Tomorrow is our moving day! The truck is packed here and this is one last post from Utah. My next one will be from Alabama. Don't be looking for one any sooner than Monday or Tuesday. This Momma has lots to do with getting the kids into school.
I am sitting here in our house and it is feeling rather empty! There are echo sounds all over and well it looks like we are moving. Somehow it doesn't seem like we are going, but we are. Guess I am in denial about that 27 hour drive that we have starting tomorrow evening.
I am glad that we got that 26' truck. It is packed to the gills and we are leaving a few things b/c it is so full. Guess that Steve will have to get a new grill when we get there, since it didn't fit into the truck! I really wish it was all those baseball cards that didn't make it in there, but what's a girl to do??
The kids are finally asleep after a very long day. They have been wild since the get go for us today. Tomorrow we have to stop by DI or Kid2Kid one last time, since all their clothes are packed and in the truck! We gotta get a few towels so that everyone can take a bath before we go. My little family smells bad! Oh well...one last trip to DI! should be fun and it will be the clothes they are in until we unpack on Saturday night. I am so thankful that I have packed their bins for a whole week, so I am not looking in all of the boxes/bins for clothes and everything that we need!!
Well I am signing out! See everyone in Alabama. I am sure going to miss all of our friends here!!
Love you ALL...
Alicia
or Ya-ya as some of you know me by :-)
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Moving Week
Our moving week is upon us already! Our dining room is getting full of boxes and more boxes! We have gotten done with the whole upstairs and the only thing left there is the girls beds, but we are getting rid of Katy and Ruby's beds this week since my mom and dad are letting us have all the old captain's beds that they don't use anymore. Those captain's beds are going to be the first things in the truck on Wednesday.
Packing has been going great too for the rest of the house. Everyday we are getting at least 5-10 boxes packed. It is almost fun to be able to pack a box or two and then take a break. Steve and I were talking yesterday that this move seems a lot less stressful than any of our other moves. Maybe it is because we are doing this for us and not because we have to for work or a crappy apartment that we need to get out of. It has the fun element in it and I can really sense the difference.
Today we are going to finish on our room and start to pack up some of the kitchen. I am so excited to get rid of my microwave, since there is a new built in one at our new house! I am on the hunt for 4 bar stools since we have a little place that the kids can eat right there in the kitchen too! We are almost down to all that little stuff that no one wants to pack anyway and that is a good thing since it is Sunday!
We have also done good with the kittens. So far we have given 5 away which is half of them. We only have Shadow's kittens left, so if you know of someone who wants a cat let us know. I hate to give them to the shelter, but that is what we are going to do if we still have them on Tuesday.
Well back to packing! We are moving out in FOUR DAYS!!!
Packing has been going great too for the rest of the house. Everyday we are getting at least 5-10 boxes packed. It is almost fun to be able to pack a box or two and then take a break. Steve and I were talking yesterday that this move seems a lot less stressful than any of our other moves. Maybe it is because we are doing this for us and not because we have to for work or a crappy apartment that we need to get out of. It has the fun element in it and I can really sense the difference.
Today we are going to finish on our room and start to pack up some of the kitchen. I am so excited to get rid of my microwave, since there is a new built in one at our new house! I am on the hunt for 4 bar stools since we have a little place that the kids can eat right there in the kitchen too! We are almost down to all that little stuff that no one wants to pack anyway and that is a good thing since it is Sunday!
We have also done good with the kittens. So far we have given 5 away which is half of them. We only have Shadow's kittens left, so if you know of someone who wants a cat let us know. I hate to give them to the shelter, but that is what we are going to do if we still have them on Tuesday.
Well back to packing! We are moving out in FOUR DAYS!!!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
BYU Fall Sports Preview Night
As one of our last BYU sports functions while we are living in Utah, we had to pack up the kids for Provo one last time. This is our 3rd or 4th year of Fall Sports Preview night with the kids. We ate dinner where else but at the Brick Oven. Gotta love their food!! Then it was off to the athletic department sale that they have every year. This year was no exception with good deals we got stocked up on shirts, workout clothes for Steve and of course the only time of year that Steve will even look at shoes, so Steve got a new pair of shoes for $10!!!
