Up, Up, and Up...

We went on a hike today to a city called Alta. It is about an hour away from North Ogden and we were told that the trail to Secret (Cecret) Lake is unbelievable at this time of year because of all the wild flowers. It is supposed to be one of the easier trails, but I don't think I or the kids am ready for a more difficult one. Scratch that...Lauren and I aren't ready for the more difficult ones.LOL Wyatt was in his element climbing that mountain and Henry was doing his darndest to try to keep up. It was very steep at times and very slippery. We only had one incidence of someone falling so I consider it a success.

I am going to have to invest in some hiking shoes/Keens for these kids, though. Gym shoes and Crocs are fine for the Chain-O-Lakes. They won't cut it for the Wasatch Mountains.

The early part of the trail:

This pic shows kind-of how steep the trail was. It's not even the steepest part:

We made it!!:

I had to show this picture. It's of the kids standing on a snow bank on a part of the trail on the way down. A snow bank! At the end of July! Henry slipped on it and proclaimed, "Hey! That IS snow!":

3 weeks later...

It has been brought to my attention that I haven't updated lately on how our lives are going out here in Utah.

So far, so good. LOL

We were here a week and then Todd had to leave fore a conference in San Diego. So, I was back on my own with the kids trying to find our way around a new city/state. But! I was able to successfully. And I can honestly say that I LOVE the town that Todd picked out for us to live in. We are sooooo close to everything, but yet, it's not congested, AT ALL! I took the kids to our local movie theater 5 minutes up the road to see ICE AGE 3 and the prices were actually affordable...4 dollars for the kids and $5 for me. Popcorn was only $2!!! Gotta love the Mormons and their trying to make everything family friendly.LOL We also went to the NORTH SHORE AQUATIC PARK, which is an awesome water park literally only 3 minutes away from our house. You are allowed to bring in your own coolers/snacks and the area around the pool is huge so it doesn't feel crowded like the water parks back home.

The kids have also made some friends in the neighborhood. One of our neighbors watches her grandkids everyday, so she stopped by with a plate of muffins and introduced them to my kids. I haven't seen them since.LOL Seriously, though...the kids go back and forth between the houses all day long and are having a great time. I did have to set some ground rules, though, because Henry and LC thought that they could just leave the house whenever they wanted without telling me, so I had to put the kibosh on it pretty quickly. I can't become completely unoverprotective overnight, for cry-eyed.

Todd came back on Sunday, so this weekend we have plans to do the waterpark with him on Saturday since it is a community "free day" and then hiking in SECRET LAKE which is supposed to be in full bloom of wild flowers since it is only Spring time up there. I can't wait.

The weather up here is so unbelievable. I absolutely love it. I turn the air on at about 11:00 in the AM and turn it off and open the windows at about 7:00pm. The lack of humidity is to die for and my hair is especially loving this weather. I have never had so many good-hair days in my entire life. It does get really hot, but it is nothing like the wall of stickiness that is IL weather.

Wyatt, the other day, declared that he loved living here and Henry and LC agreed with him, so that is all that matters to me. As long as they are happy and feel secure, I can be happy. I registered them for school last week and found out that there are 4 classes in each grade, which is a huge change for them from the tiny school they came from. Wyatt seems excited about being in a school that size, so I am feeling less anxious about it. LC is registered for preschool at the "local" Catholic church. And by local, I mean ten minutes away in the next town over because Catholic churches, let alone schools, are few and far between out here. They all start on August 24th, so the countdown begins.

All-in-all, it's been an extremely positive experience. I love the town, love my house, and love the neighborhood. Let's hope the honeymoon phase continues....

A new beginning...

Well, we left last Wednesday, July 1st for North Ogden, UT and let me tell you here and now that I am never doing that EVER, again. Packing up a house, being a single mom for three months, and traveling two-and-a-half days to get here, unloading the truck and then unpacking every single box was not enjoyable. At. All.

However, everything Todd, the kids and I went through is all worth it now that we are together again. The house that Todd picked out for us is absolutely gorgeous and perfect. And the views. Oh my word, the views. The pictures just don't even do them justice. Words can not begin to describe the kind of views we have here. We are surrounded my mountain ranges and we can see for miles into the distance. For example, we sat on our back deck last night and watched 7 cities' fireworks. No bugs, no humidity, no crowds. Just us in our yard enjoying the 4th of July in a new part of the country. Unbelievable.

