Moving on out

So this move was a different adventure than the last move.  Last time we drove one of our cars out to Colorado and left it there a month before our official move.  Then Brandon and my brother Ian drove the moving truck with all of our stuff and I drove the van with the four kids.  Well this time a moving company was packing us up and we had the two vehicles to contend with.

It was quite the experience having someone else doing the packing.  On the one hand it was relaxing, I don't actually like to pack.  I don't really like to move either.  So it was nice not having to worry about putting everything into boxes.  We did a lot of purging, the kids didn't necessarily enjoy participating in that part of the move.  I did start to feel anxious as the moving day got closer because I wasn't putting things in boxes.  On the other hand, when a company packs you up you don't know exactly when your stuff is going to be there.  We were given a range of four days as to when it could show up, of course it ended up being the last day of the range.  So since you don't know when your stuff will show up and we had them pack us up a couple days before we had to be out of our rental, we had to pack our own bags with enough stuff to live for a week out of our bags.  And then after the boxers finished we had to fill up some boxes with the things they wouldn't pack.  We ended up with enough stuff to fill the back of the van and Brandon's car.

Brandon actually had to work at the station in Colorado Springs until the 30th of July.  Five days before he started his new job. And the day before our lease was up.  To try and not be completely crazy about the moving process we managed to have everything out of the house and the carpet cleaners show up on the 30th.  So Brandon went to work and the kids and I headed to Brent's so we didn't have to sleep on wet carpets.  Brandon was left to fend for himself in the bed department and decided to make the two hour drive after work. So a late night before we officially left.  We "attempted" to leave early the next morning, it didn't work, but figured we were two hours closer to our destination from the get go.  

To try and make driving two vehicles with five kids work we did a little rearranging before we left.  We unloaded the backseat of the car and took two booster seats out of the van.  Then we put seats down in the van and put all of the stuff from the car in the back.  It fit better there so we put three of the kids in the back of the car.  William and Caitlyn switched places halfway through the drive, so one of them was with me in the van to help keep Grant entertained, run the DVD player and hand out snacks.  We did manage to have two DVD players, three screens, so kids were entertained during the whole drive, and we kept in contact with hand radios.  The first half of the drive wasn't too bad, but after lunch we had to stop at every available bathroom, once at the side of the road, just for one child.  All the rest of the kids told me that they used the bathroom when we stopped not because they had to but because they figured they might as well try.  Since we had to stop so often the ten hour drive turned into twelve, so that two hour head start was negated.

But we made it and there wasn't a lot of whiny, complaining or fighting so I'm going to call it a win.  We got to town too late to get the keys to our new place but my parents were nice enough to let us crash at their house, for a couple of days because we didn't want to sleep on the floor for more than a night and our stuff didn't show up til four days after us.  Now that this post is forever long, enjoy some pictures Brandon took on our drive, I would love to say he was stationary when he took all of these but he probably wasn't.

July

Let's see if I can finish July before the month of August is over.

We started the month with Bradley's birthday.  Poor guy, what with all of the uncertainty around job searching and interviewing and then waiting to hear about jobs I neglected his birthday a bit.  Usually when we plan our menus we let the kids pick their favorite meal but I forgot to ask him and I didn't get around to asking him about his cake and breakfast until just a few days before his birthday.

He requested Monkey Bread for breakfast.  This has been a staple for him for a couple years now so I should have been able to anticipate it.

He got a special package in the mail from Grandma and Grandpa and then he had to wait to open it.  I think that was the hardest part.

After several different theme choices I told Bradley he had to  come to a decision for his cake because I only had a couple days to make it.  so he said Lego Superman.  This was my interpretation.  At first he wasn't really excited, apparently he wanted a cake that looked like a Lego Superman figure, but the longer he looked at it the better he liked it.  Good thing too, because a cake that looks like a Lego figure is a little beyond me.

Are you ready for the picture?

Because we slacked off and didn't let him pick a meal we took him to Red Robin.  Hopefully the rest of the kids don't say they just want to eat at Red Robin on their birthdays.

The lucky duck even got to sit by Alyssa at lunch.  I think we miss her the most.

Bradley got a bubble blower for his birthday and the kids love it.