Then it was time to go outside and meet the teams!
Here we go....
First was a few members of the Cougarettes (the dance team that BYU has) One of the girls had the same name of Katy so that was fun. Ruby was so cute and asked if I would take a picture.
Then the girls found the Cheerleaders! They were so nice and I hope that I can whip out my sewing machine and make some matching uniforms for them soon!! I got a semester before I start school, so I should have sometime for a fun project!!
Then we found a Football player! All about the girls getting pictures with who they can!!!
Then the found the dance team again and Ruby and Katy had to introduce them to their big sister Hannah!! It was so much fun for them and more pictures of course!!
After that it was time to go meet the girls soccer team for the team picture signing and kicking the ball around with the girls! Hannah was being so good for waiting in line to get her poster signed.
Then we walked over to the line to meet some of the players for women and men's basketball! Yeah they were tall that is why they wanted to pick up the girls for their picture.
After that Ruby was in the mood for her Dad to hold her up in his hand like the cheerleaders do. We found some cheerleaders again and one of the guys held her up like her daddy does. They loved it that she popped out a high-v for the qupie too!! It was awesome!!
We even ran into the Fosters who just moved here from Alabama!!! It was totally random and so much fun to see a friendly face in the crowd. And Mikelle your kids are HUGE!!
The girls wanted to do the track and field thing again for about the 20th time which should get all of their energy out. They were so cute getting ready to run!!! Here they are coming in for the finish!!
To top it off for the night we had our annual picture with who else but Cosmo.
In all it was a super fun night and the kids had a blast. What a fun way to spend Family Home evening this week. Guess we have to get back to reality and start packing again tomorrow.
Then it was time to go outside and meet the teams!
Here we go....
First was a few members of the Cougarettes (the dance team that BYU has) One of the girls had the same name of Katy so that was fun. Ruby was so cute and asked if I would take a picture.
Then the girls found the Cheerleaders! They were so nice and I hope that I can whip out my sewing machine and make some matching uniforms for them soon!! I got a semester before I start school, so I should have sometime for a fun project!!
Then we found a Football player! All about the girls getting pictures with who they can!!!
Then the found the dance team again and Ruby and Katy had to introduce them to their big sister Hannah!! It was so much fun for them and more pictures of course!!
After that it was time to go meet the girls soccer team for the team picture signing and kicking the ball around with the girls! Hannah was being so good for waiting in line to get her poster signed.
Then we walked over to the line to meet some of the players for women and men's basketball! Yeah they were tall that is why they wanted to pick up the girls for their picture.
After that Ruby was in the mood for her Dad to hold her up in his hand like the cheerleaders do. We found some cheerleaders again and one of the guys held her up like her daddy does. They loved it that she popped out a high-v for the qupie too!! It was awesome!!
We even ran into the Fosters who just moved here from Alabama!!! It was totally random and so much fun to see a friendly face in the crowd. And Mikelle your kids are HUGE!!
The girls wanted to do the track and field thing again for about the 20th time which should get all of their energy out. They were so cute getting ready to run!!! Here they are coming in for the finish!!
To top it off for the night we had our annual picture with who else but Cosmo.
In all it was a super fun night and the kids had a blast. What a fun way to spend Family Home evening this week. Guess we have to get back to reality and start packing again tomorrow.
Monday, August 17, 2009
We are on 10 days and counting
I have a few minutes this morning so I can update the blog real quick. It has been a busy week last week with packing and getting things ready to go. We have been robbing the dumpster at the OG for their boxes. Ruby thinks that it is just great to get in there and pass boxes back to mom. Katy loves to help me pack (or should i say unpack). The girl can get stuff out of boxes faster than I can put it in there or just start throwing stuff into boxes, so I have to go unpack it. We are getting boxes done though.
The week has been busy for Hannah. Her tooth finally came out!! I never thought that it would come out. It was sticking all the way out and still holding on. She lost it on Friday night right before we headed out to see Harry Potter (which was awesome by the way). The Tooth Fairy ran out of money, so she left a really cool lip gloss thing instead. Hannah was good with that and woke up so early on Saturday morning.
