What We've Been Up To

Okay, clearly we've been up to more than these photos reveal, but unfortunately, I haven't been taking many pictures lately. Plus, when I go swimming with the kids at the YMCA, something we do quite often, I have to be completely hands-on and can't have a non-water-proof camera with me at all. Maybe I can drag Corey there with me one time before we move and he can take some pictures!

Here are some other things that have been fun around here:

Since starting back in school, Westley has LOVED playing school with his brothers and sister, and they love it too. I think they mostly love wearing their backpacks.

Corey's boss gave us this big wheel--his kids have outgrown it and he was just going to throw it away. The boys only got to ride it a couple times before it started getting way too hot, so for now it is sitting in the garage. Hopefully it won't be too cold in Utah when we move for them to use a few times before there's snow!

One of the boys' favorite activities is playing with the costume box. Yes, boys like playing "dress up" as much as girls do, but they prefer to dress up as superheroes, not royalty! Eliza likes to dress up too, but the only stuff we have is super hero-type stuff. I do have a princess dress I bought just after Halloween last year that is a 2T and she'll get that for her birthday present this year! I'm sure she'll love it when she can dress up as a princess!

Finally, a solid plan!

We aren't moving until the first weekend of October! We've arranged with the buyers of our house to rent it back from them from when we close, on August 21st, through October 3rd. At that point, Corey will most likely be able to just move with us, if not, it will only be a couple of weeks that we'll be without him.

We may or may not move into James' house. James was my brother Aaron's good friend who was offering to let us rent his house in West Jordan. Last week, we received very sad and terrible news that he had passed away from a diabetic coma sometime after July 16th. The saddest part is that he was trying to get the insulin that would probably have saved him long enough to call 911, but he didn't quite make it. Unfortunately, he was found more than a week after he passed away. Anyway, his family has offered to rent us the home, if it doesn't sell first, so it's possible that come the middle-end of September, we won't even have to look, we can just rent that house.

I am glad that we at least know now that we aren't moving until October 3rd, so I won't have to be in Utah for a long time without Corey and also Westley can finish his first 9 weeks of school, which ends on September 25th. I feel really good about this turn of events and feel that even if we decide to not rent that house in West Jordan, that we will find something just right for us.

New Moving Update

Ah, this move is so fickle, I tell you! One minute we're staying and renting, then we're moving soon to a certain house, then it's all changed again!

We're still moving August 21st and 22nd, but this time, we are moving to Herriman, right near Riverton (both cities were used as addresses interchangeably when I google mapped it). The house in South Jordan sounded like a great place to live, but after really crunching the numbers, we decided that while we could make it work, it would be really hard with no wiggle room for extras we might need in Utah, like snow tires and warmer winter clothes that we don't already have. So we found a better deal on a house in Herriman that will work out just fine. Still about 20 minutes from Jordan Landing and the Draper stores, give or take a few minutes, which is way better than the 50-60+ minutes it takes Corey now to drive to work.

We also won't be going to Utah to look around, we're going by the pictures and by the fact that the landlord is putting in new carpet and having it all cleaned professionally that it will be nice. It's a new house, built in 2007. One drawback will be Westley being bussed to a school that's further away than about 3 schools close by, but the school is still only a 10 minute drive from our house.

Anyway, I will send the new address out by email when we seal the deal and sign the contract, which should be in a couple days.

I feel much more settled about this and confident that things will work out.

Moving Update

It looks like we are moving on August 21st. The renting idea isn't panning out. Corey and I are NOT going to Utah to find a place, I am going alone. Possibly with 1 or 2 children in tow. Corey will spend much of that weekend packing, with Jamie, his sister, watching the other 2-3 kids while he's at work on Monday and Tuesday. When we get back, it will be packing and more packing and cleaning. Then the idea is to load the truck as well as close on the house on August 21st. Then move. We have found and secured a house in South Jordan. When I go up next weekend, it will be to meet the landlord in person and make sure everything is ready for us. My brother Adam was kind enough to help us out by going down and walking through the house yesterday and then giving us his opinion. It's a bit on the high end of our rent range, but we are going to make it work by sticking closely to our budget. I really hope that the ward is good and it will be worth it.

