The kids and I were working machines today!  Brian had to be in Basin for most of the day today (it's about 30 minutes away) so we tried to get as much done as we could without him.  I think I lifted one too many dressers, I'm so sore!  We painted bookshelves, moved boxes out of our house, cleaned bathrooms, set bedrooms up, shopped, and collapsed on the couch to watch Indiana Jones! Things are really coming together.  Here are some pictures of Palmer and Andy's room all put together.

I get to sub for Lucy's primary class tomorrow.  She is pretty excited for me to be in her class. 

I'm looking forward to the long weekend. 

Until then....

Football Friday

Season opener football game against Riverton High School.  Riverton is a town about 2 hours south of Worland and has about twice as many people.  There is a brand new football coach this year.  He came here from Sugar City Idaho.  His name is Thor Ware and he has three sons in high school, a sophomore, junior, and senior.  Their names: Thor (he has a tattoo that says LT for little thor), Blade, and Steele.  They all start and are very good.  A huge crowd of around 1800 people showed up for the game.  Emma sat with the high school kids, Andy was one of the two ball boys, chosen from the 8th grade football team as one of the hardest working kids this past week.  Peter, Lucy, and Eric sat with us.  Peter has a new admirer:

Her name is Shiree and she came right up to Peter and sat with him the entire game!  She is in his class at school.  He wasn't sure what to make of it, but by the end of the game they were laughing and having a great time!  I love the look on his face!

This new football coach is supposed to redeem the team.  They only won three games last year.  He promised the community this year would be lots better.  It looks like he might be right.  We won 24-21.  Palmer got more playing time in this game than he did the entire time he spent on the Mountain View team his freshman and sophomore years.  He recovered two onside kicks and got his name over the loud speaker, "Palmer Edholm with the recovery!"  I have to admit to this mom, it was pretty cool.  I'm a fan of the Worland High Warriors!

Right before the game started.  Their bleachers hold more than the Mountain View Stadium

Getting ready to play

A great way to spend Friday night!

Small town USA

I grew up thinking I lived in a small town.  Orem did not seem very large.  I could walk to the Scera Pool everyday in the summer and see all my friends.  I knew everyone I went to Scera Park Elementary with and I knew nearly everyone at Orem High during the 4 years I spent there (back in the 80's 9th grade was in high school for a short time).  When I would drive to Salt Lake, that was big!  Later in life as I traveled to San Francisco, Chicago, and Portland, those cities seemed huge.  Orem was definitely small. 

I now know the truth.  Orem is HUGE!  Before I moved to Wyoming I realized that Orem has more people in it than any city in Wyoming.  Even the capitol of Cheyenne only has 55,000 people.  The tallest building in the state is a dorm building at the University of Wyoming and I think it's around 12 stories high.  I read all of this info before I moved and thought I understood what it meant.  I didn't.  Let me tell you what it's like to live in a small town of 5500 people.

Tuesday night there was a community party.  This party was supported by all the businesses in the town of Worland.  They provided the meat for the hamburgers and hot dogs, the drinks and the chips.  It took place outside the community center on the football field.  The small town of Ten Sleep, which is the only other city in our county of Washakie was also invited.  It's about 30 minutes from Worland and has around 250 people.  Everyone comes to this, well nearly everyone.  After we all had our food and were seated either in the bleachers or on the grass both high schools (Ten Sleep and Worland) proceeded to introduce their fall sports teams.  They introduced EVERY member of each sport team.  The band also marched on the field and performed.  They started with tiny Ten Sleep.  Their football team has 9 members.  NINE.  Their volleyball team has 7 or 8.  That was it for Ten Sleep. Then came Worland.  They introduced football, volleyball, golf, swimming, cross country, and cheerleading as well as their special olympic athletes.  All of this took under an hour.  Wow.

Palmer performed in the marching band and was introduced with the football team.  The marching band was a little sad.  Palmer asked me if I thought they were that bad....and yes, they kind of were!  But Palmer rocked the drums!

This Friday is the first high school football game.  The entire town shows up for these games.  There is no admission charged.  It doesn't matter if you have kids at the high school or not, people come.  Talk about school spirit! 

