The move went smoothly because we have AMAZING family and I have a patient hubby. You see, I reserved the moving truck a month before our move with a local branch of U-haul and let me tell you they ended up dropping the ball in a HUGE way. I spoke to the lady that handled my reservation on the Friday before our Saturday move and we confirmed the truck and the time to be there to get the truck. Saturday comes and we head out to go get the truck and they lady at the rental place says we don't have a reservation and they don't have a truck for us. WHAT?!!!! So she makes some calls and "finds" us a truck at another rental place in town. We head over there but they are CLOSED!!! We call the lady we just left and she finds out that the rental place doesn't open until 1030, its 830 now, and that actually the truck there is NOT ours. AHHHH!! So she make some more calls and sends us to another place across town so we go over there and they do NOT have a truck for us either and shouldn't we know this is the busiest day to move in the country and we should have made reservations! DUH!!! So we call the first lady AGAIN and she says she will do some leg work and let us know. So we head home to a house full of men ready to move us and their is NO truck. So frustrating!!! Well my mom calms me down and says to check online. So while I check online I get a call from corporate U-haul who are trying to get me a truck since they screwed up. So I find a truck in Ft. Collins ( a town 30 mins away) with a GREAT price and U-haul corporate can't find me a truck because their systems shut-down!!! SERIOUSLY!! I tell the girl on the phone that I found a truck for cheaper in another town so I don't NEED them anymore. She is aghast because she says everyone is sold out. Guess what chica, THEY AREN'T!!! So Jay and Kurtis (my sister's hubby) head out to get the truck and arrive quickly and we get packed up in an hour or so with the help of several missionaries, my brothers and brother in-law, Roberto, and a GREAT friend's husband and father. Luckily, our friends came with a trailer so we were able to use that as well because the truck we were able to get was a few feet to short to fit all of our stuff. We felt so BLESSED!!
Needless to say we were moved SAFELY and with the dedication and help of so many. Kurtis stayed until he had set-up the bunk bed and every other bed and couch. So cool. The next day, my brother Dan (whose family was out of town) came over and took our kids for 5 hours while Jay and I unpacked and got our house looking like a home. See, great family right? The day started out cruddy but ended with such an attitude of gratitude.
*Note: The truck company we ended up using was Penske and it ONLY cost $40.00!!!! I think I know who we will call next time.
Two weeks after we moved in I headed out to Utah to hang out with my best friend Alicia and to attend a wedding of a friend. Jay met up with me later in the week and for the wedding and drove us home. The week was full of happiness, craziness, and funness!!! Alicia and I hung out with all of our kids (6 in all) and swam, jumped, played, laughed, and went to the zoo. The weekend was awesome because I was able to attend a sealing IN the Salt Lake Temple. I had never been before then. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Sadly, this trip ended in me getting a nasty cold and Aiden spewing all over Alicia's accomadations (bed, carpet, room) the night before we were to leave. Fun fun times I tell you and embarrassing!! We traveled home safely and without anymore puke, thankfully.
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| Happy Boys on the Tramp Stansbury Park, UT |
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| Cholo Stansbury Park, UT |
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| Happiness......priceless Stansbury Park, UT |
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| Ticket to ride Stansbury Park, UT |
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| The zoo with the clan Hoegle Zoo Salt Lake City, UT |
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| Slip N Slid action Stansbury Park, UT |
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| Pool party Stansbury Park, UT |
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| Cute kids playing on our Kindles Stansbury Park, UT |
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| Boys having fun on the drive |
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| Going insane from the drive thru Wyoming |
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| Cool Hubby |
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| Alex taking notes |
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| Cousins playing Greeley, CO |
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| Twiners before church |
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| Umm too funny NOT to post |
The rest of the summer was laid back and full of swimming. Our new rental community has 2 pools and 1 of them is made just for kids. So awesome. I even met most of my neighbors and became good friends with 3 of them. We were all at the pool nearly everyday. I had that dang cold I left Utah with for about a month. IT was terrible but I survivied (hello, I'm writing this aren't I?).
