Happy Birthday Lauren and We're Moving!!!!

Monday Lauren had a well child check.  She is doing great and healthy.  We told Dr. Willmore we were moving and after we said where he spent about 15 minutes telling us how great Carlsbad is...and no at that point we didn't know we were really going.  Dr. Willmore's son was the guy who helped check us in and weigh Lauren and stuff.  He had Lauren guess his age.  She said 22 and got it right on.  Then she says to him you're older than my dad. I just laughed.  We organized a little more and tried to wait patiently.

Tuesday I took Jared, Lauren, and Bradley to visit Kati at hygiene school.  Kati had 2 friends to clean Jared and Lauren's teeth and she tried to do Brad.  Bradley would not open his mouth for anything...or sit in her chair by himself...or look at her.  Finally I forced his mouth open and she brushed them with her spiny brush and a little later he let her count them, but that was it.  Kati called and had Tate come in so she could pass something off.  The other girls said Jared and Lauren both did great!  Lauren kept asking if they were done yet and the girl kept saying a little longer and she would say ok and sit some more.  They got teeth cleaned, x-rays, and fluoride and everything else done, but it was a really long visit.  I don't blame Lauren for wanting to be done.  We got there at 8 and they were done at 11:15 ish.  Bradley fell asleep on the way home, so part of it might have been because he was tired.  Connor stayed home with Alan.  In the afternoon we went to the Wymount activity.  They did fun science things like gack, suck a egg down into the jar, exploding paint ( vinegar and baking soda with food coloring in a bag), and they tried to do invisible ink.  They had a great time.  Connor wasn't feeling very good and had a fever.  I think most because his molars are coming in.  He has been super drooly with a runny nose.  We walked over to the softball field and he fell asleep on my lap and slept the whole time.  Alan went to work.  We all tried to wait patiently, but our week to cancel the truck was up...and we didn't cancel it.  That night I baked 6 dozen cup cakes for Lauren's birthday party and the chocolate cake she wanted.

Wednesday was Lauren's 6th birthday!  I frosted all the cup cakes in the morning.  We went to the aspire parents group and Ready to Learn.  We all got all the pizza we could eat for lunch.  The kids all got to pick a beanie baby to bring home too.  Lauren picked a walrus and was playing and it got stuck up on a light.  We had to have the tallest person stand on a chair to get it down.  She was lucky to get it back.  We hurried home when it was over and started to fill water balloons.  Our neighbor came down and helped...we had to do it from our hose.  We had about an hour and we managed to fill the whole package.  I think there were 175.   Water balloons are fun, but that is a lot of time for the 3 minutes of fun the 45 kids throwing them.  Besides water balloons we also got the grounds guy (Lance) to turn on the sprinklers on the softball field for her party.  Most of the time was spent playing in the sprinklers and slip n sliding on a tarp we got.  The kids all loved it.  We also had a pinata.  There were popsicles, cupcakes, juice, and all the candy the little kids could eat.  I took out all the candy I could find in our house.  It was a huge bowl full.  Lauren had a great time and I think the other kids did too.  After cleaning up her party we came home and I frosted her cake.  Our neighbor knocked on the door to see if we wanted some of their dinner...she had made way too much.  I said I would have to ask Lauren since it was her birthday...she had gotten to choose...from what we had in the freezer.  The offer was stir fry...and Lauren said no.  Our neighbor was saying birthday dinners are important...you get to pick whatever you want.  I said yeah but I did make her pick out of the freezer just in case we move.  She had wanted corn dogs and corn on the cob.  Our neighbor (Lisa) said we have corn dogs in the freezer and my kids won't eat them any more and I don't like them let me go get them...I think I have enough for 2 for everyone. She brought  14 corn dogs and a container of stir fry.  We also had pickles and chip.  Lauren got what she wanted for dinner after all...Lucky girl!  Jeff and Brett ate with us too.  Elizabeth had to go to a meeting.   Lauren wanted to wait for her to open presents and have cake.  We skyped with Bethany Lily and Maggie while we waited.  Lauren opened her presents and we had cake.  She was pretty excited to get a booster car seat.  We skyped with Ash and Will right before bed.  She also got to talk to grandma and grandpa.  I think Lauren had a pretty great day.

