My Life This Week

It is amazing what happens when you eat a whole bunch of vegetables. Surprisingly enough, I have a lot more energy today. Life has been moving along for our family. I haven't really felt that inspired to blog, but I figure I can just start writing something and then maybe the creative juices will start flowing again.

It is intimidating to move into a new house, especially one with vast and empty wall space.  Where do I hang the pictures? I don't feel like my life is complete until the pictures are hung, but it feels like such a commitment to decide where to put them.  Like the unraveling of a scroll, I am starting to find a place for everything. I just have to keep reminding myself that nothing is permanent. If I don't like it, I can always put it somewhere else.

I am trying to get all of my children involved in learning and some kind of school. They are all getting old enough to do something now. This week, we started some preschool stuff and Eli, Harry, and Julia seemed to enjoy it. Naturally, we had to start with the letter A.

I found a few things online and we did those activities. We made a silly letter A lady and sang some songs and did rhymes. I also checked out "The Letter Factory" from the library. Julia really liked to watch it, Harry was somewhat interested, and Eli really didn't care for it.  I think it is a little below where he is right now.  But I did push on with reading lessons for him.  He is pretty bright, but does have reading tendencies like Raef. I hope that I will be able to deal with that better this time around. I guess I will find out really soon.

I am going to be getting two new callings in church: Primary pianist and Webelos leader.  Piano will be fun and I am grateful for the chance to really develop that skill to another level.  As for Webelos, I thought I was done with Cub Scouts for a while, but I guess I will get to enjoy it from another angle this time around.

My pregnancy is going well, as far as I can tell. I feel good and have lots of energy.  I am trying to remain positive about everything and I do feel that my attitude is changing a bit. I do have a lot of anxiety about the impending c-section, but I guess I am just going to not think about it. It is completely out of my control and I will just have to put my trust in the Lord, and the doctors.

Rinar headed out to St. George today with Raef and Julia. He is competing in the St. George Half Ironman. I hope he survives, as he has not had the luxury of being able to train very much, with all of the craziness we have experienced over the past few months.  But he seems confident that he will manage it just fine, so I can only hope for the best. It will be nice to have a few days with fewer kids. It will be a nice break.

Moving in and Unpacking

It is always hard settling in a new state, new house, new neighborhood. But it sure takes the edge off when you can lean on good friends. As I was driving into Salt Lake all by my lonesome with five stir-crazy kids, I contacted by close friend Melanie. She invited us to come hang out at her house for the afternoon, because I still wasn't able to go to my place yet and hanging at a hotel with five children is not too much fun for anyone.

We went to Melanie's and the kids played for hours and she even fed us all dinner. It was such a relief and a huge burden taken off of my back.

The moving truck was parked in front of my house when I pulled up Wednesday morning, on April 2. It was a beautiful sight. The movers were professional and just as anxious to be done as we were. It took less than two days to get everything in the house and to get stuff assembled.

Rinar's brother Lyf was so kind to drive this beast up to our house from his place.  Look at this elk... Rinar's prize winning monstrosity.  And now it has found a home on the wall of our living room, lurking over the fireplace.  Am I the best wife ever?

 I have been buried in this house, unpacking and arranging stuff.  Then to top it all off, I got really sick.  I had a horrific cough for over a week and a fever for a few days. It was the pits and didn't allow me to get the strong start I wanted.  I am only now starting to feel like myself again, besides this whole pregnancy thing, of course.

I focused on getting the school room unpacked and organized first so that the kids could get going again. I hate to have them miss long periods of time. At one point, I was sitting at the table trying to enjoy what I had accomplished, instead of focusing on what I still had in front of me. This enabled me to enjoy a sweet little moment with Harry. He sat right across from me and kept busy coloring and singing.  He was happily occupied for quite some time. Harry is happy as long as he is in the same room with me.  He is definitely my mama's boy.

 This was also another sweet moment I enjoyed. Eli just kept on staring out of the large windows in our kitchen area. This went on for at least 5 minutes. I wasn't sure what he was looking at, but it was really quite simple. He was just staring at the beautiful flowering pear trees that engulf the view up there. I didn't want to forget this either.

 Life seems to be getting to normal around here. We are settling in and finding our place. The house is wonderful and the neighbors seem to be very friendly and open. The neighborhood is top-notch. I am so pleased with this little part of the world. I look forward to really making it our home. It is not going to be hard to do. And we keep marching forward. 

First Awakenings in Salinas

After an invigorating drive down the California coast, we were able to get an amazing breakfast Monday morning at First Awakenings.  My cousin Sue and her husband Chris own this gem of a restaurant in Salinas and it did not disappoint.  Since it was the Monday after Easter and a pretty rainy, drizzly day, the restaurant was pretty slow.  This was quite wonderful for us because we were able to visit with both of them for a while. It sure was awesome to be able to reconnect with family.  Sue is my Uncle Ron's daughter. She and her sister Debbie are the only cousins I have on my Dad's side of the family.

