Living closer to family

After 3 years of not spending much time with family (and not seeing many of them in fact) we are very happily making up for lost time.

Coincidentally our good friends Megan and Rijen were in Utah when we arrived for a week before moving to Japan.  We were so happy about this overlap and although we would have loved to have more time, did at least get to spend some time together.

We enjoyed a visit to the Natural History Museum one afternoon.

Devin's birthday was shortly after we arrived.  We started out the day well...

Then headed to his brother's house for a really fun lunch and visit with Jeff, Melissa and Rex.

More good friends happened to be in Utah visiting from New York so we were lucky to eat dinner with Barrett, Angela, Elly and Liza.

Barrett and Devin have been friends since childhood - the same for Ang and I...it is always fun seeing each other again.

One of the best parts of moving to Utah has been living closer to family.  My children are able to see cousins more often now which is so much fun.  In addition to Jeff and Melissa, we have loved being close to Ronae and her family who have helped us out SO much!  Being close to Idaho helps too...since much of his family lives there.

When Treena and her family were in Park City we were able to all meet up at a park for dinner.  It was perfection.  Kids playing, beautiful weather, delicious food and amazing company.  It was one of those moments we were so happy to be living where we are.

Here's Lauren who ran up and down that hill with Jonas countless times.  Talk about love!  And what a cute girl!

I loved this - double rainbow while Devin and Jeff talk and kids run.

Another benefit is our proximity to California, where my family lives.  My birth mother, Wendy, lives in Southern California and her daughter, Allyson was getting married.  We were so lucky to be able to drive to the wedding and be a part of it.  She and McKay were so happy and she looked absolutely beautiful!

 

 

 
Wendy & Jon also looked wonderful.

We enjoyed a few more days before we thought we would head "home".  Devin and I spent much of the time faxing and talking on the phone while trying to put in an offer on a house.  But we did manage to have a wonderful afternoon at Wendy's friends house.  Her pool was amazing!

Spoiled!

Of course a trip to CA wouldn't be complete without delicious Mexican food!  It did not disappoint.

 

What handsome boys!

As we were preparing to drive home, my mom called and pleaded with us to drive to Northern California to see them since my sister-in-law would be there from Massachusetts with her 3 children.  I couldn't pass up the opportunity so we changed plans and headed for San Jose for a couple of days.  It was a quick visit and Devin had to fly back to Utah for a day for a house inspection (that didn't go so well).

As we drove up the coast to San Jose, we made a bit of a detour.  You guessed it, there was a place where we wanted to eat!  Typical, I know.  Our favorite gelato shop from Italy has two locations in the US...one of which is in Malibu, CA.  Being that close, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to go.  GROM - how I love you!

All right, back to our visit to San Jose. :)

The cousins absolutely loved their time together.  I was so excited to meet Max for the first time!  Tina and I were looking forward to getting pictures of the two little ones together.  You can see how that went down.

 So this was the best we could do...

Here's a sampling of what the girls enjoyed.

A campout that Grandma ended up needing to attend to keep the girls from coming inside.

Marie and Jonas played so well together.

Doing our best to enjoy the HOTTEST day at the park.

A day at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium is a must.

We don't find ourselves together often enough, it was so much fun to see all the grandchildren together!

By now we needed to hurry back to Utah to begin our housing search all over again due to the poor inspection.  Within a few days we found another good option and put an offer on it.  It helps that our fantastic realtor happens to be our sister-in-law as well.  We were able to put our offer in while all visiting family in Idaho.

It was another fun weekend where we enjoyed being with family...along with the Cassia County Fair and Rodeo.  If that won't draw me in I don't know what would.

We had so much fun playing outside with Rex.  I enjoyed it until they all ganged up on me!

  

Devin's favorite past time is water skiing.  He pretty much only goes when visiting Burley and here he is for the first time in a few years.

I also got to enjoy a wonderful birthday.  Breakfast at Kneaders, a massage Melissa lined up, handpicked See's chocolate given to me by very excited children and a fun day up at Snowbird. 

My favorite birthday memory is going down the Alpine Slide in Park City with my cousin Whitney whose birthday is one day after mine.  We didn't have time to drive all the way to Park City but found out that Snowbird had an alpine slide too.  It was so much fun although next time I don't think I'll wear a skirt - poor planning!

 

 

Self explanatory

After much convincing, Jonas ended up going down with Devin and enjoyed it!

After our afternoon at Snowbird, we drove to Provo to meet up with Wendy, Tommy, Claire and Charlotte who were in Provo dropping Tommy off at BYU.  It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day.  We enjoyed delicious Italian food and brought home some dessert to enjoy after the kids were in bed.

That birthday sounds pretty perfect, right?  The best part was that our offer was accepted on a house!!!  School was starting in just a few days so we then started scrambling to get our kids registered and ready to go.  Although cutting it close, it worked out perfectly.  A very nice birthday present indeed!

It would be a few weeks before we could close and with school starting, life was returning to a more "normal" pace.  I felt mixed about this.  While at times stressful, we had spent more time together as a family this summer than ever before and it was fun (most of the time). However, our children were exhibiting signs that their own toys, beds and a routine would be helpful.  Just before closing on our house, my parents came to visit for my dad's 45th high school reunion.  We spent a few days with them and after school one day brought a picnic up to Brighton and took a little walk.  We saw three moose which was impressive! 

 

  

I know I should have been paying more attention to the moose, but I found Jonas and Nell so entertaining!

  

 

We are very happy to be settling in Utah for now.  Absolutely the best part is living close to family.  We are loving it!  Moving is always an adjustment and this has had a few difficulties but overall has been very smooth.  Now I am trying to brace myself for winter - and I'm very very nervous!!!