Hannah also had her swim meet party where she got her trophy and a ton of ribbons! It was great to see that she got a metal for finishing 6th in backstroke for county! She was really excited and happy to have had a good summer swimming season. I really don't want to drive forever to get to swim practice so I might just have to get things started for a team in Jacksonville.
Other than Hannah fun we are just busy packing. Today I am headed to the Laundrymat to get all of our stuff washed. I really just want to get everything done at once, so I will take the kids for a little adventure today. We are washing everything. I think I have enough dirty clothes to last us this week and we are going to wash all their sheets, towels, and any thing else that needs to be washed. It should be a fun adventure today!!
Well off to getting things done today!
The week has been busy for Hannah. Her tooth finally came out!! I never thought that it would come out. It was sticking all the way out and still holding on. She lost it on Friday night right before we headed out to see Harry Potter (which was awesome by the way). The Tooth Fairy ran out of money, so she left a really cool lip gloss thing instead. Hannah was good with that and woke up so early on Saturday morning.
Hannah also had her swim meet party where she got her trophy and a ton of ribbons! It was great to see that she got a metal for finishing 6th in backstroke for county! She was really excited and happy to have had a good summer swimming season. I really don't want to drive forever to get to swim practice so I might just have to get things started for a team in Jacksonville.
Other than Hannah fun we are just busy packing. Today I am headed to the Laundrymat to get all of our stuff washed. I really just want to get everything done at once, so I will take the kids for a little adventure today. We are washing everything. I think I have enough dirty clothes to last us this week and we are going to wash all their sheets, towels, and any thing else that needs to be washed. It should be a fun adventure today!!
Well off to getting things done today!
Monday, August 10, 2009
Here we go!
So it has been quite a week for our family. Last Monday night we talked to a real estate agent about options for our home. It was the answer we were looking for and the ball has been picking up steam since then. We had a plan and felt good about selling our house with this guy (named steve of course, so I just refer to him as the real estate agent). After he left us on Monday night, both Steve and I felt like a great weight had been lifted off of our shoulders and we were at peace. From there it was just looking at the calendar and saying when we were moving. It was either the 20th or the 27th of THIS MONTH! I was trying to get there so that I could start school this semester, but after a lot of thought, looking at the calendar, and prayer I am waiting until January to start on this education adventure of mine.
Alabama schools started today, so Hannah is going to miss 3 weeks of school, but I figure that she won't be too far behind since she has really done a 1st grade curriculum with her school last year. Hannah is excited to go but is a little worried about new friends. I am sure that she will make some new ones fast and there will be play dates before we know it!
Since we decided on a date, we needed to get on the bandwagon for somewhere to live. It was easy to get a rental truck and extra drivers to help us make this 27 hour adventure that we are embarking on in 17 days. We had already been approved through a rental company in AL so that was nice. They had a 4 bedroom house near the high school that we didn't get, so there were two other houses that would be good for our family. Steve's dad was nice enough to go and look at the two that we were interested in. I guess the first one wasn't so nice and the second would do. It was nice but not one of those houses that you just have to have.
I was looking through the house listings just for fun to see what houses still were for sale. What would you know the house that I fell in love with in April was still up for sale. I talked to Steve about calling their listing agent just to see if they might rent it to us since it is the end of summer. Well that was Friday afternoon and to sum it all up it is the house that we are renting!!! I get to live in the house that I love and that is perfect for our family without having to buy it.
The house is perfect. It is a four bedroom, three bath house that is 2800 feet! Plenty of room for our girls and for Steve to work! The best part about this house is that there is a HUGE room in the basement for Steve to work from home. No more commute to work, unless you count walking down the stairs. Steve's boss is going to pay us a little for the 'office space' and even pick up the tab for the internet and phone too.
The house should be really quiet in the mornings. Hannah starts school at 8 am and Ruby needs to be to school around 7:45, so it will just be me and Katy every morning. We will then go and get Ruby at 11:30 and probably make a tradition of finding some fun place to eat around town and then heading off to the library or taking a walk on the trails while it is still warm out. Then we can hurry home so that we can meet Hannah getting off of the bus.
