We moved!

When we came back from our Colorado trip, the house was all painted! This made a huge difference.

Bye-bye stripy wall.

Ahhh. So fresh and clean. And smells super painty.

And the following Wednesday the carpet installers came. Second most dramatic change. The carpet looked pretty purple that first day. It doesn't look so purple to me now.

We started bringing loads of stuff every day after that. I would pack boxes and fill up my car first thing in the morning before it got hot, take the load over and put the boxes in the house and then pack throughout the day so I'd have another load to take over in the evening with Justin. Sometimes there were little mishaps like the desk plastic sliding over some bodies at a stop sign.

This is James's best buddy Luca. He is 7 and in first grade but they got along so well. I didn't want James to forget him. 

We brought some friends with us one day to "help unpack". Apparently that means pull everything out onto the floor and stir it up. 

Thursday we brought over most of our stuff. I don't have any pictures of all that because I was a little busy. My sister and her family and Justin's parents helped us load so much furniture into two trailers. I had already brought over anything I could lift and fit in the back of my SUV. 

After unloading the trailers Thursday night we went back to Spanish Fork to sleep in our house one last time. All that was left were our beds and random stuff. Friday we loaded the beds and food and began unpacking. Sarah thought this was a good time to get out some craft stuff.

It's good to take a break from all the work and stress of moving.

Everyone did okay sleeping that first night. Erica slept in Sarah's room with her and Henry had big ideas of sleeping out in his tent but didn't. James fell out of bed and got disoriented looking for the bathroom. 

Saturday after breakfast we went back to the house to do the final cleaning. I had tried to clean as we emptied rooms so most of the upstairs and bathrooms were already done. It took a couple of hours to finish the floors and clean the fridge. Henry didn't come in at all because he thought he wouldn't want to leave if he did. He stayed outside with his friends.

Good-bye picture

And then when it was time to get in the car, reality hit. "Wait, we never get to go inside again?"

All the kids started sobbing before we even backed out of the driveway. It was a very sad and heavy moment. I forgot that I had been mentally and emotionally preparing for this move far more than they had. Of course they didn't fully realize what moving meant until it was actually happening. When we arrived at the new house they all went off on their own to grieve in their own ways. Erica sat under the maple tree in the front yard, arms around her knees and just cried. Sarah went to her room and was joined by James and they cried together. Henry went to the backyard. I checked on each of them periodically to see if I could be of comfort. I didn't know what to say when they asked why we had to move. How do you explain it was just time for us to move on?

Father's day was a little chaotic. We had to be ready for church earlier than we are used to and get ready in one bathroom. We managed to make Justin biscuits from scratch although he made the hash browns and eggs. The kids each gave Justin a snack they picked out at the store and he got some new tie-downs. After a panic search for still packed church clothes, we made it to our new ward with a minute to spare.

We have fully shifted from packing/cleaning/fixing/repairing/replacing between the two houses to just unpacking/organizing/fixing/replacing in just this home. Every emptied box is a victory. Here are some photos so I can look back and feel like I'm making progress.

Erica's room looked so much better just a day later.

The kids haven't asked to go home since Sunday. I think they are warming up to the house and enjoying the extra space inside and out. Plus I've been trying to accommodate taking them to see school friends and letting friends come here. There aren't any kids close to us. I have some good leads from the primary president on which streets the kids live on. That's next week's project: find neighborhood friends.

They can ride their bikes to a snowcone shack and a city park. My mom's house isn't too far for James to ride either. I heard sheep baaing last night. No train. No one parks in front of our house. No noisy neighbors. It's so quiet here.

Last Day of School and Trip to Colorado

 Sarah had her 6th grade graduation a couple of days before school let out for the summer. Each of the kids got to say what they liked most about 6th grade after they received their diploma. She said she liked helping in the special ed class. She earned the sterling scholar award each term in 4 different areas. Little over achiever.

Her friend Kaitey Stephenson. Kaitey is her last friend in the neighborhood as everyone else has moved over the years.

Friday was their last day of school. Here are their last v first day pictures.

Speaking of James, he thinks wearing my headband around his neck and arm makes him a ninja. I asked him if his armpit gets sore. He said no but his neck does. He has a tan line from it.

He is a pro at his new bike. It took a week of practicing only 5 minutes at a time. One day it all just clicked when he was practicing with Henry and he has been up and down the street all the time ever since. After the kids left for school, he hopped back on.

He wanted to ride it so badly but would get scared so easily.  I didn't pressure him to practice at all--just helped him until he had enough then went back inside. 

This is after school on Friday at 12:30. Henry is already bored. It's going to be a long summer.

The boys fell asleep with the lamp on so I snapped this picture. They are nutso getting ready for bed each night so I'm looking forward to them not sharing a room when we move but this is so sweet.

Saturday we visited Spanish Fork Cemetary with my mom. The kids like to hear the same stories from my mom about her grandparents, aunts, uncles and her parents. I do too. I think the cemetery is just a wonderful place of history, family, and beautiful flowers. I think this is such an important tradition. I love seeing other families gathered doing the same thing.

Sunday morning we left for Colorado Springs and the Great Wolf Lodge. We wanted to treat the kids to a fun trip since they have been such troopers this school year wearing masks. Ironically the resort required us to wear masks so that kind of was lame but we still had fun. They had heard of this place from gameshows as the grand prize so they were super excited.

The drive is super boring until you get into the Rockies and then it's mind blowing.

The weather turned stormy so we really felt like we were going through a mountain pass.

Snow on the last day of May is pretty trippy.

This is the Eisenhower Tunnel. It's 1.693 miles long but we didn't know that. We just couldn't believe it kept going and going. The Dye kids love tunnels.

"You've had this extra pair of gloves this entire time?"  "Yeah. We're in the Rockies."

