Summer Time (oops didn't know this was still a draft)

In June I found out that I was not going to have a job for the summer. It's a really long story and deals with a lot of drama so I'm not going to go into much detail most of you already know the story anyway. I was very stressed about how we were going to make everything work and not sure if prayers were actually being heard. At the time I was convinced they weren't. Now looking back this has probably been one of the best summers I've had in a long time. I was able to stay home with Allie which I have hadn't been able to do since I went back to work when she was 2 1/2 months old. My mom was not working either so together we ended up watching a few kids. Allie loved going to Grandma's house almost every day. We got to participate in the Library's summer reading program, we went to the free movies on Wednesdays at the theater, and had play dates with a group of people who have become more like family than just friends. Lots of good memories. We went to the fair a few times and Allie came back with a bunny rabbit. His name is now Rabbit. I think because that's what the rabbit on Winnie the Pooh is called, but who knows. Occasionally Allie will call him Bob because we tried to get her to name him something else and that's what Allan said he was going to call him.


During this time, Allan and I had a lot of discussions about where we were at and what we wanted to do with our future. The thought of moving to Utah was brought up again (we had discussed it before but never with the the thought of actually moving) This time was different. I knew I was not happy with the stress and drama developing at work. I had also told Allan before not being employed for the summer that with my current position we would not be able to expand our family (ahhh did I just say that! No it's not happening yet). It is something we had been praying about and that if we were supposed to then to help us figure out away to make it possible and then I became unemployed. HMMMM! We talked about maybe this being an answer to our prayers and then really started discussing the possibility of moving to Utah. We made our list of pros and cons and for some reason we felt that we needed to move. It was probably the hardest decision I've had to make since I guess you could say I've been pretty grounded. I have lived within a 15 mile radius my whole life except for the 6 months I lived in Utah before and swore I'd never come back because living in the snow was not for me. I am very close to my family and friends and really struggled with the idea of leaving everyone. We decided that if we were going to go we better do it now and soon so Allan could find a job as quick as possible. So I gave my notice to the school that I would not be returning in the Fall and we made the plans to move.
Once we started packing boxes, Allie started to get a little upset because she wanted to know where everything was going. We made her a calendar that had boxes on each day to indicate packing time, a truck for the day Allan would leave with our things and a fish for our trip to the aquarium. It seemed to help her a little. So we packed up all of our things and loaded them on the truck with the help of some energetic young men (Galen, Travis, "Uncle Marc" & Steve Huseman). Marcus flew out to help. Marcus drove Allan's car with the fish in their fish tank, Allan drove the "big truck" with Turbo (our dog) in the cab with him and they were off. Took them a little longer since Allan hasn't really driven long distance but they made it safe and sound. Allie and I stayed a little longer to finish packing and cleaning. Amanda and my mom were a huge help and they tied up the loose ends after I left. Amanda had been living with us so she still had to pack her things to move to Grandma Hoxie's house. Before we left Allie and I took Amanda and my mom to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. We had wanted to take Allie there for awhile since she loves fish and water and I figured we better do it before we moved. It was a fun adventure. It's a good thing my dad has a built in GPS system in his brain. We had to call him because I missed one of the exits and he knew exactly where we should go without having to turn around and go back. After a few more days of fun and saying goodbyes Allie and left with Rabbit in his cage on the back seat. Allie thought it was pretty funny to have the rabbit in the car. We followed Amanda's friend Marissa most of the way since she too was moving to Utah. So now we are here in Utah and that will bring me to my next post. Here are pictures of our summer adventures.