Summer of Changes - Part 2

I'm going to back up again and add some more stuff from the month of July and then August. Our family spent 4th of July weekend getting settled in our new rental but we decided we wanted to do fireworks at our old house one last time because we knew our neighbor friends would be lighting fireworks also.  We had Dad, Laverne, Grandma, Uncle Jess and Aunt Diane come celebrate with us. We also got to see my cousin Andrew and his family since they walked down from Aunt Cori's house after they finished lighting their fireworks. They were in town visiting from Nevada. I didn't get many pictures because I still had my old phone and the camera wasn't working properly. We bought new phones in late July right before our Oregon trip.

The night ended in a firework tipping over and shooting across the ground under some of our seats and exploding. One landed on my foot and I got a small burn on my leg. I think a couple others might have gotten hit on their legs also and grandma had a hard time hearing after one exploded close to her but fortunately she was fine the next day. I'm so glad nothing worse happened. That was scary! I had a bruise on my foot and it hurt for a long time, especially when putting a shoe on. I guess we were going out with a bang.

That same week I had a visit from my new Relief Society president and one of the counselors. They brought me a gift and just wanted to get to know me and welcome me to the ward. I thought that was so nice!

Jack was finally ready to cut his long hair off. He said it was getting itchy. We were happy to oblige and it was just in time for his cousins to come in town. The cousins were staying with my in laws right next door so it was great for all of the kids to be so close so they could hang out a lot.

The kids played Bingo and grandma bought candy for prizes. Garrett and Taelynn were in charge.

There was another day when I took my girls to the Idaho Children's Museum in Meridian. I had heard of it before but this was the first time I had taken any kids to it. The boys weren't interested in going. They had so many fun things to do that the girls were just bouncing from one activity to the next the whole first hour. It was after lunch that they finally slowed down and spent more time doing some of the activities.

They had a small theater stage they could dress up in costumes and perform.

Floating objects down the water. It was hot that day so it was nice to get a little wet.

The train station.

Moving out of our house was very difficult for me to do since we had been there for 19.5 years but now that we are out and in the rental I am finding that I actually like the rental house better than I did our old house. We're in an older but nice neighborhood with bigger properties and it's a lot quieter since it's mostly older people. I like the layout of the rental house and the size of the bedrooms. They are much bigger than our old house. The backyard is lot bigger and has lots of shade from trees and a covered patio. We even have trees that we can hang our hammocks on. There's also a small brick pad for a fire pit. Our fire pit fit perfectly on it.

The living room and kitchen. There's even a fireplace.

The girls room was big enough to put both beds on the floor so that's what they wanted instead of the bunk bed.

Front room and door.

Garrett's room. He can fit his drum set in his room and still has plenty of space.

The master bedroom. There's so much more space and it has a walk in closet. That bathroom has a soaker tub and separate shower and two sinks

Lots of driveway parking! And I was later able to make space in the garage for me to park the van inside.

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From under the covered patio.

Jack is staying in the bigger nicer shed, which is like a cabin, with electricity but no air conditioning. We put fans out there but it's still hot. After Nikki moved out Jack had the option to move into her room inside but Jack likes having his own space out in "The Jack Shack". 

We are now getting used to not living in the other house and getting to know the people in our new ward. They even called me to be a Relief Society teacher. I'm scared about that because I've never taught adults but I think it will be a good experience for me I hope. My first lesson will be this coming Sunday, Sept 11th. 

There was a ward BBQ in our old ward the weekend before school started and I wanted to go so we could see old friends again. Curtis didn't want to because he thought it would be weird since we're not members of that ward any more but I made him go. We had a good time visiting and the girls and Jack had a blast going down the water slide inflatable that Aunt Cori rented (she's in the Relief Society presidency).

Garrett and Alice having fun on the swings.

We also went to a swimming party at the Bledsoe's in our new ward. The kids had a great time at both parties. I got in the pool with the kids so I didn't take any pictures there. 

It was a great way to end the summer!