Farewell Oregon

Here are a couple pictures of our last days in Oregon (cellphone pics). The van being sent on its way...

 We were able to go to the temple together one last time. Our sweet babysitter offered to do it for free for us as a "going away" gift. She is seriously the sweetest girl ever.

 The movers were originally going to pack us on Thursday, load us on Friday, and then we flew out on Saturday. However, two days before, they called and said they wanted to do it all in one day! I was completely amazed that they could come in and completely pack and load our house in 6 hours! It was awesome.

 The boys staying entertained during the move...

 Our sweet neighbors invited us over for dinner that night which was so nice. Before we went to dinner we said goodbye to some of our dearest friends there. Laura had just had a baby the week before, so it was so nice to see her sweet baby boy and enjoy their company one last time.

We miss our friends!

We asked our neighbors to take a picture of us in front of our house. Good memories!

Friday we cleaned and swam in the hotel and then Saturday we flew to California!

California: Part Four! (of Four)

Friday and Saturday were spent at the Nowlands. They only do "official" reunions every other year, but since everyone but us lives in California now, it was great to be able to see everyone while we were there! We felt so lucky to see all of our siblings and have our kids see all of their cousins that week. They were in heaven!

Friday we played inside and outside. I forgot to mention that while we were in California we put our house in Utah up for sale...by owner! Our renters told us the week before we moved that they needed to leave, but they were willing to show the house, etc. So we decided to go for it and we put it up on Tuesday and got a FULL price offer on WEDNESDAY. It was amazing. However, I was a little distracted on Friday and Saturday by the paperwork and phone calls and stuff, but it all got worked out and everything is going great for our close at the end of the month! We feel very blessed.

These two are so cute!

 Me at the fun table! Shannon joined me later.

 Levi and Anna.

 Shannon with Boston and Kamryn.

 Nice sharing!

 Handsome boy!

 This girl loves her Papa!

 Ring around the rosie...

 On Saturday some of the kids went to the neighbor's house to swim.

 Oh my word. Adorable.

 Like grandfather like grandson.

My birthday was the next day (Sunday), so Saturday afternoon, Jeremy and his Grandma took me to lunch for my birthday to Thai Chile. We've been hearing about this place for years from Grandma because she takes everyone there. The owner loves her and always brings out twice as many (or more) dishes than she orders. Sure enough, we ordered three things and she brought out EIGHT! Good grief. It was a feast. It was so fun though. We had a great time getting some one-on-one time with Grandma and tasting all the different dishes. We were so stuffed.

Speaking of...we also ate lots of delicious food at the Nowlands! We felt bad for going out because there's always so much amazing fresh food to eat over there. That night we had another feast. Thank you George and Jared for grilling! Grilled tri-tip, garlic bread, vegetables, corn and pineapple along with several delicious salads.

 I love Ben's face. Haha.

 And to finish it off, Grammy got some awesome mustaches.

 Even Anna got one. Ha!

Sunday morning came way too soon. Jeremy and Anna and I flew out that morning to Chicago. The boys stayed with Jeremy's parents for a few more days so we could get things set up. It was very nice of them and it helped the unpacking process immensely!

Sunday (Happy Birthday to me!) on the plane. Anna enjoyed all the attention from both her parents at once! It was fun. 

 And flying into the city...Helloooo Chicago!!

Lots more to come about our adventures so far. But I'm done for today. FIVE posts in one day! And I somehow managed to hang all the pictures on the downstairs, mop the downstairs, and clean most of the house. It was a productive day! Thanks to Anna who took a 3.5 hr nap and the boys who played legos ALL afternoon long. Whew!

California: Part Three

Thursday was packed full of fun. We ran a 5k in the morning! I had the crazy idea that we should do it and everyone jumped on board. We mapped a loop around the church since my parents' neighborhood is extremely hilly. Rob, Heidi, Sam, Seth, Amy, Yihua, and Jeremy and I all ran the 5k. My mom walked most of it and then went with Brenna, Kenneth, Grant and Shannon on a 1-mile run. The younger kids ran a little loop around the church too. It was fun!

 Post-run watermelon!

 Story time with Uncle Mike.

 Then that night, we did some fun Minute to Win It games. They were a hit! Here are my parents and Heidi trying to shake ping pong balls out of a an empty tissue box tied around their waist.

 Nice moves, Mom!

 Steve, Grant, and Yihua bouncing ping pong balls into a cup. I think Grant won this one!

 Stacking dice on top of a popsicle stick held in the mouth

 Mike was the champion.

 Moving an oreo from the forehead to the mouth.

 Way to go, Sam!

 Cereal box puzzle...

 Transferring cotton balls using petroleum jelly on the nose. Rob won!

 Picking up paper bags of various heights with your teeth.

 Knocking over water bottles using a tennis ball in a nylon tied around the head. :)

 We had videos that explained each event and a timer. We hooked it all up to my parents' TV. It was legit.

 Heidi pulling pennies out of nylon legs.

 Grandma, Eli, and Kenneth intently shooting rubberbands and paper cup pyramids.

 Sucking M&Ms with a straw.

 Jeremy, Amy, and Rob picking up penne noodles using spaghetti noodles.

 The not-so-enthusiastic audience. Haha.

 Unrolling a whole roll of toilet paper. Brenna was the winner!

 Scoreboard.

It was a fun reunion! My Dad is retiring in September and they are moving out of their big "reunion" house as they call it, so it was fun to have one last hurrah there. We got packed up the next morning and headed over to the Nowlands for a couple days. More to come!