Back to School

Em's first day of preschool... isn't she cute?
In our empty house
C apparently grieving Em's departure
And of course I had to take a pic of Ben on his first day of school as well (C once again grieving his departure). If it looks like it's the crack of dawn, that's because it was. Ben likes to be, on average, about 45 minutes early to everything. This is kind of a sore spot in our marriage. According to him, if you're 15 minutes early in the army, you're late (he really said that!) whereas I'm more like if you're 15 minutes late you're on time. You can imagine the problems this creates.
The girls... almost as excited as their mother to be back in an American grocery store.
Dennis the Menace Park. Ok check this out... Ben's dad attended NPS almost 30 years ago, when Ben was in the 2nd grade. So, here is a picture of HIM taking a drink out of the same lion's mouth 20 some odd years ago.

Saturday we went for a drive along the coast to explore the area. One thing we've discovered is how nice and easy going the people are. Both of these pictures are the result of random people approaching us and asking if they could take our picture for us. Sure, why not?

Em, everso photogenic.
We drove along the famous coastal "17 mile drive" and of course, the clear beautiful day turned overcast just as we embarked.
World renowned Pebble Beach golf course. A round of golf costs $500!!

Yesterday I took the girls for a walk... Em was trying to catch up with the seagull
Beautiful coast.

So, now the issue for me is meeting people and making friends. I HATE being the new kid on the block! My sweet neighbor goes to my church and is literally ten steps away from my doorstep, which is so nice. She is in charge of playgroup and told me all about it, the time and place to meet. It was also announced in our church newsletter. So, this morning I was all pumped to go, anticipating all the new moms I would meet. And, it turned out that no one was there. As in, NO ONE. I called, texted, and knocked on my friend's door. No luck. Later she called me back and said, "Oh yeah, the reason no one was there was because I'm the only one that goes to playgroup, and we had to go to the dentist today." Ooooo-kay? I guess we'll have to work on that. I'll keep you posted.

On our way!

After spending six lovely weeks at my mom's, it was finally time for us to head to our newest adventure... Monterey, CA! Ben will be attending the Naval Postgraduate School.

A lot of people asked me why I was making the long 14 hour road trip road trip, why didn't I just fly with the girls to make our lives easier? And it's true that it would have been easier, but there was a part of me that wanted to experience a long and adventurous road trip with the whole family together. Call me crazy. I mean, aren't so many of your childhood memories (for better or for worse) being stuck in the car with the fam off to some grand destination? Plus, one thing I've loved as we moved from place to place in the military is the drive to our new destination... seeing places I've never been before while anxiously anticipating our new area. I'll never forget our drive from Tennessee to northern Virginia via the Smokey Mountains. That was an amazing drive.
So, Sunday morning we were all packed up and ready to make the 14 hour drive in our itty-bitty Toyota Corolla. It was filled to the brim. I should have taken a picture of my mom too, since she was such a big part of our last 6 weeks.
Um, yeah. The drive on I-80 through the lone and dreary wilderness of Nevada left much to be desired. We saw a sign for a rest stop which indicated that the next one wouldn't be for another 114 miles. So, we decided it was best to stop, and this was it. Two disgusting holes in the ground and I couldn't get Em to go in there for the life of her. She was scared and this time I actually didn't think she was overreacting.
A park where we stopped for a picnic on the way...

I'm not sure if these clips work, but we spent the night in Gardnerville, NV at Aunt Buffie and Uncle Brian's house. Unfortunately I'm a moron and didn't get a picture of them. But they are the nicest people and I never knew that Brian has quite the green thumb! He showed us all his vegetable plants and he was busy making pizza sauce from home grown tomatoes. We ate his homemade bread and he sent us on our way with homemade pear sauce.

The next day we drove over the formidable Sierra Mountains, and also got stuck behind this truck of hay going 15 mph up the mountain.
A view from the top

More beautiful landscape

Unfortunately, this was my fate on the trip, stuck in the back between the two girls trying to keep them happy. I don't know if this pic adequately portrays just how cramped I was. I had to sit at a diagonal with one shoulder pinned behind the car seat. Ben absolutely refused to sit back there...

And finally, we arrived Monday mid-afternoon.

