June 2014

June was BY FAR the craziest, busiest, most overwhelming month of 2014. We said goodbye to so many people we love, celebrated lots of milestones, traveled a TON, and made the big move to Louisville. In order to keep it all straight I am just going to break June down into pieces. Here goes the longest post in history!

Summer Fun

Despite the craziness of the upcoming move and all that comes with that, we still managed to find time to play and enjoy the start of the summer. 

Bayden receives his Priesthood

My nephew Bayden received his Priesthood and it was a super special occasion. We were able to get four generation pictures with my Grandma Persis afterward which I am so grateful to have now. And I am so proud of my nephew for becoming the type of young man worthy enough to hold such a responsibility! It was a beautiful day. 

Trevor's Ten Year High School Reunion

I was super bummed because my ten year reunion wasn't until August and we would be moved by then, but I was able to attend Trevor's with him and can I just say I LOVE his friends and I love Poky High. It was a blast getting to see Trevor will all his buddies and how much they still love each other after all these years. It was such a fun evening! 

Paxon's SECOND birthday

Paxon turned two on June 15 (2014). We had his party the following week because we were heading up to West Yellowstone on his actual birthday. I had a Mickey Mouse cake for him (he LOVES Mickey Mouse) and had family and friends over to celebrate. 

Here are a few fun facts about Paxon at age 2:

-He speaks VERY good for a two year old and speaks in clear, understandable sentences

-Loves balls and is showing a real interest in sports already

-Very cuddly boy. He says, "Mama I want snuggles" and lays his head on my chest

-Takes one nap a day

-Started getting time-outs when he's naughty (which isn't very often...so far) and he will stay there until you tell him to come out, at which point he runs over and wraps his arms around me (or Trevor)

-Loves to sing! Has been singing songs from Frozen, Baby signing time, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and many others

-Loves his stuffed animal "Root" the kangaroo. I told him we should name him Roo because he's a kangaroo, but Pax started calling him Root and it just stuck.

-Goes to sleep very easy for us. We lay him in his crib and he goes to sleep. Pretty simple!

-LOVES animals, but if they approach him he gets REALLY nervous and sometimes screams!

-Speaking of screams, he still has a high pitched, very loud scream that he has had since the day he was born, and he's not afraid to use it. :)

-Loves to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse- Road Rally over and over again

-Loves to wrestle with Daddy and play rough, but hates when he is the one pinned

-Stopped nursing at 19 months

-Very picky eater! Hates to try new things, but once he does he usually likes them

Cute things he has said:

-"Hoho Merry Christmas!" When he puts bubbles on his face in the bath

-"Hiiiii Mmmmmooooommmmm! You sleep good?"

-"Hey! Dats too woud!" (Loud)

-One day Paxon screamed at me and I gave him a stern look for it and told him "No screaming Paxon!" to which he sulked and looked pretty sad and said, "Cow-na?" (Corner?) and pointed to it, thinking I was going to make him go to time out. So cute!

-Says, "Pwease pwease??" Said really quickly when he wants something.

-Knows how to say his prayers at night and loves to do so

Quotes from Pax at 18 months: (Because I forgot to add them earlier!)

-"I hungy Mama!"

-"I want water!"

-"I want snuggles!" (he says "ant" instead of want)

-Counts to ten, but skips 6, 7, and 8 

-Screams out "HEY!" if you take something of his or do something he doesn't like

-When you ask him if he wants something, and he does, he says in a loud whisper, "YEAH!"

-"I stinky! I poop!"

Paxon is such a joy in our lives! He makes us laugh all the time and brightens any room with him smile. He is a super easy, low maintenance kid who is easy to make and keep happy. He is laid back and loves his family! And we LOVE him too! 

Last Day at Heritage Home Health

It was so hard for me to leave my job. I LOVED working at Heritage Home Health and more specifically I loved my patients and feeling like I contributed to them improving their health. I made some amazing friends while working at Heritage that felt like a second family. When I left they did a big lunch for me and had a cake made for me as well. Of course I cried and lots of hugs were given! I sure miss that group!

Me and Venita Petti, and Me, Sheri and Shayla on the right.

I also said goodbye to one of my very favorite patients Elaine. She had a stroke and had a long journey but she worked hard and made such huge improvements in her balance and gait. I was so proud of her and saying goodbye was really tough! We still keep in touch to this day though and hopefully always will.

