What's new...

I've been away from my blog for a bit, but thought I'd update on our life. This picture was us after church on our last Sunday at our old house. Those stairs have had many first & last day pictures taken on them, so I think it's only fitting that they were in the picture. The very first picture I took of the house- before we even moved in- was of three-year-old Jenna hugging the front door there.

We closed on the sale of our house on the evening of Tuesday, November 8th.

Wednesday morning, we got up early and headed to Spring City for the funeral of Tim's grandma, Clara Anderson Donaldson. She was a dear woman and it was a nice day together with family to celebrate her legacy!

That day was also my birthday. With all the craziness, it mostly went unnoticed, which was fine.

Thursday began a whirlwind of packing vehicles, finishing boxes and moving to Saratoga Springs. Thank you to all who helped with the kids, packing, moving and unpacking. We couldn't have done it without you!!

The girls are now in their new school and loving it. Lydia is not in preschool yet, so we are adjusting to being together 24-7. I'm not sure who is struggling more- me or her. ;) We are doing home preschool, which is working for now, but she would love to be back in a class with other kids. The little stinker is reading!! I don't want to undo Mrs. Jackson's hard work, so we're spending lots of time in workbooks, reading, art projects and anything else we can think of.

We went to our new ward the first Sunday and then yesterday we had a special stake conference. There were two stakes in the city. Yesterday they were divided to make a third stake. We are in the new stake, which is officially called the Saratoga Springs Utah Crossroads Stake. I have to concentrate to remember the whole name. It was really special to attend such an historic meeting. I have been to many church meeting in my life, but that was the first time I was present for the creation of a new stake. I am excited to live in an area that is growing and where the church is also growing and people are hopeful for the future. There's a great energy here!

We have also had the privilege to host Tim's cousins from out-of-state. A few months ago, we got a call from a woman named Carol, who is Tim's mom's first cousin, but she has not had contact with the family for a very long time. She lives in Colorado. A few weeks later, her sister, Shelly, called from Arkansas. Tim had met her while he was there on his mission, but had lost contact with her. They were planning a trip to Utah and wanted to meet family. We were able to have them stay at our house and we took them around to different places in Utah that are significant to the family and to us. We had family dinner in Nephi Saturday night, where they were able to meet more cousins & the other generations.

We had so much fun with them and my kids were absolutely enamored with them. Lydia cried for at least 20 minutes after we dropped them at the airport this morning, asking why they couldn't stay longer. We hope they will come again!

So, that's pretty much what we've been up to lately. We've been unpacking & organizing our home, but not too much, as this is a temporary stop on the way to our new house. We might be in our new place by January! We are loving this area and the girls LOVE their new school and friends. There are kids everywhere and everyone we've met has been so nice.

We miss our friends in Kearns, but we still love you!!

Happy Thanksgiving! We are hosting here, so if you find yourself with no where to go for dinner, come on over- seriously!! (Don't tell Tim I said that. ;) )