Moving

The almost a week of moving has been busy and stressful but it has gone well. We had been preping for so long that we were really well packed when it came down to it. I was able to get all the cleaning done that I wanted to so that was really great. Plus we were able to spend some fun times with our friends and neighbors too.

 On Sunday we picked up Stew's little brother Paul up from the airport and had a father's day dinner and then we did the last minute things like mopping the kitchen floor. Then Monday morning a bunch of friends from our ward showed up to help us move which was so nice of them. I bought Costco muffins and milk to say thank you a little bit. We had the truck loaded and the carpets cleaned in 2 1/2 hours. We did it in great time. I left a little house warming gift for the buyers and a little letter for them and I tried to leave the house in move in condition so I hope they are happy there. :O) Then we were off.

It was a long drive for Stewart and Paul in the big slow truck and it was long drive with me having four kids, two dogs, two fish, and one caterpillar to take care of while I drove for 8 hours. We had lots of stops with the combined forces of the kids and such but it was a fun drive all the same. We actually ended up arriving at mom and Dad Ras's house in Vegas at the same time as Stew and Paul in the big truck. Their slow speed and my many stops evened us out. Then the next day we spent there hanging out and going to Whitney's graduation. I highly recommend taking a break day in the middle of a move. It was so nice to have a day of rest! and just look at this girl! Can I say accomplished! so proud of her! and what will mom and Dad do without here?!??!?! I guess they will just have to vacation in Tucson a lot! LOL ;)

Then we were off again, this time to Tucson. But it was just Stewart, me, the dogs, the fish, and the caterpillar. :O) Our new ward had a great turn out with six big guys showing up and we unloaded the truck in an hour. We were able to get a lot done that first day without the kids there and then Stewart's family drove out with the kids so it was so awesome to have them there. I was sooooooo grateful for all their help. Having them with us helped it feel like a real home filled with family and fun. It was so great to sit back and watch as everyone splashed around in the pool even great grandma Ras. Just lovely. I keep wondering how on earth we have gotten to this point in life? How do we have four kids, two dogs, Stewart is a doctor, I am shopping at Costco once a week, and we have this big house with a pool? When did we get so grown up? So weird. But also so blessed.

I love Tucson. I just love it. One thing that is really cool is that Stewart's father found out that on Stewart's paternal grandmother's side there are two ancestors lines from the pioneer days who helped settle Tucson. All over Tucson are Binghampton and Farr history sites and hospitals named after them and its so cool to think we have so many roots here. His father was reading their family history stories from here in Tucson and it was just so cool to think we are back where his Farr side of the family started. Stewart is even named after the same ancestor who settled here,  his name being Stewart Farr Rasmussen. In the history they talked about going up Sabino Canyon for picnics and church dances and its just so cool since we live right off of Sabino Canyon Road! Just really amazing stuff to sort of feel like we are returning in some sort of way.  I bet that is partly why it just feels so good and right here. Like we fit in perfectly.  I cant help but think it is no accident that we are here living in the heart of Stewart's pioneer history sites, the very pioneer he is named after.

Our ward is really friendly and nice. They seem really social and outgoing and welcoming which is so great. There are a lot of students and residents in our ward along with the long time residents. I was hoping I would meet a bunch of mom's with kids my kids age but not so much. I guess most people who are in residency don't have four kids starting out. LOL. I guess I will always be a bit of an odd ball!  I think it will be fun being a friend to these beautiful women who are just starting out on the adventure of having kids. I think I will be hosting lots of play dates at our pool. :O)

So its been interesting and really an emotionally exhausting thing to say so many goodbyes and so many hellos; as well as physically exhausting to pack and unpack and load and unload everything we own all in one week. But life is good. We are really so happy. :O)

Hello next chapter of our lives...I think you are going to be awesome. I am already hooked.

Angeli's New Smile

 Our little girly came to me the other night and asked what that white thing was in her mouth and there growing behind her baby tooth was a new tooth. I was shocked, it looked sort to funny and I thought she was still too young for such things! :O)  So I made her start wiggling her existing tooth so we wouldn't have to visit the dentists. And then last night our girl was so brave and she let her daddy try like 6 times to pull her tooth and then on the last try, pop! It was out. She was so delighted! She loves stuff like that as much as her daddy. I on the other hand could hardly watch! LOL It was fun to see them in their element talking about blood, and teeth and their roots, and stuff. They have similar hearts those two. I love watching them interact when they are taking care of the dogs or healing wounds or whatever thing they love to do. It is a sweet little connection they have. And her tooth fairy was so excited to put lots of "bravery money" under her pillow last night. :O)  Anyways, isn't her new smile the cutest ever! I adore this little angle girl. She's lovely in every way!