So FUNNY story about meeting one of my, now, amazing neighbors. We live in a row of townhomes and we all have 1 car garages and every 2 townhomes shares driveway space. So I came home from something one morning parked in the driveway, in front of MY garage and go inside and go about my day. Later, Aiden wakes me from my nap to tell me someone is at the door. I run down and see that it is my neighbor I hadn't offically met yet. She says, " I think you parked in my driveway" I say there is NO way I did cause why would I. So I walk out and check and LO and BEHOLD their is MY car in HER driveway. WHAT?!! I run in and grab my keys and move it. I tell her several times how sorry I am and I have no idea how that happend. She was so sweet and made me feel better about it. I come back inside and am just dumbfounded about the whole thing. I call Jay and he just laughs his head off. Well this little incident helped me and that neighbor (I know her name now too) become fast friends and have much more in common than we had planned. Twilight zone material right? Cool though!
By August, we were settled in our Ward (church congregation) and happy in our new town. Jay was asked to teach early morning seminary to the high schoolers in our area. Yikes right? Well we slept on it for a few days but decided the blessings outweighed the cons. So in the middle of August Jay started teaching a class from 5:45 to 6:25 every morning for 6 weeks before they found a team teacher to help him out. They now teach every other week. Such a blessing too!
In early August we were fortunate enough to leave Alex with Grandma Guia and Appa Roberto while we took Aiden to Montana for a wedding of one of Jay's good friend and former co-worker. We drove up to Billings in one day and stayed in a small town right outside of Billings called Laural that happened to be a bit closer to Red Lodge, where the wedding would be. We did some site seeing and some shopping and made many trips back and forth from Red Lodge and Laural. One of the cool sites we saw were some Indian ruins or caves. It was a wonderful site and fun to explore. We also went to a Farmer's Market in downtown Billings. We ate plenty of yummy food and shopped around some of the shops in the area. We also stopped by to see the Billings LDS Temple. So beautiful!
A funny story about the tiny town we stayed in for our Montana stay was being chased by a dog and rescued by a neighbor. While we were on our vacation I still needed to get some running in because I was going to be running a marathon in October. So I ran twice while in Laural and the second time I made a loop around the town (not a big loop just 5 miles) but on my way back into town a dog jumped the fence, gave me a heart attack, and chased me for a bit until a neighbor in her car scared him away. She checked on me later in my run and said she would talk to the neighbor and that she was so so sorry. What a nice town I tell you!
The wedding was so picturesque and touching. The couple that married are meant for each other and fully devoted and in love!! The wedding was performed right next to a river in the mountain town of Red Lodge. The weather was PERFECT. The ceremony had so many touching moments and we are so grateful we were able to go. The reception following the ceremony was just as beautiful and full of thoughtfull and loving toasts and declarations of love and committment.
We headed home the next day and were so grateful for the getaway and that we didn't bring Alex. I know that sounds not so good, but he wouldn't have enjoyed the long drive and all the driving we did between wedding events. He was so spoiled and enjoyed by his grandparents. Thank you Guia and Roberto!
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| Billings, MT Temple |
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| Mom and Dad |
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| Mom and Aiden |
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| Dad and Aiden |
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| Billings, Montana LDS Temple |
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| Pictograph Cave State Park Billings, MT |
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| Boys Billings, MT |
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| Mom and Aiden Billings, MT |
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| Boys Billings, MT |
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| Panoramic view of Pictograph State Park Billings, MT |
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| Handsome Red Lodge, MT |
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| Family photo-op Red Lodge, MT |
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| Wedding about to start Red Lodge, MT |
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| Beautiful bride and her father Red Lodge, MT |
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| The vows Red Lodge, MT |
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| The wedding walk Red Lodge, MT |
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| Another family photo-op Red Lodge, MT |
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| My HOT hubby Red Lodge, MT |
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| Reception table setting Red Lodge, MT |
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| Blurry reception picture Red Lodge, MT |
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| Bros Red Lodge, MT |
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| Cool Statue Near Laural, MT |
Our decision to live in Westminster was made in part because Aiden was accepted
into a language immersion school in this area, called Global Village Academy. We were thrilled when we knew he would be going to this school. He would be going to school in Spanish 80% of his day with 20% in English. Aiden started school very early in August and loved it the first week and then for about 3 weeks after that he struggled with not enjoying the Spanish part. Already by the end of the first month he was speaking and understanding so much more Spanish than he really knew so I just pointed it out and he realized he really was "getting it
" and hasn't really looked back. He struggles with missing ALL his Greeley friends and family but is
doing so well at his new school.
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| Aiden first day of 2nd Grade Westminster, CO |
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| Alex being Alex |
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| Baby peeking out on the world Greeley, CO |
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| Cute baby |
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