 

The restaurant is so charming, situated in downtown Salinas, the home of John Steinbeck. It is a very quiet farming community really close to the Pacific ocean.  This is what I ate for breakfast, and it was delicious.

We headed up the coast after breakfast and stopped at a beach along the way. It was overcast and a little cold, but the kids were in heaven. They got so absorbed in playing that the time we spent there was but a moment. It was interesting to see their little personalities and how they chose to spend their time. When we were at Cape Cod a few years ago, Zach stood in front of the waves and "conducted" them, while Raef busily built something in sand. Nothing much has changed after all these years. Raef found something to build while Zach stood in front of the waves.

Eli is also a builder, I guess. This is what he did the entire time we were there and he just loved it. He made a canal system and then he wanted water. I gave him a cup, but he soon realized it was not easy to fill a cup from an incoming wave. It was near impossible. But Eli made a discovery: when you dig down in the sand there will be a pool of water. Way to go, kid!

A lady found this washed up on the shore. Isn't that fantastic? Harry and Julia just loved it.

 

We soon were on our way to San Francisco. We got there at the perfect time, right after lunch. We dropped Rinar off at the hotel and then I hit the road. I wanted to get through Sacramento before rush hour, and I did.  After a brief stop in Reno to pick up some frozen elk meat, we made it all the way to Winnemucca and then stayed in a little hotel off of the freeway.  The drive was uneventful, thank goodness.  On Tuesday, April 1 we pulled into Salt Lake City and were ready to start our new life in a new place.  

House Hunting

Well, the last few weeks have been an absolute whirlwind. It has gone by so fast and there are so many changes happening.

Rinar has accepted a new position with his company and that means that we are moving to Utah.  Once again, Rinar will be a traveling man. After two years in Reno, it is time for our family to put down some roots and it looks like the roots will be planted in Draper, Utah.

Several months ago, Rinar mentioned to people in his company an interest in relocating to Utah.  Then the job offers came from everywhere. He ended up seriously considering two positions. Every day he would come home from work and explain to me why job A was the perfect one. And then the next day, it was job B. Job B was the perfect one.  Oh boy.  He just couldn't make up his mind. We both knew we would be moving. We have known since Christmas time. We just didn't know what the details would be; the most important detail being what job he would be doing.

Finally, in mid February he accepted a job with Fidelity's charitable group. It was not an easy decision. But it was his decision. I couldn't make it for him. I am not the one who has to wake up every day and go to work. I just wanted him to be happy in the choice that he made. And he finally did make a choice. Thank goodness.  It is tough when everything is in limbo.

A few days after Rinar accepted the offer, we headed off to Utah to find a place to live. I really didn't want to live in corporate housing again. I wanted to move straight from Reno to our house and make a direct transition. Moving to Reno was very hard on all of us. I don't want to make the same mistakes this time.

As soon as we stepped off the plane, we met our realtor and started looking for the perfect house. I have come to the conclusion that the perfect house does not exist. There is no such thing. You can always find something wrong with any house you look at. And I sure did find lots of things wrong with lots of houses. A house becomes perfect when you make it your own. But what is most important is the location. A house might not be perfect, but you can't change the location. Location has to be perfect. Rinar and I looked all over the Salt Lake valley. I tried to keep my mind open to all kinds of possibilities. I didn't want to wonder later if I had made a mistake.

It became very clear after a couple of days that the best place for our family was in Draper. It is a beautiful small town in the big city. There are tons of trails and rural spaces. There are beautiful homes and neighborhoods. It is just the kind of place I have always imagined for raising a family and being a part of the community.

There were three beautiful homes in Draper that we found.  We ended up picking this one.

Well, it is half of the house. But it really is a beautiful home. It isn't perfect, but it is close enough. If you notice to the right is the Draper temple. It is so lovely to be in the shadow of the temple. It is a pretty darn big house, probably much bigger than we need. But that just means there will be plenty of room for lots of visitors.  I love having visitors. I have missed that with living here in Reno. Reno is not really on the way to anything. 

Now we are going to be much closer to both of our families. I have some siblings in the Salt Lake area, Rinar's family is in St. George, and Salt Lake City has a major airport, unlike Reno.

Life is moving forward for our family very quickly. 

To top that all off, when I got home Tuesday evening I found out that our landlord wants to sell our rental house. So I have to keep it clean for the endless stream of people who have been looking at it.

Never a dull moment here.

I am Not a Tree

I came across this saying a little while ago, and it really resonated with me.  I am NOT a tree.

For the past year we have been living in this beautiful, rather large home at the foot of the Sierra Nevadas.  There is only a couple of problems. The closest grocery store is 20 minutes away and there are absolutely, positively no kids here.

