Back to School

After our move and a few weeks of close together time in the town home, we were all kind of ready for school to start up again!  I decided to put the kids in Cherry Creek, mostly so they could be with friends they already knew after tearing them away from their friends in Lehi.  I really miss Odyssey and the curriculum and things charter schools have to offer, but for now just going to the local public school seemed like the best (and easiest) thing to do, especially since we're not sure how long we'll be here...

So Matthew started 2nd grade in Mrs. Hallam's class, and his best buddy Michael is in the same class!

Bryan started 4th grade with Mrs. Mack, and his good friend, Janie, ended up in his class as well!  We were so excited they all ended up in the same classes.

It's hard to believe these handsome boys are getting so big!  Bryan will be in junior high before I know it! :/

Love them.

Ariana started Kindergarten in Mrs. Bergera's class.  She was such a champ on her first day!  She wasn't scared a bit!  She's been ready and anxious for Kindergarten for such a long time!

I was excited she got into Mrs. Bergera's class because I've only ever heard good things about her and she was Cherry Creek's Teacher of the Year last year!

Ready to learn and make new friends!  That's Kaylee, a girl from her Primary class, sitting next to her.

Ari gets to ride the Kindergarten bus home, which I love.  It's just the Kindergarteners and her bus driver, Jeremy, is so nice.  And it saves me another trip to and from the school!

I don't let my big boys ride the bus, but we carpool with Janie and Michael so they're happy.  I love this pic of the four of them coming out together.  Hooray for old friends!

Moving

Last month we moved from the best neighborhood EVER back to our town home in Springville. :/  Eventually it will all make sense and be for the best, but at the time (and even now) it still hurts to think of all we left behind in Lehi.  We loved our neighbors, ward, callings (YW counselor), schools, sports teams, friends...  It was a really hard decision to leave.  And the moving itself was awful!  We did it bit by bit over a few weeks and it turned out to be a lot more of a pain than we'd anticipated.  It was a huge relief to finally get settled in Springville, even though we were heartbroken to leave behind so many good friends.  The neighborhood kids all made these darling pillowcases for Bryan, Matt, Ari and even Owen, and they brought them over with their favorite candies.  Seriously, I don't think we'll ever find a place to live with such great friends for our kids!  Not to mention their moms who I love and did so much for us while we were moving.  I went hours each day without seeing my boys, but I knew they were being fed and cared for somewhere. :) 

These kids are just the cutest - Colby, Cooper, Stockton, Preston, Addi, Annie....  We miss them all so much!

Like I said, though, finally getting out of "the house that Woodson built" was kind of a relief, even though our Springville home looked like this those first couple days!  Total chaos!  It felt good to not have to rent anymore and worry about some of the issues we'd been dealing with.  And while the town home's much smaller, it was just nice to be back in our own space again!

The kids actually didn't mind the messes all that much.  They made some pretty good forts with their mattresses and bedroom furniture.

Eventually we started taming the mess... 

And here's more or less what it looks like now.  It's actually starting to feel pretty homey!  Smaller, but cozy. :)

Right after we moved in, Matt drew this cute picture on our new front porch.  His best friends - Colby, Cooper, and Stockton. :)  Springville was starting to feel like home, but we all still really missed our old friends.

It helped to get involved in things quickly.  The kids started school and soccer and before long we were busy enough that we stopped missing our old home and friends so much.  Being back with so many of the same people here in Springville and doing the same things almost made it feel like we'd never left!  But I'm so glad we had the experiences we did in Lehi and met so many wonderful people.  I wouldn't trade our time there for anything!

Misiego San Diego Trip - Days 5-6

Friday morning of our trip we went to Balboa Park, and I'd forgotten how beautiful it is!  Apparently all the Spanish-style buildings were built for the California-Panama Exposition which was hosted by San Diego commemorating the opening of the Panama Canal in 1915.  And they named the park after the famous Spanish explorer, so it was neat to have our Misiego clan in a place so rich with Spanish culture.

I love my Spaniard.

Crazy kids!

 They have a small village with cottages representing different countries and cultures from around the world, so we took a family pic in front of the Germany house in honor of Rebeca and her family!

Hanging out with my boy while the rest of the group hit the gift shop.

 We ate lunch at The Prado restaurant, which David and I had loved our last time there.  Again, it did not disappoint!  Even the kids liked it.

Celine was stylin' in her cute glasses.

Owie couldn't pull them off quite so well. :)

Little nerd.

From Balboa, we headed up to Orange County.  We'd stayed at the Old Town Inn in San Diego and loved it, but we couldn't book it for the weekend and decided we weren't quite ready to go home.  So we thought we'd stay and see the sights in the Newport Beach area!  Here are some swimming pics from our hotel.

 We ate Chinese that night and the kids were acting pretty silly!

 Thank goodness we were some of the only people in the restaurant!

Our kids had to share a bed all week long and they did great, but I think they're getting just old enough that we're going to have to start getting an extra bed.

Saturday morning, we went to Crystal Cove beach south of Newport.  I'd heard it was a great beach, but we actually ended up on the wrong end, the national park side instead of the public access side.  So it was less crowded, but a lot more buggier and, well, natural!  It was still nice, though.  Once again, we made ourselves nice and comfy with plenty of shade.

It was a little overcast, but that didn't stop the kids from getting in the water!  Even little Owie loved playing in the waves.

This is one of my favorites.  Cute little girls!

Boogie-boarding fun.

Little beach bums.

Misiego cousin pic! :)  This was our last time all together!  Jazmin and Javi and their families had to leave that afternoon.

Sara and her family came with us after the beach to check out Balboa Island.  We took the ferry across to the peninsula and had one last little adventure together.  The girls bought souvenir necklaces, the boys got bracelets, and David finally found a fedora he liked. :)

And we got to ride the longest ferris wheel ride ever!

Heading back to the island.  That's one good-looking guy in the hat!

We sure had a WONDERFUL trip!  California with some of our favorite people - it doesn't get better than that!