Wherein we relocate to PA

It is official. We are living in PA. It is a small town near Clarion University where Joe will be attending the M.S.L.S. program. We are renting a place that is bigger than our last home. Yesterday we got Joseph registered for 1st grade. Crazy. The drive across country was fun. We started the trip on a rainy day and got super wet and we moved into our place on a rainy day. It was a blessing in disguise because it was cooler than it probably would have been otherwise. We left UT on July 5th and drove to Yellowstone and camped for the night. It was cool and nice the next day as we did some short walks with the boys. We camped a second night in Yellowstone and were up early to drive to our next destination. We made it to Devil's Tower in Wyoming towards the evening and decided that we would visit and drive on. We got to South Dakota that night and slept in a motel. The next day we went to Mt. Rushmore and drove to Wall Drug. It is a total tourist trap but has some fun stuff for the kids. They sluiced and found fossils and we went and explored a "mine" to find rocks and gemstones. The boys both loved the pyrite. They did not love the roaring dinosaur (random) that was next to the toy store. There are lots of old west themed things all over the place. From there we drove to the Badlands. Joseph said it should be renamed "Rainbow lands" because the rocks had lots of colors. It was also nice and cool, but we just drove through and took pictures. We stayed the night in Minnesota and drove the next day. That is all we did the next couple of days. We slept for a few hours in an Ohio rest stop and drove to Jersey. We arrived a Tuesday afternoon. It was good to get some rest for a few days. Last Monday we drove into PA and met with the relief society president who showed us places to live. We chose a place and moved our stuff in. The ward was super helpful. Some of our wedding gifts were shattered in the move. We had plastic bins and they must have gotten super hot in the moving freight, so some collapsed on other ones and that is that. All in all, it is nice to be here. It is a lot more humid, but I love, love, love, love the scenery here. I will post pics when I have more time. I have distracted myself enough for the moment and should get back to unpacking. At least we have a library card here. It is a nice library but not nearly as large as Provo City Library. Lots of little things are different here, but that is what change is about. :)

In other news....

We are moving! After years of wanting to move to the East, we are moving to PA. Joe is going to grad school there and we are closing on our house either this week or next week. Once we close we drive out there. I know...shocker. We have sold all of our big furniture other than a few pieces that we felt would be good to have. We are mostly packed. Mostly. On Wednesday the big moving freight arrives and we will pack it up. So much to do so little time. It is crazy over here. In other news news,Samuel has broken the potty training barrier. He no longer needs diapers or help going to the potty. He goes on his own. Of course he likes gumballs for going potty and he no longer naps, but not having to buy diapers is awesome. We promised the boys that we would take them to Goblin Valley, so the weekend before this past weekend we went. It was a fun and very spontaneous trip. We visited Goblin Valley State Park, camped in Hanksville (and gotten eaten alive by mosquitoes), visited Natural Bridges National Monument, visited Monument Valley, visited Four Corners (and had two tired sleepy boys that were cranky about being there and ate some Fry bread), went to Mesa Verde and camped there, hiked to Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde and drove some of the loops, drove to Arches and did a couple of hikes there and then drove home. Pictures and more details will come later...

Crazy Days

To say life is busy would be an understatement. We are finishing the final preparations on our house. Tomorrow the carpet guy comes to measure and hopefully give us a good quote. Last Friday my family was sealed to Jessica, Robert, Destiny, and Kayla. It was amazing to see Kayla so grown up with her siblings. They are really beautiful children (now teenagers and pre-teens). Joseph and Samuel are getting bigger. Joseph has another loose tooth. He also did a second Great Brain project on the weathering and erosion of Goblin Valley. I will post pics later. He was excited because he got a genius rating again. He is finishing up kindergarten which is crazy. Joseph is a smart little boy. He is doing first grade math and first grade reading. I like to see him reading. One of his favorite things to do is to play video games.

