Greenbelt

After we went to the Jump House we asked Evelyn if there was anything she would like to do.  She wanted to go and throw rocks and sticks in the river.  It was a little cold, but we had a great time walking to the river.  We really miss living so close the river.

Evelyn insisted on finding the biggest rock ever!  The funniest part was watching her try and throw it. 

We tried to get a cute picture of the cousins with their Granny.  This is the best picture I got.  Grant is squishing Evelyn.  Evelyn is smiling like a zombie.  

On the way home Grant found a puddle.  He was worried about his pants getting wet so he hiked them up...as high as he could.  I couldn't stop laughing.  It was hilarious that he had his pants rolled up so high in such a big puddle and in frigid temperatures.  

The kids also of course found sticks to pretend they have antlers.  They get the idea from the Dr. Suess book "I Wish That I Had Duck Feet." 

Indoor Camping

Grant and Kyle had a father son camp out in Grant's room.  They made a tent out of sheets and chairs.  They slept on a twin mattress, actually let me rephrase that...Grant slept on the mattress and Kyle attempted to sleep on the mattress.  Kyle said some time in the middle of the night Grant pulled down the sheets.  Kyle was a good sport about it and overall they had a great time.  I have to say losing sleep is a pretty selfless act.  Kyle is a great dad!

Art Door

Grant loves to bring home his papers from preschool and give them to us as presents.  He then expects us to hang every single one of them up.  I am a terrible mother and throw quite a few of them away.  The special ones we hung up on his door.  He kept wanting to hang up more pictures on other doors and walls.  I finally convinced him we could take a picture of all the special art projects so we never forget how wonderful all of his art is.

The Black Tower

The Black Tower by P.D. James
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is not my first P.D. James book nor is it my first Adam Dalgliesh book.  I have LOVED them in the past.  I don't know if I was just not in the mood for this type of novel or what, but this book wasn't all that great.  I read the audible format and the narrator wasn't bad.  I just think the story wasn't the best.
It felt like 4/8 hours was a debate about whether or not Adam should get involved with these three somewhat mysterious deaths.  2/8 hours was building up the other characters and plot.  1/8 hours was explaining the mysterious deaths.  1/8 hours was amazing and nail biting mystery.  The sad part was it was the last hour that was the best part.  All the rest I could have lived with out.  The last hour also went to fast.  I felt like the author was getting tired of writing and just hurried through the best part of the novel.  I was really disappointed.


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Feet Update

The move was obviously very stressful!  So many little things went wrong right at the end.  The stress of everything on top of not eating well and working too hard caused my feet to swell up like a Puff tissue box!

My feet and legs were so swollen and puffy.  My socks would leave huge indentations in my ankles.  If you touched my feet or legs it would leave an indentation.  My feet also hurt so bad.

I could only wear one pair of tennis shoes and only if I didn't tie them up.  I just had to loosen the laces and wear them like slip ons.

I had to work on Monday and Tuesday.  I tried to drink more water and eat healthier.  At night I would lay on my back on the floor with my feet on my bed, but it wasn't enough.  I saw some minor improvements, but my legs and feet still hurt.

Wednesday is my day off and I tried to put my feet up a couple times during the day.  My legs were finally not as swollen, but my feet were still awful.

For the next few days I continued to see improvements and I could finally wear different shoes.  I still wasn't able to walk very well because my feet couldn't bend.  After a week I finally broke down and bought some support socks.  It took a lot of work to get them on, but they were so worth it.  The support socks are not my favorite, but they really do work.  I know don't have to wear them every day, but I wear them 5 or 6 days a week.

Gas Update

I felt so bad we didn't have any heat or hot water in our home.  I still can't believe I forgot to call and hook up the gas.  I guess I had a little too much on my mind.  

Sunday I cooked baked potatoes and some meat to get the house warmed up a little bit.  I also opened the blinds to try and get some sunshine in the house.  The weather on Sunday was fairly nice for the first part of March, but the house still cold Monday morning.  I called the gas company from my bed first thing in the morning to get the technician out.  The lady told me she couldn't send a technician out until Tuesday.  That is when I got upset.  

