This Is What Daddys Do

"This is what Daddys do. They take off their shirts and do this!"

Pictures from our Move

Asleep in the car, at the same time.
Oh, blessed hour!

After two days of driving, we stopped for a week to rest and visit family.

My little prodigy

Clapping for herself

Laughing/Crying on the Inside

Bryan: Daddy only eats half a piece of gum.
Caleb: Well, Caleb eats the whole thing!
Brianne: Bryan, you need to stop talking in 3rd person...


Bryan: Where are Matt and Michelle?
Caleb: They're at a Barbie-Cube.


Caleb: Mommy, can we watch a VDO or a DVD?


Caleb: Mommy, Savanna's on the table!


Caleb: Mommy, Savanna has scissors!


Caleb: Mommy, Savanna is eating glue!


And yesterday, Bryan caught Savanna at the edge of the driveway, about to walk out into the street. Apparently, we need to keep better tabs on the garage door and the door to the garage...not to mention, Savanna...


Please, pray for me...

We are here! We are here! WE ARE HERE!

And not only are we here, but we have internet connection!

We arrived Thursday night and stayed with Bryan's sister Michelle and her husband Matt. We received our keys Friday morning, our truck arrived early afternoon, and half the ward helped us move in Friday night. And they brought a grill, food, and drinks! Big thanks to our new friends!

After the party was over, Matt and Michelle helped us unpack boxes and assemble and arrange furniture. On Saturday, we located Goodwill, Walmart, Super Walmart, and DI (all the important ones). We shopped for a bit of home decor and furniture (ghetto-style). Sunday I was recruited to sing in the ward choir (already), and we met the other half of the ward.

Since then, we have (mostly) unpacked our stuff and arranged it just how we want it.

Yesterday, we took a tour of the nursing home where Bryan will be training. And his other projects have been: mowing the lawn (twice), starting a garden, checking out the new library, and ping-pong.

I have been marketing myself (via word of mouth) to teach voice and piano; and trying to keep things organized as two little whirlwinds keep tearing through every room in the house.

Caleb loves to be outside whenever possible, to sit on our new (used) bar stools, and to play with new friends (that he doesn't always get along with).

Savanna is currently exploring every nook and cranny of the house, getting into things (oh, no! a new phase!), and climbing on everything (oh, no! also a new phase!).

More pictures and stories later!

Update

We're still safe, all things considered. Yesterday poor Savanna learned the hard way about H-O-T. Quick as a flash she had her left hand on an open oven door. Her whole palm was burned. We kept it in cool water for the first 2 hours (she even fell asleep during this!). Then we took her to an urgent treatment center (guess what, our insurance doesn't cover out of state, and our new insurance doesn't kick in until July...guess we better be more careful...). They dressed it, she felt better, and they sent us on our way--with a referral to a burn center at U of U. She even felt good enough to play with that hand, banging on the piano and whatnot (must have been the priesthood blessing she received). She slept through the night, miraculously, and first thing this morning we went to the burn clinic. They said it was a second degree burn, but it was superficial. They cut off some of the dead skin, showed us how to care for it, gave us some exercises to do with her, and told us it should be healed in 7 to 10 days. We feel very sad, yet very blessed. There should be no long term damage, and she seems happy.

Safe

This is a very boring blog about us driving for 2 days across the country. We made it safely. And toward the end, we resorted to singing "55 bottles of pop on the wall" at the 55th mile marker in Wyoming. We tried singing it as slowly as we could to finish the verse before we hit the 54th mile marker. We made it to about the 53rd mile marker and had to change activities...

More later!

Five O'Clock Shadow

This is what happens when your three-year-old...

decorates his balloon...with markers...

and the one-year-old gets a hold of it...

Movin' On and Movin' Out

This post is mainly about Bryan's graduation, with a few other related or random pictures throughout.

This is Savanna's favorite hobby. Sitting in a chair, reading a book.

And if you ever want to be her best friend, now you'll know what to do.
(This is Bryan's dad, Gordon).

While Grandma and Grandpa were here, Caleb flew his Buzz kite. Although you can't actually see the kite, the important thing is the expression on his face!

Our first (and last) neighborhood barbecue. We have been so blessed to have so many good friends live on our street. We will miss them!

Right after the Kentucky Derby.

The next day, right before graduation

Bryan with his parents

Bryan with my family.
Thanks, Audri and Jake for watching Savanna so I could hear the graduation! Thanks, Mom, for highlighting my hair. And we are sad that my dad couldn't make it to the graduation due to a motorbike accident, a broken fibula in one leg, and three broken bones in the other foot.

The Graduate!

We have had such a wonderful experience here. Two years has just flown by! We will miss all of our friends here. If we don't get a chance to say goodbye, we are sorry, and we will miss you!

Now we're on the verge, literally, of beginning the next chapter of our lives. Half of our stuff is packed, we are crammed with last minute details, and we are trying to make as many visits as we can before we go.

And then...

This is Caleb in a rocket ship (now he wants me to build one...out of wood...like Wallace and Gromit).

It says, "i (heart) U MOM."
Awww.....

Letter

Caleb likes to write letters to people. The only thing that would make this sweeter is if it was for me. It's for Grandma:

HAPE MU
THRZ TOEM
Translation: "Happy Mother's Time"