Family Picture

Elton Reunion 2014

Thanks to Tony we have some documentation of this last weekend.  We had the Elton Reunion up at Warm Lake this year.  The kids loved playing with their cousins and we really enjoyed seeing everyone and missed those who couldn't come this year.

 Much of the weekend Charlie was filthy from head to toe.

 Ryan with his super cool stove.

 Aliana

 Tim and Callie

 Emary and Kinsey playing in the sand.  Alaina, Mason, and BreAnna playing in the water.

 Happy baby Ethan.

 Me, Mom, and Becky.

 Lily enjoying the beach.

 Ryan building a sand castle with Nate and Emary.

 Carson

Alaina

Picking Huckleberries

This last weekend was the Elton Family Reunion (I'll post more about that later) at Warm Lake.  My dad found a huge Huckleberry patch and we went to pick.  We took home quite the haul and enjoyed our time together as well.

 Tony hard at work

 My dad, Carson, Alaina, My mom, Mason, and Brady picking away.

 Kinsey enjoying the fruits of her labor, or more like Grandma's labors.

 Charlie eating everything he picks.

After two mornings of picking we brought home two quarts of Huckleberries.  I see some Huckleberry yummy goodness in our immediate future!

Charlie turns 3

Last week Charlie had his third birthday!  The day was very low key.  Just a cake and a few presents.  The cake was bought from the store because I just couldn't handle baking a cake this year.  Hopefully he'll forgive me and hopefully it won't happen again.  Because frankly the cake looked pretty sad and I won't go into detail of how awful it tasted!  He got some puzzles and some fun trucks from Tony and I.  Charlie enjoyed talking to each of his grandmas on the phone.  All in all I think he enjoyed the day.  I can hardly believe how big he is.  He's such a character and we sure love having him a part of our family!

Pregnancy Amnesia

So when I was pregnant with Charlie I vowed that I was never going to be pregnant again!  I was not going to put myself through the months of feeling/being sick, always being exhausted, constant aches and pains, and all the "wonderful" things that go along with growing a baby.  Well, here I am willingly pregnant again.  Why?  Why do we women put ourselves through it all again?  Pregnancy Amnesia.  Sure we remember that we were sick, puking our guts up.  But until we are in the midst of it all again we don't remember how bad it really was.  Sure we remember that we were tired and achy.  But not until we are tired and achy again does it all comes back.  So, here I am vowing that I will never be pregnant again!  That after this we are done.  Don't tell Tony, but I've even gone as far as to tell Heavenly Father that he better send whoever is left because I am not doing this again.  I'm sure that many months from now when that sweet little babe is placed in my arms for the first time I'll say it was all worth it.  Because I always do.  Am I grateful that I can even conceive and bear children when so many women can't?  You bet I am!  But for now I'm trying my hardest to stay positive, not complain too much, work through it all, and take it one day at a time.  Here's to 220 more days until we're done!    

The Foster Migration to Moses Lake, Washington.

The date was Thursday, May 29, 2014.  It was the last day of school for our kids and it was loading the truck day.  We had reserved a 26 foot U-haul truck and car hauler for the Camaro.  We picked up the truck around 2:00 in the afternoon.  Between a couple men from the ward, my visiting teaching partner and her brood of 6 kids, my cousin and her brood of 4 kids, and some of Tony's co-workers the truck was loaded in a matter of hours.  I could hardly believe how quickly all of our belonging were loaded in that U-haul.  We originally had planned on just sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags, but we were exhausted and in desperate need of showers.  My cousin came to the rescue and offered for us to stay with her for the night.

The next morning we left the kids with my angel cousin while Tony and I went back to clean up the house and tie up any loose ends before pulling out of Rexburg.  Some wonderful women from the Relief Society came to help clean and we had the place done in under 2 hours.  We gased up, loaded the kids up, and we were off by 11:00 a.m.  We traveled to Pocatello and met up with Tony's family in the Walmart parking lot.  They were on their way to Utah.  We visited and then we were on our way again.  I'm sure our little caravan was quite the sight.  Tony with Carson and Alaina driving the U-haul towing the Camaro, followed by me with Charlie driving the truck towing our trailer.  We surprisingly made pretty good time and thankfully the kids did pretty well (our I-Pads their main source of entertainment made the trip bearable for them.)  We came into Boise Friday evening and enjoyed time with my family.

