January happenings

Cameron got a job in Colorado in November of 2017.  He moved down and lived with Ben and Rachel for a while. And I couldn't take it.  The plan was for us to stay in Utah until we could sell the house.  That didn't happen and I couldn't take being home with all the 5 kids and no husband anymore.  Rachel went on the hunt for a place for us to rent.  I promised to find a job to make paying for TWO house payments manageable.  success of all successes Rachel found us an amazing house.  We signed papers, I hadn't seen the house except in facetime calls.  Right after Christmas we packed our stuff up.  Cameron only had a couple of days off after Christmas to help so most of the packing to prep fell to me.  I packed and packed. Then after Christmas we stuffed a trailer to the brim with stuff. so much stuff. Since we were moving out of such an old house there were things we had upstairs that we couldn't get down stairs via the stairwell...we threw stuff over the balcony.  It was pretty funny.

We found some pretty great stuff packed away...

Cameron is amazing at tetris

It was warm enough our kids had no shoes
and pretty much ran wild while we packed.

By the time we were done
We were exhausted...

Our children legit looked like homeless kids

Even when it was dark we kept packing

It's shocking how much stuff we have

Cameron had to leave a lot of rakes behind.

The drive was beautiful and the kids were great!

They even helped pack a bit

This was actually very fun.

The kids were really good during the drive. It helped that we had a lot of screens for them to look at.  When we finally made it to the new house it was so late and we were so happy to be there.  During the drive we lost some stuff out of the back of the truck and I had to make sure I stayed right behind Cameron because we were worried that he wouldn't make it.  All of the house we had packed in a trailer pod.  A trucker came and picked it up.  This meant that we got to Colorado with only the stuff that was packed in the truck or Acura.  We had packed about a week's worth of clothing, sleeping bags and essentials.  We didn't have mattresses or cooking utensils. my whole house was coming later.
When our stuff finally came Cameron's brothers came over and helped us unpack everything.  We had a great time.  Mostly we were happy that our stuff was here.  I got the kids registered in school and started to try to figure out where everything was in Colorado Springs.
But...not everyone came away from our move unscathed...

He's fine everything is fine...

One night Ben and Rachel were over for dinner.  This was about a week after our truck with the stuff came.  We were still trying to figure out where everything was going so we had a lot of empty space.  We realized how slippery our hard wood floor was.  Of course we needed to test the overall slippery factor.  So I would hold onto cameron's pants while he ran across the floor and see how quickly he could get me to slide behind him.  Then Rachel held onto Ben's Pants to see if they could beat our speed.  Then the boys needed to see how quickly they could pull each other. All seemed fine everyone was laughing.  Of Course Ben needed to see if he could pull all of us- everyone.  So Cameron held onto Ben's pants.  I held onto Cameron's pants and Rachel held onto my waist.  Ben started pretty slow but man did he give his all. He pushed so hard and tried so hard that he actually ruptured his achilles tendon.  When he got across the floor he fell over and couldn't walk.  We propped his leg up and got him ice- we kept telling him he was being a baby.  In their ward they have a friend who is a PA so they called him.  The PA came over and told Ben he needed to go to the dr... Who knew that trying to run across a wood floor with three people holding onto you would break you. but yes it sure did. Ben ended up having to have surgery and in a boot for months.

The slipperiness of the wood floor was still enjoyed even after Ben couldn't walk.  As a family we started to see how fast we could spin on the ground.  Cameron would have the kids hold their feet and lay on their tummies.  Then he would spin them as fast as he could.  It was hilarious.  Then he could have them sit on their bums and spin them.  finally he wanted to see how fast he could spin me. Yes it was quite fast.  Good thing that I am flexible because I was able to stay up in a boat pose while he spun me on my tummy.

The house is so much nicer and bigger than anything we have ever lived in.  Seriously beautiful.  We have granite countertops and the coolest washer and dryer.  It even sings at us when the cycle is done. One of the best parts of the new house is the window in the kitchen.  It is huge. I have never lived anywhere that didn't have a lot of mountains.  Where we are in the Springs makes it so that we have plains on one side of us.  The sun rises in the plains and it is amazing to see. These are the beginnings of sunsets out our big window.  The only problem with this house is we literally have no yard.  We cant have our basketball hoop up or our tampoline up.  The kids are stuck inside a lot.  If we had known about the basketball hoop we probably would have sold it.  We spent so much time and effort getting that stupid thing into the trailer and now we cant even use it!
Cameron, for Christmas got a huge trike and that has been used in this large house as well.  The first couple of rides for Cameron came in the house on that same floor that broke Ben's tendon- it really is a great floor.

When you dont have furniture you do this... 

I forced Ben to try my face mask

Living in Colorado has also meant that we get to do more game nights with Cameron's brothers.  Honestly we most play poker and generally either Cameron or myself win so its fun for us.  

Calvin doesn't leave me alone to do yoga

Midway through Jan the girls and I went to the women's march in downtown.  We made signs and we marched in freezing weather.  Alana and Jadynne were even interviewed by the local news station.  It was fun to see their faces on TV.  With Trump in the white house and all of the terrible things he says and does to immigrants, refugees and women I wanted to make sure that I showed the girls that this is part of how we change our nation.  That if we are not happy with what is happening in the government or the nation we need to stand up.  It is our job to fight for the changes we want to see.  Despite the cold it was an amazing experience.  It was amazing to stand with others who believe in fighting for equality and justice. fighting for peace and love for all people.

At the end of Jan I drove back to Pleasant Grove because we got a renter!! Jazmine from UGLY's Closet decided to rent our house which was amazing!! So I had to go back to get everything out of the house that we had left and to move things into the garage we weren't ready to move down to the Springs.  So i drove up by myself got to see my Mom, Dad and brothers.  John and Shelly were finishing up their new house so i was able to see their progress.  I got to stay with Jesse and Sarah which was really nice.  They are wonderful

I had truly missed the mountains that are around utah valley even though i had been gone only a month and you can see that when i drive by myself i look like a crazy person

Finally at the end of the month two great things happened.  First, i got a job! which was wonderful since that was the deal- move to colorado and get a job or stay in utah alone. So! I got a job as a server at Bubba's a burger place.  The Second was that it was my birthday!  It was so fun to have everyone come over for my birthday party.  I had a great time!  We played games.  We had cake that i made so of course it was exactly what i wanted.  I got wine. It was so fun.  Cameron got me flowers and headphones and lots of love.  My mom got me an instapot which is seriously amazing.  This is what they use in iron chef america to get crap made uber fast!  It was wonderful.  So many things happened in the month of January.  It was super busy and enormous changes happened to our family.