This is as close as we made it to downtown Denver.

We grabbed dinner at a drive-through chicken place then went to our hotel. The kids had 2 beds and a sofa and we had our own room so that was nice. The sink was outside the bathroom next to the kids' beds which is just the dumbest place ever for trying to not wake the kids. Our complimentary breakfast was sacks of prepackaged pastries, a cup of fruit cocktail and a juice box. So lame.

But the kids didn't seem to care.

We checked out of our luxury accommodations behind the 7-11 and visited the Garden of the Gods. I wasn't too excited to go see red rock formations since Utah has the corner on that market but it was actually a cool place. The weather was cool and misty--Alaska weather.

This is my second favorite video of the trip.

This is my first favorite video of the trip. I've never seen him do this before.

From there we drove to Pikes Peak. I had been once before when I was 10 years old and all I remembered is everyone getting headaches at the top and all the warning signs to not ride your brakes on the way down. I was looking worard to driving it again. The summit was closed to tourists becasue they were doing construction on the parking lot and visitors center. That was a bummer. And we could only get to marker 13 or something becasue there was ice on the road. Also a bummer. But we decided to do it anyway since we didn't have time to come back a differnt day. It was still awesome, just a different experience.

As we got higher, the weather got thinner, the fog got thicker and things got a little creepier.

There she is.

We got hot chocolate at a gift shop on the way up. If you can play in the snow and drink hoto chocolate on the last day of May, you should.

From there we could only go a few more miles but it was the switchback part hugging  the edge of the mountain. The clouds were so thick we couldn't see anything.

Nothing makes you feel like you're up really high than being in the clouds. Well, I guess the view below could make you feel like you're up high but this was all we had.

Ever the steady driver.

Erica did not like it.

Until we switched directions and the cliff wasn't on her side.

I don't remember how high we got but they had us turn around in a muddy parking lot with lots of equipment. My head started to hurt. Sarah got out for a minute but it wasn't exactly a scenic spot so we turned around after a few minutes. A ways down Justin stopped and let the kids draw their name in the snow because why not?

We drove one of the scenic roads farther down and past this lake.

Here's one of the few views of Colorado Springs. Overall it was not the drive we were expecting but still cool. We'll have to come back and experience the traditional way.

Then it was time to check into The Great Wolf Lodge. Well, actually we were still several hours early but we knew we could swim and play in the resort before our room was ready.

Mini golf and bowling. Henry had a love/hate relationship with mini-golf. He played it a ton but complained, complained, complained.

The bowling was candlepin bowling which we had never done. It was fun because the bowl is easy to chuck down the lane.

Then our room was ready so we went up to change and headed to the pool. We swam for a few hours then changed and ate dinner then went to bed. 

The kids had a cool bed space. There were only 3 beds so we dragged the couch cushions over for a fourth bed.

Tuesday morning we had cereal for breakfast in the room. Justin and Henry were admiring the view of Air Force's football field.

The kids wanted to try the climbing wall and ropes course so we did that first.

Sarah got the second higheset climbing time that day.

Then we went swimming for several hours.

We got some doughnuts because Dyes like doughnuts. James chose a Bostom cream doughnut and loved it. He only knew of them from the Go Nuts for Donuts game and told us he didn't know Bostom creams were a real thing.

Wednesday morning we ate breakfast at the lodge restaurant. The pancakes and waffles were not very good but Justin and I are pro pancake and waffle makers so the bar is pretty high. The rest of the food was good, even the ginormous plate of cinnamon rolls.

We had to check out of our room after breakfast so the kids put their swimming suits on under their clothes and did dry activities first. Erica was pretty obsessed with the rock wall. She did it like 80 times, she said. I believe her. They told her to come back in 10 minutes so someone else could have a turn.

And some of the kids wanted to try the ropes course again.

I tried helping James the day before but it didn't work so Justin helped him today. He liked it.

Erica didn't want to do the ropes course again. She was on the climbing wall.

After that, we went back to the pool. I had my camera this time so here are some pictures.

And then we said goodbye to the lodge.

And then we drove to Rifle Colorado because it's half-wayish home.

The drive was so cool. We took a more scenic route through some mountain towns, over Divide and through Breckinridge (which looks like Park City) before connecting to I-70 again.

I feel disloyal to say this because Utah mountains are so near and dear to my heart but Colorado mountains are prettier. It's the trees. They have more trees so it's just more scenic. 

We got a good laugh at James who kept his headphones on while getting out to use the restroom.

We checked into our hotel at 9:30 that night--just enough time to get the kids settled on a queen mattress to share. It was Sarah's turn to sleep on the floor. I went down to the front desk to ask for some extra bedding and observed the weirdest people and conversations. I felt like I was on a stage as people took turns coming in, asking about the most random stuff and then leaving and then another person would come by. The man waiting near me said, "Excuse me ma'am. Ma'am? Are you a nurse?" Once I realized he was talking to me I turned around and said no. "Oh, I thought maybe you were because of your pants. I have friends that are nurses." I turned back around. I was wearing these blue pants. When I relayed the story back upstairs, the kids thought it was hilarious. Justin could understand the possibility.

The next morning we checked out of our hotel and visited Rifle Falls. We didn't know what to expect and it was much more impressive than I imagined. The parking lot is super close and it's a short walk and suddenly, here's some waterfalls.

We hiked up a little path and surprise! You can go behind the falls.

There were a lot of caves for exploring and climbing.

It actually smelled pretty bad. Just a weird minerally water smell. The young lady there too did not like the smell at all and kept spraying perfume on herself.

And then we drove the rest of the way home and marveled that it was 90+ degrees when the last time we drove that route, we encountered snow and freezing temperatures just 4 days prior.