Back to School in AUGUST??

Summer for the Evans kids we exactly 2 months long!  At the end of July the kids were feeling a little bummed knowing that the schools in Utah start almost 2 weeks before their school in Washington would start.  But once we got down to Utah and went through the long school registration process and they visited their new schools the feeling of being jilted out of few weeks of summer went away and they became excited to get back into a routine and meet their teachers and new friends.

M & L

Time goes way to fast because Landon and Mason are 9th graders this year!   

Going to a new school is not easy when you are in 9th grade, but these guys handled it with ease.  They have gone to 3 years of middle school and now they get to attend Jr. High.  This Jr. High is fairly new and it feels a little bit more like High School.   Overall they like their classes.  Mason's favorite is Orchestra of course and Landon liked all his classes the same, but we were pleased to hear that he had been pegged as the Seminary Pianist for his class (more motivation to practice:)

Mapleton Jr. High

Lydia and Jacob school day starts exactly one hour later than the boys.  Since we are not currently living in the school boundaries, Zeke drives the boys when he goes to work and I take these two cuties one hour later.  Lydia started 5th grade this year and Jacob started 1st!

Lydia was a little nervous and a little excited to start at a new school this year.

Lucky enough she had met two girls from church that were going to be in her class.   From these friends we found out her teacher is a first year teacher that student taught 4th grade last year at the same school.  Everyone loved her and she was wanted by many as for their 5th grade teacher. We were able to meet her at an open house the day before school started and after that Lydia was super excited for the school year to start.  

It has always been hard for me to send off any of my kids to 1st grade.  I love having them home with me for at least some of the daytime.  However, this boy has been on a 1/2 afternoon schedule for 3 years, so he was thrilled to be able to go to school in the morning with his big sister.  We visited Jacob's class the day before school started and got him familiar with his surroundings.  He has a vey sweet teacher who has been at the school teaching 1st grade for 12+ years.  Jacob's biggest worry about starting school was what playground he would get to play on.  There are two playgrounds at the school, one that he felt like was for little kids and one that is for bigger kids.  Luckily enough he gets to play on the red and black playground that he thinks is more for the bigger kids! 

So what did I do with my first few days of no kids?  I went to Education week at BYU!  I took 10 amazing classes.  It kind of felt like I was back in school with out the homework;)

Catching our breath!

It's been a long time since we have posted anything on the blog, can you believe I am updating it? I can't!  Seems like the more behind I got the less I would even look at our blog or any other blog for that matter.  Now that we have moved to Utah, it seems a good time to start up again.  Hopefully, I can update it regularly so not to get too far behind.   It is our desire to keep in touch with many of our family and friends in Washington and in other parts of the country.

Well, we have been in Utah for 1 week.  It's been a whirlwind!  Leaving Washington and our friends and family there was very hard!  After a very busy month, with a family reunion, packing, farewell parties, loading the truck, cleaning the house, court of honor for both boys, and trying to squeeze in every last experience in.  Surprisingly, we were able to get everything done without having a nervous breakdown.  We were so grateful for all the help and support given to us during the move.  We had more people than expected show up to help us load the trucks and I had several friends come by and help me clean the house for the new owners.  Moving brings out the true dirt of a house, and letting my friends see that dirt was difficult for me, but it was so nice to spend the afternoon chatting with them while we cleaned, and I have to say the house looked pretty good when we were done with it!  We could not have gotten everything done with out the support of all our friends and family.

My sweet VT partner

So hard to say good bye to dear friends

 We spent our last night in WA at my parents house and enjoyed dinner with Matt and Jama's family.   Our children love their cousins and it was hard to say "see you later" to them.  In the morning we went over to the house one last time to gather a few things and say our goodbye to our home of 9 1/2 years.  It was a tender time as we walked around our home and reminisced about all the good times we had there.  A few friends stopped by to say one last good bye.  Looking around our empty home it was almost surreal, all our stuff was out of it and it was just a house now.  The most important part of our house were those that resided in it.  At 9:30am the new owner showed up with their moving trucks.  Zeke answered a few questions he had about he sprinklers and security system and then it was a handshake and the house was theirs.  They were excited about it and that was nice to see, but I have to admit it is very weird to think about another family living there.  

The boys with their little girl cousins:)

Pie's Jama made

Later we met my parents for breakfast at a Sunbreak (a favorite breakfast spot).   We figured it would be good to get all our stomachs full for the long drive, since packing snacks and other foods was the last thing we wanted to worry about.  The majority of us had whip cream with hot chocolate.   The amount of whip cream they put on their hot chocolate is ridiculous, we figured they probably used 2 cans just for our table.  However, I the whip cream helped easy the pain a little.  Saying good bye to my parents was the hardest part.  We have had so many great times living close to them.  They are very supportive of our decision to move, but I know it's very hard for them. We look forward to having them visit us and our visits back to Washington.