Jared dressed up since it was Lauren's birthday.

trying to do a water balloon toss

By the time Thursday rolled around I wasn't sure if a job offer was ever going to come.  I didn't mention that on Wednesday Alan emailed to see if it was coming soon.  They told him the guy who had been on vacation the week before had lost his laptop on the trip and some of the paper work had to be redone.  We went to the library for story time and craft.  The craft was little mummies out of tissue paper and a clothes pin...and googly eyes...oh and a pipe cleaner tied around for the arms.  They actually turned out pretty cute. In the afternoon Alan went to work for a bit.  We went the the Wymount activity.  It was art day.  They had several coloring pages, painting with edible paint (vanilla yogurt with koolaid mixed in) and some clay.  Jared and Lauren spent most of the time painting...and when everyone else was done painting they were splatter painting with it.  Bradley did a little painting, but then just ate it.  Connor painted and then had fun watching the other guys.splatter paint.  Alan showed up at the end of the activity...I figured the offer must have come...and it had!  We went right home to read it.  It is pretty exciting.  We were pretty sure we were going to take it, but decided to sleep on it.  That night we went to the quad potluck.  There were several regulars out of town so it was a small turn out, but still fun.

Friday we started packing...and box collecting.  Alan signed and faxed back the paper work he needed to to accept the offer.  We have a job!!!  We also turned in our 30 day notice to Wymount.  We came up with a plan for moving that we feel good about.  Most of it was already in place, but we changed it a little.  We had been thinking we would fill the truck as fast as possible and hurry to find a place in California before our stuff got there.  Then unload the truck and go to the family reunion. We decided to fill the truck and send our stuff to CA and just go to Washington and have a week vacation at grandma and grandpa's before the reunion.  Then after the reunion hurry down and find a place before school starts.  This was will save us lots of driving and some money...and sanity since we didn't know exactly how long it would take our stuff to get there.  The way we are doing it they will store it up to a month for us for an extra 350 dollars.  We are excited about this.  Moving is hard especially since we have been here for so long. I was really anxious about the whole thing, but now that we know for sure and have a good plan I really am excited to be moving on.  It is time for a change.  We worked on packing quite a bit.  Brett came up and played/ watched the kiddos for a while in the afternoon so we could get more done.  That night Alan stayed home to finish the contract work for 5D and I took these guys to the outdoor movie on campus.  It was Despicable Me.  We enjoyed the ice cream and games before the movie started.  We saw Brett there and Jeff and Elizabeth. Jared and Lauren loved it.  Bradley got tired, but stayed up the whole time.  Connor wasn't too into the movie, but was good enough and only bothered a few of the people around us.

Saturday was another day filled with packing.  In the morning I took the kids to a birthday party at the new splash pad at pioneer park.  We have been wanting to check it out. I'm glad we went to the party...we were the only friends who showed up.  The mom told us they tried to just do a family party on his birthday, but no family showed up...no uncles or grandma...and they live close.  Saturday at least 2 uncles were there and grandma.  It was a small party...it's hard to have a party if no one goes.  After the splash pad we played on the play ground for a short time.  It was also the farmer's market going on at the park so there were a lot of people there.  We came home ate lunch.  Jeff and Elizabeth took the kids to play at their place all afternoon and fed them dinner.  Brett came over and helped us pack.  He packed our kids books...which was super helpful!  He would have been a little faster if he didn't read them all before putting them in the box :) We remembered to turn on the Tabernacle Choir pioneer concert and listened to it a little.  Brett had to go home to write his talk.

Sunday was a good day.  I did singing time for the last time in this ward.  We sang pioneer songs and I told some pioneer stories.  We played the same game as last year since it was all ready to go.  It was using a sea gull to pick crickets off the floor.  Fingers are the beak of the sea gull.  It was simple, but fun. There was a new primary presidency and relief society presidency called.  In primary all year they have been putting cotton balls in a container and for each one they tell how they know Heavenly Father loves them.  There were just 2 cotton balls left in the bag and Jared and Bradley got chosen.  Bradley said Temples and Jared said shelter.  All I could think was for a few more days we will have shelter...then we will be homeless for at least 3 weeks.  But through our faith in Heavenly Father we can have faith that we will be able to find shelter quickly when we get to California.  Lauren got to do the scripture and got sung to for her birthday.  After church Jeff and Elizabeth took the kids to their house again for a couple of hours.  Then we all ate dinner together.  I went visiting teaching after that.  When I got home Alan went up to the Moore's house to pick up some things that we had stored in their basement.  We are really grateful they let us do that!  We wish we all could have gone to say bye, but their newest little guy isn't doing well...and we wouldn't have fit in the car with all our stuff.  It was a crazy week, but I'm really glad to have a plan...even if it is a crazy plan.

