vacations aren't relaxing for the parents until the kids are a little older because it felt like I needed a vacation from my vacation. But we had fun and the kids had a blast and we hope to do it again soon. Thank you to Mom and Dad Carver and Mom and Dad Tomsik for all your hospitality!

-Cim