Mason enjoying a cool piano out by Sunbreak

We have made the drive to Utah yearly, so we consider ourselves very use to the 12 hour drive.  This time was different.  It seemed longer than normal, and defiantly slower than usually, since the Penske truck could only go 70mph max.  Plus, I am usually the one sleeping in the passenger seat, but this time I had to drive our van, so there was no break for me.  Our emotions were raw, and we were pretty exhausted after such a busy month.  We made it to Ontario with tired headaches and got a room for the night.  

We arrived in Spanish Fork around 7pm the next day and were greeted by two of Zeke's brothers and kids, his parents and a former college roommate of mine.  Having people here that we love, gave us a boast of energy and made us feel at home.  My friend has three girls and Lydia and her oldest hit it right off, and Jacob had 3 cousins to play with, so he was in heaven! 

We met our landlord who is awesome and saw for the first time the furnished house we will be renting for the fall while our home is being built in Mapleton.  We feel very fortunate to have found such a great place to live for a few months.   It feels like a vacation home.  There is a pool out back, a pool table inside, a great playground on the side and a jetted tub (a favorite amongst the little kids).  That night while tucking Lydia and Jacob into bed, they both said "Can't we just live here forever".   So I guess we should forget building, they just want to live here even if they do have to share a room and a queen bed:)  

The back of our house.  The bottom is a garage and dressing rooms, the top is our house. 

Lydia and Jacob's shared room

Back yard playground

Lots of pool playing. 

After a late night a unloading and a little unpacking Zeke and I snuck away at 11:30pm to Maceys so that we would have some food for Sunday.  It's a minute from our home, so it's supper convenient.  We crashed after mid night so that we would be able to make the 9am church meeting in our new ward in Mapleton.  

It was miracle that all of us were able to find church clothes, shoes and scriptures and be out the door by 8:30am the next day.  We were tempted to miss church and just sleep in, but we knew that going to church was where we should be and we would find the strength we needed there.  When we pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car, a gentleman saw our  WA license plate and commented "You must be the Evans?"  We were just talking out you.  He was the Elders Quorum president and had just come out of ward counsel where it was mentioned that our records had arrived.   

We were warmly welcomed into the ward.  We were one of three new families that day that had moved in.  The other two families are building homes that are not done yet just like us and they are both on the same street we are building on.  The ward had been divided last fall and was quite small after the split. But since this last spring they have grown 25% with all the building.  The youth program seems slightly larger than what we are coming from, and Lydia and Jacob's primary classes are larger.  All the kids made friends.   It was not the Mill Pond ward, but it was friendly and the gospel teachings were the same. 

That afternoon we tried to get a few things unpacked the best we could.  Then we went over to my college roommate's house (she lives 3 minutes away) and had dinner.  Later we came home to a visit from my sister and her family as they were traveling through from St. George.  It was a nice Sunday and we loved spending time with these friends and family.  

The following days were filled with getting kids registered for school, the boys went on a temple trip to the Manti temple, unloading the ABF trailer into the storage unit, Lydia and I had a Mom and Me activity day activity, it was Zeke's birthday, and just trying to get settled in to our temporary home, etc.  

Zeke's birthday breakfast cooked by Lydia

We had a some Washington here this week too, as we met up with our friends the Tew's for dinner one night and went to a wedding of a family friend from Auburn who had a reception at a church just up the street.  We love that no matter the miles in between friends can still be friends:)

Just a few little tidbits: 

*Yes, it's hot!  But not unbearable, we have stayed cool by going swimming in the pool at our house and the city pool a 5 minute walk away.  Plus, there is ice cream at every corner.  Not to mention the kong cone at Maceys around the corner from us. (those are dangerous)

Landon and the Ultimate Kong

*I miss my morning running friends!  Now our 3 oldest kids all want to take up running and now I have 3 running partners, plus Zeke.  It's been fun to start my day off with them. 

*On Monday we got a family library card to the Spanish Fork Library.  It's only a short distance away.  Mason rides his bike there daily (somedays: three times).  They only let us check out 10 books at a time, so he returns and checks out books constantly.  He loves the freedom of going to the library whenever he wants.  It not nearly as big as the King County library, but he does love the LDS church section.

*The boys are planning on going to Education Week for one day next week.  I took them to the BYU campus on Friday to sign up and show them where the youth classes will be.  Not even realizing it Mason was wearing a Utah State shirt.  An older lady stopped us right before walking into the Wilkinson Center and told him he needed to change his shirt.  Ops, didn't even notice.
*Not too long of a break for us, we already have callings.  Zeke and I are teaching primary together.  It will be fun to serve together.