Photos from Phones - May 2015 Round Up

May was cram packed with fun, as you'll see from the plethora of photos below (hang on to your hats - this is a big one that probably should have been broken into multiple posts, but wasn't, so here it is in all its run-on photo dump glory).  One of the greatest things about May (and beyond) is that we've been able to spend a lot of time with the fam - cousins, grandmas, uncles, grandpas, aunts - at both planned parties and impromptu get-togethers.  We love being back in the beehive state!

5.1.15
(sign at eden park)

5.1.15

5.2.15
(we got to go watch Kage and Dray play soccer!)

5.2.15

5.2.15
(Cal LOVES playing with her cousins)

5.2.15

5.2.15
(an impromptu sweet tomatoes lunch after the games - delish!)

5.2.15

5.2.15
(Cal is explaining to her much older cousins - who already know
their abcs - what the letters on the cards were.)

5.2.15

5.4.15
(playing at the park by the library before story time
starts; also note the shorts, size 9 months, on the
girl, age 23 months)

5.4.15
(my little kitchen helper)

5.4.15
(I love the tippy toes)

5.5.15
(just because we moved doesn't mean the cloud
pics are going to stop - this is from our driveway)

5.6.15
(on a stroller hike from the north arm trailhead)

5.6.15

5.6.15

5.6.15

5.6.15

5.6.15

5.7.15
(these are at eden park)

5.8.15
(I made a cake for our race for the cure/mother's
day bbq with the Blanchards)

5.8.15
(carrot cake with a cheesecake swirl - and
cream cheese frosting to go on later)

5.8.15
(she loves "yicking a beater")

5.8.15

5.9.15
(a very soggy race for the cure - note the garbage bag over her
legs, which helped her stay the warmest and driest of any of us)

5.9.15

5.9.15

5.9.15

5.9.15

5.9.15

5.9.15

5.9.15
(20 years as a cancer survivor!)

5.9.15
(party time at the Wihongi's afterward - and cousins in matching
shirts - can it get any better?)

5.9.15

5.9.15

5.9.15
(skewering away)

5.9.15
(pre-grill)

5.9.15
(post-grill and ready to eat: chicken, beef, brats, peppers, tomatoes,
zucchini, mushrooms, and shrimp)

5.9.15
(there's that cheesecake swirl!)

5.10.15
(we went to logan for mother's day afternoon -
and I had to get a pic by the "life event tree")

5.10.15

5.10.15
(I picked this one soley for Cal's closed eyes)

5.10.15
(sisters and mom - I love these women!)

5.11.15

5.11.15

5.13.15

5.13,15

5.14.15
(we discovered a new park behind the church,
and Cal attempted climbing a ladder for the first
time)

5.14.15

5.14.15

5.14.15

5.15.15
(it rained most of may, but we braved the mist on this morning
and had a lovely view of  nordic valley resort on our morning
stroll)

5.15.15
(down by the north arm trailhead)

5.15.15
(I heard it was national chocolate chip cookie day,
so I had to oblige)

5.15.15
(it also happened to be friday, so we of course had
pizza for dinner - Cal is an excellent sous chef
and pizza-making apprentice)

5.19.15
(playing in the new indoor tent from the Farrers
on a rainy morning)

5.19.15
(go go grapes must be read in the tent)

5.19.15
(she was singing "happy birthday" to everyone she could think of)

5.19.15
(from our walk on "the loop")

5.1.15 / 5.19.15
(what a difference a few weeks can make on a dandelion field)

5.19.15
(story time with dad - yep, in the tent and yep,
go go grapes)

5.20.15

5.20.15
(our yard before the lawnmower and weedwhacker met it)

5.20.15

5.20.15
(during)

5.20.15
(and after)

5.20.15
(it's not lush lawn by any means, but it is much better than
tromping through waist-high weeds!)

5.21.15
(snack time at the "church park")

5.21.15
(eden in a nutshell: mountains and barns and green in between)

5.21.15

5.21.15
(I had a cake mix, I had leftover cream cheese
frosting, and I just bought strawberries at the
valley market; plus, the missionaries were coming
for dinner - in other words, the perfect combination
that resulted in this for dessert)

5.22.15
(my first attempt at homemade hotdog buns - rose a bit too long,
but turned out pretty great nonetheless)

5.23.15
(I made a key lime cheesecake for memorial day
and it was the most beautiful cheesecake I've ever
made - no sinking, no cracks!)

