March 2017

 Oh boy was this month crazy! As I mentioned in my last post, Ethan got a new job as a Research Biologist with the Arizona Game and Fish, so we packed up and left Glenwood for El Mirage, AZ. The first week and a half was mostly spent cleaning and packing, but I did take a break to go enjoy one last get together with some friends. Sally had put together a going away party for me and it was so nice to have a chance to see everyone one last time. Also during the first part of the month Ethan's Grandma Clements passed away. We agonized over whether to try to get to Idaho for the funeral, but since it ended up being scheduled for the day after our move there was just no way to make it work.
 Our good friend Tyler let us use his stock trailer and truck to move in, so we spent several days loading and doing the final packing.

 The morning of March 10th we woke up, ate our last meal in our house, and started ironing out the final details before we left. Our neighbors, Pam and Loralee, came and helped us finish the loading and cleaning. Pam made sure to snap a picture of us on the front porch that Ethan built before we got in the cars and headed out. It was so hard to say good-bye! We loved Glenwood so much! I think it may be the place we have been the most happy in our entire marriage. We have so many good friends and happy memories there that we will forever cherish!

 Our trip over to AZ was uneventful. My mom came along to help me drive (I'm not yet a city driver, but I'm working on it) and Dad met us here to help unload and get settled. It was fun to have them along for the ride on this adventure. Our new house is beautiful, by far the nicest house we've ever had. There is a small yard in back where the kids have space to play, and it even has a small garden already growing for me! The kids discovered they could climb the tree in the back, but between Sharli falling out of the tree, and several branches getting ripped right off we had to put a stop to the climbing.

The kids' favorite thing about our new neighborhood is the park just around the corner. They love it and beg to go there every day.

 Other things we have enjoyed about living in "the Valley":
All the citrus! A member of our new ward had a lemon tree that was loaded with fruit, so we went and picked a few bags full and enjoyed yummy lemonade and other treats for a few weeks. We also have a Calamansi lime tree in our front yard and got to try those for the first time.

 IKEA!!!  It is fun to live close enough that we can get to Ikea in under an hour. We went there our first weekend after we moved in and found several things that helped to make our new home more convenient and cozy.

Trying out all the beds. :)

 March 27th was Erik's first day at his new school. He was nervous but very excited to make new friends. Adjusting to a full day, five days a week schedule has been hard on him, but he is loving it. As far as new friends, I know he's been successful in that department as well because there are two kids in his class that will not let him leave at the end of the day without big bear hugs, and several other kids often jump in on the action once the first two get the hugs started. It's so cute and makes me so happy to see him finding new friends.

So many changes for our little family in one month, but we know this is where we're supposed to be and we're excited for a whole new set of adventures.

January & February OR Getting Ready To Move

 The first few months of 2017 ended up being something of a busy time for us, but not in a way that lent itself to lots of pictures or interesting blog posts.

JANUARY:
We had a fair amount of rain (and even some snow) in late December and Early January. The creek by our house ran really big (probably the biggest we'd seen it in our nearly 3 years living in Glenwood) and washed out a lot of the anti-flood measures that had been put in. Don't worry, we weren't in any danger, but there were lots of repairs to be made to the creek bed itself, as well as to the large banks of dirt along the creek bed to prevent flooding. For several weeks we had 3-4 large bulldozers working near our house and the surrounding town. The highway department parked their machines by our house during nights and weekends so Erik got plenty of chances to watch them at work. I was SO tired of the noise and the house shaking with their movement, but the kids would have loved to have them there always. 

 In many ways January was fairly uneventful for us. We mostly went on with our normal lives, doing things like playing dress-ups...

 ...cooking dinner with my little helpers...

 ...and enjoying the great outdoors.

 One BIG thing that happened this month was that Ethan got offered a new job with the AZ Game and Fish. We made a trip over to Phoenix and started the process of finding a house to rent and getting arrangements made to move our family.
FEBRUARY:
With the weather warming up we tried to make sure we squeezed every moment of enjoyment out of our remaining time in Glenwood. We went for walks to some of our favorite places and visited all our favorite people. It was harder than we thought getting all the moving arrangements made, so it was nice to forget that stress and just enjoy time together.

 Our big event for the month of February was Sharli's 3rd birthday. Our friends Sally, Jubilee, and Bianca came, as well as Carolyn and her kids. Sharli told me she wanted her birthday to be PINK!!! So, I made a big batch of pink glittery playdough for the kids to play with as we waited for all our guests to arrive. Some of the boys weren't too sure about all that pink, but most everyone enjoyed it. When the play dough started to lose its magic, I sent the kids outside to play in a swimming pool filled with pink rice and other fun pink things. I had no idea how captivating  40 lbs of rice could be!

 We had a "hundred layer" birthday cake (Sharli wanted a hundred layers, but I only managed 4. She was bitterly dissapointed), berries, Jello, and chips to keep the fun fueled.

 That night Ethan got home from a work trip, bringing with him Sharli's birthday present; a pink unicorn stick horse. It was love at first sight. 

 

After the birthday party, the packing and cleaning got going full swing. The kids found ways to keep themselves busy, while I got stuff done. Maren mostly just followed me around like a little puppy dog. Good thing she's cute!

Erik built this camera out of Duplos

These first two months this year were busy and stressful, but filled with happy memories as well.