Weekend Trip to Utah

The weekend after we moved into our new place, we got in the car and headed to Utah for my nephew, Mitchell's, baptism.

Ruth with Grandpa Hanks (and a bruised eye).

The boys and men after the baptism. Mitchell is in the purple tie next to Wes.

The Ward family.

My family.

We had been casually car shopping through Brian's dad's friend in Utah for a while. That weekend we went to a look at and drive a couple of cars just to see what the options were. While there, we found an offer we couldn't refuse: an '09 Sienna with less than 18,000 miles on it. So, even though I had put off the minivan purchase as long as possible and I wasn't mentally prepared to make another huge purchase (we did just move, after all), we did it anyway. It is nice to have more space though!

It was actually quite a busy weekend. My dad had franchised a Menchie's location and it had been a long work in progress. It finally opened the same weekend we were there. I was (am) so proud of my sister, Angie, and all of the hard work she put in to opening the store. It's quite an undertaking and it seems to be going fabulously!

Wesley's Last Day of First Grade

Wes had his last day of first grade on May 28th. It ended up being a good transition to North Star from Chief Jo and I'm glad we made the switch.

Wes with his teacher, Ms. Moats.

All of the teachers were out to wave goodbye to the buses after class on the last day. I thought that was really cool and fun.

Wes had a baseball game that night, but then - per tradition (established last year) - the kids got to pick a book as a reward for a school-year of hard work! (Ruth definitely did a lot of learning over the last school-year, too!)

Move Number 9 in 8 1/2 Years

On the drive home from my grandpa's funeral, Brian and I talked about what to do with the house that we built that had been on the market for a year. It was a very disappointing situation since we had never really intended to live in the house. However, we either had to move in or lose a lot of money even if we did eventually sell it. So, we decided to move in. That was May 6th. We started moving things little-by-little since the house was vacant and then moved all of the big stuff on May 24th. We figured there was no need to put off the inevitable!

And, in case you're interested:

Move 1: Orem, UT

Move 2: El Paso, TX

Move 3: Schaumburg, IL

Move 4: Dallas, TX

Move 5: Ann Arbor, MI

Move 6: Charlotte, NC

Move 7: Seattle, WA

Move 8: Meridian, ID

Move 9: Eagle, ID

The first home we have ever purchased in our not-quite nine years of marriage.

Ruth helping me gauge the size of this rug for our new bathroom.

One of the perks of a new home was picking any fridge we wanted (that we could afford). No more crappy rental house fridges. I love this fridge! My favorite feature: you can tell it you want exactly 6 ounces of water (or 8 or 10 or whatever) and it will fill your cup exactly that full! I'm only slightly OCD. :)

I'm slightly obsessed with plastic bins. I have small, medium, large, and extra large ones. When I took this picture, there were 33 in the garage. I have way more than that...

My little family checking out the empty moving truck. So exciting!

Sydney's Preschool Graduation

Sydney had her preschool graduation from Harmony Preschool on May 23rd. They had a little performance and then got their graduation certificates.

Sydney and friends waiting for the program to start.

A special number that required goggles.

And a kick line. My girl's a tall one!

Sydney and her teacher for the past two years, Miss Michelle. She's really been a great resource for me and teacher for Sydney over the last two years. I'm so grateful we found her!

Post-performance treats with friends.

And Ruth made it through the performance so she got a cookie as well! (As did Brian.) :)