Stress Relievers

We had fun this morning taking the kids on a bike ride to a park. I pulled the trailer with Ryder and Tenley this time and it was tough! But it was a fun challenge. Kade loves turning parks into Ninja Warrior obstacle courses and he is getting pretty tough! He definitely has more arm strength than I do!
We also got to do a final walk through of our home by video and it all looks so beautiful. Still just waiting for a final closing date. Waiting and waiting and waiting with more and more roadblocks. We questioned whether or not it was a good idea to buy a house and a practice at the same time and now I think we have our answer. It was crazy! I'm thankful, though, that the purchase of the practice is moving along so smoothly. And hopefully within a week the stressfulness of buying a home will be behind us. Either way, we'll be in Great Falls soon and it will be great! Pounding on the piano keys and watching Friends to give me some good laughs has really helped the stress leave. That and trying to keep my perspective. Lol. We are blessed and I can't forget that.

Sunset

Brad was in charge of family night tonight and he took us all to an all you can eat pizza restaurant. It was yummy and we are all pretty full now! When we got home, we video chatted with my parents and saw their beautiful sunset view from their home, and then we enjoyed the nice evening here outside. Evenings in the Summer time are my absolute favorite. The kids have been staying up late more frequently because their normal bedtime is now the best time of the day to play outside! The kids took turn hitting the baseball. Kade was hitting them so hard, several of them went over the fence!

Popcorn

Brad made us all his homemade popcorn recipe and even though it was missing some of his key secret ingredients it was still delicious and reminded us all of home. Little reminders of home have been important to all of us in helping us feel us comfortable as possible in this time of uncertainty.

Simple Days

Today was simple, but still a lot of fun. The kids helped Brad mow the lawn. Having a riding lawn mower is pretty sweet! Then we played hide n' seek. It's fun having a new house with new crazy hiding spots to play in!
After lunch our reunion plates showed up in the mail! We all made some at the reunion and it was fun to see all the masterpieces come to life. They look great!
Since it was so hot the kids were begging to go to a pool, but Brad put a sprinkler under the tramp and squirted them with squirt guns for over an hour and they loved it. I took a nap on the swing while they laughed and played. Those are the best sounds to fall asleep to.

Dad

Having Brad around 24/7 with us has been so nice! When he goes back to work we will all miss him a lot. He's always up to having fun with the kids and he's been so helpful to me as well. We're lucky.

Fun Play Rooms

We enjoyed staying home and relaxing today. The kids begged Brad all morning to play the Wii with them and after he got a lot of work done for the future practice and house (I so appreciate him!), he spent an hour or so just playing with them. He's a great dad.
Later in the afternoon I got some fun one on one time with the kids and we never got bored playing in the Murdock's playroom. It is awesome! So much to do! Our favorite thing was all the costumes. The kids loved dressing up. They're so cute.

Yellowstone, The Grand Teton Mountains

We decided to drive the few hours it takes to go to Yellowstone National Park today. The kids haven't ever been (well, Kade was 8 weeks old the last time we went), so we were excited to show them the park! It was a beautiful day, but really crowded! Even though the rangers kept saying it wasn't really that busy we didn't believe them! The roads were packed with cars and the hiking trails were packed with people. But we still really enjoyed our time there today. We saw hot pots, the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone with the amazing waterfalls, and Old Faithful! Plus a lot of wildlife, although we didn't catch a sighting of any bears.
On our way home we decided to drive through the Grand Teton National Park to Jackson Hole, WY and then home. That is one of the most beautiful drives ever! I love the Grand Teton mountains. We definitely need to spend more time there sometime soon.
We spent a lot of time in the car today, but our kids did a really great job! Maybe we'll have to do it again these next several days while we enjoy our temporary home in Idaho Falls.

Swimming

Today we drove down to Pocatello to swim with Travis, Libbi, and Rocky at their country club pool. It was nice to see some family again and my kids were all ecstatic to get back in the pool! They loved being thrown up in the air by Travis and Ryder loved jumping in the pool to Libbi. I love being surrounded by family and having this chance to visit with so many people!

Somewhat of a Routine

We tried to make it feel like a normal Monday as much as possible today. I did laundry, went grocery shopping, and Tenley planned family night for us. She requested potato soup and we watched Anastasia. I couldn't believe they hadn't seen that movie! It's a cute one.

The Temple

Life is crazy right now and it's hard to get used to this Limbo period in life. We are homeless. And we really miss home. We are so excited and ready to get settled in Great Falls and waiting for our home to be finished is borderline torture. For one reason or another the move-in date keeps getting pushed back and I'm about to pull my hair out!! Finding the good in the situation isn't too hard, though, when we've had so much time with family. I loved being with my parents. I love their calm, loving personalities and how they can make me feel like everything will work out perfectly without even really saying anything at all. I'm so lucky to have them.

We left Utah today to drive to Idaho Falls. We got here just in time for a date with Chad and Lesa. A temple session and dinner at a yummy Mexican restaurant with an amazing waiter. He made me happy! Tomorrow the Murdock's leave for the Dominican Republic so we will be house sitting for them until our house is ready. We are lucky to have such a nice place to stay and I hope we can stop being so anxious about getting to Great Falls and enjoy this nice break from reality in Idaho.