End of November 2022

Back in Utah meant lots of time catching up with friends and family. Heidi and I went out a few times, to eat and shop and catch up. 

The kids built a fort outside on Great Grandma Berg's back deck and included a space heater. They slept in it for one night and called it good. It was COLD outside!

School work continues, and Solace writes a poem.

Sunday dinner with Megan and Ryan and Cora, and even Aidan came over. 

Out to eat with friends at an ice cream shop, where the ice cream is as big as my head! I was not able to finish the whole thing.  Then seeing some of my friends and their cute kids, and out for a movie.

We went with Della, Mason, Aidan, Rylee and Steph to a trampoline park and the kids ran and played for HOURS until they were completely wiped out. Paul played just as hard, of course. 

FaceTiming with besties.

Paul and his friends, Jacob and Mason went for a hike up American Fork Canyon. He has some really fun outdoorsy friends in Utah that he likes to do fun stuff with lots. 

Aidan came with us to church at Great Grandma's church.

We got to watch Eden, and Aiyana in the Pahoa ward children's program, via Zoom.  So nice to connect. 

Out for a walk and Pumpkin joined us. Silly cat, loves attention so much. We had to watch her in the mornings when elementary school kids walked by because sometimes she would try and follow them.

Over to the Hunt's house for dinner and some hot tub time, always a blast. These kids are such good friends. 

Hawk and Matix went for hair cuts, Hawk didn't want much of anything, but Matix wanted all his hair chopped so he could donate it. Here are the before and after!

Matix and Hawken went to a church activity with the other Young Men and we got a wild story back from them. So funny. We recorded some of it, and I'm so glad we did. Ha ha ha

Paul's 40th birthday happened just after we finished our road trip. His friend Matt sent him a yummy apple cobbler thing in the morning. He had to work some but we had lots of treats and surprises for him throughout the day. He had to follow a treasure hunt to find his gifts.

Laurel sent out some cake for Paul from a fancy bakery. They tasted SO good!  Then Cafe Rio for lunch, so yummy.  Then we went out to see the first two episodes of season 3 for The Chosen in theaters and then when we walked out, the Harmers were there and sang Paul an original song! It was so cool. 

Straight back to work the next day, helping Grandma get her security lights and cameras installed. Paul can do anything. 

Cute Swishy got a coat while we were on the trip, and he loved it. I thought he was so cute with it. He'd sleep inside a crate at night and then in the morning, he'd get someone to put on his coat and go outside for the day. 

Cute little Great Grandma Berg uses step stools and little claw grabbers to help her in the kitchen. I love it.

Thanksgiving dinner with the family. Lots of cousins and aunts and uncles came. Della is always a great hostess, and everyone has fun.

Fun with friends, first the Hunt family, then the Lopes family who were visiting from Colorado. 

After dinner at their place, we went downtown to Salt Lake and toured around to lots of places we've never been. We went to the Tabernacle, and the building where General Conference is held twice a year. We looked at the Christmas lights, and the Salt Lake City temple re-construction, listened to live music, watched the Nativity Story. It was a blast. 

Lots of snow at Great Grandma Berg's house.

Paul took the kids sledding at the hill we lovingly call "Black Eye Hill" because of this time.  Thankfully, no black eyes this time.  

Paul took the boys to an activity with the Young Men from Della's church. They went ice skating and had a good time, but not an easy time. It was hard for both of them to get the hang of it.

Lullaby got to do a Secret Santa gift exchange with the girls in her church program at Della's church too. They are so inclusive and love to invite our kids to join in, even though we aren't there very often.

Late birthday present for Hawk's bestie, because we missed his birthday. So happy. 

Baking cookies with Great Grandma Berg is always a favorite activity for Lullaby. All of us benefit from it and love when she gets in a baking mood!

We found out that shipping the cars would take a really long time to get to Kauai, so we decided to get one car shipped a month before our arrival, so that it would get there just a couple days after we arrived. I drove to Vegas, and outran a winter storm in the Prius, stayed overnight, drove to the dock in California and left the Prius to fly back to Utah. It was a fast trip.

I got home in time to see the boys come back just after another church activity, perfect timing!

Cute things around the house, Solace making up a song and singing it to me. Lego building creations that required a video, and the kids begging for more electronics. We still have them on a small budget for electronics.

The moving company went to the storage unit first and then to Great Grandma Berg's house to pack and load up all our things to be shipped. We did get rid of several things, but we kept most of it. When I got to the storage unit, I couldn't find the keys. Then on my way to get the lock drilled out, I found them in a drift of snow from the day before! So lucky! The movers did a great job and got everything loaded quickly and safely. It was an impressive feat! We said goodbye to most of our things, and hoped they'd be delivered sometime soon after we arrived in Kauai.

Found this gem in my camera roll. Stinker loves to make silly faces. 

The kids got to help decorate Great Grandma Berg's house before Christmas time. It was so fun to be helpful and hear all the stories about each ornament and toy.