Last two weeks of summer vacation

We are now one week into the school year.  And I really want to tell you how that is going, BUT first I need to get you caught up on the last two weeks of summer vacation.  

So we are going to do that in this post and then I'll turn around and crank out a second post about how school is going.   

I alternated between two feelings during the last two weeks of summer vacation. 

1. Sadness that the summer was ending.  This wasn't just the end of the 12 week summer.  This was the end of 18 months of the kids being home basically 24/7.  It was a challenge to adjust to having them home, but we've come up with a good routine and rhythm and I was sad that it was ending.  I was THRILLED that another adult was going to be teaching them, but I knew that we were approaching the end of an era. 

2. The second feeling was one of complete surrender.  I'd made it through 18 months of the kids being home and I was pretty burned out.  I didn't care that the kids watched a lot of youtube. I didn't care about making fancy dinners.  I didn't care that the house was pretty messy.  I was limping to this finish line. 

So basically a lot of the last two weeks of the summer was spent wishing the kids would just start school already - while simultaneously wishing for just a little bit more time with them.  

You know, basically how I always feel. 

We started prepping the kids for an early wake up time. Back in July we started getting the kids up at 8:30.  Then we moved it back to 8:00 the next week.  The first week of August we had the kids start waking up at 7:30. This was rough for the kids and Brandon. He hasn't had to get up before 8:00 in over a year.  I've been getting up at 5:30 all summer to study so it wasn't a big deal for me to wake up early, but I did feel like the kids were encroaching on my time. It was even worse the next week when we started getting the kids up at 7:00.

I was used to getting up at 5:30, studying until about 6:30 or 7:00. Watering the garden, eating breakfast by myself, and then getting ready for work and leaving around 7:45. There were days that none of the kids were awake when I left for work.  

But now they were all awake while I was going about my morning routine. Each of the kids and Brandon repeatedly asked me, "Aren't you going to work?" And I'd be like, "Yes, in 45 minutes. You guys are just up earlier than usual."

In other news about the last two weeks - the weather completely changed.  We'd had a super hot July. But August started off nice and cool. There were still hot days, but they weren't the 99+ scorchers we'd been having.  They were more like high 80's low 90's and they came with cloud cover and wind. 

Thanks to the cooler weather our lawn and garden decided to perk back to life.  Here's a picture of Derrick with our super tall sunflowers in the front yard.  You can see the lawn with it's dead spots in the back ground.  This was taken on Sunday August 1st.  By the end of the week most of those dead spots were showing green again. 

Here's another sunflower in the back yard. 

The girls spent time making a lego zoo with lots of different exhibits.  

Monday August 2nd was a pretty low key day.  We'd just come home from Utah the night before and we'd spent the last 10 days with various combinations of family members. So Monday was very much a down day for us.  

We started reading Where the Red Fern Grows and read a lot of that.  I'd wanted to read this to the kids during the school year, but we'd run out of time (and motivation.) But we had a great time reading it without any pressure from school. 

But that evening Charlotte and Lydia convinced me that they had waited long enough for the mice that I'd promised they could buy if they kept their room clean for two weeks.  I'd told them we'd pick up the mice after we were done with visits from family.  So that evening we went to Pet Smart and bought two little "Fancy Mice" and one cage. Charlotte and Lydia bought everything with their own money. We talked about how it was a little bit like getting the dogs in Where the Red Fern Grows. 

They named the mice Whiskers and Rascal. They love them! Having pet mice is a little gross to me, but I remember when I was ten I really liked playing with the pet rats that my friend Becky had as well as the rats and hamsters my 4th grade teacher kept in our classroom.  PLUS these mice have pooped on less of my stuff than Marcia did when she first came to our house so I think I like them a little better than a dog. 

We very quickly learned that these cages aren't big enough for two mice to share so on Tuesday we went back to Pet Smart to buy a second cage. Two cages has worked out much better. 

On Wednesday morning Brandon and I had a meeting at the elementary school to discuss ways to help Derrick transition back to school successfully.  The meeting went so well.  There were so many people there who all wanted Derrick to succeed.  The SPED teacher was there as well as the new Principal, the new Assistant Principal. Derrick's 4th grade teacher was also there.  The new district SPED rep as well as the District Social Worker came too. Everyone had such good input. This is the most confident I've felt at the beginning of a school year since Derrick was in 1st grade. 

