2nd Annual Back-to-School Fashion Show

I took Carly and Ellie each on individual dates on Saturday to do some school clothes shopping. Then for our Monday night activity we had a fashion show.

Carly is such a little performer - she LOVES to be center of attention! I love her cute new outfits - so stylish - they make her look so much older.

Ellie was so excited to actually get new clothes. She doesn't get new clothes as often as Carly since she can have Carly's hand-me-downs.

Aubree was more than happy to showcase this little number (which is a hand-me-down).

Here's the grand finale (with our neighbor-friend, Lily).

It's posts like these that really make me wish I had a new camera!

The Library and Cemetery

One of the first places we visit whenever we move somewhere new is the public library. The closest library to us is actually in Rhode Island (less than a mile away). We actually share a downtown with Westerly, RI. The library was built in 1897 (with add-ons since) and is beautiful! Do you see the beautiful woodwork on that banister? And the chandeliers? The library is huge and has wonderful kid's summer programs. The kids went to a really fun science/magic show today.

 The library is adjoined to a park (probably at least 15 acres) that is like an arboretum with beautiful OLD trees, gardens, fountains, and this duck pond. At first the girls were a little disappointed to find out that "park" doesn't always mean "playground", although after walking through it the first time, they fell in love.

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River Bend Cemetery

This picture doesn't quite do it justice - the cemetery is right on the water and has headstones dating back to the 1700's. One person was born in 1776 and died on the 4th of July (18-something) - I'm sure he was a very patriotic man. :) We enjoyed wandering around looking at headstones and enjoying the beautiful landscape. Occasionally as you're driving around in an old neighborhood you'll see a small area fenced off on someone's property with old, dilapidated headstones in it - old family plots.

Our first week in Stonington

 The smell of a one hundred year old home in 90% humidity is enough to knock you over. So, here we are scrubbing away in the kitchen when we first arrive (this is before we knew that the smell cannot be scrubbed away - it is part of the home and can only be masked with candles, essential oils, and other smelly products).

 As Aaron and I and the big girls got to work unloading the car and cleaning, this is what Aubree did.

About an hour after getting there the girls discovered that our next door neighbors have a swingset - so we went over to introduce ourselves. And lo and behold they do have kids - a 5 year old girl and a baby boy. The mom, Melissa, was so friendly and kind and said that her husband, Mark, would be home from work soon so we could meet him. We asked what he did and she said he was a landscape architect (not very many of those around). Aaron said, me too, and we were all amazed at the coincidence. Then we find out that Mark used to work for Cummin Assoc. and Aaron is filling Mark's old position! Crazy, right? (By the way, Mark really liked working for Cummin Assoc., but he was offered a job at a firm he used to work for with a substantial pay raise. But they said they loved Cummin Assoc. and that Aaron would really enjoy it there.) The girls have already become such wonderful friends with the little neighbor girl and Melissa has helped me to not feel so lonely and homesick. It also helped to be in their home since it is the exact same as our home. It made me feel like our house could become a cozy home.

 Our neighbors took us to Watch Hill in Westerly, RI where the girls rode on the only surviving flying horse carousel in the country!

I think we're going to love it here!

Kaysville to Stonington

Journaling the road trip to our new home

 The girls have been doing so well in the car! They have been coloring, hand knitting, and listening to books on tape (All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot and the theatrical version of The Chronicles of Narnia), and we've only gotten out the DVD player once!

 Our first stop was Cheyenne, WY to stay at my aunt Janet's house one night. Unfortunately she wasn't there, but she left some homemade dinner for us and lunch for the next day - so nice!

 The next day we stopped at the Cabella's in Nebraska

 We stopeed in Omaha for a night (no pictures),

 then went to Nauvoo on Friday. When Carly saw this old well, she pulled the rope and said, "I've always wanted to do this." :)

 That night there was a country fair and a pageant that we attended. The pageant was pretty good - although I always have a hard time watching someone play the part of Joseph Smith - I never think they do a good enough job (same with Jesus actors).

 We spent Sunday in Kirtland and had a tour of historic Kirtland. That night we stayed at the hotel and watched the swimming and gymnastics Olympics. Carly has been begging us ever since to be in the Olympics.

Monday we were in Pennsylvania and stopped at Hershey world - yum!

 Tuesday we started out for our new home - Stonington, CT. This is the view of NYC from the New Jersey Turnpike. By the way, tolls are expensive! We probably spent at least $40 on road tolls in the eastern states.

