THE BIG MOVE --July 11-12, 2008

Me and the pups as we pulled up to the new house for the first time as the new owners!

The puppies were excited to have a new deck and backyard to play in...and to escape from!

The POD arrived with all of our belongings in it. The POD-ZILLA got it off the truck and settled onto our driveway for unloading.

Our new kitchen!

The big day finally arrived and we were able to move into our new home.
The dogs, the POD and I arrived on Friday afternoon ready to move all of our belongings into our new home in Murray. The kitchen, which was so empty on Friday became "Moving Box Central" on Saturday morning.

We had lots of help from Mama, Papa Dean, Jessica, Karen & Randy, and Michael & Melanie. Vicki and the kids were a big help, too.

Jessie and the kids found the perfect climbing tree in the backyard and couldn't help but take a break for a photo op!

How many people does it take to make a queensized bed???

After a long exhausting day of hauling our stuff in the house we took a break to rest and get something to eat.


Saturday evening the kids couldn't wait to go out exploring the neighborhood, scouting for new friends. They hopped on their bikes (something they couldn't do at our old house) and rode around the block a few times. We found out the Mayor of Murray lives a few houses away from us and Katie and Zhi went right up to his door and introduced themselves to him. They reported that he was really nice and welcomed them to the neighborhood. They also both found some new friends that are in our new ward so they were excited to get up and go to church on Sunday.
We still have a long way to go to get settled in, but we've had several new neighbors drop by (with treats!) to welcome us into the neighborhood.
Zhi Wei will be going to scout camp in a couple of weeks with the ward, and Katie is already getting invited to Activity Days and to play with her new friends, as well.
We feel really blessed and happy to be here in this new area. We hope you will all come visit us often!!!

Happy 4th of July!!

A bunch of Muscle-Bound Hotties!

Here we are with our cousins enjoying the 4th in style--in the creek!

We spent the evening of the 3rd with our friends, Gay and Stan Jones, having a BBQ, setting off fireworks in the street and then climbing up the backyard to the golf course to watch the North Salt Lake fireworks show. Needless to say, we had a late night not getting home until 11 PM so we had a kick back morning today. I let the kids sleep in, then we went over to Vicki's pool to cool off before heading down to Vivian Park with Uncle Randy and Aunt Karen and their kids. It was a hot muggy day but we had a great time dipping our feet in the ice cold creek. Jackson told me, "The water is as cold as snow!" Boy was he right, but it felt good on our tootsies. We've got the countdown clock going on our new house in Murray. We close on Monday and will be able start moving in on Friday afternoon. Although we've all had a great time at Vicki's condo we're anxious to get into our own space and get settled into our own little routine. I'm mostly looking forward to the 2 mile commute to work! We're grateful for our blessing of living in a free country.

Here we are taking a dip in the pool at Vicki's condo.