Wednesday was the first day we made it back to the pool in over a week.  On our last visit Veronica had passed the swim test and was able to go into the deep end.  But there had been some unique things about that test.  It had been done on the shallow side and was shorter than usual.  She was not sure she could pass the test under normal circumstances 

I was pretty certain she could.  In the time since our last visit she had swam at Dierkies Lake and the deep end of Banbury Hot Springs - both without a life jacket.  I knew she could do this swim test.  

So she hopped in the water and did the test and she passed it!  She was so proud of herself. 

Then Derrick wanted to take the test.  On our last visit to this pool he'd done a practice test with me, but hadn't been able to swim across even the shorter length of the pool without stopping to stand up.  I told him he'd have to practice with me before he could try the test. 

Derrick had also been swimming at Dierkies Lake and the deep end of Banbury Hot Springs without a life jacket and had cliff dived at Dierkies lake (with a life jacket.) And those three things much have given him the experience and the confidence to swim better at the City Pool.  He swam from one side of the pool to the other without touching the bottom.  I was impressed and told him he could try the swim test. 

I stood by the side of the pool while he attempted his test. The life guard had to remind him a few times to do the front crawl rather than a doggie paddle, but at the end of the test he gave Derrick the all important wrist band.  

All my kids were now able to go into the deep end.  And this was the perfect day to do it.  The pool had The Tower set up.  Charlotte and Lydia had fun showing Derrick and Veronica how to cross all the obstacles on The Tower.  

Here are Charlotte and Derrick taking a little rest.

Here's a video of the whole thing. (Plus some crazy flips from Charlotte and Lydia.)  I was so proud of everyone.  Back when we went to the pool for Derrick's birthday in April Veronica had been super bummed that she couldn't play on The Tower.  Now she was able to swim well enough that she could play on it too.

Charlotte and Lydia spent a lot of time trying to go up the wall straight out of the water.  I'm not sure if Charlotte ever did it, but Lydia did it a couple of times. 

I spent the whole time standing at the edge of the pool. I knew Derrick and Veronica could swim, but I didn't quite trust all the bigger kids that kept crowding around.  I wanted to make sure that Derrick and Veronica were okay.  They were just fine and actually Derrick went up to a life guard and pointed out some of the boys who were pushing so I knew I didn't have to be so watchful next time. 

I've been keeping track of all of our pool trips this summer.  This turned out to be our 20th trip for the summer. (Not including lessons.) 

We went back to the pool on Friday. The kids all passed the test again. The tower wasn't up this time so they were able to use the diving board. 

Here's a video of all the kid jumping off the diving board. 

I spent some time outside of the pool doing homework. (More about that later.) I was kind of bored and mourning the fact that my kids were all growing up and playing in the deep end. What about all of our fun games in the shallow end? I can't swim so I wasn't about to go off the diving board, so what was I going to do at the pool now?

Then I remembered that anyone over 14 doesn't have to take the swim test to go in the deep end.  And a good third of the deep end is only 5 feet deep. I could just go over to that part of the deep end. 

So I went over to the deep end and jumped on in.  The kids realized I was over there and came over to say hi.  They were all like, "MOM how did you pass the swim test?"  I told them I didn't have to. We had fun racing and practicing treading water. Charlotte and Lydia kept trying to get me to swim over the deep water, but I wouldn't do that. 

So I can still have fun at the pool with my kids.

Okay here's the school update for the week.  This week I was doing the Business Capstone Class.  In this class I had to do a business simulation for a company for 6 quarters.  It was all done on the computer and was like a really boring video game. The company was a bike company and I was in charge of all sorts of decisions.  I could design bikes, make advertisements, open stores, decide how many salesmen to hire, etc.

At first I simultaneously overwhelmed and bored with the simulation. There was A LOT of data to parse through and I wasn't exactly interested in running a bike company. But then I remembered that I live with a guy who likes bikes.  So I involved Brandon in designing and naming the bikes.  He had fun helping with that.  

As I went through the simulation I understood it better. By about Quarters 4 and 5 I was more into the simulation and liking it more. I don't think I ever LOVED this course, but overall I enjoyed it. 