Another point, when Peter was sick on Monday and didn't go to school, the elementary school secretary called me to make sure he was o.k.  She calls EVERY parent whose child isn't at school each day unless you let her know ahead of time that your child will be absent.  

And finally, I ran a few errands the other day after I had exercised and before I had a chance to shower.  Every store I went into people knew me.  I can't leave a store without having a minimum of 10 minute conversation with someone.  There is no running in quickly hoping you don't run into anyone you know because you look awful! 

Small town USA, I'm liking it more each day!

Ahhh....

Today marks the first day in my life that I have been at home during the day by myself!  No sick kids at home, no homeschoolers, no kindergarteners, just me.  Wow.  The time went way too fast.  I got a lot done and felt incredibly productive.

The house is starting to feel like home now.  I asked everyone what was their favorite thing about the new house.  Here are some of the answers:

• I can walk to school
• The dishwasher works really well
• My room is huge
• There are two living rooms
• We aren't squished together
• We can come into the house through the garage
• The stairs!  I like to lay on them!
• We have a deck

It's seems incredible to me that our long journey that started in March when Brian and I drove up here for the first time is at a nice stopping point.  We've weathered a lot of things between then and now.  The kids have been very adaptive and mostly positive from the first time we sat them down and told them we were moving to dealing with my hectic not always kind self when Brian left in June and I was still working full time and trying to get ready to move to the long trip in the car to living in multiple hotels to moving into our house.  Whew!  It's been an adventure.  There have been really hard times amidst the hope that things will get better.  It's nice to be on the getting better side!

I love my dear family and thank my Father in Heaven each day for the privilege I have to spend my time on earth with them.  I am thankful for my mom and sister and her husband for taking care of my daughters so perfectly as they were in Utah after we left.  Family is a wonderful thing, and I have a wonderful thing! 

Look at the sign!  Yesterday, with the help of lots of awesome people, we got all our stuff from the storage container to our house! It was raining hard most of the day which made things interesting!  Then started the fun part, unpacking. We got the kitchen put together and started on the bedrooms.  There's so much more to tackle!  

We ate dinner at another members home last night.  They have 8 kids like us so it was crowded!  We came back to our home and slept in our own beds!  Such an awesome feeling!  

Audrey and Lauren left to go back to Utah after church this morning.  It was sad to see them go.  I really enjoyed having all of us together this past week.

It's a wonderful feeling to be in a house that fits us.  The kids can spread out and aren't on top of each other. We are feeling very blessed and a little spoiled. It's a nice feeling!

We have a house!!!!!!!  Big cleaning party with all the kids tonight.  They all pitched in and were a huge help.  Brian and Palmer are still over there cleaning the carpets so we can move everything in tomorrow. All the kids are happy with their rooms and the house overall.  Last night in the Days Inn, woohoo!  I think I'm most excited to have a kitchen again.

Busy day tomorrow, talk to you then!

School was an overall success! Here's a quick summary:
Petey-Knows one boys name, 12 kids in his class, learned about apples and likes granny smith the best, had the best cheeseburger of his life for lunch.
Lucy Lou-lots of friends, so happy, quickly did all her homework, excited to go back tomorrow.
Eric-came home much more confident than when he left, very happy to be back in school.
Andy-Said he was bored with all his classes, got his Football stuff, likes language arts the best.

Emma-had to make a hard decision today, she can't do flag corp and volleyball because they conflict. She chose flags.  She had a lot of homework tonight all from one class-honors English.  The rest of her classes are easy.

Palmer-good day, like Emma he had lots of English homework because they have the same teacher, football practice after school.

Here's to a great school year!

SCHOOL!

We spent much of yesterday buying school supplies.  While we were at the store Peter came up to me and said, "look, my tooth fell out.  I was jumping and it just fell out!" 

Peter's first lost tooth

The tooth fairy even found him at the Days Inn in Worland last night!  Pretty cool.

The first day of school started at 6:30 this morning.  There wasn't early morning seminary today so we got up a little later.  After scriptures I went with some of the kids to eat breakfast in the lobby of the hotel.  One of the employees, Dan, told me he had something for me.  He brought out bags for each of the kids for school.  They had an apple, a treat and some pencils and erasers in them!  He said he knew they weren't too excited to go to school from the hotel and he wanted to make it a little better!  So cool.