Ashley and Will came to visit!

Everyone was so excited that Ashley and Will were here to visit and wanted to sleep out with them...every day.  Lucky Ash and Will :)  We just had a slow morning and had fun visiting.  In the afternoon Brett came up to play and we went to the dinosaur museum and then over to the museum of peoples and cultures.  Alan unicycled over and met us at the dino museum because he had never been there before (unbelievable I know).  Then he rode to the bank then home to get some work done while the rest of us went to the other museum.  It was their passport to adventure day.  We got a passport when we got there and then went around to the different country booths and did the activities there.  We went to British Columbia and made totem poles, Africa and made some cool mud art, Sweden and played a fun game they play there, then we went inside and did the activities with the 2 exhibits inside.  We all got giant rice crispy treats when we were done.  Then we came home and Brett made Brazilian hotdogs for all of us and fried plantains and lime mousse.  It was all really yummy.  We all skyped with grandma and grandpa to wish grandma a happy birthday.  We of course stayed up way too late talking and entertaining Ashley and Will. (We'll have to get Ashley's pictures from her!)

A package from Grandma Schachterle came.  I told these guys they were pretty lucky to get presents from Grandma on Grandma's birthday!

Tuesday morning I had to go back to Kaitlyn to finish getting my teeth cleaned.  This time when I went she did the cleaning, polish, and a fluoride veneer?  I got back a little after 11 and then took Connor over to the health center for a weight check.  He is growing...just not very fast.  Ashley and Will went out some places for the morning around campus.  After lunch we went to seven peaks with Brett.  We had a really fun time slipping and sliding.  Ash was even brave enough to go down a couple of the tube slides.  (She has a special thing to go over her cast to keep it dry.)  Alan took Connor down avalanche once...he liked it ok.  Brett was able to get Bradley to go down the short kids tunnel curvy slide.  He told him he could have some gum and choose dinner (which we already planned to have little Caesars pizza) but some how Brett got Bradley thinking that he got to choose it and got him down the slide.  I asked Brad if he liked it and he said no.  We had gone a little later in the afternoon and it started to clear out so the lines weren't too bad and we stayed until closing.  We had a pizza feast when we got home.  Jeff and Elizabeth came too once they got home from their stake meeting they had to go to.  Alan and Will went to the creamery and brought back some ice cream which we all gobbled down on our cornucopia cones  :)

While I was gone getting my teeth cleaned these guys took apart our old computer.

When it was all apart they played lovely music with the pieces.

Pizza Party!

Wednesday we just hung out in the morning.  We were just sitting around visiting when all of a sudden Bradley said "Uuuggg Jared! You just got your breath in my nose!"  We all laughed, but poor Brad didn't know why we were all laughing and gave us a look and added gross!  I had forgotten that he said that, so I had to ask Ash what the funny thing was that Brad said earlier, and she said "which one?"  Ash and Will made blueberry pancakes for us for brunch.  They were yummy.  Then in the afternoon Ashley and Will went down to campus and played with Brett for a little bit.  Our family was too tired and just stayed and played and rested at home.   We had  nachos/ burritos for dinner then went to an Orem Owl's baseball game.  We were in general seating which meant we just sat out on the hill side.  It was fun to sit out at the game as the temperatures were cooling down and watch the game...and the people around us. I don't remember which day it was...I think Wednesday... but Lauren lost 2 teeth.  One on the bottom and one on the top.  She  got the bottom one out first in the morning.  Then she lost the second around dinner.  She said the top one wasn't too wiggly, but once she started on it it came out pretty fast.  When we were at the baseball game she had a nice gap for her sucker stick to come through.


Just playing...before she lost the second tooth.