After the simulation was over I had to write some reports like I was an executive writing about the company.  This was my favorite part. Here's an example of the types of things I had to write.  

1. SWOT Analysis for Cat on Wheels Bicycles

Strength - Three Profitable and Competitive Product Lines 

The Beach Line, the RaceTrack Line, and the Rocky Line have all had high sales and favorable customer ratings. The new models of all three lines did very well. The legacy models have also continued to have sales. 

Weakness -  Lagging behind the competition in the roll out of some new features. 

For various reasons we did not invest in R&D in Quarter 5. This was a huge oversight that led to us missing out on leading the market in Enriched Carbon Fiber material and more aerodynamic racing tires. 

Opportunity - Demand for the Rocky Deluxe is higher than for any other brand

In previous quarters the Rocky line of bikes has not been as successful as we had hoped.  But in Quarter 7 demand for the Rocky Deluxe is higher than for our Beach line or Racktrack line. It’s higher than for any other Mountain Bike on the market. We’ve always believed that the Rocky line could fill a need in the Mountain Bike market and this quarter is the time to really show that the Rocky Line of bikes meet that demand.

Threat - Bolt Bikes has Enriched Carbon Fiber material in their product line

Bolt Bikes is probably our biggest competitor and they have not made it easier by already rolling out products with Enriched Carbon Fiber frames.  Their bikes are now even stronger and lighter. We have invested our own R&D into Enriched Carbon Fiber, but it will not be available until Quarter 8. We have to be careful not to lose our market share to Bolt Bikes this quarter.

On Friday morning I went to Bible study with the Twin Falls Community Church again. And once again it was great.  I'm really enjoying getting to study Paul's letter to Titus better than I've every studied it before.  We spent another hour and a half discussing 5 verses. Plus the ladies are really cool to talk to as well.

On Friday afternoon we'd hoped to go back to the pool, but the weather took a cooler turn and so it didn't seem like a good pool day.  Instead Veronica convinced me to take everyone to the mall so she could buy gum balls. 

On Friday night Brandon took Derrick and Veronica camping at a spot on some BLM land near Shoshone.  

Charlotte and Lydia and I had a girls night while they were gone.  We went to the store and bought icecream and candy. Then we watched Cheaper by the Dozen. 

Saturday was the first Saturday in a while that we would be home most of the day. I knew I needed to spend most of the day working on my garden. It's been very neglected with all the family visits and homework that I've had going on. 

I spent hours pulling weeds.  This was one of about 4 wheelbarrows full of weeds that I threw away. 

Everything looked really good when I was done.  You can't really tell in this picture, but the black berry patch is weed free.  I also divided up a plant that had a bunch of shoots and transplanted them to areas where other plants didn't make it though the scorching summer. 

Here's a picture of the new garden area.  Not all the plants grew the way I wanted them too over here, but a lot made it. 

Our lawn had come back to life and decided to grow again.  Lydia mowed the front yard and Charlotte moved the back yard. This section where the leaky pool was, was especially tall and thick. 

Charlotte went around and picked produce.  Here are some of the cucumbers.  

And here are the onions. 

I didn't get a picture of this, but the girls also spent about an hour playing in the mud in one of the empty garden beds.  They brought the grass clippings over from the long grass and squished it into the mud with their bare feet.  They had a ton of fun.

Here's the "old" garden area. I ripped out the dead pea plants and planted more pea seeds for a fall harvest. Charlotte pulled most of the onions.  The cucumbers are producing like crazy. They are the star of the garden show right now. If I forget to check on them for a day or two I'll go outside and find HUGE cucumbers.  And the strawberry transplants survived really well. 

Around noon we were hot so we went to the pool for a while. All three of us were over in the deep end. 

Around 3:00 Brandon called me.  I could tell it was bad news when he started the phone call with "how are you?"

He told me the jeep was overheating and that I needed to come get him. I thought I was going to have to go all the way to Shoshone, but he told me they were only about a mile away. The jeep had been overheating on the way back from Shoshone, but they'd made it into town. They'd stopped at Burger King for lunch.  As soon as they pulled away from the drive through white steam had started coming out from the hood. They'd pulled over on a side street. 