Brian took Palmer, Emma, and Andy to school this morning.  Hopefully everything goes well today!  I took Peter, Lucy, and Eric to the elementary school. 

Ready for school

The kids were excited to wear regular clothes and not a uniform!  When we got to Eastside Elementary they were met with this crossing guard:

The kids loved it!  A pencil crossing guard!  Very cute.  I helped each of them find their classrooms.  They were all a little hesitant as they walked in.  So many people from church were there and said hi to us.  We'll see how it all went after school today.

Great News!

I just got a wonderful phone call: the keys to the house will be ours on Friday at 4:00!  WooHoo!

Emma went to volleyball practice at 6:00am this morning, fun for her.  Then she went back at 4:00.  She is getting a workout!  Palmer's practices are at 3:00 and 7:00.  We tried to do something together as a family today, so Brian took a few hours off and we drove to Thermopolis to see the Hot Springs again since Brian, Emma, Audrey, and Lauren haven't seen them yet.  The rest of the day was spent taking naps!  I can't believe how tired I am from all that driving the past few days. 

We have been invited to dinner at another member's home tonight, should be fun! 

Short and sweet post today!

Julie

We're home!  Back to our good old Days Inn in Worland!  The drive today was only 4 hours, so much better, but I still need a break before getting back into a car for awhile.

On the way back we stopped in Gilette because, joy of all joys, they have a Sports Authority!  Palmer and Andy both got football cleats and mouth guards, Emma got some shorts for volleyball practice today and some knee guards and some shoes.

We were caravaning  on the way back because we have Audrey's car now.  I drove in the car with Audrey and Lucy and everyone else was in the van.  We went over the Big Horn mountains further south than we did on the way up.  It was an easier drive, not so twisty, but not as pretty either.

We got back in Worland in time for Emma to get her sports physical and then for Palmer and her to go to their first official practice for football and volleyball.  Emma was a little nervous since she knows hardly anyone and has never been on a volleyball team before, but she is a go getter and is giving it her best.  Meanwhile I stayed in the hotel and had a much needed nap!

Right now we are being treated to a wonderful summer rain storm, it smells so wonderful and feels fresh.  Tomorrow Emma has to be at practice at 6:00am!  School starts on Thursday with early morning seminary at 6:45.  Time is moving right along!  I'm looking forward to eating dinner in my house with home made food and sleeping in my own bed!

-Julie

 We attended church in the Rapid City ward this morning.  Then we took the scenic route up to Spearfish.  It was a beautiful drive!  Pactola Lake took me back to Lake Tahoe, it was very similar and just as gorgeous.  Here are some pics:

Pactola Lake in the Black Hills

We arrived in Spearfish to our little cabin

We were treated to a rain and hail storm.  It was refreshing!  Then we drove into Spearfish and went to the fish hatchery and fed the trout.  We leave first thing in the morning.

Its been a wonderful vacation!

Vacation

Jewel Cave, third longest cave in the United States

The tour took an hour and a half and we walked over 700 stair steps

Inside the cave.  It was 49 degrees and Lucy was a little cold!

Cave Fun

 Mount Rushmore

All of the children together again!  A beautiful sight!

 Alpine Slide

Lucy

Daddy

Audrey

Emma

We ended the day in Rapid City at the Days Inn.  Most of the kids went swimming in the pool.  A very busy and wonderful day!  

In Custer we found a pie shop and bought two whole pies-Rhubarb and Bumbleberry.  They were delicious!  It's been wonderful driving through the Black Hills and being a part of all of the beautiful nature around us.  What a incredible gift this world is!

We are finally in Custer City!!  Our day started at 4:00am as Brian and I drove to Cody to drop Brian off at the airport.  We changed Brian's flight plan and he flew directly to Kansas City.  I drove back to Worland and went back to bed.  I then left with the kids around 10:45 and drove the same road to Cody again-90 miles.  We picked up Lauren at the airport and started on our 6 hour drive to South Dakota.  We encountered lots of road construction and had to drive very slowly up and over the Big Horn mountains.  We reached nearly 9500 feet at the top.  It was beautiful, but nerve wracking driving my huge van up miles and miles of switch backs for an hour.  It was a complete act of God that none of my car sick prone children barfed!  So our anticipated 6 hour drive turned into almost 7 hours.  Meanwhile. Brian and Audrey won't finish their 11 hour drive from Kansas City until around 2am.  I think we'll be dead tomorrow morning!