But I guess instead of day dreaming about what we will be doing in 3 weeks, I need to get to packing my house once again, but at least this time we have a 5 year plan and even a little bit planned after that too. Our family has been so blessed in this big change of our life. It seemed like it was never going to happen, but we did know it was going to happen and not when. I guess looking back at everything that has happened since we have moved into this house, it was getting us ready to head back to college again. The Lord's time frame is working and I have learned to trust in that. Yes I am sad to go, since once again friends are moving here and new friendships are growing and the Smith's are packing up to leave. The best part is that I have friends all over the country and have the BEST friends ever!
It is getting to be that time of year that my thoughts reflect back to my son and his short life and I can't tell you how special that for his 8th birthday we will all be close to his grave. I am very thankful for that and to know that there will be many service days spent at his grave with the girls to make it pretty. In a way for me, all of my children will be together and that makes me happy.
So that is the Smith's and the big changes that are going to be happening in the next few weeks. Phone calls are getting done and we are embarking on our 4th cross country adventure in 17 days!!!
Alabama schools started today, so Hannah is going to miss 3 weeks of school, but I figure that she won't be too far behind since she has really done a 1st grade curriculum with her school last year. Hannah is excited to go but is a little worried about new friends. I am sure that she will make some new ones fast and there will be play dates before we know it!
Since we decided on a date, we needed to get on the bandwagon for somewhere to live. It was easy to get a rental truck and extra drivers to help us make this 27 hour adventure that we are embarking on in 17 days. We had already been approved through a rental company in AL so that was nice. They had a 4 bedroom house near the high school that we didn't get, so there were two other houses that would be good for our family. Steve's dad was nice enough to go and look at the two that we were interested in. I guess the first one wasn't so nice and the second would do. It was nice but not one of those houses that you just have to have.
I was looking through the house listings just for fun to see what houses still were for sale. What would you know the house that I fell in love with in April was still up for sale. I talked to Steve about calling their listing agent just to see if they might rent it to us since it is the end of summer. Well that was Friday afternoon and to sum it all up it is the house that we are renting!!! I get to live in the house that I love and that is perfect for our family without having to buy it.
The house is perfect. It is a four bedroom, three bath house that is 2800 feet! Plenty of room for our girls and for Steve to work! The best part about this house is that there is a HUGE room in the basement for Steve to work from home. No more commute to work, unless you count walking down the stairs. Steve's boss is going to pay us a little for the 'office space' and even pick up the tab for the internet and phone too.
The house should be really quiet in the mornings. Hannah starts school at 8 am and Ruby needs to be to school around 7:45, so it will just be me and Katy every morning. We will then go and get Ruby at 11:30 and probably make a tradition of finding some fun place to eat around town and then heading off to the library or taking a walk on the trails while it is still warm out. Then we can hurry home so that we can meet Hannah getting off of the bus.
But I guess instead of day dreaming about what we will be doing in 3 weeks, I need to get to packing my house once again, but at least this time we have a 5 year plan and even a little bit planned after that too. Our family has been so blessed in this big change of our life. It seemed like it was never going to happen, but we did know it was going to happen and not when. I guess looking back at everything that has happened since we have moved into this house, it was getting us ready to head back to college again. The Lord's time frame is working and I have learned to trust in that. Yes I am sad to go, since once again friends are moving here and new friendships are growing and the Smith's are packing up to leave. The best part is that I have friends all over the country and have the BEST friends ever!
It is getting to be that time of year that my thoughts reflect back to my son and his short life and I can't tell you how special that for his 8th birthday we will all be close to his grave. I am very thankful for that and to know that there will be many service days spent at his grave with the girls to make it pretty. In a way for me, all of my children will be together and that makes me happy.
So that is the Smith's and the big changes that are going to be happening in the next few weeks. Phone calls are getting done and we are embarking on our 4th cross country adventure in 17 days!!!
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
Well the Smith's have some big news in the works and in the next few weeks we will be giving out the new details. How is that for a teaser post?? Things will be going really fast in the next little while so I am sorry already if the blog isn't kept up all the time.
