The Move. 2015 Edition.

Hey hey hey!
So I've decided to buckle down
and update the blog.
It's gonna take some time,
so,
deep breath in.....
and let's go!

Our last week in Utah
Tyler didn't have work,
so we did some fun stuff.
We went bowling with
Grandma Pam:

I was winning almost the
whole time,
and then Tyler bowled 4 strikes...
IN A ROW.
What a show-off.

One day we took
the kids to the discovery park
in Pleasant Grove
and had a picnic.











And one day we went to
the splash pad,
and Ellory chilled with
Tyler for a bit:




We visited Grandma Pam's
for a bit,
and Ellory had fun petting
her cat Maya.



The day before we left,
Janie, Mark, Josh, Rubie and Gracie
stopped by to give us
yummy roadtrip treats
and to say good-bye.
We miss them soooooo much!

Gracie is ridiculously cute with Ellory
and Ellory adores her!

And then we left!
Tyler drove the moving truck
with Shane.
Which, by the way, big shout
out to Shane.
Thanks so much for helping us!!
My mom came out and helped me
drive the car with the kids.
The kids did great!
Kale is a seasoned and champion traveller.
Ellory isn't as big a fan of it.
We made a stop for lunch in
Pendelton:




It was soooo hot!
We didn't stop for long.
This is what Kale did for
most of the ride:

Like a boss.
We made it to our new
place in really good time.
Tyler told me he was really
impressed.
Like I said before,
it was SO hot!
Unloading the truck probably sucked.
I wouldn't know,
they were pretty much done
when we got there.
I thought Shane was going
to pass out of heat
exhaustion, though, if that
tells you anything.
Some guys from our new ward
showed up to help us move in,
which was really really awesome.
And then, we had to unpack.
Yuck.
Anyway, our new place is nice!
We got the majority of the
unpacking done pretty darn fast,
mostly because my mom was nice
enough to stay with us,
so she played with the kids
while Tyler and I worked.
Thanks a million mom!
My mom was here
for the Fourth,
so we decided to head
to the coast
(wink, wink, mom)
for some fun.
I sat in the back with the kids,
which looked about like this:

Kale was apparently
not amused by my snarkiness:

We figured everyone was going
to be going to the coast
that day as well,
but we were able to find
a nice little area without a lot of people.
It even had an area where
some of the ocean water had puddled
so the kids had a nice shallow
pool of water to play
in that was warm.
Perfect!

And the kids LOVED it.
Seriously, we could have
stayed there all day.

Kale just ran back and forth
and back and forth
forever.
And sometimes, we raced him.



And Ellory loved finding all
the different things there were
to find in the water.

 But, I had to take the kids
down to the actual ocean
where the waves were rolling in, right?
I told Kale to run in and
then run back out real fast.
He ran in, and then he
SPRINTED out of there
yelling, "It's so cold! It's so cold!"

Mom took a picture of
Tyler and me.

The kids found a hole to play in:

Kale found a crab leg:

Ellory wore her sunhat for
2 seconds, but Nana
got a picture of it!


We buried Kale:

Ellory needed a nap,
so I walked with her until she fell
asleep.


And then Nana held her
so I could play with Kale and Tyler.

Beach days are the best,
I've decided.


That night, we went out
and lit up some sparklers:

Ellory wasn't sure what to think...

The next day was Sunday,
so it was off to church to meet
our new ward!
Look how cute they all are:



Later, despite having very
sunburnt feet,
Nana walked with Kale to a
nearby playground:




 On Monday, we picked Tyler
up from work so we
could see his new job.
But first, Nana had to
dress Ellory!

 Tyler's new office:



The training room at
Western Oregon University!



And then, Nana had to go home.
I can't even begin to
say how grateful I am to her.
She was such a huge help.
Thanks Nana!

One night I asked Kale if he
thought any of his stuffed animals
would want to watch a movie with him.
He went and asked each one
of his animals if they wanted to watch a movie.
And then told me their answer
(Yes)
and then put them on the couch.
This was the end result:

And Ellory was just adorable:

Ellory eats more and more
all the time.
Currently, she loves fruit.
Bananas and strawberries are
a perfect go-to for her:

Last Sunday we got a special treat.
Our really good friends from
Ellensburg (The Smiths) were on their
way back from a family reunion in California
and they were nice enough
to stop and see us for a bit!
It was really awesome to see them.
Carly, their youngest, has
grown so much!

The gurlz:

Some of the boyz:

I have missed Rachel
big time over this passed year.
And A-Aron too!
It seriously made my whole
week to get to hang with them
for a bit, just like old times.

They couldn't stay long,
they had like 4 more hours to go
on their trip and I guess
they really wanted to get home
for some reason.
But hopefully we'll be able to see
them again sometime soon!

The other day, Kale was playing
with his white board while I
was doing dishes, when
he asked me to look
at what he'd done.
He had written the alphabet
all by himself!

One day we took the kids
to a park around here
and we were all silly together:

And one day Kale was silly
all by himself:

PHEW!!!!
We made it.
That's it.
We are all up to date.
Oregon is really nice so far.
Yesterday it rained
for the first time since we
moved here.
It's been really hot some days
and absolutely perfect other days.
Today the high is 73,
but later this week it's
supposed to hit 100.
Now, we are just getting
adjusted and figuring things out.
Moving is always a process.
I'm really grateful to
everyone who helped us!!