Stuff

Ok. Soooo... last week we were thinking of looking for a job in Salt Lake, and we've been wanting to go see Katie for a while. We realized that if we wanted to go we could just do it, but we'd better hurry up before June madness started. We hemmed and hawed and weighed our options and got things done before finally getting packed and on our way on Tuesday. It was afternoon but the time we pulled into Wal-Mart in Payson. See, we wanted to get a new DVD player for our car, but there wasn't one at our Wal-Mart. So I ran into Wal-Mart in Payson and got that DVD player and snacks. But while I was gone Jeremy got a phone call from the school district in St. Johns. They asked for an interview the next morning. What??! So we made a detour and went to St. Johns.

We stayed the night, and the next day the kiddos played in the water outside on the trampoline while Jeremy went to his interview. It turned out that I was a lame-o and really needed to sunscreen my children! Joshua came in early, so he didn't get burned. Timmy didn't get burned either. I think he was too busy with puzzles to even know what was going on outside. Jill got some sunscreen and was fine. Michael's shoulders got burned, and Hyrum's feet and arms were pretty red. He at least remembered to wear a shirt. But Benji took the cake this time. He got burned really bad on his shoulders, back, and tummy. His shoulders had blisters by Saturday. Some of them popped and the skin kind of rubbed off, and now he has a big scab on one shoulder and is peeling all over. He fussed about sunburns for the rest of our trip. Poor guy! Well, they had a lot of fun playing!

After Jeremy's interview we went and looked at a house that is going up for rent, and then we loaded up and got down the road. Jeremy decided to drive through Cedar City. I was surprised because it's not the fastest way to SLC from St. Johns, but I was glad to be there. In a lot of ways, coming back to Cedar City felt like a coming back around to the correct order of things, like the proper manner. It felt like coming home. I was quite sorry to leave again.

We got into Cedar City about 1:00 AM and found a hotel at the north end of town. The guy was really nice and let us just squish into one room. We dragged out the sleeping bags and got everyone to bed. We almost missed the free breakfast the next morning! And before we left Jeremy got a call saying he didn't get the job in St. Johns. Boooo! I was pretty bummed. It would have been so good for our family to be there near my parents. I'm sad that it didn't work out.

We hopped on the road again and made it to Katie's house (I assume it's in West Jordan and not South Jordan, but I don't know for sure) in the afternoon. She has a nice house. It's a good size and has just about the nicest backyard ever. There's a sandbox over by the shed, and there's a little garden and a big playground. There are lots of fruit trees and lovely green grass. It's a great place! Katie got pizza for dinner. Yum! We spent time just visiting and enjoying the lovely weather.

The next day Katie kept her kiddos home from school and we played at her house all day. We thought about going swimming, but it was too expensive. We were going to go to a farm, bit the kids didn't want to. What the...? I got a little laundry done. It was just a nice day. Then we watched the Lego movie. It's great. :) (Speaking of movies, if you haven't seen the new Secret Life of Walter Mitty, see it! It was so, so good!)

The next morning we loaded up and headed back down south. I was sad to pass Lynnette without saying hi. Lame! One part of the trip I really liked: I read Laddie to Jeremy. I got it for free on my Kindle a while ago, and I needed to get through it. I'm working on figuring out a homeschool system, and it requires me to read classics first. I have to get ready to help my kiddos through classics: reading, discussing, writing papers, etc. But I have to get myself started first, and Laddie was my assignment. Anyway, I couldn't keep it to myself. That would be lame! So I read to Jeremy. It was a really great book. (And it's free for your Kindle or Kindle app, so go read it!)

We had lunch in Fillmore at the little park by the gas station. It was fun. :) We stopped in Cedar City on the way home too. We got there in the afternoon. We stopped at Lin's (a grocery store) and got ice cream. Then we took it across the street to the park next to the library. The park has a new huge playground! It's really tall. It has three levels in one spot. It has a little playground for the little kids, and new swings and a merry-go-round. It's great! After letting the kiddos play we went to Wal-Mart for diapers and dinner, and then we cooked dinner (frozen burros) and had baths in the hotel.

The next morning we went to our old ward for church. It was so great! We didn't have church clothes, and that felt funny, but it was so fun to see our friends again! I'm not sure where Bishop Reynolds was. Maybe he went on vacation, but anyway he's not the bishop anymore. He was replaced in January by the Elders Quorum president, Tyler Romeril. He's such a good guy! I loved seeing my good friend Tia Fawson and her family, even if it was quick. And we saw the Mitchells and the kids' old teachers. We also saw our old neighbors, the Kellys. It looks like Hollie Kelly (the wife) has been having chemo again. I think of her now and then. I'm sure she probably has no idea how much I care. I always wish I knew how she was doing, but I never want to ask. I think I should have been a better friend and just asked those hard questions. I was just worried about being a bother. Anyway, the Kellys are such a cute family. It was nice to see them again. Michael was particularly pleased to see their kids, Jori and Aaron.

Since Sacrament Meeting was at 11:00, we just left right after that. We drove almost straight home. We did have a little stop in Flagstaff, but that's about it. It was about 10:00 when we got home. Timmy was covered in Gatorade, so he got a bath. He was so glad to get out of the car! He was such a good boy the whole time. He did do some decompressing that evening. He screamed for a long time about who knows what, but he did finally go to sleep. Phew!

Brom is so fun! He can lean way forward on his hands and knees to grab things and then sit back down. He sometimes goes all the way to bis tummy, and then he just rolls around to get wherever he wants. But he isn't crawling just yet. He's getting good at poking things. Today he discovered that if he poked my nose I would say, "Beeeeep!" He thought that was funny and did it over and over. Its cute to see him make the connection between his actions and the consequences. Amazing! He decided on that trip that he doesn't like mooshed baby food after all. (The kind that WIC buys in jars for him.) Bummer! Maybe he'll decide later that he likes it after all. That's what Timmy did. Bit he loves bananas. :) And he also loves Cheerios and other things he can feed himself. Oh, and before we got home from that trip his top right tooth broke through, and now he's working on the other one. When he sits he can scoot himself backwards a little bit, and at church on Sunday he let go of Papa's hands and just stood there for a few seconds! He's pretty amazing.