5.24.15
(sickie sunday afternoon nap - sooo tired!)

5.24.15
(sunday evening drive led us here - not too shabby of a view,
I reckon)

5.25.15
(Ky and Cal slefie at the cemetery on memorial day)

5.25.15
(putting flowers on Cal's great-great-grandma
and grandpa Lamb's grave)

5.26.15

5.27.15

5.27.15
(how do you like to go up in a swing?)

5.27.15
(she was playing with this dyer's woad in our back
yard, singing about broccoli - turns out they're in
the same family, so she wasn't too far off!)

5.27.15
(more back yard shenanigans - on the bench)

5.27.15
(her second attempt at climbing a ladder - I'm glad
dad was there to spot her the whole time!)

5.28.15
(one of the pretty days after lots of dreary sky days)

5.28.15
(dame's rocket)

5.28.15
(poppies)

5.28.15

5.28.15
(the sneak peak from Gregg's mom of the quilt she's making
for Baby Dos - can it get any more adorable?!)

5.28.15
(columbine - surprise blooms next to our driveway)

5.28.15
(golden hour rock splashing in the puddles in
front of our house)

5.28.15
(red neck/macgyver rigging of a swing - but the
swinger is happy, so we're happy, too)

5.30.15
(prompted by this article I read in the ogden
valley news earlier in the month, I talked my
sister Heather into coming with me to a dyer's
woad workshop at eden park)

5.30.15
(heating up the woad leaves)

5.30.15
(chilling them down again)

5.30.15
(squeezing out the juice)

5.30.15
(now for some aeration)

Bonus video:

"dyers woad magic!"

5.30.15

5.30.15
(after a few more steps that weren't documented by me - but if
you want to see the whole process, check out Heather's blog -
we ended up with a dyed piece of muslin and skein of yarn (H's),
and a piece of cotton gauze for a swaddling blanket and a onesie
for Baby Dos.  update: I washed my stuff a few days later, and it
was no longer tinted green, but a true indigo blue after the wash!)

Whew!  You made it!  Give yourself a pat on the back!  ;)

All the round ups here: 
2015: Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2014: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June | May | Apr | Mar | Feb | Jan
2013: Dec | Nov | Oct | Sept | Aug | July | June

New House

Here I am, writing this post from our new house in Eden, Utah.  Trust me when I say the name is entirely accurate.  Outside my window I see a giant field of bright yellow dandelions, which despite the whole dandelion thing are actually quite lovely and cheery.  Beyond that is a few homes - not too close - and in the distance are some still-snow-covered peaks.  The sky is blue, the grass is green, the trees are starting to leaf out.  It's gorgeous, glorious spring!

But let me remind you that we lived in an amazingly beautiful place before, too.  One that we loved dearly and were sad to leave behind.  One where the mountains were right next door, and a river ran (practically) through our back yard.  One where we had our first baby, Callie June, and watched her first two years of life develop.  One where we had dear ward friends who substituted as family since we were so far away from our own.  One where our family came to visit and explore with us for vacation.  One where so many people came to vacation . . . but we got to live there year-round!

So, why the change?  We didn't have to move in the sense that Gregg had a job change or we could no longer afford it or anything like that.  But the thought had been on our mind for a long time, and we just felt that now was the right time to make the move.  Here in Eden, we are happy to be within an hour and a half of both sets of grandparents (and a lot of great-grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles, too).  We're happy to have no shared walls and a lot more space to spread out.  We're happy to have a "yard" to work in, seemingly endless quiet streets and trails to explore, and a huge park just a block away.  We're happy to be somewhere where the cost of living is such that we can save (a lot) more money and eventually (soon, we hope) buy a house to really set down some roots.

So yes, it was hard to say goodbye to our life in Colorado - bittersweet has been a word we've used a lot over the past couple of months - but here we are, jumping into a new adventure in what is surely the Garden of Eden.

First load - garage stuff and weirdly shaped stuff  and stuff we won't
need for a few weeks - in my dad's truck early in April.

Gregg's mom came out on the Amtrak train to help on Thursday.
(Side note, this photo was taken just minutes after I got to the station
and locked my keys in my car - so frustrating! Kim saved the day
right off the bat by using her AAA membership to get us unlocked
and on our way, and we figured we only lost about 15 minutes
off our previously scheduled plans from the delay.  Truly a miracle -
one of many we experienced in our weekend moving adventure.)