I explained how I called on Saturday and we couldn't get anyone out to hook up the gas until Monday.  I told we had no hot water and no heat.  She didn't have much sympathy...yet.  She told me to heat some water on the stove.  I told her my stove was gas and that would be impossible.  The only way for me to get hot water would be boiling it in the microwave.  I went on to explain my 5 year old son was cold and I was pregnant.  That did it!  She said she would get a technician out some time during the day.

Kyle still needed to go over to the apartment on Monday.  He needed to turn in the keys and finish the last of the cleaning.  Kyle knew that if he left the house for even a second Murphy's Law would go into effect.  He agreed to stay until the technician came.  I had to go to work, but we knew we could get everything taken care of.  Luckily, the technician came within an hour and a half of when I got off the phone with the gas company.  The technician told Kyle that we should have mentioned we had a 5 year old and I was pregnant on Saturday because it would have constituted an "emergency."  Meaning we could have and should have had gas on Saturday!  GRRR!  

Moral of the story:  If you don't have gas tell the company you have kids and are pregnant.  

I was grateful to have hot water and heat.  I also hope my mistake can be avoided by someone else. 

The Big Move

It has been a while since I posted because we have been so busy!
I have a few things to catch up on, but first I need to document our move.
Honestly, everything with this move was going really smooth until the week of closing.

Our home was  originally painted mint green.  The whole thing. Including the ceilings.  It was awful!  (I like mint green, but not an entire house painted mint green.) We almost didn't look at the home because we just didn't want to sign up for such a project.  Luckily, we found out the seller was willing to pay for the house to get painted.  We picked a beige color and now we practically have a completely new home!

The painter had a few minor delays causing him to not get the painting done in time.  This caused the final inspection to be pushed back which resulted in our closing date also pushed back two days.  Normally a paint job doesn't delay an inspection, but because the painting was part of the contract the painting had to be done.  The closing date being delayed wouldn't normally be a big deal, but we had a few things being based on our closing date.  The first being our apartment.  We had signed an agreement we would be out by Monday, March 4th.  We didn't want to be homeless!  The other thing we had planned was two moving trucks and a moving company arranged to move our stuff from Tremonton on Friday, March 1st.  We couldn't afford to cancel those arrangements.

We signed the papers on Wednesday, February 27th knowing we would probably wouldn't fund and record until Thursday.  Unfortunately, on Thursday we got a message saying the house still hadn't passed inspection and we would have to wait until Friday.  At this point, our nerves were frayed.  I was an emotional basket case.  Luckily, we got a call on Thursday saying the painter was finally done, the house should pass inspection, and we should fund and record on Friday.

Thursday night we headed to Utah.  We slept at Cindy's and woke up early Friday morning to start unloading our storage units and loading our Uhaul trucks.  The moving crew showed up an hour late, which didn't make us happy, but they did a great job.

Grant and I went the Oliverson's home to visit!  We had so much fun.  I was kind of sad the moving crew was so productive because I could have stayed and visited for a lot longer.

When the moving trucks were packed and ready to go we got some lunch then planned to hit the rode.  Luckily, we had the trucks inspected before we hit the road because one of the trucks had a nail in the tire.  We didn't want to wait for an hour and a half for the tire to get fixed, but we also really didn't want to get a flat tire on the road.

We finally hit the road at about 4 PM, almost 2 hours later than we wanted to.  I drove one 26 foot Uhaul and Kyle drove the other Uhaul with our car being towed behind the truck.  We caravanned to make sure we were both safe.  It took us just over 6 hours to make the 300 mile trip.  It was a very long ride for me in particular.  Those trucks don't have cruise control or very good shocks.  At 7 months pregnant it was really uncomfortable.  We parked the trucks at our new home, unloaded the car off the trailer, and drove back to our apartment.

Saturday morning Kyle got up early to head over to the house and get ready for the Elder's quorum to come and help us unload the Uhauls.  Grant and I tried to sleep in a little.  I was so exhausted!  It had already been such a long and stressful week.

Sadly, my stress was just beginning, because shortly after I woke up I got a call from our real estate agent saying our house was really cold.  She asked if I had called and set up the gas.  I had completely forgot to call the gas company.  I had called all the other utility companies, but I had forgotten about the gas company.

