Pre-Halloween funage!

Some pre-halloween nonsense I've been cooking up. More to come as they are finished!

Michael Wins Second Place

Michael and I entered a competition together this summer. We had a really good experience. Mike won second place in the professional division and I won 3rd place in the semi-pro division. The competition was in Green River WY where Mike grew up so Grandma and Grandpa watched the girls while we painted on the river pavilion. I thought it sounded like a good plan except Natalie got sick with stomach pains and diarrhea and all she wanted was Mom. With a 24-hour limit to work on our paintings, I thought how ironic of all the days she needed me it was that day of the competition. That's how it goes I guess. It still worked out between comforting Natalie and nursing Emily. I did a simple snow painting of a Wyoming landscape in watercolor and Mike did an oil painting of some of his Green River memories.

Saying Goodbye to California

We knew the move had to come and although I wasn't looking forward to the big day, we felt very blessed to have so many friends and family help us. These pictures are of some final hangouts with some of the most wonderful people! We miss them so much and had a lot of great memories with them. I wish I could take them with me! I don't have pictures of all of you awesome people, but you know who you are! You are what made California a great experience for our family! Thank You! We love ya!

Grandma and Grandpa Parker flew from Wyoming to help us with the girls, pack, and even drive to our new destination. They were life savers in so many ways! What an example of sacrifice and commitment to family they showed us! It's not an easy job to fit all our acquired stuff in one truck, but since we got a bigger truck we managed to squeeze it all in and we can't thank them enough. I tried downsizing, but it always amazes me how much stuff multiplies when you put it in boxes. Somehow we got it all to Utah and here is our new place.

My brother Joe, Mike's friend Kevin and our nextdoor neighbor helped us unload. It seemed surreal, but it happened anyways and life keeps going on whether you're in denial or not. We have met some neighbors and it seems like there are some young families around that we'd like to get to know better. Our next door neighbors also have a four year old girl which was very good news for Natalie. Something about being the same age when your little makes you instant friends. Good thing for that. It is also very nice to have family close by. Mom and Dad brought dinner after our exhausting day and not long after we were able to go to the county fair with Lisa and the boys. Good times! Again, great people and family sure have helped this move go smoothly and bearable. Thanks for your support!

 

  

Our girls now share a room. They are adjusting and getting use to each other crying. With all the schedule changes and summer plans, they still seem to like each other and like sharing a room. I am glad about that because their room is about half the size it use to be, but they'd rather be together than alone.

 

 

I hope they grow closer through this experience. Sometimes its good when all you have is family, but we look forward to what this area will teach us as well. Here we go!