Cooper's Rock

There is a playgroup that meets and it's girls from our ward and the 2nd ward.  It's hard because the other ward is closer to the college so there are more people in our situation in that ward.  More couples our age with kids the same age as our kids who are here for school.  Most of them are here for medical school.  Once a week we meet up for playgroup.  This week, we met on a Thursday and we drove to Cooper's Rock State Park.  It was sooooooooooo beautiful.  I could not get enough of it.  Yes, I took a picture while driving.  But in my defense I was the only one on the road and driving about 10 mph.

 

 

This is what the whole drive there looked like.  Isn't it gorgeous??

 

We were really happy to go meet new friends.  We even got invited to a birthday party.  We are really excited to go and meet more people!  I could not believe how beautiful the park was so I made Ryan go with us on Saturday.  I didn't even see half of the park while we were there earlier so I'm glad we went back!  There's a huge overlook that I completely missed!

 

So this is walking to the overlook

 

Family Pic!!!

I got to tell Tabitha all about how Heavenly Father created everything for us here because he loves us.  She was pretty impressed :)

Leaving the park is still just as pretty.

 



 

 

Fall Hay Ride

There is a family in our ward who lives in the most amazing place.  They have a ton of land and you drive for forever in the middle of no where.  You are on back roads that aren't paved and are only wide enough for one car and there's trees blocking your vision everywhere, and all of a sudden, everything opens up and all you see is rolling hills and grass everywhere.  It was beautiful!  I couldn't get enough of it.  Every fall this family throws a fall hay ride and pot luck for both wards out here.  The kids were so excited all day!

 

Tabby made a new friend.  I love how easy it is for kids to meet someone and become best friends.

Ride number 2.  Beckam almost got left but he saw me and Tabby on the cart and came running as fast as his little legs could carry him!

 

 It started to get a little darker and fog started rolling in across the whole area of land.  It was so amazing!  I just can't get enough of all the beauty out here.

 

 This is the lane we drove down.  The trees made it seem like a tunnel.  It was so pretty!

I feel like such a dork because I'm sure my eyes were just huge the whole time I was out there.  I am trying to soak everything in.  I can't believe I live back east!  I've always wanted to, and now I am!  I'm so amazed at the beauty that is out here and I can't wait to experience more!

September 12 - the longest day EVER!

 

The day finally arrived that we got to be a family again!  Thankfully, my mom and dad flew out to help me with these hooligans!  Here's some fun on the first airplane ride from SLC to Philadelphia.  

We ended up being delayed on the airstrip before take off, so we missed our connecting flight in Philli.  This led to waiting for hours to take off to Pittsburg.  We could have driven and gotten there faster, but they wouldn't let us take our luggage off the flight.  Lame.... so here's some of the fun we had in the Philadelphia airport.

 Just some giant rocking chairs in front of a window.  Tabby saw Pacca rocking Beck to sleep, so she had to make sure Doc Bear got a good nap too.  I love how observant she is.

The flight was delayed a little longer so we wandered around and found a kids play area!  We were the only ones there for a bit, so the kids loved it.

It got to be too much for some of us....

We finally got on our second plane an hour later than what we thought.  Luckily Tabby still had some entertainment waiting.  Here's her purse she got to color!

We arrived at our new home in Westover around 2 am.  Ryan was sooooo excited to see us that he woke up the kids to say hi.  Luckily they were still really tired so they went back to sleep ok.  We were exhausted from the trip but so happy to be with Daddy and Rocky!

It was really hard to say goodbye to Grandma and Pacca.  They really helped me out so much while Ryan was away.  I know the kids will miss them so much.  Hopefully the next visit will be longer.

My Little Sassy Pants

So as I putting Tabitha to bed the other night, she says to me, "Mom, I want to wear something beautiful and tasty tomorrow."

What??  I don't know where she comes up with these things, but it is hilarious!  I love seeing how her little mind works and hearing the crazy things she comes up with.  I love that we can have conversations now about lots of things and that I can understand what she's saying.

I've really missed seeing the kids all day as I've been trying to finish my hours for my nail license.  Tonight when I got home, Beckam was already asleep, but I was met at the door by Tabitha.  "MOMMY!!!!" accompanied by a huge bear hug.  "Mommy!!!  I missed you all year!" I guess it was a long day for her too.

In 9 days we will be flying to West Virginia!  There have been a lot of preparations that have been made to get to this point.

Tonight, I am cleaning out our minivan, actually CRYING because of all the changes we've had to go through!  We sold our swingset (SADDEST DAY EVER) and our house, moved to Grandma Carrie's for a few weeks, moved to Grandma Teriann Booth's for a few more weeks, moved to Texas for a few weeks, moved back to Grandma's, sent Dad and Rocky to West Virginia with all of our things, and now we are selling the van.  Well, we sold the van.  Seriously, if you ever told me I would be crying over selling our van, I would think you were crazy! 

I guess I just am overwhelmed by all the changes we have had to make in order to accomplish this next phase.  I am really excited to get to West Virginia, but also really scared!  Especially because I was informed of the amount of money we have to live on for the next 4 months and I went into a huge panic.  Let's just say I got that Medicaid/Food Stamp application submitted PRONTO.  Life sure is about to change drastically.  Again. 

I Love to See the Temple

 

At the beginning of August, one of the girls I grew up with got married.  She had her reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which was fantastic because we got to walk around Temple Square afterwards.  Even though we never visited Salt Lake this summer, I always loved knowing that we could and that it was so close.  That was one of my favorite things to do in St. George, walk around the temple and go to the visitor's center with the kids.  Tabitha always loved looking at Jesus and asking questions.  I always loved being able to share my testimony with her and see her sweet little spirit just absorb everything.  I'm really going to miss having a temple close to us while we live in West Virginia.  The closest temple is in Washington D.C. a little over two hours away.  It's so strange to think about that, when growing up I could always access multiple temples, and even more now! I hope we get to go to the temple a few times while we live back east.