It is like we live on an island.  Oh, don't get me wrong, there are a couple of kids, but they are older and go to school and are too busy to ever emerge from their individual castles.  It is just too much work to jump the moat, you know?

On a weekly basis, I would try to find play dates for my kids.  But this proved to be rather challenging. There was not a lot of spontaneity with the people that I called, or they didn't answer the phone.  Hence, a failed attempt would equal copious buckets of tears from Raef or Zach or both of them.  I would expect this the first few months of our transition to Reno, but when it is month 8 or 9 and they are still crying and stressed about loneliness, something had to change.

I am not one to make a rash decision and Rinar was not overly-enthused (at first) to make a change. But I knew I had to do something for my kids.

One day I was walking through our very beautiful, but ghost-town like neighborhood and it suddenly struck me.  Just move.  Period. Find a smaller house, close to town and move.  Don't worry about finding one in the ward boundary or anything like that.  Just move.

"If you don't like where you are, then change it. You are NOT a tree."

I finally realized this. I am not a tree.  And we were going to move.

It is not that easy to find a rental house here that is big enough for the right price.  Luckily, after some serious searching, I came across this house here.



It is just across the street from the high school, same ward, and we can walk to church.

We move in on Saturday.

Moving In Day

We stayed in our new house last night. It was great. One full day in a house. No more apartment. Hallelujah! It makes me so happy. I can tell that the kids are happy as well. There is lots of room to play and explore.  But whoa, moving in is quite the ordeal.  Since we are renting this house, I do not relish the thought of having to move all of our stuff again. Yikes.

I am going to put that thought out of my mind and just be grateful that we are here and our journey is almost done. By living in this house, we are going to have the Reno experience. It is an incredible house. I am so grateful that we can stay here.  The views are gorgeous. As we sat down to dinner tonight for the first time, I was able to enjoy a mountain view as the sun was setting. The pine trees framed in the mountains and there were quail running around in our driveway. It was very relaxing. There were also some deer out there earlier in the day.


I was able to get my entire kitchen set up.  I then started to tackle some closets and such. Unfortunately, the kids helped unpack the family room so it looks like a toy bomb exploded in there.


I am actually surprised, but our furniture fits really well in this house. I was able to play some piano tonight, and the acoustics in the living room are great. I can't wait to hear my boys play their instruments in there. It should be beautiful.


Tomorrow will be my first day to do my new calling as the Primary Chorister. It should be fun. The ward seems to have a dearth of musical talent, so we will see what can be done about that. I am sure it is there, I am just going to have to do a little bit of digging.


Welcome to Reno, for real!

These Moments

Do you ever have a moment when you realize you have taken things for granted?  I have been feeling that way a tiny bit this past week. As I drive around Las Vegas, I see the beautiful mountains in the background. They seem to be a little bit softer, a bit more colorful, and inviting.  The trees seem to stand a little bit taller and the air is more crisp.  

I must be getting ready to say goodbye. The time is quickly approaching and Las Vegas seems to be beckoning me to stay. Everything seems a little bit nicer now that it won't be my backyard anymore.

Ironic, huh?

Just this past week the weather has been ideal. It has been in the low 70's with a slight breeze. The bushes are starting to reawaken and the city seems to be pulsing to a lovely rhythm.  

I know that I am moving and that I am running out of time.  I look forward to a new chapter of my life in Reno, while at the same time I have tried not to think about leaving. There is a part of me that doesn't want to leave. Nevertheless, it is what it is and I am going to savor new opportunities that I am being blessed with today.

However, as I view Las Vegas in my rear view mirror for the last time, I am sure I will shed a few tears.

Moving Fast

I met with two realtors a few days ago and they both think it would be best for the house to be empty before we put it up for sale.  Apparently, they don't think real estate and five small children mesh very well. 

Looking at my calendar and what is going on in my life, I have a small window to make this happen.  Fortunately, I don't have to do any packing. I just set up an appointment and the moving people come and it is done.  Hallelujiah!  However, the window is fast-approaching.  That means I have less than two weeks to live in my house.  Then I go on a family vacation for about a week.  Then I come back and hang out in St. George for a little bit.  By the beginning of April, we will officially be in Reno.  It is just the way it is going to have to be.

It is spring time and it is a good time to put our house up for sale.  I am praying that we will be able to sell this house quickly at a price we can afford.  I don't know what the future holds, but somehow I know that everything will be just fine.

With that said, I am still in denial. I can't believe how quickly this has all happened.  I try not to think about it because it makes me a little sad. There are so many wonderful, fantastic, amazing people here in Las Vegas and I am going to miss them all.

In the meantime I have got to de-clutter and paint.

Sigh...

See You Later, Alligator

We won't say good-bye Melanie, Jared, Halle, Caleb and Ava... we'll just say, "See you later, Alligator".