We made it!

Greetings from sunny southern California. After 2 weeks, it's starting to feel like home although yesterday while swimming in the pool surrounded by palm trees I still couldn't believe we live here now. It often feels like we're on vacation.
We did have a mini vacation on our way out here. We all needed it after the emotional stress of saying goodbye to Dublin and all the wonderful friends we made there. We were very touched by all the people that stopped over to say goodbye. My sister and brother-in-law picked up the kids Thursday night since all their beds and the kitchen were packed. Barr and I met them in Cinti. late Friday night after the movers were done. We were sad my parents weren't home that weekend but were grateful to be able to crash at their place for the night.

Brooke's last sessions with her home therapists.

We started our drive across the country Saturday evening, driving straight through the night. Ben had burned me a CD appropriately titled "Songs to keep Mom awake while driving in the middle of the night through Kansas". We made it to Denver in a little over 20 hours arriving with just enough time to eat lunch and shower before church. We were so glad the packers finished early so we could spend a few days with Barr's parents before they left on a trip. The kids (and Barr and I) enjoyed being spoiled by Grandma with delicious meals, movies, and a visit to Jungle Quest. It rejuvinated us for the second half of the drive.


The boys got their Rock Band fix while the girls enjoyed Mckenzie's old Barbies.






Wednesday we made the 8-hour trip to Provo where Barr's Grandparents live. The kids loved going through their condo chosing which of the 4 guest bedrooms they wanted. I called dibs on the one with the king size memory foam mattress where I slept better than I had in weeks.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Walters

We spent Thursday morning showing the kids around Provo and Orem. This is the door where it all began 15 years ago. A desperate guy looking for a date and a nieve sophomore crazy enough to say yes!


Our first apartment as married students.









I had forgotten how beautiful Utah is!
We spent the rest of the day with Barr's sister, Emily, and her cute family. Brooke was so excited to get to see some of the cousins that she talks about everyday but doesn't remember ever meeting. The kids were all really good while we watched the movie in the Joseph Smith building and then took a tour of the conference center. It was fun to see where in just 2 days the prophet would be speaking to the church.

The Salt Lake temple and on the roof of the conference center
Our time in Utah was very chilly and we were all wishing we had packed pants and long sleeve shirts. Apparently the day before we arrived it was warm and sunny but we brought the snow in with us. We were grateful for the Vegas warmth on Friday where we spent the night. The hotel concierge directed us to a "family friendly" part of the city where we had a fun dinner complete with drunk men attempting to ride the mechanical bull and waitresses wearing less than they should. Gotta love Vegas!


Brittany was wise to pack Barbies for the 40 hours in the van.

Our first stop in California was at the much anticipated In-N-Out Burger. Since Dublin is the world headquarters of Wendy's the kids were worried they would miss the double stack until Barr told them about the best hamburgers ever. We weren't disappointed. I must admit I was a little nervous driving up to our new home. We were met by the auto shippers delivering Barr's car that had been damaged during transit and the cable guy to make sure we could watch conference the next day. Five minutes later, a nice family dropped off dinner for us: one of the benefits of buying the home of the compassionate service leader! The original plan was that the truck would be arriving that day, but they had to push it back until Monday. When the ward heard that we were camping out in our empty home for 2 nights, air mattresses, extra pillows, and cinnamon rolls showed up.

Enjoying general conference in our new family room.

Early Monday morning Barr flew to Reno for several days. Not great timing for me! By Monday night we were surrounded by boxes and feeling very overwhelmed. At least we had beds to sleep in...couldn't find the backpacks or silverware or even the floor for that matter! The kids started school the next day which in hind-sight I shouldn't have done. I thought I would get a lot more done with them gone, but ended up spending the entire day dropping off, picking up, or trying to get Brooke registered in the right program. I am really missing busing as California doesn't have school buses. We're only about a mile from both the elementary and the middle school and I'm quickly learning the little tricks of avoiding the long carpool lines. With 6 different drop off and pick-up times, early release days, and late-starts, I think I've had more of an adjustment than the kids. I am also realizing how much I need a GPS. That's what I should have requested for my birthday gift (to answer your question Heather!).

I guess for the most part we're all getting used to our new life here. Brooke is getting more comfortable with her new teachers and new surroundings(although right now she's next to me saying "go home"), Ben is learning it's kind of fun to have outside lockers and lunch, Brittany got the flu so has been on the couch for the last 4 days but before that was starting to make some good friends, and then there's Brigham. He's the one struggling. The class sizes went from 20 to 31 this year and I think his teacher is a little overwhelmed. He was kind of left on his own to learn the ropes and has had some tough learning experiences along the way. There are tears every evening and then again every morning as he dreads having to go to school. I've requested a classroom change but was told that can't be done. We're trying to work through this, but I'm not sure how it's going to turn out.

On a positive note, it feels like we're living at a resort. There are 7 neighborhood pools, 3 of which we have visited. I look at the blue skies, the 80 degree weather, and I think I could get used to this! It was funny though that last week Orange County got twice as much rain in 1 day as they did the entire month of October last year. I guess it was just so we would feel more at home.

Hopefully by the next posting I can say we've been to the beach, Disneyland, and we can park at least 1 car in the garage!