Despite that I've seen some incredible scenery and I stand in awe of this amazing world.  A huge shout out to my phenomenal kids who were so patient and kept the complaints to a minimum, you're all the best and I love you!

Here's to a lot less driving tomorrow!

Running in the rain is one of my favorite things!  It was just sprinkling this morning and everything looked clean and fresh.  This is our last day at this beautiful home.  When people are so kind to you it's hard to think of something to do to thank them that equals how you feel!  We're making zucchini bread for them and cleaning their already spotless house.  Brian mowed their immense lawn with their riding lawn mower.  All of that seems so small compared to how much we've enjoyed ourselves. 

We leave at 9:30 in the morning to drive 90 minutes to Cody.  Lauren's flight comes in at 12:27 and Brian flies out on the same plane to go back to SLC.  Brian then flies from SLC Saturday morning to Kansas City.  Audrey will meet him there and they will start their 9 hrs. and 51 min, drive to Rapid City.  Meanwhile after we pick up Lauren tomorrow we will drive from Cody to Custer City South Dakota which will take 5 hrs. and 54 min.  Whew, a lot of driving!  We will spend that day and night at Custer City which is just west of Mt. Rushmore.  Saturday we will meet Brian and Audrey in Rapid City and spend Sunday at Mt. Rushmore.  We spend Sunday night at Spearfish which is north in the Black Hills and then home on Monday morning so Palmer can be at football practice at 3:30 and Emma can be at her dr.'s appt. for her school physical at 2:00.  Emma has decided to play volleyball.  They don't have tryouts here, so she is on the team.  Her practice starts at 3:30 as well.  It will be a short packed vacation with lots of driving!  Look forward to lots of pictures! 

Wyoming sunset courtesy of my brother-in-law

I keep thinking that the days have been so beautiful so I can remember them when it's January! 

We had another visitor drop by today and bring us vegetables from their garden.  She is the YW president.  When I asked her name she said it was Julie!  That's one person whose name I won't forget!

We also had a couple from the ward deliver us cookies for FHE.  I've never felt so popular before!  I just hope I can follow their examples and do the same. 

Amazon is already becoming my friend!  Palmer, Emma, and Andy need backpacks and the selection here is pretty thin.  It's really enjoyable to do school shopping without stepping into a store.  I think I'm definitely liking Wyoming! 

2 more days until we leave for Mt. Rushmore and pick up Lauren!  I can't wait!

Julie

It's official!  The house will close on the 22nd!  We will have the carpets cleaned on that day and be able to move in on Saturday! HOORAY!!!!!!!! 

Living room

Entryway

Dining room

Different view of dining room

Kitchen.  Needs some updating

Family room

Back patio

Back yard

There it is, our new home!  The address is 1801 Circle Rd.  Worland WY 82401

We are keeping our Utah cell phone numbers.  We are still debating about getting a land line phone.  A lot of people out here just use their cell phones as their home phone. 

I got a phone call today from a woman in the 1st ward (we are in the 2nd ward).  She has met Brian and has a daughter Emma's age, a son Andy's age, and a daughter Eric's age.  She was calling to invite us to dinner.  We ended up talking for 30 minutes!  How cool is that?!

I've been playing around with Emma's flag to see if I can remember my routine from Orem High!  That was a long time ago, but I still remember some of it! 

Here's to a great Tuesday!

Julie

Monday, Monday

I said goodbye to my sister and her husband this morning.  It was a nice taste of home to have them here!  I spent this morning finalizing our plans for our Mt. Rushmore trip this upcoming weekend.  I hope it all goes smoothly and we have a lot of fun. 

Emma met with the color guard girls this afternoon and came home with her flag so she can practice.  I picked up Palmer and her schedule at the high school while I was there.  I ordered some shorts from Amazon so I can wear something besides my one pair of jeans to Mt. Rushmore.  They came today and they fit!  They are an awesome color of orange and are VERY comfortable. 

