Utah visit Part I

I figured we would update our blog with Part I of our summer visit to Utah. We have been here a few days and are enjoying our time here of course. We stay very busy trying to visit all of our families, friends, and try to relax a little too.

We decided to drive to Utah from Minnesota this year so that we could have our own car, and since airfare was so expensive. It is an 18 hour drive, but we thought we would drive to Mt. Rushmore on the way since it only added on another hour to our drive. It was a rainy and stormy drive, but we figured it would clear up by the time we got to Mt. Rushmore. Here is a picture of what we saw.

Mt. Rushmore is directly behind Anna and the girls (at least that is what we were told). It was so foggy and stormy that we couldn't see anything. We couldn't see a mountain, any carved faces, or anything. It was fun and interesting to read about the history of it, but we never saw anything. Oh well, we tried.


The girls have been having fun here in Utah playing with cousins and enjoying the nice weather. Here they are playing outside in the grass and on the swingset.





Anna and I have our 6 year anniversary this week. The best 6 years of my life :) To celebrate we took a 24 hour trip to Park City while Grandma watched the kids (thanks Grandma J). We walked down Main Street, rode on the Alpine Slide (in the background of the picture), shopped at the outlets, and drove around the area. It was a nice time and a fun way to celebrate our anniversary.




That is all for now. Lots more to come in a few weeks, stay tuned for Part II in about 2 weeks or so....

Backyard fun

Who needs a nice backyard of grass to have fun? Not our kids!

Although we are going to get some grass in the next few weeks, the girls don't seem to care much. They still beg to go outside to play with the rocks and dirt. I am sure they will enjoy some nice soft grass when we get it, but for now they aren't complaining.

Look closely and you will see the two girls in the backyard of dirt.


Digging can be fun, even in hard dirt.


All Jayda needs is a paper grocery bag and some rocks to put in the bag.

What we have learned about Minnesota so far...

1- It's cold here, even in May. We have yet to have a day where I haven't worn a jacket.

2- The Friday/Saturday before Mothers Day, Woodbury (where we live) has a huge city wide garage sale. There were five on our street alone. There were over 800 in the city of Woodbury that weekend, it was kind of crazy!

3- It hurts when you fall down the stairs, even in Minnesota. Both Jayda and Addison have done it, just look at the nose as proof.



4- Most yards don't have fences. At first this was very strange for us since in Utah everyone has a fence around their yard. I really like having the more open community feel though, it feels like we live in the middle of a golf course.




5- Todd has learned all of the dental laws of the state of Minnesota. He passed his Jurisprudence exam and now can be licensed. (which is good since he just got a part time job to work on the weekends!)

6- We can live without internet and TV for a week, but we didn't like it and don't suggest it if possible.

7- There really are A LOT of lakes and ponds in Minnesota. I think every street has access to at least one or two smaller lakes/ponds. There are 3 within a 5 minute walk of our house.

8- An unfinished basement can become a great playroom for kids. Check out the before and after pictures of what a little (a lot) of material and color can do.





9- More then 1000 sq. ft of living space makes us all very happy.

10- A garage is a wonderful thing.

11- In the absence of friends, our girls will play with each other and have a great time!

12- That we still miss our friends and family and wish we lived closer so we could see them more.

Sweet home Minnesota...

Well, it is official, we are now Minnesotans (make sure you say that with an accent to make it authentic). Our move to Minnesota went well and we had no problems at all. We spent weeks packing and getting things ready, we had family help for a day before we got our moving truck, then a large group of moving crew friends helped us load the whole thing in less then an hour. We were very worried about fitting everything in our 24' truck, but in the end we had plenty of extra room!


Getting it all ready to load



Stacking boxes all the way up to the roof



Lots of friends to help us load and help us clean our apartment after. You guys are the greatest!!!




What could be more fun to play on then a huge moving truck and the loading ramp.


Enjoying some after loading hot dogs and snacks. Thanks to my Dad for all of his help too!




Driving this large truck, with a car on a trailer behind it wasn't too bad either. Averaged just over 65mph on the freeway, terrible gas mileage (even for a diesel engine), some incredibly scary rain and darkness to drive through on Friday night, but all in all we still made it in good time and everything was still in one piece.

We had a few of the current residents from my program help us unload our truck and within a few hours of pulling into the driveway we were unloaded and ready to empty boxes.

It has been just over a week now and things are slowly coming together. So many things to do to set up a new place. We had no blinds or drapes in any of the windows so most of our week was focused on that so that our neighbors didn't have to see us all the time. We have unpacked most of our boxes and set up just about everything, now we just have to figure out where we want to keep everything.

If you ever want to come see us, we are always welcoming visitors!

Graduation

Our internet is on now so we can finally post a few recent things that have happened in our lives. Two major things- graduation and moving to Minnesota!

Graduation was May 2nd and it was a great experience. It was fun to have family in town to support me and fun to be part of the ceremony. We were very busy packing and getting ready to move (we left a few hours after graduation), but we were still able to enjoy the commencement and I am glad it went well.
Here are a few pics to enjoy:

Me


Me and my hot wife



Family that came to support and be a part of graduation and of our exciting move!



Of course the wives deserve a diploma too for all of their hard work and support over the last 4 years. Thanks Anna, I couldn't have done it without you by my side.