Life in Utah

We're getting settled here in Utah. It often feels a bit surreal. Part of that is because we're still in limbo. John's sister, Charlotte, and her husband, Delmer, have very kindly taken us in until our house sells in NY. They have treated us SO well, and we have learned a lot of good parenting things from them. (For example, they get up at 6:45 every weekday morning to eat breakfast and read scriptures together. Delmer fixes a hot breakfast that's ready when the kids come down, and Charlotte reads a page from the Book of Mormon.   Now that we're doing that with them, we aren't rushing around or late, since we're up early, and we have a beautiful start to the day.)  Living with them has been a great blessing for us in so many ways. But I hope that we don't have to impose on them for too much longer!

We arrived in Utah just in time to attend the open house for the Ogden Temple. It was incredibly beautiful and we all felt so peaceful as we walked through. I wish I still lived near it. (We're about three hours away now.) I was also impressed by how nice the surrounding area looked. They've really made some improvements to downtown Ogden.

 After the temple tour, we made the traditional stop at Farr's Ice Cream:

Right after getting here, we enrolled Eli in the middle school. I had to wait on the others, though, until I knew, or could make an educated guess, as to which elementary school's boundary we'd end up in. But we soon had them all going. (These are all after-school pictures. I've always wondered how people have enough time to get shots beforehand, with the first-day-of-school rush and all.)

Tori and Jonah go to the same school as their cousin, Laura.

Maggie would have started school in NY - in fact, she'd gone to her kindergarten screening and orientation and had found out who her teacher would be. But the cut-off date here is earlier. She was a little sad, but I am thrilled to still have her with me.

Maggie with straight hair again.

The playgrounds in Vernal are amazing. A fair amount of money from the gas companies' drilling here goes into the public lands fund, so the library, schools, playgrounds, and Rec. Center are really impressive. (The drilling in PA was mostly on private land, so we didn't see the benefits in the same way.)

John's work provided us with a family membership to the Rec. Center. The kids love the swimming area. I love the gym and the free child care. It also has a huge rock climbing wall. (We go in the evening, so the inside pictures have a rather sickly color.)

The round area in this pic. is a lazy river with a fairly swift current. That's our favorite part.

 I took Eli to his first cross-country practice right after arriving here, so he could make some friends before starting school. He'd NEVER done any running. On his first day, they had the kids do what they call the Aggie bull run, which is a three-mile route. (At the time, someone told me it was four.) He took off, and I just prayed the whole time. I was worried that he wouldn't make it, or that if he did, he would hate it and would never go back. He came back flushed and tired, but pretty pleased with the experience.  Then he ran in his first meet two days later. He finished 34th out of 50-plus boys (middle school and jr. high), so it was pretty good for a beginner. His times and placements continue to improve. He'll run in the jr. high championship this next Wed. I'm so proud of him.

His cousins, Laura and Eve, run also. (Older cousins, Ruth, David, and Ammon run for the high school team.)

Approaching the finish line.

 Although I am really anxious for our house to sell so we can get permanently settled, I'm aware of all the compensatory blessings we're receiving. Our life is good.