One year ago...

One year ago today, we arrived in Utah for the biggest life-changing event I have ever experienced. Bigger than having kids, in fact. I never thought that I would ever leave IL. I never wanted to leave IL. It was where I grew up, got married, raised my kids and had the best memories of. And then things took a turn and we decided that a move across country was going to be the best thing for our family.

So, Utah it was.

I was terrified of leaving everything and everyone I had ever known and moving to an area of the country I had never even seen. To a state I had no desire to ever visit. I was nervous about how we would all adapt. I was panicked over having to put the kids in a large public school-something I had absolutely no experience with. Would they make friends, especially since we aren't LDS? Would I be able to find my way around, especially since I am not comfortable driving in unfamiliar areas? I was worried about too many things to even list.

One year later I can look back and see that I had absolutely nothing to worry about. Moving to UT has been the best thing to have happened to our family. We have never had as much time to spend together as we do here and Forrest isn't stressed out all of the time. We don't have the pressures surrounding us that we had back in IL and it is such a freeing feeling.

Moving was the best thing we could have ever done.

Goats!!! Now with UPDATE!!!

Yesterday, Henry comes running inside yelling, "GOATS!!! There's goats across the street!!" I went outside to investigate, and sure enough, there were! It seems that the culvert over there has gotten overgrown and our city decided that the best way to take care of it was to drop off a herd of goats to graze for a week or so. That area has never seen so much activity. The whole neighborhood has been past in the last 24 hours to take a peek at the new neighbors.



Update:

It's one week later and the goats are still here, but I'm not sure for how much longer. They have really, really done their job and have almost entirely cleared out the culvert. It is amazing how much a herd of goats can eat in a week, and that's not even counting the weeds the kids have pulled from outside the fence to feed to the goats.LOL

If you look in the very first picture above, you can kind of see how much the goats had to start with. That is only one side. They've eaten all three sides and almost the whole bottom of the culvert:

Waterpark!

We went to our local water park, today. Todd was even able to go with us since it was a day off for him. Love federal holidays!

Lauren in the frog slide in the kiddie pool:
Enjoying a snack:
Henry, mid-cannonball:Lauren and Vivi, getting sprayed by the fire hydrant:
Todd and Henry drying off before heading home:Me and the Wy-guy:

Preschool Graduation

Lauren's graduation from preschool was today and her school did such a phenomenal job putting it on. They had little caps and gowns, performed three songs and were given their diplomas. I will admit to getting teary. I just can not believe that my baby is on her way to Kindergarten in the fall.

Again, I have to ask where does the time go?

Zoo Day!

Since the weather was supposed to be absolutely beautiful, we went to The Hogle Zoo this past Sunday. Having always gone to The Milwaukee Zoo since I was my kids' ages, I was worried that it was not going to match up. It was surprisingly comparable, though. There were no polar bears and their other bear exhibit is under construction, but aside from that it was very similar. We did the train ride and carousel and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

All of us waiting in line for Nature's Nightmares:
The kids with a life-sized gorilla statue:
Lauren and some camels:
Carousel rides:Baby Zuri:Looking at the penguins:My favorites, the giraffes:The kids showing me the tortoises:Such a fun and beautiful day!

Temple Square and SLC Capitol Building

We took Heather and Vivi to downtown Salt Lake City, today. The weather was gorgeous and the flowers were blooming, so it was an absolutely beautiful day.

The first stop was Temple Square which is to the Mormons what the Vatican is to Catholics. The grounds and buildings are absolutely beautiful and meticulously maintained. We counted at least 8 brides/grooms getting photos taken on the grounds in front of the main temple and fountains. Absolutely picturesque.

From the middle of the Square to one end:

Todd, I and the kids in front of one of the fountains with the Temple in the background:

One more shot of the landscaping::

Next stop...Utah State Capitol (By the way, my kids stink at taking pictures. Either they are not all looking at the camera or someone has their eyes closed, so, I am totally disregarding how they look and putting in ones where I look halfway decent because if I waited for a good shot of all of us there would be no pictures. Grrr):

Todd and the kids in the original State Room (I totally broke the rules and stepped over a velvet rope to get this shot. Go me!):

Me, Heather and the kids on the stairs in front of the House of Reps' Chambers (Notice neither Viv or LC are looking at the camera?):

Heather and I with Brigham Young::

After we were done downtown, we then took them on a driving tour of Hill AFB, some elk burgers at The Burger Bar and then headed home. Such a fun, full day. Can't wait to do it again when Uncle JJ gets here.:)

Birthday/Mother's Day weekend

On Friday, my birthday, Heather and Olivia came for a visit for the next few weeks. It has been so much fun showing them around and hanging out, talking ...and drinking.LOL

Here we are walking the Ogden River Trail:

Heather, with a buffalo (the lady in the truck behind her was screaming at us to "GET BACK IN YOUR CAR!" What. Everr):

Lauren and Vivi, having a tea party:

Mother's Day Brunch at Snowbird Resort: