Utah Thus Far

     We have been here for nearly 6 months now and it still feels, at least to me, like we are on a long vacation. Everyone is settling in fine. Our ward is very nice with a diverse people, I love it. We are currently renting a condo while we look for a home to buy. Maybe when I have an actual place to hang my photos and art work I will start feeling like Utah is my home. The kids like their school and are making lots of friends. Unfortunately when we buy a house they will be moving schools again and will have to start over. The positive side.....this will be the last time they have to move. School is mostly year-round out here. There are 2 charter schools in the area we are looking for a house and they are on a traditional school system. We are hoping to be able to get the kids into one of those schools. If we can then I can finish my photography degree. If not then we may have to put them in year-round public school and I will have to figure something else out. Jon's job is going ok. It has it's struggles, but he is getting through them as best he can.
     Since moving here we have spent a lot of time visiting places. We spend more time away from home on the weekend than we did when we were in Roseville. Being near lots of mountains means there is quite a bit to do and lots to explore.

Ok well....it's late and I have to get up early in the morning and wrangle kids
out of bed for school in the morning.

 

 I have been trying to get the slide show for this post ready for the past month. I hit some snags with the music. Also I was not able to put it on here as anything other than a link. So click the link at the bottom of the page to watch the slide show.


https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=1936104A3CED0A8C&id=1936104A3CED0A8C%21110&v=3

Game Changer

In October of last year Jon was laid off from his job so we hunkered down and prepared for the long wait that we were sure was ahead of us. Thankfully only a month later Jon's boss called him and offered him a Branch Managers position in the Utah Branch of his company. After much prayer and fasting we agreed that Jon should accept the job and so he moved to Utah for 3 months. He had 3 months to turn the Utah Branch around and if he did we would all probably be moving to Utah.

Well folks....things did get turned around and we are now residents of Utah (SLC area). Can't say that I'm personally happy about living in the snow again but the kids are very excited. Before we left California Trevor was telling everyone that he couldn't wait to move because we were moving to the snow. I love his spirit.



Front of our place

Back

After nearly 2 weeks we are mostly settled in. The kids are on day 3 at their new school and so far things are great. The kids have both made lots of friends and really like their new teachers. Heather unfortunately has a bit more homework than she is used to and isn't too fond of that. Trevor on the other hand has not had to bring anything home to work on. This adds to Heather's frustrations as Trevor is able to roam free after school while she is required to complete her homework before play.
School is year-round which is going to be an adjustment, but we may like it better than a full 2 1/2 month summer break; we shall see.

First Day of School

Last weekend we toured Temple square. At age 8 and 6 I would have been bored doing something like that, but the kids soaked it all up and loved every minute. We even ran into someone I know from Roseville. Sidney Hodgkin is serving her mission in SLC and for the time being is serving at  Temple Square. It was really great to see a familiar face. (Wish I'd thought to get a photo with her.)

 
 
 
 
 



















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Daddy Daughter Dance

This year there was a Daddy Daughter Dance at school. Heather was so excited to go. Jon was awesome about it; he even surprised her with a corsage. The two of them practiced dancing every night. Heather was sure to remind Jon, before he left for work, that he needed to be home early enough for them to practice before bed. Afterwards they went out for a banana split.

Playing Catch-up 4

When the kids had Christmas break Jon was able to get most of those 2 weeks off from work. One of the things we did was go to the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield. Unfortunately the day we went they weren't actually making Jelly Bellies, but we got to take the tour anyway. They don't allow cameras on the tour so these are the only photos we have of our experience. We are definatley going to have to go back on a day when we can watch Jelly Belly making in action. Still it was fun and very worth the trip. There is nothing like spending time together as a family.

During the tour you are required to wear these paper hats.

Playing Catch-up 3

Christmas flies by every year, but this year we almost missed it. 3 of us got the flu days before Christmas. Lucking we were all finished with it by Christmas Eve and we were able to celebrate properly.