I went by the elementary school and found out Peter, Lucy, and Eric's teachers.  

Palmer spent the day with his new friend and is lifting with the football team right now.  He has a party to go to tonight watching movies with some youth from the ward.  He is always gone!  I'm glad he's with good kids and making lots of friends. 

I went to the grocery store for a quick run that turned into a long social visit!  The owner of the store is LDS and stopped and talked to me for a long time.  Then I ran into another member of the church and talked with her for awhile.  Her daughter goes into the MTC in a month on her way to a mission in Germany.  Who knew I could see so many people I know at the store after only being here for two weeks!

Adios....

Julie

Susie, Bryan, and Emma got here safely last night.  It's so good to have Emma with us again and have family around.  I'm looking forward to this upcoming weekend when we get Audrey and Lauren too.

We went to Sally's Pizza last night for dinner.  It's the only pizza place here besides Pizza Hut. It has a 50's type feel with a juke box and 50's decor.

We spent another night outside until the mosquitos drove us inside.  It's especially nice to be in a home and not the hotel on Sunday.  It seems much easier to keep the Sabbath Day holy when there is a bit more space and more to do besides watch tv.

Church was lovely today and we've spent a relaxing time together as a family.  It's a nice change of pace to have nothing pressing to do for now.

Short post today-until tomorrow!

Julie

I went running this morning.  Here's what I saw:

cows munching grass
large dog barking (thankfully behind a fence)
tons of insects
birds, birds, birds
no traffic
beautiful wide open sky
dirt roads
friendly mail carrier
Here are some pictures:

It's the first time I've been running since my surgery.  It felt sooooo good! 
Brian keeps commenting on how huge the sky is.  It seems to go on forever!  And it's so dark at night.  There aren't any street lights. 

The kids enjoyed a morning game of frisbee and pickle ball in the Cottrell's immense back yard.  They are now playing air hockey.  We spent nearly the whole time outside last night.  It was so pretty and the weather was perfect.  We ate outside, played frisbee, jumped on the trampoline, and just messed around.  So much nicer than the hotel room!

Can't wait for Susie and Bryan and my Emma to get here tonight! 

Friday, part II

Thermopolis was really cool!  The Hot Springs are a wonderful sight.  The kids weren't sure about the sulfur smell!  There was a swinging suspension bridge that went over the river that we walked on.  Peter and Eric DID NOT like it at all.  It was kind of scary as it swayed in the wind and the river is a LONG ways down. 

Looking towards the hot springs as they flow down into the river.  Cool colors formed by all the bacteria in the water.

Palmer and Peter on the swinging bridge

Looking down from the bridge to the river

Palmer's arm as he pretends to cliff dive!

Eric, Peter, and Lucy in a little cave formed by the hot springs

Cave fun

Looking at the bridge from underneath

We came back and hung out at the library for a little while.  Now we are at the Cottrell's house.  It's nice to be in a home and not the Hotel for awhile.  Palmer is hanging out with one of the boys from the ward. 

Until tomorrow....

Julie

Yeah, it's Friday!

Last night we had to get the kids out of the hotel room!  They were having  massive pillow fights and really bugging each other.  Andy especially has perfected being a pest to his siblings down to an art!  So we hauled everyone into the van and drove.  We went down by the golf course and tiny airport and finally stopped at the park.  It was very overcast and the weather was oh so perfect!  The kids got all their energy out.  Palmer and I had a cartwheel contest.  Palmer won.  It started to rain, so we had to go too soon.  Here are some pics:

Eric and Peter on the slide

Merry go round type thing, Brian made it go amazingly fast!

monkey bar fun

beautiful sky

We are moving out of the Days Inn this morning!  Lucy is sad not to see her friend Tommy each day!  We are going to go to Thermopolis and check out the Hot Springs.  They look really cool.  It's about a 30 minutes drive.  I'm going to post this now, because I don't know if I will have wireless at the house we are going to.  If we do, I'll add more tonight!