Saying Goodbyes

Okay, I love these people. I really love them. They threw us a goodbye party. Aren't they the sweetest people ever?!?! They have been my surrogate family for the past five-ish years and I am so grateful for their friendship and love for me and my family. From sleeping over when I was in labor, to running over when I had to take Stewart to the ER, from babysitting endlessly for me, girls nights, working in callings together -Nursery, Primary, and Young Womens, having Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners together, to play dates and preschool, from weekly play group, library time, and enrichment, from saving me when I locked my family out of the car, to calling me to see how I am doing just cause they thought of me, bringing us meals after I had my babies, walking groups, throwing me baby showers, going to the lake together, coming to our birthday parties, having fourth of July parties, picnics at the park, visiting teaching, home teaching, Sunday evening ward walks, Ward temple nights, praying for us and helping us build our fence, tutoring Bridger, and watching our kids grow up together,.... I LOVE these people. It is hard to imagine life without them. What will I do without Jenn? I honestly am not sure. She has always been just down the street always willing to help me when I am in need. We were laughing the other day how Stewart and I visited them with a plate of cookies when they moved in because they hadn't come to church for the first three weeks since they moved in because they had family stuff and we were trying to reactivate them. LOL What will I do without Janie and Anna and Jessica?!??!?!? Just the other night we went to the drive in movies with Jessica and Nathan and their cute kids. It was such a blast. I wont get to see their kids grow up and see what other little ones they are blessed to have. These women are so dear to me. When I grow up I want to be like them.

Really, living in our too small house that is worth 1/3 of what we paid for it was so worth it because I got to know, love, and live with these amazing people! I love Sparks first ward. I always will.  It is so hard to think I may never see them again. When will I be back in Reno? But maybe we'll do a girls weekend once a every few years. I'd love that. But even if not I know heaven would not be complete without them. I sure hope I can make it up there so I get to be with them, I know they'll be there. Oh, my heart is aching. I will miss them so much. In just 7 days I will be driving away from Reno/Sparks and I may never be back. I cant believe it is finally happening. It is such a whirlwind of emotions. I think I may just sob for the first hour of driving.

Graduations!

 We had two graduations this past month. The first to graduate was Angeli! She graduated from preschool. After two years of preschool she is now ready for kindergarten! I cant believe I am going to have two kids in school next year. I am a little nervous for her since she gets super anxious and nervous about these big changes but I know she can handle hard situations and I pray that she will make some really great friends in her new school. She is very hard working, obedient, and smart so I know she'll do great academically in school she just needs to believe in herself and she'll be capable of anything! It was so cute how proud Bridger was of her. When she was singing and stuff Bridger kept getting teary eyed and saying how happy he was for her.

Ben also finished up his first year of preschool! He is so sweet and smart. He was the youngest one in the class but he was one of the biggest! He is this sweet, giant of a boy with the most obedient little heart ever.  They are getting so old! Oh, I adore them!!!!

Then we had Bridger's graduation! He did it! I cant believe we made it to this point so quickly! He can read and count, and add and subtract, write, and tell time, and all sorts so fundamental things that felt like they would never come. We are so proud of him. It has been a hard year with trying different medications to help him with his ADHD but by the last week of school we finally got a winning combo! YAY! Its hard because with his meds he'd get 100% on everything at school but then he'd get really depressed and moody. Cry a lot and stuff but without it he is bouncing off the walls, getting into trouble all the time and getting like 20% on everything. Its been emotional to get things sorted out. Our little guy has speech issues, has a learning disability in the area of taking in language input and then storing it correctly in his brain so its like this triple hit for him. It takes three times more consecration to talk, understand what people are saying and then to store things correctly in his brain. So when you add the ADHD to the mix it means his ability to concentrate is like three times lower for him then the average kid when he needs three times more concentration then the average kid to get things down. It is really hard for him. But he is so resilient, hard working, and smart. Thanks to his hard work we are finally getting there. I hope to have things really well tuned with his medications so when he starts school next year he doesn't have to deal with so many ups and downs. We are so proud of him. He works so hard, he deals so patiently with all that we ask of him, and we adore his huge delightful heart. Way to go Bridger!!!!

Lake Tahoe: Our Last Trip

 

 

We wanted to go to Tahoe one last time before we move so this past Saturday when Stewart got off we loaded up the van and headed up to the lake. It was a beautiful day and we had a lovely time. Since its still spring we only got in 2 1/2 hours with it starting to cool off earlier then we hoped. But even just those two hours were nice. I thought I would be really emotional about leaving but honestly Stewart and I just felt like we were done and ready to leave and it was really non-emotional. I'm not a big crier when it comes to good byes. Goodbyes aren't that traumatic for me because I am not one to linger in the past or even the present very long. I'm always one step in the future. I do mourn the lost experiences and not seeing my loved ones though, but usually all by myself and slowly. I think I've only had like two really emotional crying goodbyes in my whole life. So I am curious how these goodbyes will go for me. The other day I had a last girl's night and it was a lot of fun and then when I left I cried on the drive home. All by myself and not very much and then when I got home I was okay again. I think I will have pangs of sadness as the moments come when I would have called my friends or seen them and then I will cry a little then. But anyways...I got way off topic. :O)

So here are my pictures of our last trip to Tahoe. We where thinking about doing the 2 hour lake cruise they do but the water was pretty choppy and I wasn't sure how Genevieve would have handled it so even though I knew Stewart would have loved it we opted out. Maybe if we ever visit again in years to come we will do the little cruise. It is breathtakingly beautiful up there. I recommend visiting there no matter where you are from. Its a beautiful place.

