The Worm House

We had an incredibly busy month. We moved. It took us three weeks. Really. We had to be out of our town home before August 1, and we couldn't move into our new house until August 15. Thankfully our good friends, the Walsh's let us stay in their home while they were out of town for those two weeks. It worked out so well, and it was nice to have a brief reprieve from packing before we had to unpack everything. (Sawyer really appreciated it too. He was tired of being ignored!) Moving into a fully furnished and decorated house was awesome! But the two week displacement did seem to make our move last forever!

This barn was the only toy we left out for the kids to play with as we were packing final things. I made them play outside so they'd be out of the way. When I checked on them I discovered the game. They were hiding the real turtle with all the pretend farm animals in the barn, and closing it up. Then they'd say "Where is he?!" And open it up and find him! Poor turtle. 

You might also notice Myra's choice of outfit (PJ bottoms for pants), and how well she did at dressing herself! haha. I wan't too particular while I was focused on moving.

The first official moving party. It was official because it involved lots of guys from the Elders quorum and pizza. It's nice moving nearby. We shuttled back and forth with two Recon trucks, our Pilot, the Calderwood's Suburban, and as you will later see, the Carolla. 

We are so happy to be in a house with a yard! Bridger and Myra love going outside and digging up bugs, worms, rolly-pollies, and finding toads. When there was still work being done on the house, we couldn't move in, but we did move a lot of our boxes to the storage room and the garage. I brought the kids and instructed them to play in the backyard. While we were moving boxes, Bridger was digging up worms! Playing with worms is top on his list of his fun things to do. He told me today, "I love worms more than playing games!" A few minutes later, Bridger turned to me with a worm draped across his nose, he said "Look at me! I'm funny like a clown!"

After that initial worm finding day, Bridger daily came to me asking, "When do we get to move into the worm house?" The worms and rolly-polly bugs had won him over!

We loved Emily's house too. They have a large, beautiful yard, with a play set and swings. Most normal days Bridger sleeps in the longest (which is around 7AM), and he is the last to change out of his pj's (because he finds them so comfortable).  However, our first morning there, as I was just starting to wake, Bridger ran into the room Devin and I were staying in, and asked,
"Mom, can I go play outside? I'm already dressed!"
I said, "Sure you can!"
"Thanks mom!" (Big hug)
Bridger, excitedly: "I just have to give you another hug before I leave!"

It was a first experience of having a yard and Bridger and Myra both loved their new found freedom! So much in fact, that as I was driving past our old town home and pointed it out, Myra started screaming, "NO! I don't want our old house! I don't like our old house!"

I knew I would love having a yard, because the kids were so happy playing in the Walsh's yard. The kids spent lots of time on the swing set and slides, having bike races down the driveway, and being pulled in the wagon behind Devin's motorcycle. They were always asking if they could go back outside to play. It was awesome. (videos on previous August post)

Finally the day came that we had the okay to move into our new house. We packed out of the Walsh's, began sorting the boxes that had been stuffed in our garage and basement, and moved our couch and mattresses out of the Calderwood's garage. I think the guys were trying to see how much weight the Corolla could take before the ceiling caved in, but the ceiling held and the Carolla proved itself to be well qualified as a moving car!  I''m not sure how the guys were able to stack the mattresses so high.

They had rushed to get our new house completed. We were hoping to move in by August 15, but originally the plan was to have it ready by September 1, and there was a lot to do before it was be ready. Devin spent every night of the week leading up to then at the new house finishing projects so we could move in at the earliest possible date. There were still some things being fixed when we moved in, and Devin was in charge of putting up all the blinds and door handles, and some other minor fixes. We've had to endure some growing pains of a newly remodeled house. Some things didn't work quite right at first, but what Devin couldn't (or didn't want to) fix, we'd call our landlord's handy man for. We had some really long days. Not much sleeping involved. I was also really grateful to have the help of Amy and Dallin. And I remembered my college days because I developed a twitch in my left eye, that I had forgotten all about, but I used to live with most of the time. It is a condition where my eyelid flutters from lack of sleep. I also fell asleep sitting up on the couch multiple times with Sawyer.

Going Greek with our packing paper togas!

Thankfully, we are all out of our boxes now. Most everything has its place. We are fairly organized. Decorating is yet to be done, and overwhelmed is mainly how I feel about that. Devin was given an "antique" (code for ugly) cat statue by one of his customers (he told him "You are like a son to me and I want you to have this..." So Devin placed it on our mantle and has given me the word that it is not to be removed until I find something better to go there. Which is quite the motivation to get the ball rolling on decorating! This week!

We like our new house. We like the space. I love that we can sing loudly and stomp around and not worry about our noise bothering the neighbors! We love the yard and the basement. Devin has started a new game we play with the kids in our basement called "Prison Break". One person is it and tries to tag all the other players. If you get tagged you go to prison (the bean bag), and have to wait there until another player tags you free. So it is very similar to freeze tag. The kids love it. There is a circle to run around (hallway from stairs, leading to bedroom, also leads into the family room and back to the stairs) so its perfect for the game. I love that I have a little time to myself here and there. During the day I'll tell the kids they have to go downstairs to play, or outside, and they will happily move into a different space. It's great!

It is also a fantastic Annie-I-Over house. We have had some really fun games with some of our neighbor friends. Our yard is fenced, and we open up the gates on either side of the house so we can run a complete circle. It's been years since I played annie-i-over and I had forgotten how much fun it is! Neighborhood parties at our house coming up!

The kids love having a mailbox at the end of our driveway, and its a main event of the day getting the mail. Bridger and Myra look forward to getting it.  Each time Bridger excitedly asks, "Is there anything for me?" I usually hand him the adds or junk mail, but he knows there is not a 'B' on it for Bridger, so usually dejected, he walks back, asking why he doesn't get mail. Devin sent Bridger and Myra each a letter. They were so excited to open it and read their very own letter! Hint hint... if anyone wants to send my kids a letter in the mail, they would love it so much!

I love the neighborhood. I am so impressed with the friendly people around. Both of our closest neighbors went out of there way, when they saw me outside, to walk over, shake my hand, and introduce themselves.
We definitely were missing that friendly neighborhood aspect in our town home. And its fun to be back in the neighborhood we started from. I think we're going to like it here.

We've been thrown so far off our normal schedule these last couple months. With all our packing/unpacking, plus being displaced for a while, everyone is off. Sawyer's sleep/feed schedule was way off. Usually I have been pretty good at helping my babies establish a pattern that stays consistent until they hit a growth spurt, and then we adjust and continue on a schedule. But I have been unable to do that this time. Which greatly influences my allotted sleep time and definitely influences if I get to work out. Which I have been absolutely terrible at, and I have been hating it! But, now that I'm not so crazy unpacking, I have Sawyer on a pretty good schedule again, I am getting to bed at a decent time, and I am making time to work out consistently. It's amazing how that improves my attitude, contributes to my well being, and helps me be a better/nicer mom. It's one of those things that keeps the juice in my jive, I so need it!

We had a yard work day. We had too many weeds and lots of ugly bushes to be dug out. Bridger and Myra followed closely behind me, after I had dug through the dirt, they picked out all the worms, which they then deposited in a bucket. Myra filled the bucket with dirt so the worms would feel more at home. Funny kids, they love worms. And we like our new worm house!