-Julie

Slow Thursday

Today was Eric, Lucy, and Peter's day for school registration.  We went to Eastside Elementary and got them enrolled.  The secretary showed them around the school and Lucy is already in the process of making a gift for her future teacher!  The school is Kindergarten through 5th grade and there are two teachers per grade.  I have hand cramps from two days of filling out paper work! 

It's been a pretty slow day, nothing much has happened.  The house looks like it's a go.  The timeline to move in is up in the air.  It could be as late as September 19th.  We are sincerely hoping it's sooner!

1801 Circle Rd.

The kids are a little stir crazy!  We will need to find something to do away from the hotel room tonight.

-Julie

School school school

We got up bright and early to be at the official registration for Palmer and Emma at Worland Senior High School.  It started at 8:00, but people had told Palmer to be there earlier.  We got there at 7:45 and then was a line already waiting for the doors to open!  It took us an hour to get everything done.  And guess what we were waiting for?!  Lockers.  That's it.  They let you pick your own lockers, so everyone gets there early so they can get their lockers with their friends!  Palmer didn't care where his was and I just picked a place for Emma.  Hopefully it won't really matter!

Palmer stayed at the school for marching band and I drove back to the hotel to get Andy to do the same at the middle school.  His was much more calm!  No line.  I filled out all the paperwork and some nice girls  his age showed him where his home room was and gave him the tour of the school.  It seems Andy is surrounded with girls!  The party last night was fun, he said.  He looked very uncomfortable going into the house!  It's kind of cute!

Worland High School

Worland High Warrior

Now it's laundry time and quiet reading time.  One nice thing about the hotel is that I don't have any "chores" to do besides laundry.  It's quite nice really.


I stopped into the Shopko Hometown store to look around.  I picked up some fruit snacks for the kids and the checker gave me the "senior discount"!  Do I look 55?!  

I spent the rest of the day with Candace Cottrell, the stake president's wife.  She showed me where everything was in her house and then gave me a map of the Mt. Rushmore area.  She lived right outside of the area in Newcastle Wyoming for 12 years, so she knows all the best places to go.  I'm excited to go explore the area!

Brian, Palmer, and Andy are at Young Men's.  They invited the high priests to go with them for their activity tonight: shooting.  It's a big past time here.  Eric has scouts in just a few minutes as well, so then it will just be Lucy, Peter, and me.  We'll have to go get some ice cream or something!

Until tomorrow,

Love & Kisses,

Julie

Totally Tuesday

Palmer left for marching band bright and early this morning.  It was a quiet morning as I laid down the law--no more watching mindless sponge bob and scooby doo episodes!  The kids read their library books and played legos in the hotel room.  Then we hopped in the car and went to the library to turn in books and get some new ones.  This time we met another librarian who was very happy and cheerful and gave us a (short) tour of the library.  I talked with her for awhile and made a new friend!  We left with our arms full of books!  

Washakie County Library, Worland Branch

If you are wondering why Lucy is the only one in all of the pictures it's because she is the only willing person.  The boys hate their picture taken.  After our library excursion Lucy got her hair cut, just a few inches off.  We picked up Palmer from band and went to Pizza Hut for lunch with the free personal pan pizza coupons we got at the library.  Then took Palmer back to band, took Brian some lunch and dropped the kids off at the hotel.  I went to look at another house with Brian and the realtor.  It was clean and nice, but oh so small, which seems to be a theme around here.  We talked with the realtor and he is going to talk with the other couple again about their house and see if they would pay the closing costs.  Then maybe it would be a better deal for us.  They are discussing it and will let  us know.  

In the meantime Andy has been invited to a party tonight by the stake president's daughter at her house.  He's a little freaked out by it, but is going to go!  She is very friendly and flirty and I don't think he knows how to deal with it!  

Back at the hotel I was talking with the hotel manger, who is so nice and helpful, and he asked if we'd been to the Washakie Museum yet.  I said no, but Lucy really wanted to go.  He called up and got us discount tickets so we picked up Palmer after band and went.  Apparently the largest woolly mammoth dig was found 2 miles outside of Worland.  The Museum was small, but cool.  

Woolly mammoth at the Washakie Museum with Lucy's T-Rex face

Palmer is on his way to lift with the football players tonight, I'm glad he is already involved and meeting people.  Until tomorrow......

Julie