We started really getting ready to move in April, so much
packing and cleaning…and more packing, with feeding the new baby in-between and
a yard sale! When it was time to get
into the car to drive to Iowa
I couldn’t have been happier that I was going to get to just sit for 3 days! My mom and Dad came out to help us move (couldn’t
have done it with out them, and they made it so fun!). We stayed the first night in Cheyenne Wyoming;
we went straight to bed because it was pretty late. The second night we scored a nice hotel on Priceline
with a perfect swimming pool that was warm enough for even Anndi to enjoy. It was great to relax and stretch out after
driving for two days. The next day we
drove to Des Moines!
We live on the very west side of Des Moines
and it is very hilly, so when we took our exit I was bewildered because I hadn’t
even seen any signs of a city. We drove
off the exit for awhile before we started to see a few houses, with many green
fields in-between. Finally about ¼ mile
before we got to our townhome it started to look more like a town. It was a good first impression everything was
beautiful and green with a nice rural feel!
As we pulled up to our new house there were already a couple
of people there ready to help us move in,
within five minutes I had someone watching my kids so I could help
direct the 8-10 guys that showed up to help us move in, and within 15 minutes
it was all unloaded! We realized that we
had lots of student families live across the street, or just a few units over,
everyone was incredibly friendly!
We had a week before Taylor
was going to start school so we had so much fun exploring the new area, meeting
new people, and getting unpacked with a lot less stress than moving because we didn’t
have such a strict deadline. Our
townhome has a large grassy area in the back yard, which I wasn’t expecting. It is so nice for the kids to have a great
place to play. It has been fun to be in
a complex because they always have friends to play with. We saw our first lightning bug, and it was
awesome! The lightning storms and
tornado warning have been pretty exciting too!
Anndi has been such a sweet baby! Her first 4 months of life were so easy, she
started sleeping through the night at 3 weeks until she was about 4 months old.
Then I started not making quite enough
milk for her so she woke up every couple hours to eat through the night, we
cannot get her to take a bottle she is very stubborn about her milk
preferences! She hasn’t gained much weight as is a very petite little thing. She just barely turned 8 months and she is
finally started to like baby food (a tiny bit) So that has been a struggle with
her, just afraid she isn’t growing fast enough. Other than that she is such a sweet heart, we
are all completely smitten with her, and hang on her every move. Brynne and Dane get so excited for every new
thing she does! Her newest trick is
crawling, and man she is fast! She also
caught us off guard and choked on a crayon the first day she started to crawl. Luckily is dislodged after a few horrifying
seconds, but I have been having to vacuum several times a day. She is definitely the wiggliest baby I’ve had
and is always dancing, crawling, and moving. Such a fun and curious baby, we cant get
enough. Every time I go to the store
here in Iowa
I get stopped by someone telling me what a beauty she is. The Iowans are super friendly and will talk to
your for a half hour if you let them, and I LOVE it.
June is a blur, we joined a beautiful YMCA they had just
built who give us a great student/were poor deal. They have a great pool, racquetball,
basketball courts, very cheap kids sports, free child care for when parents exercise.
We spent time there, Dane did Tball and
Brynne and Dane took a fun gymnastics class. We tried to be outgoing and went to a lot of play
groups and have made some fun friends. We
discovered Raccoon River that has a park,
splash pad, and a beach. Got a
membership to the zoo and science museum. Had just a few rough days with Taylor being
gone a lot, but all and all we keep busy!
We had an awesome Fourth of July party in our backyard with
some neighbors and ward members. We were
able to see the country clubs near our house fireworks from the back yard. It was great!
August we had a Ninja Turtle birthday party for Dane were 40 people came
to his party, It was great, we served corndogs and watermelon and some awesome
ninja turtle cupcakes J Dane got a
bunch of nerf guns that he was ecstatic about. The first time he ask me to play with him I
accidently shot him in the eye, he wasn’t happy about it, poor guy! I need to work on my aim!
Brynne Started Kindergarten in August, and to my dismay I
learned that Iowa
has all day kindergarten. I cried for a
day or two about that, I was prepared to let her go for a few hours, but the
bus picks her up at 8:15 and brings her home at 4:00 p.m. It is still a little sad for me, but she
absolutely loves it and is learning sooo much! She is excited every morning to go. Her teacher is Ms. Broich and she goes to a
school called woodland hills. The school is brand new and so nice, her teacher
seems really great with the kids. The
bus stop is about 20 steps out our back door, so that has made it so easy for
me! I cant believe how smart that little
girl is, but I do love having her on the weekends….well except for the fighting
because Dane really likes being the one is charge while she is at school J I’m trying to be optimistic about the
fighting getting better, but I remember Kenny and I’s fighting getting worse,
so we shall see! Dane started in a
Joyschool group in our apartment complex, most of the kids are younger, but he
is Really liking it. He also has two buddies that live two doors down, and they
are in and out of both our houses playing all day long, its so fun. I signed him up for swim lessons also, and he
really does not like that. His teacher
is not the best. He loves to swim when I
take him, so I will have to choose a day a week to teach him.
Taylor
has been doing really really well in school for the most part, and he does
really enjoy it, but he is busy studying most days and most nights. He trying to take Sunday’s off completely,
and we try to do something fun or go on a day for a couple hours, but other
than that he is busy, but that’s o.k.! I try to remember how grateful I am that
he is completing the goal!
Ann and Wade came out to visit in September for Taylor fall break. We had soo much fun with them! The second night they were in town they got
to experience a Tornado warning! We
showed them around Des Moines,
went to fun restaurants, and went to Nauvoo. Nauvoo was so fun, it was the day after Labor
Day so there were not many people there. The kids loved making rope, eating
cookies in the bakery, going on wagon and oxen rides, and playing pioneer
games! We also went to carthage
jail where the spirit was so strong! We stayed in a really cute condo, and
celebrated my birthday at the Amana colony restaurant on our drive home! We had so much fun!
Well there is a recap of the past 5 months!
