Welcome HOME!

You have no idea how excited we are to have our own little place!

This was a crazy winter for snow. There were 10-15 foot pile of snow from the snow plows all over the place. Most parking lots were limited to 1/2 of their capacity because of the enormous piles of snow. I know you Utahans are thinking, yea big deal, like I was until I saw it. I am really glad we missed it!

We stayed in the hotel four days and unloaded our trailer a week ago. It was a DISASTER! Somehow the divider, that held our stuff in, shifted in transit. When the trailer was delivered, they had propped crates and supports to hold the precarious pile. We were waiting for the whole pile to dump when we moved the supports, but because there was so much pressure, we couldn't budge the barrier. Matt climbed over and handed me stuff until we could release the supports. Not nearly as much fun as it sounds.

Unpacking the trailer was like a giant JENGA game. For the first few hours we feared for our lives each time we moved a box. Memories! I can't tell you how happy we were to be done unpacking that monster. You wouldn't believe this, but only 2 things were broken! Thank heavens!

We LOVE our neighborhood!!! I can't begin to say how much we love our school. My kids have come home happy all 7 days of it! Everyone has been so kind and welcoming.

I found our church about 20 minutes away. It looks like a great ward, people from all over the world. We met a darling family that invited us over for dinner. I have decided that she will be my new BFF :). It turns out there are 3 Mormon families in our town. That is very different from Utah! My kids are the only Mormons in the whole school.

I love that I can go anywhere in the world and find my church, it is the exact same set up, just different people. Three families brought us dinner this week. It is awesome having an instant support group.

Coop wants to go see Matt at work everyday. I can't blame him, it is pretty dang fun!

I love having my stuff again! Now I just need to get it all unpacked and organized. We left most of our furniture in Indiana and are starting over. Matt and I slept on the floor for the first few days. I am so excited to have a new bed! We went to Ikea twice this week, both times with not enough time, big mistake. We will be driving down again soon I am sure. It is funny to drive from the top of CT to the bottom in about an hour.

We have loved everything about this place and our new adventure except for one small thing. It really is small, and it might not be just one thing....

Our house that we are renting is pretty old. All of them are! I asked our landlord if they had ever had seen mice. She assured me that she hadn't. The day after I cleaned out all the cupboards and organized all of them (I even put my spices in alphabetical order), I noticed little tiny POOPS!! You have no idea how scared, violated, and disgusted I felt. I hope it is just Mickey and that he currently has X's over his sleepy little eyeballs. Aggh!!!

The coolest field trip ever!!!

This is proof of how much fun we had yesterday (OK and the fact that we are exhausted from moving across the country and 2 time zones!)

I have been so excited about Matt working for Lego, but it didn't really hit me just how cool it was until we got there! We got the grand tour. There are Legos EVERY WHERE. I wonder how long it will take Cooper to stop smiling. That kid is an ABSOLUTE HEAVEN. The coolest part was seeing how the Lego models are put together. I have always wondered how the life size models you see like at Toys R Us were put together, and now we know!

We got the kids all registered for school. We are very impressed! Once again we have a librarian, school nurse, music teacher, art teacher, gym teacher, etc. When I taught in Utah, I had all of those jobs in addition to being a teacher. Our teachers are darling. I am hopeful to get a good report when the kids get home!

We are still staying in our hotel. We will get the key to our home tomorrow night, and unpack our trailer on Saturday. It is going to be like Christmas, there are a lot of things we haven't seen since July when we packed things up in Indiana!

We are leaving on a jet plane, don't know when we'll be back again...

7 months to the day we left the land of the Greatest Snow on Earth! (August 8 - March 8)

It is kind of embarrassing how many people it took to carry our luggage! We were so thankful to have all the great helpers! It was almost surreal to say goodbye to my family with our one way tickets to Hartford!

I love when you see the giant security line and they send you to the very front because you have kids!! YIPPEE for kids!