So I hopped in the Honda and went over to meet up with Brandon and Derrick and Veronica. I thought Brandon was just going to leave the Jeep and come back for it later, but then he pulled out a tow rope and said, "Okay, you are going to pull me."

I was like, "What?" and "Where did that tow rope come from?"  

He said he's had that rope for a while. (This was news to me.) And that it was no big deal to tow the jeep. 

I reminded him that the Honda can only pull like 3500 pounds to while he was hooking up the rope I was googling the weight of a Jeep Cherokee.  Turns out the jeep is only like 3000 lbs.  So I was out of excuses. 

I've never towed anything so this was nerve racking for me. Thankfully we only had to drive on side streets and it was a fairly straight shot back to home. But it was still stressful. I knew that Brandon hadn't hooked the two rope around the axle, but every time the car lurched I pictured the whole back axle of the Honda ripping off like we were in a cartoon. 

When we got home I quoted Apollo 13 to Brandon and said, "Let's hope we don't have to do that again."

Brandon was able to drive the jeep into the garage and immediately got to work on it.  He inspected the radiator and found "a very obvious crack." (It was like a hairs width.) Then he started pulling things out. 

Brandon has been talking about overhauling the Jeep for months.  He's just been putting it off for various reasons.  Well, the jeep has decided it's time. So for the next little bit we are a one car family. Brandon and I work so close to home that it isn't really a problem.  He can ride his bike to work most days.  And if there is a day he needs the Honda I can always walk to work. 

While Brandon worked on the Jeep I kept working on the garden. I found a Praying Mantis in some weeds and showed it to the kids. 

Charlotte was the only one brave enough to hold it. 

I'm trying to remember any specific stuff about Saturday night. Oh well let's move onto Sunday. 

My friend Amy Toft was teaching Relief Society on Sunday and asked me to share an experience during her lesson. I haven't been able to go to Relief Society since we started having regular meetings because I've been going to Primary with Derrick. Brandon is the Elder's Quorum secretary so he has to be in Elder's Quorum which means I'm the one with Derrick.  But this time I had to be in Relief Society. So we decided to see how Derrick would do in Primary without one of us there.  Brandon checked on him periodically, but overall Derrick did great on his own. And I had a FABOULOUS time in Relief Society. 

Also here is a picture of my hair somewhat done and showing the Bailage that my sister Hillary gave me a couple weeks earlier.    

Charlotte learned how to do her own hair and wore this cute hair style to church. 

In Lego news, the zoo was taken down and this yacht was put up.

On Monday we went to the pool again.  Derrick and Veronica both failed their swim tests on the first try.  Veronica had been pushed into touching the rope by the other swimmer during the test and that was an automatic fail. Derrick swam the last 30 feet under the water which also was a fail.  They were both pretty bummed about failing.  But after waiting 30 minutes they were able to try again and passed on the second try.

On Tuesday we had the big event of our last week of Summer Vacation. It was a day trip to Stedman's Place. We first went here three years ago with the kids' daycare.  Brandon had been out of school for a week and it was my day off so both of us went along with the kids.  We had a BLAST on that trip.  

The next year I didn't have the kids in Daycare, and we were in the process of moving to Twin Falls.  The kids' daycare leader, Miss Wenda, invited us to meet up with them at Stedman's Place. So we did and had a BLAST again. 

Last year was COVID and so we didn't even think about Stedmans.  

I didn't plan on Stedman's this year either, but several months ago we drove through Pocatello and Derrick literally started crying and asking to see Miss Wenda.  A few days later he was able to talk to Miss Wenda on the phone.  She invited us out to Stedman's Place again and I immediately put the date on our calendar.

Stedman's place is located about an hour away from us.  It's a little more than halfway between Pocatello and Twin Falls.  The people who own the property have put up two huge waterslides on the hills on their property. They let groups come out to their property to slide on the hills. 

We got there a little after 12:00. The day care had been there for a little while, but they were just finishing up their lunch. They hadn't gone to play yet. 

Right when we pulled up Derrick went running over to the group yelling, "It's me, Derrick. I'm nine."  Wenda finished talking to the day care kids and sent them over to the hills.  Derrick and my other three kids went charging to the hills with all the other kids.  But after a little bit Derrick found Wenda and spent a lot of time with her.  He also saw Miss Chelsea and immediately recognized her and said hi.  