Thursday morning we were sad to say bye to Ashley and Will.  It was a fun visit!  We went to the library in the morning for the craft and story time since we missed it on Tuesday.  They planted seeds in clear CD covers.  They punched holes in the top so they could hang with a suction cup in the window.  We tried ours (on the outside) but they kept falling off and making a mess.  The seeds have sprouted though...not hanging just sitting.  We hurried home from the library and ate lunch fast.  Then these guys all went and played at the Lintons.  I pick up Alan at work and went for the ultrasound appointment.  It is always fun to get to see the baby.  I think everything is going well...she didn't say otherwise.  After the appointment Alan went back to work.  These guys were already at a Wymount activity so we just stayed out at it for a while longer.  They were having a fun circus party with games and cotton candy.  Thunderstorms blew in right at the potluck time so we had it in the basement.  I didn't think the rain would last too long...and it didn't, but right at start time it was pretty bad.  Alan met us there and ate.  Then we came home and crashed...we were so tired.  It wears me out to be waiting waiting waiting to hear about the job.

Friday morning Alan got a call from one of the guys at 5D and said they guy who would send out the job offer was gone on vacation all week and would be back on Monday.  It would have been nice to know that all week so I wasn't expecting it to come anytime....so now we are just looking forward to Monday or Tuesday.  I went to the dentist again that morning to get the root canal finished and the filling in my crown put in.  It feels lots better and the dentist said it looked good.  He only had to drill out one of the roots..not all 3 which was good.  Alan went to work and we just played all afternoon.  Brett came up and played after a while too. That night Brett stayed for dinner and we watched UP.   These guys were excited they got to see the whole thing.  It's been a long time since I saw it.

Saturday Alan called and talked to a guy who lives down close to where we want to move to if we go to California (and he works at 5D too) we just asked some questions about the area and other things like that.  We called and reserved a truck for July 23rd for if we decide to go.  We feel like this is when we need to move if we are also going to go to the reunion and make it there for the start of the school year.  That is coming right up...next week!  Then Brett babysat for a bit while Alan and I went shopping.  Mostly birthday shopping, but just some normal stuff too.  We tried to get some things more organized in the afternoon and evening.

Today has been a good day.  I just played piano today for primary.  I'll lead again next week.  Alisha needed to trade since she will be gone next week. After church Grandma and Grandpa Atherton stopped by for a little bit.  They brought Lauren's birthday present...and Jared's too.  They brought a little guitar for Lauren and a ukulele for Jared.  I hope they have fun with them.  They also brought some bags of clothes.  It was a good day.  Lots of things are unknown right now and I am just hoping that somethings become a little more clear this week.

Look at that gappy smile.

4th of July!!!

Last Monday Alan worked on some models for the guys down at 5D robotics.  Since we hadn't heard from them by the end of the previous week we figured we wouldn't hear from them this week. The guys working on the offer went on vacation.  It made me a little less anxious since I knew it probably wouldn't be coming.  We just hung out around here...mostly.  In the morning we did go to seven peaks for a few hours with Alan.  It was fun to get to go with dad.  He was able to take Jared and Lauren down a few slides.  It was super busy there though so we weren't able to do much sliding.  It was another over 100 day and lots of people tried to go early.  We had to wait to get in the parking lot out down the street and curved around.  Everyone wanted to go try and cool off.  Even though it was busy we still had fun.  Brett came up and played with us in the afternoon.  My teeth were killing me and I took a nap.

Tuesday we went to the library in the morning. They made tissue paper stalactites attached to paper plates in patriotic colors and could paint with glow in the dark paint if they wanted.  My teeth were so bad they had kept me up the night before.  I also had Alan go buy some new (unexpired) Tylenol at the health center...which helped a little.  I went to the dentist in the afternoon.  He said I would have to get a root canal redone on my molar that has one with a crown.  They would just drill through the crown and then put a composite filling in the crown.  They put me on amoxicillin and some Tylenol with codeine to help with the pain.  Once I started to amoxicillin it got a little better.  They couldn't get me in until Friday to do the work, but I survived.  I got to the point where I didn't need the pill with codeine...which was good since it made me sleepy.  Lauren also lost a top tooth on Tuesday.

Wednesday I was feeling a little better.  In the morning we just relaxed.  Alan stayed here and played with us.  In the afternoon I went to Kaitlyn's dental hygiene school so she could clean my teeth.  The first appointment was just looking at my teeth and measuring things in my mouth.  On the way home I stopped at walmart for some diapers.  That night we working on getting ready for Ashley and Will to come visit....at least a little bit.