One last super cool adventure in Colorado.  Brandon found out about a cool exhibit in Green Mountain Falls, a swing set that plays music while you swing.  The faster you swing the faster the music goes.  And the different swings are supposed to sound like different instruments.  The more swing moving the different the song sounds and if you can get the swings synchronized it sounded pretty cool.

Britton on the swings.

The big wide bases of the swings were nice.

It was pretty popular so you had to stand in line for a little while.

Looking so cool in her new sunglasses.

Grant loved it.

It was a pretty big structure, which was nice because the lines went pretty quickly waiting for the swings and everyone was pretty polite about it which was nice.  So worth the drive up the road.

The rest of the month of July was filled with finding a new place to live, wondering what to do since someone else was packing up our things (that was an experience) and saying goodby to friends.  Because we weren't packing all of our boxes I was able to finish a project for Alyssa, a blanket out of her swim t-shirts, that I had told her I could do back in June.  We tried to spend time with our friends and get the house all clean for our move.  We had a last swim with Alyssa and trip to the spray park.  We surprised some people in our ward when it finally got down to the week of our move.  The Primary gave me a giant bag of Lifesavers because I had subbed so many times this year.  Our ward was awesome and the ladies came in shifts to get the all the cleaning done.  We managed to get it all done and our keys turned in. And then we headed out and said goodby to Colorado Springs.

June

Yes, I am aware that it is August. But I thought I would do a quick recap of June.  We started with a family summer reading program.  The kids were pretty excited to pick the prizes and read in all the crazy places on their bingo cards.  It was pretty warm so we went to the park a lot.

 Brandon had a lot of fun playing with the new camera at the park.

We went on another hike, which immediately drew groans and mutiny from the kids.  Because we had recently done the Incline they think that all hikes are like that.  Instead we went to Helen Hunt Jackson Falls.

 The water at the bottom of the hike.  It was only 3/4 of a mile.

 This accurately shows the enthusiasm.

 Sunset Shimmer came with us.  Why take a picture?  Because it was the only way to get Caitlyn to smile.

 Back at the bottom.  Someone touched Grant and that was the straw that broke the camel's back.  At least all the other kids were smiling.

We also had free fishing day.  We joined some friends at a park in town that had a lake.  There wasn't a lot of catching fish going on, but the kids had fun.

 They mainly just played in the water.

 Gotta love those big brown eyes.

 They did do some fishing.

 I can only imagine the conversation these two had at the tackle box.

 Caitlyn was a good little caster.

Brandon tried to get a week off of work so we could go visit family, but everyone was trying to get time off of work before another sweeps and the last time he took that much time off in the summer there was a big fire, so we ended up with a few days.  Brandon decided he wanted a race entry for Father's Day, so we signed him up for the Dam Marathon 10k.  Then he got a call about an interview and we were able to kill a handful of birds with one stone.  We got to meet Andrea and Zoey for the first time and the kids just loved them.

 The love goes both ways, can't you tell?

So we drove all night to get in town for Brandon's interview and then his race was the next day.  We were all a little tired and I wasn't the most enthusiastic person when Brandon woke me up to take him to his race.  We didn't even attempt to wake the kids up.

 Brandon at the start of his race.

 Headed to the finish line.

 He finished 2nd and managed to finish his race before the kids woke up for the day. 

 They all got to ride the carousel, it was the highlight of the trip since it was too cold to play at the spray park.

 Using the long lens on the new camera meant I didn't have to move from my comfortable spot to get pictures of everyone playing.

Okay, the carousel wasn't the actual highlight.  It was seeing family and spending time with Grandma and Grandpa.

 Bradley was so excited that he got Grandpa to wear this wig with him.

There was talk of a hot dog roast for lunch one day and of course it was cold and rainy, that always happens when you start thinking about cooking outside.  I jokingly said that we could do one inside, using the wood burning stove.  Grandpa immediately jumped on that idea.  I have to say, I have always wanted to roast hot dogs and marshmallows inside and my parents wouldn't let me.  They admitted to me that they love their grandchildren more.

 Proof positive.  We didn't actually roast marshmallows but each of the kids got to do at least one hot dog.

Grant didn't want to get very close to the fire.

There you have it, June in a nutshell.