Saturday morning we picked up our stuff that had been stored at Tony's parents for the last 3 1/2 years and after a last goodbye to my mom and adding my dad to our caravan we were off to Moses Lake, Washington.  After lots of driving over two days and my aching back from all the lifting, cleaning, and sitting we pulling into Moses Lake around 6:00 p.m.  We signed our lease, got the keys and pulled up to our new home.  We were greeted almost immediately by a few members of our new ward and the truck was unloaded in about an hour!  Phew!

Sunday morning my dad helped get some things set up before he took off back to Idaho.  He was such a wonderful help and we were so grateful that he came with us.  We managed to find our Sunday cloths and the things we needed to visit our new ward.  Thankfully we have 1:00 p.m. church.  

Over the last few weeks we've managed to get all the essentials unpacked.  The kids and I have had a major adjustment period.  The kids have made church friends, but haven't really made any friends in the complex yet.  We've signed up for Summer Reading through the Library and trying to go to the Library activities.  As a family we've done some exploring and hope to get the kids into some summer activities.  Tony is really liking his new job and we are really liking his new work schedule of 4 10-hour days.  Our ward is great and we feel very welcome!  I'm hoping that we will come to love it here and it'll feel more like home soon.    

Moses Lake at Dusk taken from our church building next door.  Yes, we have a view of the lake right outside our door.  Once I have our place set up to my liking I'll share pictures and/or a video tour.

Searching for a new home

This last weekend we spent our time in Moses Lake trying to find a place to call home.  We weren't able to leave Rexburg until nearly 7:00 pm Friday night.  Less than an ideal time for a 9+ hour drive.  We hit Missoula, Montana about midnight, then parked in the Walmart parking lot.  We laid out blankets and pillows on the floor of the truck as makeshift beds for the kids.  Tony and I tried to sleep in the front seats.  Our efforts were pretty useless.  By 4:00 am we decided we weren't going to get any more sleep, and so while the kids continued to sleep in their makeshift beds we hit the road again. We pulled into  Moses Lake about 8:00 am their time. Thankfully the hotel let us check in early.  We were all able to shower and change in time for our first appointment at 11:00.  Before the first appointment we drove by a house south of town in a really nice neighborhood.  The house was nice, but we weren't able to look inside because the owner was out of town.  By what we could tell it was a nice house but after talking to the owner a few times something just didn't feel right.  We went to our 11:00 appointment and found another house in a neighborhood east of town.  It was set up a lot like our house in Nampa.  We didn't necessarily love the place but decided that we could make it work.  After all it's just temperary.  We immediately put in an application with the property management company hoping to nail it down.  After many calls to the property management we kept getting the run around with a "we'll call you when we know anything" speech (which I still haven't gotten).  We spent much of the rest of the day looking at houses that were listed, but we weren't able to get in to see.  Dump after dump.  Scary neighborhood after scary neighborhood.  Tons of houses for sale, but none for rent.  Saturday night we went back to the hotel feeling pretty discouraged and thinking that maybe we're not supposed to move to Moses Lake.  Sunday morning we got up and got ready for church.  We don't normally got to church when we're out of town.  I know we're heathens.  But we wanted to see what the LDS community was like.  We were more than welcomed by the members of the ward we visited.  We had many take our names and phone numbers to let us know if they heard of anything available to rent.  We were even invited over to a members home for a Mothers Day BBQ!  Carson and Alaina were pretty nervous about going to class and primary in a ward where they didn't know anyone, but after church they were raving about the ward members too.  Our spirits were lifted!  We spent the afternoon driving around looking for anything with a for rent sign in front.  After many neighborhoods we found two!  Both with the same property management company!  Our spirits lifted some more!  Monday morning we got in touch with the property management company and was showed a house on the west side of town and a brand new town house.  Both looked like great options.  Plus the town houses had two available units!  Finally some options!  We filled out an application for an end unit town house. It has 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 bathrooms, a huge kitchen with granite countertops, a two car garage, and it was less rent than any of the other homes we had looked at!  Score!  We were assured that as long as our back ground check goes through and our rental history is verified we should get which ever rental we decide on.  And last time I checked we're not convicted crimals and we've been renting for the last three years with never a late payment.  So we're not worried about that.  We should know by the end of the week.  We then realized there really wasn't much else we could do in Moses Lake, so we left for home.  We left Moses Lake about 2:00 pm, so with the time change, meals, and potty breaks we pulled into Rexburg about 12:30 am.  We're all exhausted and glad to no longer be in the truck or a cramped hotel room.  Moving day is 2 1/2 weeks away so now we wait to hear from the property management company on the town house.  And we pack.