 The highways in Connecticut are unbelievable - this isn't a great picture, but they are so beautiful. It can be hard to find your way if you're not familiar with the area - thanks to my Dad we had a GPS to help us find our way.

Home sweet home! (It doesn't feel that way yet, but hopefully soon!)
The house was built in 1900, and it smells like it too. It doesn't help that the neighborhood has a skunk problem - seriously. The house has a way cool layout - parlor (I get to call it that because it was built back then :)), dining room, large kitchen, family room and teeny, tiny half bathroom on first floor, and three small bedrooms and a small full bathroom upstairs. There is also a basement - totally unfinished, stone foundation, super smelly, and really creepy.
So, there it is - our travelogue from Kaysville to Stonington. More to come on our adventures since being here.

Accepting this Blessing

Aaron had been applying for other Landscape Architecture positions for the past several months and had gotten a couple responses from firms in other states, but no job offers. After several applications and resumes sent, we were beginning to think we would just have to stick it out at his current job until the economy picked up again. His current job just wasn't his ideal job and his boss was far from an ideal boss - but we figured this job was better than no job. Well, about a month ago Aaron found a job opening at a firm in Connecticut that looked awesome - so of course he applied. We didn't expect to hear back from them, but about two weeks later they contacted him for a phone interview and two weeks after that they flew him out to Connecticut so he could see the office and meet everyone there. I was a little pessimistic (because of Aaron's current job situation) and figured that it wouldn't work out, but when Aaron called on his way home he said it went really well and he felt really good about it. So, long story short (there was a lot of stress for a few days on our part), Aaron got an official job offer with Cummin Associates and would start the beginning of August!

(So, now on to the title of this post - Accepting this Blessing.)
After having gone through unemployment once and then Aaron having a really hard boss and negative work environment more recently, I've personally had a hard time accepting this wonderful opportunity as being real. The other night I had a dream that we moved our family and all our stuff to Connecticut just to find out that the new boss didn't want to hire Aaron after all. In the dream I kept asking Aaron if he was being serious or if he was kidding with me. I was so scared because now we didn't have a job and didn't know anyone in Connecticut and I didn't know what in the world we would do! It was a nightmare - I woke myself up and had to convince myself that it was just a dream and not real! That dream is only a slight exaggeration from the feelings I'm constantly trying to push away. I keep thinking it's too good to be true - living in New England, Aaron's dream job, great boss, and good compensation. We've spent so long being under-compensated, and in jobs that we can't see a future in that we had just resigned ourselves to living that way indefinitely and trying to figure out what Heavenly Father wanted us to learn from it.  So, now I'm having to re-train my thinking, allowing myself to believe and accept this blessing, and reminding myself that we are deserving of this blessing.

Children should be seen and not heard

We've been listening to Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House books on CD recently and have really been enjoying her stories and imagining their hard, yet simple life. It's interesting to hear some of the same sayings over and over again, such as: "All's well that ends well", "Children should speak only when spoken to", and "Children should be seen and not heard".

So, lately I've been thinking that those last two sayings aren't quite as harsh as I once thought. The Ingalls were very kind to their kids and still allowed them to share ideas, but they were also taught respect and tact. I think it saved their parents a lot of embarrassment.

When Aaron lost his job two years ago, Carly would often jump into our conversations (uninvited) and tell whoever we were talking to (oftentimes people we had just met) that Daddy had lost his job. *awkward*

And today in sacrament meeting a lady stood up to give her talk who had short hair and was wearing a plain blue button up shirt. Our family was sitting near the front and Aubree pointed at her and asked loudly, "It that a boy or girl?"

What we've been up to...

 The girls were asked out on a date by this handsome guy. He came to the front door to pick them up so that I could meet him and ask him where they would be (Kaysville Movie Theatre) and what they would be doing (watching "Brave") and when they would be home (a few hours). He seemed like a very respectful young man and very kind, so I felt good about sending them off with him. They had a wonderful time!

 While Sophie and Scotty were here I asked the kids to make a list of some things they would like to do. The list included: party with presents, Boondocks, cake, Disney Land, and Disney cruise. So, I combined the cheap ideas and we had a "Happy Birthday Summer" party. The kids drew a name and got to pick out a gift at the dollar store. Then we made cake and homemade ice cream and sang happy birthday to summer.

This was a yummy recipe I found in "Our Best Bites" cookbook. It's hollowed out zucchini filled with veggies, breadcrumbs and cheese and grilled on the grill. SO YUMMY!

 Ready with treat bags to go to the Fourth of July parade

 After the parade we went swimming down at the pool with Reva's family. That night we enjoyed the fireworks.

Happy Independence Day!!