It was so good to see Miss Wenda again. Here's a picture of her with Derrick.  She and Derrick spent a lot of time together when he was in kindergarten so they developed a pretty deep bond. 

We had such a fun time on the hills.  I made sure to slide down with each of my kids. I would slide down the hill and then walk back up and slide down with the next kid.  At one point I didn't have time to catch my breath at the top before I was sliding again.  I was like, "scream scream screa--- pant pant pant scream pant scream pant."

Here's a video of me and Charlotte going down the big hill together.  

And here is a video of all 4 kids going down the lower hill all together. 

Here I am at some point.

Here's Derrick and Wenda sliding together. 

I love this picture of them together.  I put this picture on Facebook and talked about how I used to think that if my kids went to daycare they would be raised by strangers. But I didn't realize that strangers can become good friends.  I'm so glad that Wenda was there for us at the daycare. She was so good for Derrick.

I went up and down the hills a lot. I used a tube every time, but my kids preferred to go on their knees. 

I love this one of Veronica.

We had a few snack breaks, but most of the time the kids were sliding. We stayed about 30 minutes longer than the daycare did. 

When we got home we were so tired.  We pulled out the "emergency pizza" out of the freezer and had that for dinner. 

During the evening I began to realize that something wasn't quite right with my right knee.  It was feeling stiff and was starting to swell up. I couldn't think of anything in particular that I had done to hurt it, but I guessed that all the running up and down the hills had aggravated some tendon or something. The interesting thing was this wasn't my left knee that had been hurt when I was hit by a car three years ago. This was my "normal knee."

So I dug out the knee brace that I'd used on my car crash knee and wrapped up my knee.  Then I took a dose of ibuprofen. The kids were all complaining of various aches and pains too so I gave them each an ibuprofen.  Obviously this day had been rough on all of us. 

In school news I had a super easy class for the week.  It honestly was deceptively easy.  I kept over thinking the tasks.  It didn't take long to finish once I figured out what was expected. 

I also got another certificate of completion. I put this up on the wall with the other one.  

At the end of the week I got notification that I'd passed off my tasks for the easy course.  By completing that last class I'd successfully completed my goal of going through 11 courses in 11 weeks.  I'd done the equivalent of 33 credit hours in less than 1 semesters.  

On Wednesday Derrick had a boys activity and I was helping out.  Amy Toft is in charge of the boys activities and her co-helper recently moved.  I mentioned to Amy that was about all I had to say.  Amy and I are cut from the same cloth so we love working together. 

Charlotte and Lydia and Veronica were supposed to have a girls activity at the same time, but that got cancelled.  So they came to boys activity too.  That was good because I needed them to help explain one of the games.  It's called Capitan Potato Chip. The girls had learned it at Vacation Bible School and loved. They had fun teaching the boys how to play.

On Thursday I came home from work and had about an hour until Derrick would be home from therapy.  So I told Veronica we had time to run to McDonalds for lunch.  She has been asking to go to lunch with me ever since I took Charlotte and Lydia.

She told me she was really hungry so I ordered her a Big Mac Meal.  When she opened up her Big Mac she looked at it like it was something she'd wanted all her life. She was so impressed that it came with three buns and was bigger than her mouth could open.  I've often wondered what this kid's Love Language is.  I think I've finally figure it out.  Her love language is Fast Food.

We had a fun time talking and eating in the car.  We talked about how she would be going to school on Monday. This was the first time she would be in public school all day.  This is also the first time that we won't have time together without the other kids around. When she was in daycare I had Tuesday's off from work and so I didn't send her to day care on Tuesdays.  That was the day we'd go run errands together. And when she was in Kindergarten she was home in the afternoon while the other kids were in school.  But now she'd be at school the same amount of time as the bigger kids. 

I was a little sad when I realized that from here on out I'll run all my errands by myself. But I wasn't too sad because it also feels like it's taken FOREVER for this kid to get into all day public school.  She's only three years younger than her older sisters, but she's been home with me for like 5 extra years at this point.

When Derrick got home from therapy on Thursday he had lunch and then he and I went over to the school.  When we'd had our big parent concern meeting a week earlier the Principal had suggested we have Derrick come take a tour of the school so he could get familiar with it again.  