Our stubborn little stinker

Samuel is quite the little talker. He is quite conversational and will talk your ear off given the chance (as long as he knows you and is comfortable with you). We have been trying to potty train him. Peeing he has down, pooping has been a challenge. We have tried all sorts of bribery, encouragement, withholding, candy, toys, and the list goes on. We were desperate. We told him that if he pooped once in the toilet we would give him a Trash Pack Garbage Truck. He did it and we gave it to him, but then he decided not to go poop in the toilet again for days. Well, last week we went to Salt Lake to pick up a chair for our house. He hadn't gone poop at all on the previous day despite sitting on the toilet for hours (with breaks). I knew he needed to go, but he was being stubborn and wouldn't go. Well, I was running lots of errands and was worried about an accident in the car. I decided to put a pull up on him to prevent an accident. My bad. Within 5 minutes of having the pull up on he pooped. We were on our way to Gymboree because he needed new sandals. There is a nice little splash area for kids to play. I told Joseph that after we left Gymboree we would go and he could run in the water. Samuel wanted to run too, but I told him that it was only for big boys who pooped in the potty. I felt so bad for not letting him go and play, but I think it triggered something for him. The next day we were going to the library and I told him he needed to poop before we left. He did. Not that it has been smooth sailing since then. He likes to carry around a toy wagon filled with little people. I had to take it away from him when he refused to poop in the toilet. The day after the first successful non crying poop, he came downstairs after dinner (he had refused to poop at all during the day). I heard him yell from downstairs, "you can keep the green car tonight mommy." I knew that he planned on pooping in his underwear. I ran downstairs and up to his toilet. It was too late. Little stinker. The past couple of days he has done a little better. I told Samuel that if he started pooping in the toilet he wouldn't need naps anymore because he is a big boy. I put him down for a nap yesterday and came downstairs to look at some stuff that I needed to get done on the computer. I hear a yell from upstairs saying "I went poop." I jumped out of my seat and ran upstairs to see if I needed to clean the accident I was sure had happened. Instead, I found him in the dark bathroom standing over his toilet with a large poop in the toilet. Wow. He had gotten out of bed and gone to the bathroom by himself. He then stated that he didn't need a nap because he went poop in the toilet. He was tired the rest of the day, but he didn't nap. I was so excited. We will see what happens today. I told him if he pooped today we would go to the little splash park today. He also names his poops when he sees them. He has told us he has done: Christmas tree poop Ice cream cone poop Monster poop City man poop Broken snake poop Banana poop Mountain poop Brown pee poop Island poop Sneaky Caterpillar poop Mushroom poop Big poop Teenie tiny poop We have started to keep track for blackmail in the future.... Also, this is how you will see Samuel if he thinks things are going to be scary or are too loud. Yesterday we went to the Art City Days in Springville with a friend and her kids. It was a lot of fun and yesterday they had lots of craft stations. If kids completed 5 crafts they got a prize. We were at the tinfoil art station and it was next to the balloon art station. Lots of popping balloons meant Samuel stayed like this for a long time. It took a lot of convincing to get him to let his arms down.

Happenings

Life has been hectic as per usual these days. Joseph started soccer last week and we have been busy with working around the house and cleaning. Just a couple of tidbits.



There was a healthy recipe contest at Joseph's school. I asked what he wanted to enter and he said soup. There is a soup we make that is super easy and Joseph and Samuel like it a lot. It is a play off of Italian wedding soup. One of the specifications was to use beans in the recipe if you could. We entered our recipe and Joseph came home from school one day and he had won the contest. He got lots of small certificates and on Tuesday of last week, they made his recipe and served it at lunch. Here is a picture of Joseph being served his winning recipe by the lunch lady.



Last weekend was also Big Guy/Little Guy at the library. There was a Star Wars theme, so there were aliens and Jedis running around the library. Joseph and Samuel had fun with their dad. Samuel refused to get into the picture with Darth Vader and the storm troopers.



Here the boys are digging for moon rocks which they got to keep. I have other things to do right now, so I will blog more later.

Some pictures

My cute boys with their long "tongues." They were happy to have their pictures taken. This was after family home evening where we played Mouse Trap.



Some of Joseph's art work from school. This is "Starry Night." I thought he did a great job on this.



Yesterday Joseph finally got his medal for his Great Brain project. He was acting shy when he got it. On the paper they have different ratings. One is Specialist, the next Expert, the next is Mastermind, and the last is Genius. That is the rating that he got on it. My smart little boy.



Joseph with another Great Brain recipient.



This is Joseph and his best friend forever, Talan. They play together often and are going to play soccer on the same team again this year.



One of these things is not like the other. The initials after mine are Joseph's forgery of Daddy's initials. You can see Joe's in the pic too. Pretty good if I do say so.



At the park one day when it wasn't super cold. They are in the pirate's ship.

So I remember

As I was getting ready for church, Samuel came to the bathroom door. He started to play the "I am so hungry game."

Samuel: "I am so hungry I can eat trees."
Mommy: "You are so hungry you can eat a tree? That means I need to go and cut one down."
Samuel: "You cut down the tree. I eat lots of leafs. Leafs look like spinach."

I love that he is making associations. He asks all the time if something is silly. He also starts to cry if he thinks he is going to get in trouble. He will ask, when we don't get upset for him doing something he shouldn't, "You not angry?" Cute boy. I love his little personality. He is also going through a stage where he wants to put ice on "owies." He won't go to sleep without having ice on his cheek or wrist or something. We usually put a piece of ice in a wrapped paper towel. Needless to say, I have been finding lots of pieces of them all over his bed and on the floor next to his bed.