Probably Not.
Blogs are a thing of the past now, but it's also something I regret letting go. Our family blog has settled many arguments on the history of our family as we've aged and forgotten certain details. And now we have a giant hole in our documented history. I've tried to keep things updated on instagram, but the details are missing. So I'm going to give this blog thing another shot. Family history is important and if I don't do it here, it won't get done anywhere else. Plus my kids love reading old stories about us.
Where to start up again is a bit overwhelming. So much has happened! So I'm just going to start where we closed the last chapter of major life events.
Bo graduated college.
Did you know he even went back to school?
Yep. He did. Three years ago! It was rough for everyone. It's hard to have a nice salary and voluntarily leave it for student living with 3 kids. And the ever changing wonky student schedules are the worst! Bo could have picked an easy degree, like economics or something political that would have been a breeze for him, but did he? Nope. He decided to become an Engineer. Those classes are no joke. Especially when you go back to school after not being in school for about 10 years. I can't even survive without the calculator on my phone anymore and I scored honors in math back in High School. Bo did the bare minimum of math requirements in High School and managed to pull off a degree that requires a lot of math! Amazing!
When we found ourselves in the last semester of school, it was time to start looking for a job. Luckily with a welding engineer degree, the jobs kind of come to you. Bo was approached by Lincoln Electric to come work for them. He interviewed, was flown out to Cleveland for a 2nd interview, was put up in a high rise hotel, smoozed with the best meal he has ever had and was shown the town. I could argue they should be smoozing the wife, but whatever. Bo felt really good about the job and accepted the offer to become a sales engineer with the company. That meant that we would be moving to Cleveland at the end of July for a 7 month training and then we would be transferred somewhere else in the United States afterwards. Being the planner I am and longing to buy a house and settle, this was hard for me. But here we are! We'll find out in January where we'll be going next. Cross your fingers for west of the Rockies!
No bed, no problem! Moving is the worst!
Getting out here was crazy. Lincoln Electric paid for all the moving expenses and they hired people to come and pack our house, load everything up in a semi truck and deliver it to our new home. The only catch is the packers/movers came the next morning after graduation so they would have enough time to get our stuff to Cleveland before Bo started work. We had lots of family visiting, cousins sleeping over and a bunch of strangers trying to pack up all my dishes at the same time. It was stressful and so tiring, but also such a perk! Bo's family left the day after graduation and my mom, dad, aunt and uncle stayed two more days so they could take the kids for me to the rv park where they were staying. The kids swam and fished all day and were in heaven! Bo had to leave a day early to go to "work" down in Utah for some field training, so the kids and I stayed an extra day behind to finish cleaning the house and packing the van, which was no easy feat. The kids and I managed to drive 4 hours by ourselves at night, in a rainstorm, to Utah without the tow hitch pin secured into the hitch. Oops. Someone was looking out for us... or at least the dog.
It was a really hard goodbye. Lot's of great memories at 5383 South. Everything was so crazy fast getting out of there that I wasn't really able to let myself grieve leaving such a special place. When I saw pictures of "breakfast at the bus stop" (the neighborhood meets together for breakfast at the bus stop on the first day of school and we all see our kids off together) a few weeks later on facebook, I finally let the flood gates open. That was a hard day. We lived in the most caring community. I had so many friends that I could call on for anything and they were there in a second! They would take me out to lunch on my birthday, shared their huckleberry spots with me (that's real love) and best of all, they loved my kids and always made them feel special. The ward family was amazing. We were so well taken care of! Secret Santa showed up on our door step every Christmas with gift cards to the grocery store and cash for presents just to make sure that we would have a good Christmas. A sister would stock our freezer with meat - including fresh caught Alaskan Salmon because she knew how much our kids loved fish. One time I was sick and sent an SOS text out asking if anyone had a can of soup I could have. Within 5 minutes, I had cans of soup, saltine crackers and ginger ale. The love we felt was amazing! The epitome of what a community should be like. We also had Bo's cousins who were going to school there. We got to know all of them on another level that probably wouldn't have happened otherwise and I'm really thankful for those connections.
... Ok, back from crying some more.
After we got to Utah to pick up Bo, we were on our way! The company shipped Bo's truck for us, so we were able to drive to Cleveland together. They also paid for all the hotels, food and gas expenses to get out here. We ate and slept really well!