Derrick and I went to the school and the Principal walked us around the school. In some ways it was the Derrick Illguth reunion tour.  People were so excited to see him again.  One of his aides is now the librarian.  He was thrilled to see her in person. About 6 months into the pandemic he had missed her so much and had begged to be able to call her on the phone. I'd had to do some serious Facebook stalking to get in contact with her so he could call her. We met up with his SPED teacher and some of her aides.  We took a look in the cafeteria. 

The most important part of the day was meeting Derrick's new teacher.  He helped Derrick pick out a seat and taught him the secret handshake.  We found a spot where Derrick could sit if he started getting overwhelmed. 

The whole visit was about 45 minutes long, but it was such a good time investment. Derrick was so excited about starting school on Monday. 

After we got home we went to the pool. My knee was still bothering me and I'd been wearing the brace a lot.  But getting in the water helped a lot.  I kind of felt something pop back into place while I was in the water. 

After we were done at the pool we went back home and changed back into regular clothes. Then we went back to the school so all the other kids could have back to school night and meet their teachers. 

The first class we went to was Veronica's second grade class.  I've heard so many good things about her teacher and she lived up to them in the first few minutes.  She was so welcoming to Veronica.  She noticed how tall Veronica was and made sure Veronica got a high desk so she could be comfortable. Veronica was super excited about having a desk.  When she'd been in kindergarten she'd sat at tables so this was her first time having a desk. 

I had to fill out paperwork, but the teacher gave me a treat when I was done.  That was great.  And all the siblings got suckers for hanging around.  

Then we went to Lydia's class.  In third grade she'd had a cranky older teacher so it was a relief to see that her teacher was young and happy. While I filled out the paperwork I noticed that one of Charlotte and Lydia's friends from 3rd grade had signed in ahead of us.  The girls were super excited about that.  (And later we found out that that friend's Twin is in Charlotte's class. So the two sets of twins are in the same classes.)

We tried to find Charlotte's class after Lydia's, but got confused when we passed Derrick's 4th grade class before we found Charlotte's 5th grade class.  So we went to Derrick's class again so I could do the paperwork there. 

And then finally we walked into Charlotte's class and I realized that her teacher is our kitty-corner-across-the-street-neighbor.  I knew our neighbor was a teacher at the kids' school, but I'd never known what grade or been 100% sure of her last name.  Well now I know.

All the kids were so excited about school after they met their teachers.  Veronica kept saying over and over, "I can't WAIT until Monday." and "When will it be Monday?"

But before we could have the first day of school we had to get through the weekend. And what a weekend we had coming up.  My sister Emily had finally found a house.  They had signed all the paperwork for it that morning and were going to move in on Saturday.  We were planning to go down and help. 

So when I got home from work on Friday we started packing while also getting ready for the first day of school.  

I had the kids pick out their clothes for the weekend and packed a bag for them.  Then I went through their dressers and confiscated all the clothes that weren't exactly school appropriate; all the cut off pants, all the holey shirts and pants, all the shirts that were too short, all the casual t-shirts.  All of those clothes got thrown into a laundry basket to be sorted through later.  

Then I got out the bins with the school clothes.  The kids had been bummed as I'd taken away all their favorite summer clothes.  But they forgot about them super quick when they saw all the cute new school clothes.    We picked out first day of school outfits and put the rest of the clothes in the dressers. 

Whenever we get ready for a weekend away I feel like there is never enough time in the afternoon. That was a case this time as well.  I was actually happy that Brandon didn't get home from work early because it gave me time to get a few last minute things done.  

He did get home around 7:00 and we started driving to Utah. We went to his parents house in Eden and stayed the night there.  We haven't been there since April so it was great to be back for a visit.  

Then on Saturday morning we got up and headed down to the storage unit in Taylorsville. I'd been planning to help out at the storage unit, but my knee was still a little concerning.  I did not want to mess it up more by carrying a heavy box or trying to walk up the moving van ramp.  So I dropped off Brandon and Charlotte and Lydia at the storage unit.  Derrick, Veronica, and I went to my sister Hillary's house.  It was kind of the place where all the disabled people were hanging out. I had a hurt knee, Emily was 8 months pregnant, Hillary had some mystery problem that was making it hard to eat (she got an official diagnosis the next week). My parents were there too and they have their own ailments.  We had a good time chatting, but I think we were all wishing we could be at the storage unit helping out. 

