Day 31

Well we've been here for a month.  It's been a bit of a wretched month weather-wise.  We have had several snow storms and 1 ice storm.  Here is what we have been up too for the month of January.

 Damon had a work dinner downtown.  We got to get all dressed up.  Unfortunately it was also in one of the huge snow storms so getting there and back home was a bit stressful.  We still had a nice time though.

Our stuff finally arrived.  It was only 14 days late.  We were all happy to not be sleeping on the floor anymore.

 We've had a lot of family time.  We haven't really started any extra activities so our days aren't busy.  Since we don't know anyone we hang out with each other a lot.

 I went on two field trips.  One with the kids and one with Lily's class.  Lily is a huge "Cupcake Wars" fan.  One of the stores that won the show is in South Jordan.  So we took a field trip there.  Lily was in heaven.

 I went with Lily's class to a symphony.  We rode a bus, which Lily was so excited about, down to the U of U to their performing arts department.  We had to disinfect ourselves and get all the Ute germs off of us after we left, but we had a lovely time and the symphony was fun. I was in charge or 9 girls.

The elementary kids get out early every Friday and one Friday we decided to make cupcakes.  We made snickerdoodle cupcakes from scratch.  They were so absolutely yummy.  We had to try really hard to not eat more than one in one sitting.

 We had to get a new car for Damon because the 4runner was just not made for this kind of weather (it's not a 4x4).  He got a Subaru Outback.  I still miss the 4runner.

Adam had a science experiment.  We were very proud of him because the rest of the 5th graders have had this assignment since October.  We got it when we started school and we cranked out a project that was pretty good.

 We also joined a club.  It's wonderful.  It's got a lot of fun classes to take for adults and kids.  It has a pool and a USS swim team.  What more can we want?  Nothing.  

 It's been a full month.  I keep hoping life will get a little easier, that we will miss San Diego and Scripps Ranch a little less.  I am starting a month of new meals.  It's time to get cooking! 

The 1st Week

Well we have been in Salt Lake a week and we are all still alive.  It's amazing.  Salt Lake welcomed us at 9pm on New Year's day with the temperature being about 7*F.  (lovely)  We found out our stuff wasn't going to be here on time from the moving company (that's a whole other story) so we have been camping out in our townhouse with the bare minimum of stuff.  It hasn't been to bad, but we are all tired of living out of suitcases and sleeping on the floor.

Our 2nd day here was the first day back to school (these poor kids have to go back the day after New Year's.  Yuck).  We slept in a little that morning and then made it to the kids schools for them to register.  I can't say that I am all that impressed with the education system in this state and I feel like we are doing our kids a disservice, but other than going to private school (which we can't do) we don't have much of a choice.  There will be a lot of supplementing going on.  We were able to go over to our cousin's house and have dinner with the Updike's.  I think this is the closest we have ever lived to family.

Day 3 was a hard day for me since I sent the kids to school.  I worried about them so much.  I almost broke down into tears twice while dropping off the younger two.  I miss the comforts of Jerabek.  The schools are all indoors and they have inside days if the weather is below 22*F (please, they should be indoors if the weather is below 40.  No wonder everyone is sick all the time here and RSV is so rampant).  The kids all had a great day, but I did hear a lot of "I already learned this" or "we did this last year".  Noah is doing the same math class he did last year and they won't move him up.

 Day 4-7 have been pretty much the same.  On Saturday the boys were able to go play at their cousin's house (Damon's cousin's kid).  We did a little shopping.  I found a grocery store.  I bought material for Noah for his Home Ec class (who still does that?) and we managed to find our way to church.  We also had a great dinner Sunday night over at Damon's cousin's house. 

Things are starting to settle down here into a routine of sorts.  I am positive things will look up once our stuff arrives, but it is amazing how little we can actually survive on.  It is a bit of an inconvenience though.  I have gotten creative with cooking with only 1 skillet and a big pot.  Our stuff should be here by the 14th.  11 days later than promised.  I may just stick to moving our stuff ourselves when we move again.

It's cold, but it hasn't snowed yet and I am grateful for that.  The idea of driving in the snow or ice freaks me out to no end.  Hopefully our house in San Diego will close soon so we can stop paying rent and a mortgage. I'm trying to stay positive throughout all this.  I told Damon that one day we would look back at this time and laugh.  He didn't seem to believe me.  Only time will tell.  I miss the familiarity of San Diego and the friends and comforts we had in Scripps. 

New Year's Eve

We ended up spending a few extra days at Mortensen Manor due to our lovely moving company not moving our stuff up to UT.  It worked out for the best because New Year's Eve was amazing!!

On Dec. 30th we had our super fancy dinner.  My sister was in bed sick all day so my other sister and I decided to go all fancy with the place settings.  Meals just look better that way.  My brother in law did a fabulous meal. It was a great night.

Dec. 31 started like any other day.  Yummy breakfast, trip to the park, runs to the grocery store.  We wanted to make it really fun for the kids and I think we did.  We had a real casual dinner which was perfect.  The kids had dessert after the adults were done setting their new goals for the new year and then the games began.

 Cottonball blowing

 Mummifying

 After games we did fireworks.  Then we watched the ball drop and all the kids went to bed at 9:30pm, well the younger kids. Then the real fun began.

We did nylon games, rump shaker,  cookies on the face, whip cream sucker, and orange rolls.  It was a night filled with fun games and uncontrollable laughter.

Men wearing the nylons

Cookie on the face.

Yea!