Poor Stewart, I did a not do a very good job putting sunscreen on him and he got really burned. I forget that he burns so much more then me so I did like three times a better job with him then me and thought that would be good enough but not so much. Even the bottoms of his feet go burned. I think a year in hospitals has softened him up a bit too much! ;) Good thing we are getting a house with a pool! We'll be rock'n year round tans soon enough ;)

 

 

Virginia City

Last year we headed to Virginia city for Memorial day and it started to snow so we left and didn't use all the tickets we had bought for the museums and trolly ride and stuff. So a whole year later we finally headed back wanting to fit it in before we moved.

Here we are last year...Genevieve was just a little baby! Oh, all my babies grow so much in a year!

We headed up on Wednesday when Stew had his day off. It was a pretty drive up there with really pretty views. Then we headed to the way it was museum and then did some shopping and got the kids some ice cream and then we did the tramp ride and the old school house museum. It was fun but a little weird too.

 It was a wild west town, it was a gold rush mining town where millions and millions of gold and silver were mined. Lots of the wealth that was made there helped build up San Fransisco with all its multimillionaires and hot shots of the time. It was interesting to see the old mines and how they worked and just how awful their conditions were and how deep they went down in the ground. They used so many trees from Tahoe to reinforce the mines and build the city up at its height that Tahoe was this ugly barren forest and the lake was dirty and full of waste - thank goodness for conservationists! On my mother's side there are miners, in fact my grand father was a miner before they came out west, so I appreciated learning what was involved in that hard life style. I guess on average a miner at that time would make something like $1.25  a day but in Virginia city they made 4.00 so it was the best pay for its time. Men came form all over the world to work there...in the grave yard there are interesting sections for the different nationalities and religious secs. One mine was so deep that it was located by a hot air vent and the miners were working in 145 degrees temperatures and could only work for ten minute shifts and then they had to be lifted out and go into a  refrigeration room to get their body temperatures back down before they could go back down the shaft again. Just crazy stuff like that. Mark Twain lived there for a time and at its height over 4,000 people called it home where today only a 1000 do. With lots of mining for gold and silver there was lots of gambling, and prostitution which are not my interests at all and it sort of bothers me that those things still go on there but I did love seeing what the ladies wore back then, playing with old type writers, seeing old medical equipment, and seeing giant old phones and such. It was cool to show the kids things how they used to be. I'm glad we had time to take a day trip up there.

Selling the Business

So I sold my business. I ended up selling it for half of what I wanted to sell it for but I was happy to train someone who I think will really be able to do it and I really think it will be a big blessing in her life. Getting everything together, setting aside the days and getting a babysitter for those days, and writing my very own 30 page training manual was really fun for me. I do a pretty good job at stuff like teaching, planning, and organizing stuff.  I loved organizing it all, writing my own little manual, and I loved teaching so it really was very fun for me. I really got to know the lady I was training, Robin, and I really count her as a friend. I am really excited for her and I hope she is really successful. :O)

It was fun to bust out my clay again after 15 months of no ceramics in my life. I realized I am good at it, I enjoy it and I really think they are so cute. It was fun to look back at my old work and see my current work and see how much I have improved over the four years I ran my little business. Today as I was packing I pulled out all the costumer orders I had saved and I counted that I had done at least 730 + ceramic impression items in those four years. I know that doesn't sound that impressive but if you know how much work goes into those babies then you would be a bit more impressed. ;O) It was so hard to run my own business but it was so good for me. It was such a blessing for our family and it really is one of the only trades I can do that is sort of unique. I mean how many people do you know who own a kiln? There is something so incredible about taking something so ugly and drab as clay and then turning it into something of lasting value. And besides the joy of creating, it is just fun to have had that identity of owning my own little business and to have worked with so many cute moms and even cuter babies. I fully intend to do all my grand babies hand prints and to keep it up for my family and girl friends who are interested.

I think the most amazing thing about my business was what it did for me and my self esteem and what it did for Stewart's and my relationship. He totally without any hesitation supported me all those years no mater how lame things were at times. I love him a thousand times over for pulling late night with me glazing trying to get orders done in time for Christmas and for telling me I was cool instead of crazy.

This was my last official Timeless Treasures item I made. Goodbye Timeless Treasures! You were good to me. :)