Still, I find all this very hard. The thought of being up in Utah without Corey for 2-1/2 months is rather daunting. I do have a few friends up there from high school and college and also some cousins. This is definitely a leap of faith.

On the Move...Yet Again

Okay, since so many people have been asking, I might as well make it formal here. Yes, we are moving, and soon. Corey is going with In-N-Out to open Utah. Salt Lake/Provo open up this fall (November). We found out that it was a sure thing in June, so we put our house on the market in the middle of June. Right after putting our house up, I went to California with the kids and then on to Utah and was gone for a little over 2 weeks. During that time, we got several offers. One of them went through. The bank counter-offered, the buyer accepted, and now we are closing on August 21st.

The buyers, when they looked at the house, they said they would be willing to rent it back to us, if we were staying in the area, because it was so well-kept and clean. When we found out that we are having to be out by August 21st, we have talked to the agents to ask the buyers if they would truly be willing to rent it back to us through the end of September, so we could wait and move up there all together instead of me having to move up with the kids, leaving Corey here to work until he's needed up there. We haven't heard back yet, so as of right now, we are going to be moving on August 21st.

Corey and I are going up to Utah August 7th through the 11th to try and find a place. Then coming back, packing up and moving. I personally hope we can stay through the end of September for a number of reasons, the biggest, of course, being that we won't be up there without Corey for 2 months.

So now you know the full story!

Water Park Wednesday

Westley had a half day of school today. Corey's sister Leslie and her two kids, Felicity (6) and Savannah (1) have been out in Arizona this week staying with Corey's other sister Jamie, who lives in Casa Grande. So they came up for the afternoon. We ate a pizza lunch and then when Westley got home from school and the babies were all up from their naps, we went over to the Mesquite Groves Water Park in Chandler, a little water park built right next to a high school. If you're ever in this part of Arizona (Chandler/Gilbert, Queen Creek, San Tan Valley), you should check it out.

We had a blast. With Corey there too, plus his sister, we were able to spread the kids out between all of us and really enjoy it. There's a lazy river and two big water slides, as well as a great kiddie play structure in the play pool, which goes to 0 depth. Since it was about 108 today, it was the perfect activity, also because it's quite cheap! It was $8 for all 4 adults and 6 kids! It was also nice to see all the people from our ward that were also there taking advantage of the half day of school.

I wish I had some pictures, and I even remembered to bring the camera, but I forgot to use it. More like I was too busy swimming to use it. I need one of those Sanyo underwater cameras that my brother (who works for Sanyo) keeps trying to get my to buy.

I'm sad that our fun-filled Wednesday is coming to a close and that Westley has a full day of school the next two days. Bah, humbug!

Jenna's Night Off

I have forgotten my camera a lot lately, so I have no pictures to go with these fun events. :(

On Friday, July 24th, I took the night off. Corey got home from work early because he had to go to the eye doctor for his horrible eye infection that lasted forever. It's finally gone now because the eye doctor gave him the right medication. Anyway, he got home and I took off to meet my mom in Mesa for dinner. We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and then went to this gelato place my parents love for dessert. I had the passion fruit gelato and it was scrumptious. After dinner, we went back and visited at my mom's house for a little bit. My dad had gone to San Diego for the day to take something to my brother, so we timed it just right.

After dinner, I left and picked my friend Lindsey up for ice skating. Yes, ice skating. She had called me the day before asking if we could get together because she needed a break, and I knew I could use one, so we decided to do something active instead of just going to dinner and a movie or getting our nails done. We both searched the web and found the same place in Tempe called Oceanside Ice Arena, which had a "open skate" on Friday nights from 8-10 pm. I haven't been skating since high school sometime, so I was rusty and I'll admit, the skates kind of hurt my feet. We really didn't try anything, we just skated around and talked. It was nice because we were inside a freezing ice arena when temperatures outside were still over 100.

I hope I can find friends in Utah who enjoy being active like me and would rather go ice skating than get a pedicure. Not that pedicures aren't nice, but sometimes a little bit of exercise can really cleanse the soul!