Thursday was the 4th of July!!!!  We got up and went to the parade in the morning.  We went to our favorite spot at the end and found a nice spot right along the street in the shade.  We didn't get there until 9:40 so we only had to wait about 10 minutes for the parade to get there.  We were also able to park about half a block away.  We had fun watching the parade with Ash, Will, Brett, Jeff and Elizabeth.  After the parade we drove down center street closer to the printing museum and to see the other booths and things there.  We got our tour of the museum with the only working Gutenberg printing press with original style type.  It is pretty cool.  They have lots of other presses there too.  Then we walked around the booths by the courthouse and did a few of the kids crafts.  Then we all hurried home to work on making yummy food.  There were some people slip n sliding with a 100 foot tarp on the softball field so Alan, Jared, and Lauren hurried out there to slide some.  I wasn't fast enough out there with the camera.  They said it was pretty fun.  We had a super yummy barbecue dinner.  We had hamburgers (Lauren had a hot dog) tradewind, frog eye salad, watermelon, dips, chips, jello flag (that made it out for the end of the meal)...I must be missing something that doesn't sound like much, but we all were stuffed and it didn't even look like we made a dent.  We were so fully we saved the gooey brownies and ice cream for another day.  All of us at the parade were there along with Steven (Elizabeth's brother) and his girl friend Kari.  Ashley and Will went back up to Taylorsville for fireworks and the rest of us were able to let our food settle a little before hiking up to the great valley for fireworks.  Brett ran home for a few minutes and then Alan went down and picked up him and a friend to come watch with us...Lauren talked her ear off the whole fireworks show.  The great valley is a fun place to watch from because you can see all the others being shot off all across the valley.  Everyone was exhausted by the time we got home, but it was a great day!

Came out of the mold good, but for some reason the blue and white layers traded places.

Connor enjoyed his dinner...watermelon and jello...and whatever else Brett fed him.  Connor will eat almost anything Brett will feed him...and almost nothing I feed him (or so it seems).

Friday morning Alan helped our neighbors next door move.  I went and had the start of my root canal done.  It was so infected they could just start it and then had to wait for some of the infection to clear up before they could finish it.  I just got a temporary filling in it.  The dentist pushed on the roof of my mouth at one point to help clear out some of the infection and it hurt really bad.  I didn't realize that that pain was related to my tooth.  It has been hard to spit really good for about a month!  To have some pressure relieved help a lot with the pain.  Then in the afternoon we went out to the Scera park and saw all of the fun things out there.  First there was the play Cries of Freedom then we went through some stations to learn about the constitution..it was just about the preamble. They were good little lessons. Then we walked over and saw all the reenactment camp.  Lauren and Jared liked visiting the colonial school like always.  We were just finishing up there when a huge thunder storm was rolling in.  It started to rain as we were getting out of the car at home.  Brett wasn't going to stay long, but got stranded at our place because it was coming down so hard.  It was a good storm.  It was nice to have it cool off so much after being so hot for so many days.  Jeff and Elizabeth brought over their brownies and ice cream to share.

Connor was great at waving his flag!

  

Connor did not like this!

Saturday morning we got up early and went to the balloon festival.  We got there at 6:30 but the balloons didn't go up...they didn't even fill up.  We were kind of disappointed, but we had heard they didn't go up on the 4th either.  Brett did see them out the window of the library on Friday though. They only went up one of the 3 days.  We did get to see smokey the bear and check out a firetruck.  Alan and I were both exhausted still when we got home.  We put on between the lions for Bradley, Lauren, and Jared and laid back down.  Connor went back to sleep with us.  Later in the day we went to LoLos and tried to start organizing things in case we move soon.

Sunday we worked on getting more ready for Ash and Will to some stay with us.  I made some rolls before church and used part of the dough to make a cheesy pull apart recipe we got from Jeff and Elizabeth.  While I was in the middle of putting it together a girl stopped by and said she couldn't make it to church and would I be willing to play the organ for her.  I was already cutting it close for getting to church on time, but we made it....barely.  Playing the organ went ok and I also got to play the piano in primary.  For singing time we did a fun activity with putting a flag together and reviewing songs.  After church we got together with Jeff and Elizabeth, and Brett for dinner...we weren't sure what time Ash and Will would be coming, so we planned dinner just in case they were here.  We just had leftover salads and bread.  I did make coleslaw so there was a savory flavor.  It was all really good dinner!  Jeff and Elizabeth had made a bread that was cheese, tomatoes, and sausage rolled up on the inside and it was really good.  I told them it is good they are into food because they are the source of all my new recipes right now (well them and a few of you others :)  Ashley and Will got here and we had brownies and ice cream Yum!