Other than that news we are staying busy with a few projects and end of summer things. Hannah had her county swim meet last week and she did awesome! She ended up 20th in Free out of the 34 little girls in 6 & Under. Butterfly she dropped her time by 16 seconds! Although she was DQ'ed she showed that she can swim it and swim rather fast when she wants too!! 25 Back was the silver lining in the day. Steve had taken the girls home b/c they were not doing too well and my mom and dad had to get home, so it was just Hannah and I at the pool. She was in heat 2 with 5 other girls. Her seeded time was 46.2 seconds and she swam her little heart out and found her motor!! She swam it in 34.4 seconds which was a faster time than any of the other times going in to the race in her lane. If the other girls swam about their seed time she should be 4th! Out of 30 girls I was way excited. Hannah was excited to get the heat winner ribbon after being really sad about fly. It was an emotional up and down meet, but we did it and finished on a high note.
Hannah also has her first loose tooth! Is she that big already?? It is getting close to coming out and she has her little tooth fairy pillow already for this little tooth that first made its presence known when she was 9 months old. I have been having this mom moment that I can't believe that I am that old to have kids loosing teeth already. I just want them to stay little forever! It really is going way too fast for me!
Oh yes, my Katy story. The girl had my phone a few days ago pretending to talk to Garrett again. Well she also has a thing about chewing on everything and my phone fell victim to this bad habit. She literally ate my phone. Teeth marks and all on my phone and she cracked my screen so no more seeing text messages or even who is calling. Lucky me has had to be on the lookout for a new phone that works.
Ruby had a hard day last week too. I think it was just one of those stressful days for me and for Ruby. She woke up crying and it didn't stop for hours! I was done after 5 hours of it, so I called my mom. She sent Cody down to pick her up and I was so thankful for the break. It was a little quiet in my house for the first time that day. Ruby of course ate really well while she was gone and got some snuggle/nap time in with her Grandma! I wanted a nap and I wasn't the one that was crying for 5 hours strait.
Other than those few things we are busy! More news will be posted soon, but until then you will have to be patient!!
Other than that news we are staying busy with a few projects and end of summer things. Hannah had her county swim meet last week and she did awesome! She ended up 20th in Free out of the 34 little girls in 6 & Under. Butterfly she dropped her time by 16 seconds! Although she was DQ'ed she showed that she can swim it and swim rather fast when she wants too!! 25 Back was the silver lining in the day. Steve had taken the girls home b/c they were not doing too well and my mom and dad had to get home, so it was just Hannah and I at the pool. She was in heat 2 with 5 other girls. Her seeded time was 46.2 seconds and she swam her little heart out and found her motor!! She swam it in 34.4 seconds which was a faster time than any of the other times going in to the race in her lane. If the other girls swam about their seed time she should be 4th! Out of 30 girls I was way excited. Hannah was excited to get the heat winner ribbon after being really sad about fly. It was an emotional up and down meet, but we did it and finished on a high note.
Hannah also has her first loose tooth! Is she that big already?? It is getting close to coming out and she has her little tooth fairy pillow already for this little tooth that first made its presence known when she was 9 months old. I have been having this mom moment that I can't believe that I am that old to have kids loosing teeth already. I just want them to stay little forever! It really is going way too fast for me!
Oh yes, my Katy story. The girl had my phone a few days ago pretending to talk to Garrett again. Well she also has a thing about chewing on everything and my phone fell victim to this bad habit. She literally ate my phone. Teeth marks and all on my phone and she cracked my screen so no more seeing text messages or even who is calling. Lucky me has had to be on the lookout for a new phone that works.
Ruby had a hard day last week too. I think it was just one of those stressful days for me and for Ruby. She woke up crying and it didn't stop for hours! I was done after 5 hours of it, so I called my mom. She sent Cody down to pick her up and I was so thankful for the break. It was a little quiet in my house for the first time that day. Ruby of course ate really well while she was gone and got some snuggle/nap time in with her Grandma! I wanted a nap and I wasn't the one that was crying for 5 hours strait.
Other than those few things we are busy! More news will be posted soon, but until then you will have to be patient!!
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