We got stuck in SLC because the flight attendant was sick. Rocky loved running around meeting all sorts of new friends. Our first flight went by so fast, all of the sudden we were in Denver! When we got off the plane my brother was standing there to greet us! What a nice surprise! He helped us get the next flight, watched my kids so I could have a potty break ( I was panicking about that), AND got us ice cream!!! Thanks Rob!!! I have the BEST family!!

I was dreading the flight from Denver to Hartford to put it mildly. Rocky fell asleep for the first couple of hours. It was nice to just chill on the plane with my kids and reflect on our new adventure. I sat there thinking, holy crap, I am moving my family across the US for the next chapter of our lives!! When Rocky woke up he was an angel. We had a great time. I am so blessed to have these 3 amazing little souls!!

It was AWESOME to see our daddy again! It had been a month to the day since we had seen him last. It was even fun to see our little blue Saturn with the only Utah liscense plate in the parking lot (OK, probably the state).

Yippee!! We made it! We are a family again!

Here we go!!

ALL the Rich cousins! Happy Birthday Ivy!!!
Saying goodbye
J.A.R.
We are so thankful for all our cute little friends we made. These are Ruby's BFF's
Ruby LOVED her reading teacher, Ms. Martin. She is really going to miss her.
Cooper and Mrs. Cutler

It was so weird pulling my kids out of school to hop on an airplane. It kills me to take them out of school midyear. We are optimistic that things will be awesome at our new school.

Photo overload!!!

Rocky loves to eat carrots through a syringe, especially when he is in charge!
He thinks that any box is meant for him to climb into.
This is his Chris Farley impression :)
He tries to help around the house to compensate for all the food he eats. He loves to dip things in the toilet. He has found it is a great place to dip a toothbrush to suck on. Unfortunately it was MY toothbrush.
These are his 2 favorite partners in crime. They are my favorites as well.
Rocky has discovered that the piano is even more fun to play with your feet than hands. Let me know if any of you try it.
He has also discovered that those 2 holes in your nose are the perfect size for some fingers.


Enough about Rocky, for now.
I had an awesome opportunity to see one of my favorite missionary companions be sworn in as an American citizen. Way to go Julie!!! It was hard for me not to start bawling when they played, "I am Proud to be an American!"
Cooper FINALLY caved and decided to get a haircut. Thanks Aunt Amy!!!

Hanging out at the Church History Museum.

Hasta La Vista Salt Lake City!

YW presidency: I adore these ladies!!!
Most of the Petersons


We have known living in Salt Lake would be temporary, so I don't know why it is so hard to say goodbye. We have been so blessed to be surrounded by family and friends.

The Riches have been so good to us to let us live with them. Ed and Morrissa are 2 of the most amazing people I know. It has been great to REALLY get to know them. They have taken such good care of us. I love that my kids got to know them so closely. Rocky growls at Papa Rich every time he sees him, and wants Grandma Rich to hold him any chance he gets. We will miss them so!!

We will miss hanging out with our cousins, aunts and uncles. We loved getting together every Sunday with the Riches or Petersons. We are blessed to be surrounded with AMAZING family!! It is going to be hard to not be with them.

I have love, love, loved our ward here. We made instant friendships that will be lifelong. I LOVED working with the young women. I look up to these cute girls so much and will miss them like crazy. The leaders that I got to work with are incredible women. My life is richer for getting to be with them.

I am blessed to have the most amazing girlfriends. I have loved all the time I got to spend with my girls. Thanks for eating, laughing, listening and crying with me.

Life is GOOD!!

We are so excited to see our daddy! It will be a month that we have been apart. Yippee for being all together. I am excited to see our new place. I have only seen it on Google maps. I can't wait to have TONS of new adventures and to meet my new friends.

I am NOT excited for our flight. I pray that we are by nice people that understand 17 month old babies or that Rocky will sleep!!!

It is official...

We will be flying out of Salt Lake on March 8! Matt found us a house in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. It is minutes from the Connecticut border where his work is. I am starting to get nervous. We are so excited to start the next chapter of our lives, but very sad to leave all our friends and family here.