Getting Reacquainted

Great-Grandma Franson had a birthday party in early May.  It was so fun for our kids to hang out with cousins and feel part of the extended family again!

Antelope Island Adventure

One evening early on when Greg could tell it was time to take a break from working on the house...he drove us out to Antelope Island.  

There was a sign on the way in that said, "The Knats have Hatched -- No Refunds will be Given".

We just kind of laughed about it until we found a beach and tried to get out of the car.  The knat swarms were unbelievable.  Greg thought we all ought to just race to the water (the Great Salt Lake) and touch it and then race back.  So, we all gave it our naive, best-go.  Before I could get down the first hill with Elizabeth, Greg and the boys were racing back screaming and swatting...sure it wasn't worth it!  

 
We've offered to bring that back during a different season when the knats aren't so bad.  But, they haven't jumped at the chance yet.  One thing we can say is, "Memory Made!"

 

Bells at Temple Square

After hearing a musical number with two bell choir members in church several weeks ago, Nathan later wrote on a "List of Favorite Things" the "Mormon Tabernacle Bell Choir". We decided he needed to hear more than just one song! This is Nathan and Greg tonight on their way to the "Bells on Temple Square" concert in SLC. 

And...what we did at home while they were gone.  :)

Honing our Green Thumbs

The family that owned the home before us were really into gardening.  We are doing our best to put them to good use!  There were nice raspberry and blackberry bushes growing in other parts of the yard...ask well as some strawberries.  So, we've transplanted them into some of the raised beds and we'll see how it goes.  

Mostly for me it's so fun to teach these kids and have them get into the gardening process.  

Also, you can see up next to the fence beyond the raised beds there are several fruit trees.  They are called "espadrille" trees because they are trained to grow flat and tied to trellises.  They are "all the rage" in the ward.  I just hope we don't kill them!

Making it Home

A few pictures with the carpet in...and some things on the walls!  We're making progress!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth turns 4!

 

Within a day or two of getting our new carpet...we had Elizabeth's birthday!  I briefly wondered of we could postpone it until later in the month because life had been so crazy and Elizabeth can't really read a calendar.  :)  I had failed to underestimate Nathan and Joshua's abilities to keep track and fully anticipate for her.  :)

We had Elizabeth's new friend Aubrey (a next-door neighbor) over for a play-date and treat.

And then that evening we had a "Pony Picnic Party" with a Pinata with the family!  

More than We'd Bargained For...

I won't try to tell the whole story here, but want to document a little of what made the first couple weeks here in Utah more harrowing than we could have imagined.  We knew that the carpet in two of the bedrooms had issues.  But, we'd hoped cleaning would help.  Cleaning only made the smells worse!  As we started to pull up the carpet...it was quickly apparent that not only was it damaged beyond recovery, but so was the pad.  There was also significant damage to the sub-floor. 

 

We ended up needing to remove all of the carpet in the house, bleached the worst of the sub-floor, sealed with Kilz all of the sub-floor and some of the bedroom walls, and painted 6 of the rooms in the house before new carpet was installed.

We lived for a week with half of the carpet torn up...and another week with the other half.  Both weeks with the stairs carpet pulled up which is noteworthy because all the little carpet strips with metal spikes were still on the stairs.  Keeping all of us from getting pricked...and keeping Aaron off of the stairs altogether...was a total nightmare.

We could not have done all we did without both our families and all of their help!  They were a huge part of helping things happen as well and quickly as they did.

It was hard to have our new neighbors all come over to meet us with our entry filled so the front door couldn't even be opened, etc.  It was not exactly the "first impression" we'd pictured giving.  But, we just kept telling ourselves there would never be a more convenient time than now to get it done.  We just knew we wouldn't regret making what progress we could as quickly as we could...before "normal life" really picked up again.

One evening after the carpet had been installed, Mom and Dad Luthy had been there for the day to help us finish up some painting.  Greg came home from work and before he got in the door the High Priest Group Leader snagged him on the driveway to ask him if the Stake Presidency could come and visit us that evening in an hour.  (He didn't yet have a phone number for us so he hadn't been able to give us better warning.)  I don't think we've ever moved so fast removing what tape we could, shoving furniture back into place, etc. etc.  The kitchen was still taped to paint the next day.  In the end it was a routine set of visits by stake people...the high counselor for our ward and high priest group leader came to visit us...but it is a night I won't forget!  I think that is so the flavor of these first few weeks here.  Just when we thought we'd get our feet under us a little we'd be taken by surprise again.  (And rarely with something as nice as a priesthood visit.)  :)  

Trip Downtown as a Family

My "Church Office Building" Man

A little while after we got here we took a ride on the Frontrunner with some of our family to Downtown SLC.

 

 

 

Taking the kids to Temple Square felt different this time...like somehow we feel a bit more ownership of it.  A place that we've been "visitors" in before...but we know we'll have more chances to make "ours".

A Long Car Ride West

 

 

 

It's crazy how much I didn't take pictures of in these final days in Michigan and our adventure driving back to Utah!  All I've got are our mustache tattoos that helped us pass some of the long miles of the drive.  :)

Greg had us drive it in two shorter days with one long one in the middle.  In the week or two after we arrived, when people would say to us, "Oh, so you just came from Michigan..."  Joshua would just shake his head and say, "That Day 2..."  It will go down in all of our memories as the day we barely survived!

Our Michigan Goodbye

It's been a long time since I've last posted...and so much has happened. It makes me too sentimental to go back too far tonight.  But, here is the beginning of updates!  These are pictures taken from the Open House the Andrews had at their home for us before we left for Utah.  So many wonderful people we love!