Thanksgiving Point Gardens

Things have been busy here.  Busy and hot.  We just finished two weeks of swim lessons and have done a few other outings here and there.  Here are some pictures from an outing to the Thanksgiving Point Gardens.  It's very beautiful there.  I liked the waterfall.

The secret garden was also a favorite

Inside the secret garden

At the Italian fountain.  That's Matthew and my cousin, Suzanne, who toured around the garden with us.  She was a good sport and even carried children around quite a bit.  Thanks Suzanne!!  I should have taken a better picture of us together or something. I always forget about those things until its too late.  :(

A giant fake flower

And just a bunch more pictures.

My mom holding Emma.  It was warm that day.

Grant and I went on a detour to the bathroom.

Here we are on our trip back to find the rest of our people.

We had a nice time at the garden.  The kids were thought it was a hot, long walk but I think they had a good time too.  We'll have to go back.

House Hunting

Scott has been out in California working at his new job for a few weeks while the kids and I have been staying in Utah with my mom.  For logistical reasons, Scott and I had not been on a house hunting trip prior to his starting work.  So we finally got a chance to go.  My parents watched the four older kids (no small feat) while I flew out to CA with Emma to look for a house.

If you are familiar with the current Bay Area real estate market, you know that it is crazy expensive because of the tech boom in Silicon Valley and general housing shortage in the area (among other factors).  A house equivalent to our house in Colorado would cost three times as much or more in that area.  Not to mention just the general low inventory of houses to buy there.  Houses selling far above the asking price (because of bidding wars) is commonplace there.  So we had our work cut out for us.  I've been researching online where we could live and we decided to look in Livermore (30ish miles from Scott's office to the north east) and Gilroy (40ish miles from Scott's office to the south).

This (above) is a house we looked at in Gilroy.

Scott has been staying at his sister's house in San Francisco.  I was checking out the row-ish houses near their house.  And the June gloom.

This is a picture of some vineyards we saw as we house hunted in Livermore.  I wanted to like Livermore, but it was more crowded and trafficy to get there than I thought.  And competition for homes is a bit stiffer there than in Gilroy.  Our realtor also cautioned us that homes often get multiple offers, driving the price way up, and sellers may refuse to work with you based on what kind of loan you want to use or whether or not you will waive an appraisal of the home.  Or for other weird reasons.  I was pretty discouraged after looking in Livermore.

Gilroy was much more encouraging.  I liked that it was less crowded, we could afford a little more house there and the competition isn't so stiff.  There are a lot of newer houses there too and a commuter train that makes a stop right next to Scott's office.  We looked at many houses in Gilroy and made an offer on one.  We couldn't come to an agreement with the sellers about a price for that property so we are now looking at other properties.  We're also considering having a house built.  I'm hoping we can have something figured out before school starts, but time is getting short.

 Scott in San Francisco.  Cody and Alycia (Scott's sister) took us out to eat in the city.  Lots of fun. 

Alycia showed me some cool sites in San Francisco one day while Scott was at work and I was done with my house hunting tasks.  This windmill is in Golden Gate Park (I think).

 Golden Gate Bridge

 We even got to go to the beach!!  Lulu welcomes us!

 It was Emma's first time at the beach...but not the last

The trip was overwhelming and felt a little unproductive, but at least we know what areas we want to pursue now.  Anna came to the airport (with my mom) and made me a nice sign to welcome me back from the house hunting trip.  Very sweet!

Up the Canyon

While my sister and her family were in town (in Utah) we went did some exploring up Cottonwood Canyon. Ruth and family go on lots of hikes in Washington and Oregon (and all over the US actually) so they are pros.  Here are some pictures from our adventures.

 Found the waterfall

 Boys checking out the water

 Matthew followed Uncle Dana and then started running up some trail (unauthorized).  Luckily Uncle Dana helped him get down and he only got a little wet coming back over the water.

 Emma was pretty good

 Crossing the stream

 Cousins!

 After checking out that waterfall we drove a little ways to see another one

It was raining a little when we started so some people waited in the cars with the littlest travelers.

 Anna along our little hike

 Beautiful views once we got to the waterfall

 Grant!  He had fun hiking up but then got tired.

Magnus and Matthew wanted to follow Uncle Dana up some really high rocks to the top of the waterfall.  I didn't let Magnus go up and I think he was kind of ticked off at me (sorry Magnus).  I wouldn't have let Matthew go either except he just ran up there without asking.  (Head shake)  Little mountain goat.  Magnus got mad at me later when I tried to prevent him from walking through the stream.  So, sorry Magnus!!  I'll try to be a cooler aunt next time.  We had lots of fun on our hike!  It's nice to see mountains again.

Adventures in Utah

This is a picture Anna drew after we got to my parent's house in Utah

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind.  We drove from Illinois to Utah (stopping in Lincoln, Nebraska and Cheyenne, Wyoming).  Then Scott flew back to NorCal for his second week of work.  So far he enjoys the job and the work environment.  He can wear jeans to work.  And no one tells him how long his hair should be.  Of course, those aren't the most pertinent differences, but still noteworthy.  He is currently staying with his sister in San Francisco and commutes down to Silicon Valley.  It takes him about an hour.

I spent a few days in Utah before heading out to CA to house hunt and I got to see my sister and brother and families during that time.

 Here are my kids with my brother (Will)'s kids.

L to R Anna, Emma, John, Rachel, Whitney, Megan, Grant and Matthew.

We got to spend a little time with them before they had to head back home to Oregon.

My parents only moved into this house (from Rhode Island) a few weeks ago.  So they are still getting settled, and I'm sure we are not helping matters.  The kids were very excited to use the fire pit in the backyard.  Here we are making doughboys.

A doughboy is a piece of canned biscuit dough cooked over the fire on a long wooden stick and then filled with pie filling (or jam, but mostly pie filling).  We used to eat them at ward functions in my ward growing up.  One of our home ward friends made and gifted Scott and I with a pair of doughboy stick for our wedding.  Here are Matthew and I eating our doughboys.

 Matthew cooking his doughboy.  See the special stick.  Those sticks belonged to my parents.

We also had hamburgers and hotdogs.

Matthew wanted to wear my sunglasses to protect his eyes from smoke.

Grant and Anna were really excited to use the fire pit and then they both fell asleep in the afternoon...hard.  We tried everything we could to wake them.  Well, reasonable methods at least.  The could not be roused.  They were both upset when they did wake up and found they had missed using the fire pit.  We'll do it another day I'm sure.

 My sister, Ruth, and her family also came through town from Washington.

We went to the Thanksgiving Point Museum of Natural Curiosity (among other places).

The zip line was a favorite!

Here are some of my kids with cousin Magnus (in blue).  He and Grant are the same age and up to a lot of the same tricks.  They had fun playing together.

 Cool climber at the museum.

 Me, Ruth, Gideon and my mom

Yes, Gideon, you are very cute!

And Anna, John, Magnus, Gideon, Matthew, Emma and Grant

It was so fun to have cousin time. 

Goodbye Illinois

After living in temporary lodging for two weeks (the last week and a half without Scott) I was ready to get going.  On the last day of school Scott flew in to St. Louis to drive with us back west.  Poor guy.  He had to drive across twice.  But after evaluating some different options, we thought this was the best one.  This was Scott's drive the first time.
The second time the kids and I will stop in Utah to stay with my parents while we get a house in California.
The last of day of school was a half day - the Friday before Memorial Day weekend.

 After school we said a last goodbye to some of our friends.

I hate saying goodbye to people.

And then we drove away from the school...and started our journey west (after stopping for lunch and to weigh the car).  Last Air Force move.  On to new adventures!