I do have some pictures that my dad took. He has been going crazy snapping away, thank goodness, since Todd and I don't know whether we are coming or going at this point when it comes to what needs to be done.

Packing up the house in Spring Grove:

The truck all packed and ready to go. Now all we need is Todd to come home:

The two trucks we drove cross country, parked across the street from the house in front of Ben Lomond peak:

The front of our house:

The view from the backyard with my roses in the foreground and Ogden Peak and Ogden City in the background:

Part of the back yard:

The kids and Todd enjoying the hot tub on our patio:

The kids having lunch at our breakfast bar with the stools I bought, yesterday:

Ogden River Trail:

As soon as I find the paperwork that has our new info on it, I will e-mail an update. But for now, it's packed in some box, somewhere....

To our Daddy....

Dear Daddy,

Although we are very sad that you aren't with us today, we know that it is only 10 more days until you come home and then we will be a family again.

We just want you to know how proud we are of you. You take such good care of us and have sacrificed so much these last few months to make sure we will have a better future. We know it was hard for you to move so far away all by yourself and we miss you as much as you miss us. But what a cool job you have! We can't wait to see all those airplanes with you when we move out there. And to see our new house you picked out. And to go exploring on all the trails. And to go camping in the mountains. And to play catch in our new backyard. And to just be together and be normal again.

We love you, Daddy. We can't wait until next week.

Happy Father's Day!

Love,

Wyatt, Henry, and Lauren

SMdP Class of 1987

Clockwise from left: Me, Susan Feinendegen, Jenny Muraski, Andi Garcia, Dan Hertel, Heather Schumacher, Della Cordoba.

When I joined Facebook, the whole reason for it was to reconnect with friends from grade school and high school. Last night, after many, many years a group of us got together for dinner at Mickey Finn's, 22 years after graduating from Santa Maria del Popolo.

Susan Feinendegen, Andi Garcia and I have known each other since Kindergarten. Della Cordoba started in, I think, 3rd grade--at least that's when I met her-- and Dana Hertel, Jenny Muraski, and Heather Schumacher all joined the group in 5th grade. We were always a close group of kids, so it was so nice to reconnect and reminisce about stuff we went through, together. Thanks to Andi, we saw the horror that was our uniform, a tradition of a decorated Chandler's notebook and the musings of 13 year old girls and our problems of the day, who was going out with whom and who was a "massive babe"--I think that was Jim Kranz, right Susan?LOL

I loved getting together with them, last night, and I am so glad I was able to do it before we moved.

As I said on Facebook, the oldest friends really are the dearest friends.

Kindergarten Bridging

Henry had his bridging ceremony this morning after the school Mass. He walked across the bridge to signify his crossing over to the "big school" from the primary building where Kindergarten and Preschool are held. He was so proud of himself walking across.<3

I am so proud of him. It has been a rough year for him, adjusting to all-day Kindy, but I am hoping that the boot camp that is St. John's will prepare him for 1st grade next year at a new school.

Crossing the bridge:

With his class:

LC and Wyatt watching their brother:

Henry, LC and I:

North Ogden

That is the city we will be officially moving to as the bid we put in on a house was accepted today after much haggling with people who didn't seem to realize that the market is freaking horrible.

Now we just have to close by June 30th. Our banker is doing everything he can to make that happen.

Here are some pics that Todd took and from the listing...

Front of the house:

View from front of house:

Kinda gives new meaning to the song lyric "Purple mountain majesties" doesn't it?

View from the deck at night:

View from the deck during the day:

Kitchen:

Dining room:

Kitchen dining area:

Great room:

Master bedroom is on the main floor just around the corner from the great room:

Master bathroom:

Bedroom #2. It's one of two bedrooms upstairs:

Bedroom #3:

Loft/den. It's also on the 2nd floor:

Upstairs bathroom:

Basement family room:

Basement "media room":

Bedroom #4...one of two in the basement:

Bedroom #5:

Basement bathroom:

Back deck and patio...notice the hot tub which will be staying!!!!:

Go right ahead and picture me in that hot tub, sipping a Pinot Grigio with a gentle snowfall all around me.LOL

Now, we just have to get our house sold here and we will be golden. We did actually have some traffic through it today, so keep your fingers crossed for us that it will happen soon.

Which reminds me...I gotta go bury that St. Joseph...