Bobbi and Evee Brook helped Cal clean the windows while
the menfolk from the ward were loading the truck.

That's most of our stuff (minus two mattresses
that we slept on that night as well as some
other miscellany we threw in Friday morning)
and still there's room to spare!  Good tetris skills,
Gregg! 

Cal was happy to have Evee around to play with that night.
Evee has been one of my favorites (I know I'm not supposed to have
favorites) in primary this past year.  She'll be moving into YW
in a couple weeks and I'm so excited for her!

Some of the others who came to help: The Jeremies (Slade on the left
and  Huntley on the right) and Bishop Webb (back to us).

The Elders stopped by, too.  Not pictured, but present: Heather
Hay and Chris Brook.  And the Rosenfelds stopped by to say goodbye
after everyone was done and gone.

The next morning, after all the final cleaning and packing was done.
(Minus the ristra hanging in the kitchen that we accidentally left . . .
again - it got left behind in Logan when we moved to CO, too but was
rescued by my mom before the apartment was reoccupied.)

One last outside shot - complete with our Budget truck in the driveway.

Packed car!

Park stop in Green River - a must for an antsy toddler (and
pregnant momma).  Cal found some treasures to show Grandma.

Good morning, Eden!  Gregg's view Saturday morning when he
woke up in our new house.  That wasn't exactly the plan, but he
ended up driving straight through after work, pulling in the driveway
after midnight in the pouring rain.  So nice to wake up to a scene
like that!

There's that trusty truck, this time in the Eden driveway.

Home sweet home at "Cowies New House!"

And here is Cal in her new room.

Unpacking party with the cousins and aunties - Cal was in heaven!

Looks like Grandma is in heaven here.  :)

Now for a little tour.  Hang tight, there are still a grundle of photos to go!

Outside front view - this photo is actually not entirely accurate as
I'm pretty sure the tree in front of the door is dead and the neighbor,
Stan, has a new (as of this week) green garbage can that he parks in
the same spot.  We got this pic from the web to show our fam
when we first signed the lease in March.

View from the northwest corner of the house,
looking northwest-ish.

Same view Gregg saw, just a couple days later.  This is from the
front porch.

Standing at the end of our driveway
(on garbage day) and looking
right will give you this view.

And this is what you see when you look left
from the same spot.

Looking up from the driveway gives you this.
These trees are stinkin' tall!

And, of course, from the end of the driveway looking back at the
house, you see this.

This is the "yard" on the east side of the house,
looking north to the rest of the property.  It stretches
way back there past that red shed thing you can see
through the trees.  It stops just before the big barn
visible in the upper left side of the photo.

Another view of the jungle, looking north east from the northwest
corner of the house.

This is Stan's house, up the lane that goes in front
of our house.

Some pretty "wild" tulips growing along the east
fence line.  This is looking from the southeast corner
of the lot looking north.

Here's our back porch, freshly sweeped and windows washed after
the painters have been here all week.  (Trust me, the house needed
a fresh coat!)  The doors on the left lead right into the kitchen and
the doors on the right lead into the great room.  The window on the left
is over the sink.

Another view of the deck area (and door into the garage) from
the great room doors.

And why don't we head inside, while we're at it?  This post isn't long enough as it is, let's just add even more photos to the tour!

Looking from the kitchen into the great room.  The double doors
that lead to the deck are just out of the frame on the right.
Just out of frame on the left is a door that leads to the laundry/
ultility/storage room.

In the same doorway, just looking back into the kitchen.

Same doorway, looking into the front room.

At the other end of the kitchen/front room is this
giant, long, hallway.  Cal's room is the first door on
the right, our room is at the end on the right.  First on
the left is Dos's, then there's a linen closet, and then
a bathroom.

Dos's room is full of stuff right now - including all the broken closet
doors from the rest of the house.  Another quirk?  That window looks
directly into the garage.

Cal's room when it's all "put together".

Our room/Gregg's office.

Hallway bathroom.

Master bathroom with a long closet on the right,
opposite the vanity.

And here we are again, back down the hall with another view of
the kitchen.

Whew!  You made it.  Welcome to our new home!  As you can see, we have plenty of space for you to roll out a sleeping bag, so come visit!