And now we live in Mentor, OH in the Chardon Township and right down the road from Kirtland Hills. We are in the Kirtland Ward, which is kind of cool because the Kirtland Temple was the first LDS temple ever built. It has been fun seeing and learning about more church history around here. The current LDS population is less then 1% in the area, so it's definitely a change going from the Mormon Rexburg bubble where the population was 99%, but there are so many nice people here and we really lucked out on our neighbors!
The boys are going to school. Brodie is doing awesome. He was the one I was most worried about. Turns out I should have been more worried about Ryker. He's had a hard time making friends, but I've been volunteering in his class and he seems to be doing better. He did come home today saying that everyone laughed at him because the water bottle I sent him with to school was too small. Way to go Mom. How dare I. So tonight I'll be shopping for the coolest water bottle out there. Mari goes to "preschool" at the YMCA. It's called Child's Morning Out. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-12:00. They have a snack and bible lesson along with an activity and then they go swimming on Tuesday and do Gymnastics on Thursday. She thinks it's the best school ever!
Bo really likes the company he is working for. They get to go on cool trips (like to Nascar races) and he gets paid, so no one is complaining!
The boys are doing flag football and are enjoying it. It's Go Bears for the next month. Mari is on the cheering squad. It is adorable. For Bo, it is the cutest and scariest thing he's ever seen.
Anyways, that's probably it for now. The main theme of this post? Change. Change is hard. I don't really like change, especially when I like where I am. Change can be good too though. It keeps things fresh and helps shape us into better people. A woman in our new ward bore her testimony the other day and talked about how for years she drove through this very affluent neighborhood and dreamed that one day she would have a house there. In the neighborhood there was a gorgeous pond. She noticed though after some time that the pond started to look scummy. She related that to our lives and that if we keep things the same and go about our regular routines without much resistance and just sit there like the pond, after time, we can become scummy too. That doesn't mean you have to move across the country away from everyone you know, or quit your job and go back to school, but it's ok to welcome change as well and try not to be afraid to jump into the deep end!
Blogs are a thing of the past now, but it's also something I regret letting go. Our family blog has settled many arguments on the history of our family as we've aged and forgotten certain details. And now we have a giant hole in our documented history. I've tried to keep things updated on instagram, but the details are missing. So I'm going to give this blog thing another shot. Family history is important and if I don't do it here, it won't get done anywhere else. Plus my kids love reading old stories about us.
Where to start up again is a bit overwhelming. So much has happened! So I'm just going to start where we closed the last chapter of major life events.
Bo graduated college.
Did you know he even went back to school?
Yep. He did. Three years ago! It was rough for everyone. It's hard to have a nice salary and voluntarily leave it for student living with 3 kids. And the ever changing wonky student schedules are the worst! Bo could have picked an easy degree, like economics or something political that would have been a breeze for him, but did he? Nope. He decided to become an Engineer. Those classes are no joke. Especially when you go back to school after not being in school for about 10 years. I can't even survive without the calculator on my phone anymore and I scored honors in math back in High School. Bo did the bare minimum of math requirements in High School and managed to pull off a degree that requires a lot of math! Amazing!
No bed, no problem! Moving is the worst!
Getting out here was crazy. Lincoln Electric paid for all the moving expenses and they hired people to come and pack our house, load everything up in a semi truck and deliver it to our new home. The only catch is the packers/movers came the next morning after graduation so they would have enough time to get our stuff to Cleveland before Bo started work. We had lots of family visiting, cousins sleeping over and a bunch of strangers trying to pack up all my dishes at the same time. It was stressful and so tiring, but also such a perk! Bo's family left the day after graduation and my mom, dad, aunt and uncle stayed two more days so they could take the kids for me to the rv park where they were staying. The kids swam and fished all day and were in heaven! Bo had to leave a day early to go to "work" down in Utah for some field training, so the kids and I stayed an extra day behind to finish cleaning the house and packing the van, which was no easy feat. The kids and I managed to drive 4 hours by ourselves at night, in a rainstorm, to Utah without the tow hitch pin secured into the hitch. Oops. Someone was looking out for us... or at least the dog.
Yes, the dog lucked out and made it on the to go list. She did great in her kennel and we got lots of awesome looks from passerbyers.
