Week #4: Goodbye Providence Lane

This Week...

...we had a visiting teaching get together. When we found out that the friend that my companion and I go to actually visits my companion, we decided to have a little gathering. It was super fun! We don't always get to take the time to visit with such a small group, or visit at all. The Bishop's wife came because she overheard us talking about what a great party it would be. I love that Visiting Teaching pairs us with sisters that we wouldn't otherwise get a chance to meet. Oft times, that's when the greatest of bonds are formed.

...the old house is empty and clean, ready for a new owner. I'm so sad to leave behind all of Jason's built ins. 

...we used our old garage, that is now empty, to paint the bunk bed sets before we put them up in the new house. Jason had the great idea hit him at 2:00 am when he rolled over to check the night stand for his retainers. We couldn't find them after the move and it was driving us both crazy! Him because his back up pair were hurting his mouth and me because I felt bad that I hadn't kept track of them. So really he had two great ideas, one about the retainers because we found them and two about the beds because it was a great way to paint them. The next day we hauled the bed frame parts with the paint sprayer back up to the old house and set up a gigantic paint booth. He also sprayed the kids' book boxes. Great idea! You don't always control when great ideas hit you. Haha!

...I took the kids to math night at the school. I let them run around to all the stations by themselves and I stood at the PTO table with my PTO board. I tell you, talking to people about PTO is like being a salesman. You have to be willing to start up the conversation and sell your product. In our case, it's volunteering!

...our neighbor Francis brought us a blueberry coffee bundt cake. It was so delicious! How sweet of her to welcome us to our new house and the neighborhood.

...I did a little Winco shopping. This is seriously one of my favorite aisles at the store. Look at all those cookie options! This is where dreams are made.

...we had the Pinewood Derby! Three cheers for the Pinewood Derby! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Brother Empey took care of the track and started the races. Peyton Greenhalgh, Jackson Mackay, and Paul were the first, second, and third place winners.

...Emma went with the young women on an overnight winter retreat. She was really nervous at first. She ended up having the best time ever. They played games and went sledding. She has great leaders so I knew she was in good hands.

Week #3: Move It On Out!

This Week...

...our kids had their last trip to school on the bus. I'm glad that Lainey got that experience for the first half of the year. She was looking forward to that so much. We had great times at the bus stop before and after school. It was great to socialize with the other parents and grandparents.

...we moved! Our new house got done a week early and our realtor surprised us on Thursday with an early move date. "Can you be out of your house by Monday?" she asked. We were floored, but ready to take the challenge. After all, that is how we roll! My mom had come at the beginning of the week to help me pack. Once she got here, we both got sick with terrible head colds. Our packing had been intermittent at best. Wednesday night, we got some energy and started packing the kitchen. I kept feeling like we should just pack all the dishes and food storage and make do for the last week and a half. When the call came to move, I wasn't too worried because we had listened to that nagging feeling I had to just pack up the kitchen and be done. This is our house when we found out we'd be moving early...

Friday morning we had our walk through with Brett. He had a binder put together of contact information for all of the subs in case we needed to have any work done, along with all the manuals for our appliances and systems in the new house. Leslie met us there and brought us a beautiful flower arrangement. She didn't stay long, but long enough to request the name of the paint color in the office. Jason really does know how to pick paint. :) Brett handed us the keys to the house, shook our hands, and it was ours!

After the walk through, we started moving all of the loose stuff down in the van. We took three or four loads - clothes, food, kitchen items, vinyl, office boxes, picture frames and decorations, kid's boxes, toys, dvds, and whatever else we could cram in there. It was nice to have that time before everyone showed up to move the major stuff. We got the moving van set up for the next morning.

Saturday morning we had men from the ward show up to help us move. There were two groups of guys that helped. Some came early and helped for a little and some showed up a little later and helped finish off the job. It was so nice that so many could come on such short notice. We started at 9:30 am and got done by 2:00 pm. It went so nicely. Now we just have to put everything away. Hahahaha!

Aaron and Spencer Greenhalgh, Mike Votaw, Ken Luke, Chad King, Royce Barney, Tyson Chapman, Jason!, Derick Chapman, John Hamilton

Elder Cordon, Elder Whiting, Ken Luke, Tyson Chapman, Derick Chapman, Royce Barney, Mike Votaw, Jason!, Jared Gilbert, Darryl Levy, Chad King

And of course, who cares about all the boxes and mess. The most important thing to do in the new house is to play the piano. Emma has her priorities straight.