Our super cute neighborhood
And the girls, super excited to be in our new but empty house! Stay tuned to read more about our new place

Livin' the Dream in Utah

We've been back in the states for six weeks now and I must say it has been WONDERFUL to be back. The actual trip was horrendous. We missed both connections in Frankfurt and Chicago and what was supposed to be a 20 hour trip turned into a 50 hour trip!! Honestly, the worst and most exhausting traveling experience of my life, and that's saying something. BUT, it has been glorious to be back in the states. During my first outing to Target it felt so awesome to be able to approach an employee and ask her in my own language where something was and understand her! Back in my comfort zone again. Sigh of relief.

But then there were other things that kind of bothered me. Like how many dang restaurants there are, particularly burger joints! It was seriously difficult to find any good joints in our Warsaw neighborhood, but I swear within a 2 mile radius of my mom's house in Orem you have a plethora of choices from the likes of Apollo Burger, Arctic Circle, Carl's Jr., Wendy's, In-N-Out, etc, etc. It kind of grossed me out. After about my fifth burger in one week I was done. And I'm done with burgers for awhile now. Something else that struck me was Utah's vast arid desert climate. Poland had such a cool temperate summer, plus it has so many trees. Utah was a 30 degree difference, so HOT!

Here is a recap of our last six weeks in Utah.
At the airport in Warsaw before our whole debacle unfolded. Em was too cute pushing C in the stroller, but what's even more interesting is Ben in the background. Notice he is wearing a backpack on his back AND front and carrying the mother of all car seats. Those were just our carryon items!
I had to laugh when I looked up from my magazine and saw Em like this. The rest of the trip was too awful to take any pictures of... so let's fast-forward to the land of milk and honey...
My mom's backyard. So happy to be off the plane.
And check out that beautiful American backyard grass. Missed that like crazy.
The girls got to hang out with cousins they hadn't seen in over a year.
At the Shaha reunion C fell in love with the Cozy Coupe. In and...
Out.
We went to a cousin's wedding
C was a self-appointed flower girl
Em and her Gwampa
And her Uncle Steve
Cousin Natalie
And you got to love the forced tortuous photos... must get all the cute cousins together!

Dave discreetly trying to hold up his 10-day old baby's head cracks me up in this one.

Sunday of Mary's farewell. All the girl cousins playing out on the lawn

We said farewell to my sister Mary who is departing on a mission to Argentina. The four daughters.

An outing with the grandparents... C loved the carousel

And every now and then I unsuspectingly find a photo like this on my camera...

We spent some restful time at the cabin... although it is tough to go back there as my dad's thumbprints are everywhere.
The kids bunk together in the loft.

We always go rafting down on the reservoir, like we're all piled on this old inflatable raft while all around us speed boats are zipping by... so this time around someone actually offered to take us for a spin on their "Great Big Mable." When I said, "Wow, this is so nice of you to take us for a spin!" The guy was like, "Yeah, we saw you rowing your raft over there and thought, 'that would seriously suck.'" Thanks, I think.
The fearless riders included Phil, Reed, Beck, and myself. Oh my, it was a lot of fun.
No trip to the cabin is complete without a game of "King of the Court."

After the cabin, a visit to Grandma Williams in Jerome... she turns 90 this month!
After a trip to the city pool. C won't wear a hat, so I tried to rub sunblock on her scalp... the result.
So precious
My very awesome, funny, spunky roommate from college, Kat. I have so many fun memories with her. Her four year old daughter took the photo, hence the slight crookedness.
A walk around the temple grounds at Timpanogas
Em and Ricky really endeared themselves to each other. They were so cute together!!

Mom, Bonnie, and I did initiatories one morning at the Provo Temple.

Em with her Blackburn cousins

Em has become quite the bookworm.

My innovative brother Dennis duct taped C's slipping skirt to her shirt.

A visit to my dad's grave on the night of a full moon. My dad loved full moons.

Mischievous smile

And Em's first bona fide haircut (that would be excluding anything I've attempted on her). She got it cut into a cute bob.

My sister-in-law's baby shower. These are all my beautiful Payne cousins...

Ben and his cousin Chris at the BYU/Utah game. This bright and happy picture was obviously taken before the game kicked off.

And another random shot found on my camera.