I was so tired and so emotionally and physically drained I lost it!  I couldn't hold my emotions in any longer.  I just sat at the kitchen table and cried.  I couldn't think straight at all!

Grant and I headed over to our new home later that morning.  I had been so excited to get into our new home, but knowing we didn't have any heat or hot water and it was all my fault made me so depressed. I couldn't be excited at all.  I was on the verge of tears the whole day.

The Relief Society president came over and introduced herself.  She asked if there was anything she could do.  I hate it when people ask me that when I am emotional.  I have the hardest time putting on a strong face.  Of course I needed help, but I didn't really know how she could help me.  The Elder's had both of the Uhauls unloaded in about 3 hours.  They had put the furniture in the house and all the boxes were stacked in the garage.  Then they left.

It was about noon on Saturday and the daunting task of unpacking was hitting me.  Then I realized we still had all of the stuff at our apartment to move out.  I was pretty much useless because I couldn't lift anything.  I spent the day taking Grant to a birthday party.  I also sanitized and polished my couches and dining room table.  Kyle found two young men to help him load up the apartment.  I was grateful for the two young men, but they could only help for 2 hours.  Kyle took them home and I tried to unload small light weight boxes out of the truck.  Our new neighbor saw me and felt sorry for me.  He came over and helped for a little while.  He asked if there was anything else we needed help with.  I was still an emotional wreck and confessed we hadn't eaten all day.  Well, I take that back we had eaten a couple of doughnuts, but that was it.

His wife brought us dinner a little while later.  We ate it like a pack of hungry wolves.  I don't remember being that hungry in a long time.

We continued working as hard as we could, but by 10:00 PM Grant was begging to go to bed, we had no beds, and we still had to return the two trucks.  After caravanning the trucks to the drop off we finally decided to just crash one more night at our apartment.  We all slept on the floor because our beds were all now in the house.

Grant and I woke up and went to church for the last time in our old ward.  I was so physically exhausted causing me to be more emotional, which made it so hard to say good-bye to my friends.  I know I am just minutes away from them, but I won't get to see them on a weekly basis.  We had a special Relief Society meeting with all the sisters in the ward. The Priesthood taught the classes the last hour so everyone could come.  Sitting in the room with all of my friends was so wonderful.  I was so grateful for the opportunity.

After the meeting Grant came into the room and one look at his sad face made me lose it.  He had a little  grapefruit in his throat because he had to say good-bye to all of his friends too.  We held each other for a few minutes as we cried.  It was a tender moment I will never forget.

When we got back to the apartment Kyle had pretty much finished up the last of the packing.  We were starving though and I am sad to admit that we ended up going out to lunch.  I don't like to break the Sabbath. ever.  However, we had no way to cook food at the apartment because all of the pans, dishes, spices, and microwave were at the house.  The food was at the apartment and that is just a bad combination.

We spent Sunday driving our car back and forth between the house and apartment with the last of the boxes.  By Sunday afternoon we had the refrigerator in the house up and running.  We had beds put together for the night.  A good portion of the apartment was also cleaned.

I cooked baked potatoes for dinner to try and warm up the house a little bit.  We ate and then headed back to the apartment to shower.  We went to bed that night in a very cold house with lots of blankets, but we did it!  We were moved!

Monday morning I had to go to work.  (I couldn't do much any way.)  I went to put my shoes on and realized my feet were the size of tissue boxes!  I could hardly move my feet.  They were so sore and tired and it was only 8 AM!  The move had taken a terrible toll on my poor pregnant body.

By Monday afternoon Kyle had finished the last of the cleaning and turned in our keys to the apartment.  Kyle and I took a moment to go out to lunch and breath a sigh of relief.  We were forever done with the apartment on Garrett Street.

Since Monday, March 4th every day has gotten a little better.  It has now been two weeks since the move.  We are getting settled in one box at a time.  The garage is still covered in boxes, but only because we have tried to find all of the kitchen stuff, the toys, the books, and etc. at a time.  It was easier to spread everything out than to have it all in nice stacks.  We will be able to get our cars in the garage by the end of this week.

We love our new home.  Unpacking has been a chore, but it has felt a little like Christmas.  Most of the stuff I haven't seen for at least a year and some things almost two years.  Kyle and I swear we will never. ever. move again.