I did help with a few things at Hillary's.  Hillary had let Emily borrow some furniture for their short term rental.  Emily had somehow got it all into her van and had brought it back.  I helped unload it and get it back into Hillary's house.  And Veronica and Derrick helped keep Penny, Walter, Vance and Hazel entertained. 

Things went pretty quick at the storage unit.  Brandon was there as well as Emily's husband David and Hillary's husband Joe.  My cousin Alex was there too and so was my Aunt Vera.  And the older kids were there too.  They had to van loaded in about 2 hours. 

Emily went to Little Caesars and picked up pizza.  (I consider it a huge miracle that she was able to walk in and pick up 9 hot and ready pizzas at lunch time without pre-ordering.) We all met up at a park to eat the pizza and recoup a bit. 

Charlotte and Lydia played in the tree.

The other kids played on this castle that I remember playing on when I was a kid. 

Then we drove up to Layton to get everything moved into the house.  Emily and David had asked their ward to help with this part.  I was so happy when I pulled up at the house and saw a crew of at least 15 people helping to unload the van. Most of the people were from her new ward, but my Uncle John was there as well.  He lives pretty close to Emily's new house. 

One of Emily's new neighbors invited all the kids over to her house to swim in her backyard pool.  She didn't mind that none of them had swimming suits.  The kids thought this was great! 

We were done with the pool about the time the truck was unloaded.  Now was the time for Hillary and me to be useful.  Hillary went to work unpacking and setting up Emily's kitchen.  Hillary is THE BEST at this and she worked her magic again in this house.  

I went to work getting rooms somewhat livable. I put furniture into it's place in the living room and three of the bedrooms.  We didn't have hardware to put the beds together but I at least got the mattresses into the right places.  

Brandon took a nap on the living room floor for a long time, but when he woke up he made sure that the washer and dryer were hooked up.

Emily kept thanking everyone for everything.  She's moved a lot, but she hasn't had family help move in a long time.  She kept saying, "my house has never been this put together this fast."

When we left Emily's house her kids were sitting down to a simple meal at their own kitchen table in their own house.  It was good to see them settled in.  I started my summer with helping Emily pack for this cross country move, and now I was finishing my summer by getting her moved into her new home.  It was a good feeling to know that this project was complete. 

We stopped at Burger King on the way home and got cheap hamburgers for the kids. Then we went back to Brandon's parents house. I got in the shower almost as soon as we got there.  The day had been nearly 100 degrees and I'd been sweating for hours. 

After my shower I met up with everyone else outside for some ice cream.  That tasted so good.  I had a pretty bad headache by this point so I took it really easy the rest of the day.  

We slept over at Steve and Jacque's that night.  I slept well, but in the morning the kids woke me up just a bit too early.  I was grumpy and felt off the whole morning.  But the kids were having a great time at their grandparents so that made me happy.

We wanted to get home early enough to decompress from the weekend and start getting ready for school to start the next day.  So after lunch we got in the car and drove back to Twin Falls. 

I was a grumpy passenger for the first bit of the drive. Then I fell asleep for about an hour.  When I woke up I felt so much better.  I'd just needed a bit more sleep

We got home around 3:00 and basically did nothing the rest of the afternoon. Earlier in the week we'd read almost to the end of Where the Red Fern Grows. We'd got to the end of the big hunting competition. I told the kids the same thing I'd told them when we read the book 4 years ago.  I said, "This is a good place to stop.  We can stop here and pretend the book ends happy."  I've done that a few times when I've read that book. But just like last time the kids wanted to read to the end.  They knew what happened, but they wanted to hear the full story.  So we read the rest of the book. It was sad, but we got through it. 

Soon it was time for bed. The kids were all very anxious and excited about school. And so was I. 

I told Brandon, "I feel like I've piloted a ship for the last 18 months and now its time to put it into shore."  I was ready to be done with this phase and move onto the next one - what ever it was going to be.  

But that's the next post. 

Thanks for reading.