It was a really hard goodbye. Lot's of great memories at 5383 South. Everything was so crazy fast getting out of there that I wasn't really able to let myself grieve leaving such a special place. When I saw pictures of "breakfast at the bus stop" (the neighborhood meets together for breakfast at the bus stop on the first day of school and we all see our kids off together) a few weeks later on facebook, I finally let the flood gates open. That was a hard day. We lived in the most caring community. I had so many friends that I could call on for anything and they were there in a second! They would take me out to lunch on my birthday, shared their huckleberry spots with me (that's real love) and best of all, they loved my kids and always made them feel special. The ward family was amazing. We were so well taken care of! Secret Santa showed up on our door step every Christmas with gift cards to the grocery store and cash for presents just to make sure that we would have a good Christmas. A sister would stock our freezer with meat - including fresh caught Alaskan Salmon because she knew how much our kids loved fish. One time I was sick and sent an SOS text out asking if anyone had a can of soup I could have. Within 5 minutes, I had cans of soup, saltine crackers and ginger ale. The love we felt was amazing! The epitome of what a community should be like. We also had Bo's cousins who were going to school there. We got to know all of them on another level that probably wouldn't have happened otherwise and I'm really thankful for those connections.
... Ok, back from crying some more.
After we got to Utah to pick up Bo, we were on our way! The company shipped Bo's truck for us, so we were able to drive to Cleveland together. They also paid for all the hotels, food and gas expenses to get out here. We ate and slept really well!
And now we live in Mentor, OH in the Chardon Township and right down the road from Kirtland Hills. We are in the Kirtland Ward, which is kind of cool because the Kirtland Temple was the first LDS temple ever built. It has been fun seeing and learning about more church history around here. The current LDS population is less then 1% in the area, so it's definitely a change going from the Mormon Rexburg bubble where the population was 99%, but there are so many nice people here and we really lucked out on our neighbors!
If you ever want to do some church history... or go to a football game... or baseball game... or whatever! You have a place to stay!
The boys are going to school. Brodie is doing awesome. He was the one I was most worried about. Turns out I should have been more worried about Ryker. He's had a hard time making friends, but I've been volunteering in his class and he seems to be doing better. He did come home today saying that everyone laughed at him because the water bottle I sent him with to school was too small. Way to go Mom. How dare I. So tonight I'll be shopping for the coolest water bottle out there. Mari goes to "preschool" at the YMCA. It's called Child's Morning Out. She goes on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:30-12:00. They have a snack and bible lesson along with an activity and then they go swimming on Tuesday and do Gymnastics on Thursday. She thinks it's the best school ever!
Bo really likes the company he is working for. They get to go on cool trips (like to Nascar races) and he gets paid, so no one is complaining!
And that beard! 😍 I've missed it.
Paci-Catchers has still been going strong! I had to hire a helper - my best friend from back in CA. I could not have managed my business and this move without her and I am happy to have some help for the upcoming Christmas rush!
The house has been coming together slowly. I hate unpacking. But I've been doing some fun DIY projects and making our temporary lodging here feel more like a home. I love the location and property, even though it's a little close to the road. The house itself is very old. I was a little worried about what we had gotten ourselves into when we first arrived. Uneven floors, stinky water, the dryer outlet shot out sparks when we plugged our dryer in... but after working out some kinks, I am liking it much better! I even got some chickens! I tried to resist, but was unsuccessful.
We all managed to get Fifths Disease shortly after arriving here. This is something I had never heard of and apparently never got when I was a child, because I got it too. Fifths disease is also known as slap cheeked disease. It is the 5th most common viral skin disease, following chicken pox, measles, scarlet fever, etc. Once you get it once, you are immune to it for the rest of your life. You get cold like symptoms, then rosy cheeks and then a rash all over your body. If you get it as an adult, you also get swollen and achy joints. My body was killing me. I thought it was maybe from moving so many boxes around. Bo insisted I was just getting old. I couldn't even put my wedding ring on anymore and I was really getting worried. Then Ryker got the rosy cheeks and we figured it out. I got the rash a week later followed by Brodie and Mari. Once you have the rash you are no longer contagious, but the rash lasts forever, which isn't fun.
Anyways, that's probably it for now. The main theme of this post? Change. Change is hard. I don't really like change, especially when I like where I am. Change can be good too though. It keeps things fresh and helps shape us into better people. A woman in our new ward bore her testimony the other day and talked about how for years she drove through this very affluent neighborhood and dreamed that one day she would have a house there. In the neighborhood there was a gorgeous pond. She noticed though after some time that the pond started to look scummy. She related that to our lives and that if we keep things the same and go about our regular routines without much resistance and just sit there like the pond, after time, we can become scummy too. That doesn't mean you have to move across the country away from everyone you know, or quit your job and go back to school, but it's ok to welcome change as well and try not to be afraid to jump into the deep end!