...we had our duct tape assembly at the school. We ran a fundraiser where the kids brought in loose change to duct tape a staff member to the wall. Their choices were the Principal, Mrs. Lechelt-Polster, the Counselor, Mrs. Amaya, or the Music Teacher, Mr. Kruse. I was so grateful that all three staff members were willing to participate. They did this in Mattawa at my sister Cherice's school with great results. So I knew we definitely wanted to do it at our school. Everyone loves the music teacher. Mr. Kruse is so great with the kids. He's willing to get goofy, but also gets the kids to participate. We knew he was the favorite to win from the get go, and win he did! The noise level in that gymnasium throughout the whole process was intense. It was a little too much for quite a few kids.

...the Wolf Cubs made arm pit fudge. And it's pretty safe to say that none of them ate any of it.

...Emma and I went to her school for the Layers of Love mother/daughter event. We hurried in, chose a Seahawk print fleece blanket, and got to work. We weren't there long, but had a good time making a blanket together.

Week #2: Change: I'm Ready! and Landscaping Love

This Week...

...I gave a talk in church. It was one of the best experiences that I've had giving a talk. I was able to deliver my thoughts with minimal crying, thus being more easily understood. I focused mostly on our progression and evaluating if we are still doing so. I used two talks from the October Conference, "What Lack I Yet?" by Elder Larry R. Lawrence and "Yielding Our Hearts to God" by Niell F. Marriott. Each one focuses on being willing to ask Heavenly Father what we need to work on personally and then having the courage to act upon the promptings we receive. We typically don't like change. It's usually a scary thing. This time however, I said, "I'm ready." I'm ready to make changes for the better; to get insight from heavenly Father in areas that I can't see I need to change or where my self perception is off. Change: I'm ready! This is going to be my word for the year. Can't wait to see what it brings.

(google images)

...We are packing up. The house sold! The showings are over. The inspection was done and accepted. The appraisal is done: it came in at selling price. ;) That was the hard part. Here comes the easy part: packing! Just throw everything in boxes and drive it down to the new house!

...Emma had her orchestra concert. She has really enjoyed learning to play the violin and I'm glad that we could provide her the opportunity. She does so well at everything that she does. Such a beautiful young woman she is turning out to be. Emma also enjoys her teacher, Ms. Giorgi.

...they painted the exterior of our house. Yay! I think we did a pretty good job of picking paint colors.

...the time to do our front yard has come. It's cold and wet, but it's going to be great! First we have to get the irrigation lines in. We rented a trencher and our home teacher let us use his truck. Elder Cordon and Elder Whiting came to help us set the lines. Thank goodness for service hours!

Then we picked out some trees at Jobs. We got a Blue Spruce! One that isn't supposed to be mammoth. So fun! We also got a red leafed Maple and another Maple variety. Alex was great to take us all around the farm to get what we were looking for.

Huesitos Landscaping came and sprayed the back of the lot with a ground cover to keep the dirt down. 

Curbing went in next. Ryan and the guys at Custom Creative Curbs did a fantastic job.

Then we made another trip to Jobs for landscaping plants. Kathy had all the time in the world to help us. I mean really, what crazy homeowners buy landscaping plants in January?!

We got a load of weed barrier fabric and rock to prep the area before we planted our new plants. Our friends, Adrian Sandoval and Royce Barney came to help us. We were very grateful.

The last task: lay sod. Once again it was cold and wet. Jason's brother Travis came to help us get the job done.

...Jason did a police presentation for Mrs. Plewman's Fifth Grade class. This is Emma's teacher from last year. Even though Emma has moved on, Mrs. Plewman contacted us about Jason coming in to help out with their Investigator unit. Jason was more than happy to and we scheduled a day. It's always so fun to go with him on these visits because he is making a positive impact on the students. He talks to them about the job and his equipment. He also talks to them about honesty and integrity.  

...we took some photos with our some of our favorite friends The Riners are going to be moving soon. Clear to Missouri!

...Elder Schultzka got transferred out of our area. It's always so sad to say goodbye to these missionaries when they move on. It's so great to get to know them as we work together in missionary work for our ward.