August was a blur of exhaustion. We packed and cleaned and packed some more. Our sweet neighbors practically raised our kids in their driveway while we tried to get things done. My visiting teachers and those same sweet neighbors brought meals - more food than we could possibly eat. Finally the time came to say goodbye. We packed up the boat and our 2 cars and drove away from Illinois on August 10th.
We were only there for a year, but that was plenty of time to fall in love with the area (i.e. St. Louis, not Illinois) and our wonderful ward. We were more than happy to leave behind our stinky rental and the schools.
The drive across the country was mostly uneventful and we arrived in Idaho just in time for school registration. It was also our 15th wedding anniversary, but we were so exhausted that we just left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa for a bit while we drove around to find the grocery store and our new church building. No worries though, we made up for it with a getaway in December (details to come).
First things first though: family time! Kassie with cousin Reagan:
Karoline didn't transition well. She would screech at anyone who looked at her. But Grandpa quickly figured out that the iPad stopped the horrible noises.
Only a couple days after arriving, Ed had to fly back to New York to work for Delta. From there he flew back to St. Louis to pack up the Penske. He'd hired 2 moving guys to help, but our ward was offended by that so they came over the night before to load some of the heavy stuff. The moving guys came, saw our pile of stuff and said, "oh yah, we can fit all that in the moving truck, easy." So they began to load without discretion...and were sadly wrong. By the time they left the truck was full and our kitchen table, several chairs, 3 barstools, some desks, coffee table, garage stuff, 2 big-screen tvs, my vacuum, and our lawnmower were still sitting outside of the truck. I nearly cried when Ed called me - I can only imagine his frustration. I don't know how my superman did it, but he managed to get everything but the barstools, a desk, a few garage items, the lawnmower, and 1 tv stuffed into the holes the moving guys had left. He gave away the tv and left everything else for the garbage. Then he cleaned the house, turned over the keys, and began the long drive across the country.
In the meantime, we were still enjoying cousins. Eric and Erin were in town, so Keira got plenty of Cati-time.
And of course we went to Lucky Peak.
We helped in the garden, mowed the yard, and cut up rhubarb for freezing.
We also met our new ward (it is HUGE - like Stake Conference every week; they had to decide which of 3 Valiant 10 classes to put Keira in), did school orientations 4 times, shopped for school supplies, and Keira started cross country - which meant driving to and from practice 35 minutes away every morning.
And then Lee and Amy came. Kassie and Ani are best buds.
And Karoline made a new bestie:
Finally Ed arrived with the moving truck. The whole 26-ft truck looked like this:
Our family troops rallied and the truck was empty in no time. Normally I am more than ready to get things unpacked and put away and organized, but I was totally dragging my feet this time. I had just packed all the darn stuff up! So while I ran one kid to meet her school teacher, Amy went ahead and unpacked my kitchen. I got back and she and Lisa started asking me where to put stuff and I started having a panic attack...so they just put it where they felt like. Family is awesome.
2 days later, with a house still full of boxes and no idea where anything was...school started again.
Kimberlee started 8th grade. Her electives are Spanish, Keyboarding and Art.
Keira started 6th. That is middle school here, and she is taking Exploratory (keyboarding/art/home ec) and orchestra.
Middle school buddies
Krista is in 3rd grade. Her class has 28 students, and 22 of them are boys. :)
And the Sass started Kindergarten! It's only half-day here (dumb), but Kassie has the sweetest teacher. I warned her that Kassie is reading, but Kass still blew her away. She quickly came up with lots of ways to keep her engaged and not bored at school. Perfect.
And my at-home buddy. The move was really hard for this one. Lots and lots of crying. Eric and Erin probably thought she had serious attachment issues... maybe she does. But we had hope that it would get better with time.
We finished up August with lots of unpacking, and enjoying this beautiful acre of ours. Oh, and very low humidity. I think we're going to like it here.
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