Checking off the List

A couple months ago, in the midst of job searching, Brandon came up with a short list of things to do here.  One was The Incline.  We did that while we were still waiting through application processes, figured we would do it while we definitely had the time instead of trying to cram everything in.  The only other big thing that made the "list" that Brandon came  up with was a Sky Sox game.  Is it sad that the list really only had two items on it?  The Sky Sox are the Triple A minor league team here and we live just up the street from the stadium.  So once everything worked out and the fact that we would be moving settled in we checked the schedule.  Brandon had a Friday off when they had a home game so we got our tickets.  The great thing about living down the street from the stadium is you don't have to pay for parking.

 Sky Sox vs Iowa Cubs

 William looking super cool at the game.  It looked like a really nice night but it was pretty windy and of course we didn't think to have our children change out of their shorts.

 They really were happy, they just don't look it.  Sitting on the grassy berm for the game.

We did bring jackets, so we aren't completely horrible parents.  Britton wanted to stay to the end of the game because it was a Friday and they do fireworks after the games on the weekend.  But because of things we had to be up early for we headed home before it got too dark.  Overall a pretty fun night and we finally took advantage of the fact the stadium is just down the street.

Incline Conquered

There are a lot of hiking trails around here, but the most famous/infamous would have to be the Manitou Incline.  Once upon a time it was a funicular railway, when it was shut down they ripped up the rails but the wooden ties are still there.  It used to be illegal to hike, which meant people did it anyway, but was legally opened last year.  It is a pretty popular hike, the athletes at the Olympic Training Center use it as a workout.  It is only a mile long, but in that mile you gain 2,000 vertical feet.  So of course, Brandon thought it would be a good idea to take the kids.

 At the bottom, with the incline behind us.

 The bottom of the hike isn't to bad, the railroad ties are pretty evenly spaced.  Some people run up, we told the kids that they could just walk.

 Rest stop! 

 Grant mad the hike in a backpack.  He spent most of the hike looking at us like he was saying, "Why are you complaining? This is so easy."  The last twenty minutes or so he was screaming because he wanted to walk.

 It keeps getting steeper.

 The steepest parts of the trail have a grade of almost 70%.

We made it to the top!  Brandon was proud of the fact that we beat some people, just under 2 hours.  We got a lot of stares because we had five kids with us.  I did tell Brandon that I thought it was funny that it is only a mile up but it is four miles down.  So I guess we can check that off of our bucket lists.

Our April

I know it is the end of May, but here are some highlights from the month of April.

After a week in sunny Las Vegas, we enjoyed the fickle weather of Colorado.  This is the snow we got on the 3rd.  Yep, the 3rd of April.  Which was only surpassed by the two hour delay for snow on the 12th of May.

 The kids had fun.

 Grant can't see.

 Bradley and his snow angel.  Because of the long spring break the kids didn't have to miss any school for this snow storm.  It melted pretty quickly, most was gone by the next day.

After the snow it got a little warmer and we were pretty excited to get ready for conference.  The kids did pretty well this year, we did a lot of "sewing" on foam plates and learning how to hold a crochet hook.  I decided to make something special for breakfast.  Blueberry french toast bake from 365 Days of Baking & More.

 This kids didn't like it but Brandon and I really enjoyed it.

William had to complete his science project.  I don't know if it is the same at other schools, but the projects have to be experiments with testable questions.  He was testing which type of Mentos got the biggest reaction from Diet Coke.

 A lot of weighing and picture taking.  He really had fun with the experiment and I made Brandon help him put the display board together this year.  When the projects were displayed at the school, the school also displayed artwork and writing from all of the students.  They called it AWSTEM night.  William and Caitlyn also had the opportunity to play the piano while people looked at the displays.  The music teacher invited those who take lessons to prepare some pieces.

Easter came to our house again.  The kids had a fun egg hunt with friends at a park and I got absolutely no pictures.

I made ties and skirts for the kids for Easter.  A labor of love, and dresses intimidate me.

 Mostly happy kids, I don't know why Britton looks mad, and Grant wouldn't drop his blanket.

 Grant got a little distracted by Daddy in the picture.

 I tried my hand at making a skirt to match the girls.

 Look at the muscles!

Such a handsome boy!  I decided to try bow ties for the younger boys this year.  I've had a pattern for a couple of years but never tried it.  As soon as I finished the bow ties, William said he wanted one also.  So the boys got bow ties, but Brandon was happy with a regular tie.