These Are a Few of Our Favorite (and Least Favorite) Things

Rea's favorite thing this week was learning that Grandma and Grandpa are going to come and help us move. She thinks that will be very fun. Her least favorite was going to our ward for the last time, because she likes our church a lot. She bore a beautiful testimony about how Heavenly Father helps us with trials like moving, which made Alison, who bore her testimony right after, cry all through her testimony. It was hard to say goodbye. We hadn't planned to start attending church yet, but we decided to do one last week for the goodbyes; it was very sad but good.

Sara's favorite part of last week was talking about and planning for moving. Her least favorite was Team Clean.

The plan we've created for moving is as follows: Wednesday afternoon we close, so after we get the keys we're going to grab our sleeping bags and toothbrushes and pick up fast food at a drive through. We'll go to the new house, eat a picnic on the floor, explore the yard and the neighborhood, and then camp out all together in the new playroom. Thursday we rented a moving truck and Amy offered to take the kids all day, so Mike and Alison will move the big furniture, buy the appliances and install them, and buy tons of shelving and install it all over the house. From then on, we'll go every day to the old house and fill as many boxes we have time for, then drive back and empty them. It should only take a week or so to move everything if we work hard (based on how long it takes us to empty and refill the rooms when we do Organized Simplicity). Grandpa Craig and Grandma Julie are going to come and help next week, which will be great.

 Timmy's favorite thing this week was petting the llama. It was a furry brown thing with a big mane (it was actually an alpaca shaved to leave a mane on the back of its neck). It was big and it was furry and it was cuddly and it was brown and it was FUN! And all the rest of the petting zoo.

This is because we got an invitation to go to another church's activity at Flat Iron Mesa Park, and it included a petting zoo. The kids loved it. The church delivered flyers to all the neighborhood, but at our house the lady stopped and said they had some food they wanted to use to bless someone and would we be interested? So we got some nearly-expired baked goods, pasta and sauce and some canned vegetables, and two huge bags of shredded mozzarella and frozen chicken taco meat. The kids were pretty excited for the desserts.

Timmy's least favorite thing was not getting to see Grandma and Grandpa this week.

Gideon loved that we would go and eat seven layer bean dip. The thing he remembered that was fun was making a LEGO robot with Daddy. It's a thin shape; it's a straight shape. It's a snake! Snakes are thin and straight. It's going to drive around and bite. His new favorite thing is this robot he's making.

Gideon's least favorite thing was fish for dinner. (It was tuna melts, which is usually the most popular way to eat fish at our house, and he ate it pretty well. Timmy was trying to convince him that it was his favorite thing, which is probably why it's now his least favorite.)

Alison's favorite thing this week was talking to people: visiting with friends, texting with ward members, calling her parents, and talking to Rea as we went to get her a new bike off KSL. (The bike is pretty awesome.) She had some good conversations that helped her feel more positive about life in general and moving in particular.

Her least favorite thing was that the car's check engine light went on and the only time the mechanic could see it was Friday, so we ended up missing our nature group and park day. We'll probably go next week and let Daddy work on moving all alone (with no kids to hinder, we think he'll get about as much done as the whole family would together).

(The car's cylinders are misfiring, and the mechanic had to order new ones, so we'll be taking the car in again on Monday.)

Mike's favorite thing was getting A's on all of his midterms, and making successful blackberry-mulberry jam (the last two jams we made didn't set properly, so this is pretty exciting). He also liked bearing his testimony and visiting our ward for the last time; it was good to see people and say goodbye.

Mike's least favorite thing was also the car trouble: he was trying to take his bike so that he could ride home from the mechanic but the tires were flat and the kids had lost the pump adapter for his type of tires, and then he pumped up Alison's bike tires and the pump had gotten so rusty that it broke and he had to fix it. So that was frustrating.

This coming week is the big one! We're excited and nervous for a new house and new friends and so many new things.