West Yellowstone Trip

Trevor's cousin Mandy, her husband John, and their kids came from Oregon to meet up with us at a cabin in West Yellowstone. Andy and Kirst came too, as well as our good friend Tom. We had SUCH a fun few days! We went into the park a couple times, played in the lake, did a girls night at the Playmill watching "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and just hanging around the cabin. We had some funny times too. We were watching the movie, "The Great Outdoors" late one night, when all of a sudden we realized we had a bat problem. There was a bat that came swooping down at our heads and we ALL (including the guys) screamed like little girls and covered our heads. We screamed for Trevor, who had already gone to bed, and he came to the rescue. Apparently bats aren't easy to catch, but it is sure fun to watch someone try! Hahaha! 

Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye to our friends and family was not fun, especially because we knew we wouldn't be home often, or at least for a couple years if we were able to visit. We are so blessed to have all these people in our life! 

 Our good friends the Honeycutts and the Astins did a going away gathering for us in Inkom (at Tenielle's parents house). The kids swam and played and we all had a blast.

We met up at Applebees with the Simmons and Velasquez families-one more late night dinner before we took off!

 These two are our absolute buddies! Tom Ritcher and Erin Birch became our friends through Trevor's undergrad classes, but they became more like family to us.

Stacy Maynard I met through church in the Gibson Jack ward. She took me under he wing from the minute we moved into the ward and did more for me and my family than I can even say. I miss her so much and our lunch dates to Sumisu's!

Brock and Cory Johanson. We love these guys and we love their kids! We didn't get to hang out with them nearly enough because of our crazy schedules but we sure miss them!

What would we do without the Adamsons? We have been friends for over nine years and counting. We've been through thick and thin together and they are our family. Even when we don't keep in touch as well as we should, we pick up right where we left off. We love our friends!

Of

We had a big dinner a couple nights before we moved up at the Bybee house. Saying goodbye to family is for sure the hardest. Baby Drew was only a couple months old so it was hard knowing we were going to miss so much! I was so glad though because I was able to get a four generation picture with Paxon, Trevor, his dad, and his grandpa.

 Me, Stacy Maynard, and Ashlee Butler

SO hard saying goodbye to our ward! We love the Gibson Jack Ward! Paxon even got a going-away party in nursery. They decorated the room and did strawberry shortcakes for him and his friends. We have some of the greatest friends in that ward and have already decided we are moving into Gibson Jack ward boundaries when we move back! (Or at least we hope to!)

Grandma Persis

The hardest thing for me, by far, about moving to Louisville was saying goodbye to my Grandma Persis. I knew that this was the last time I would see her in this life and that killed me. Trevor and I and the kids drove down to Arimo a few days before we moved. (Patricia, my grandma's niece, would come visit every few months and bring her to Arimo to be in her home for a few days. My grandma loved being back in her own home, and it also gave my mom a break for a few days.) I just spent the afternoon sitting in her living room with her, taking pictures, and trying to savor little things like the feel of her hands, her smile, little phrases she would always say. It's hard seeing someone for the last time because you just want to memorize every detail about them. It broke my heart to know my kids wouldn't see her again in this lifetime. Paxon probably won't remember her, but Averie will. Averie and Grandma always have had a strong connection and it broke my heart to see them say goodbye to each other. When we went to leave, I spent a few moments alone with my Grandma and I just cried. So did she. As much as her health and cognition had declined, I know that she also knew it was our last time seeing each other in this life. I hated driving away from that house in Arimo knowing it was the last time my Grandma would be inside. I wish I could fully describe the love I have for my Grandma and the memories I made in that house that I will cherish forever. Definitely my hardest goodbye. 

The Big Move to Louisville

At the end of a very long and busy June, it was finally time to leave for Kentucky. It came fast and I was super excited but also nervous for the future and being so far from family. We left on June 30th and planned to spend three days driving. (It's a 26 hour drive-eek!) Kirstin was driving the Altima for us and we were driving our Lexus. We had a moving company moving all of our stuff so it was nice not to have to deal with a moving truck. 

The first day started off well and wasn't really too bad. We drove through Wyoming that day. A couple hours into the trip though, Paxon had a MAJOR poop blowout. It was super windy outside but it was everywhere so we pulled over to clean him up. While we were trying to get him cleaned up and undressed to change him, the wind picked up and soon we had poop flying EVERYWHERE! It was a mess! We were laughing pretty hard, (well, at least Kirstin and I were-Trevor didn't think it was as funny as we did!) and got him cleaned up and got back on the road. That was about as bad as it got the first day so we were feeling good. 

Saying goodbye to my parents. There we MAYBE a few tears. 

The flying poop

The next day started out a good day, and around lunch time we pulled over to eat. Kirstin had been hearing noises coming from the Altima but didn't think much of it so we got back on the road. I guess while she was driving she heard another big noise, and tried to get ahold of us on our cell phones to tell us to pull over but we couldn't hear our phones. By the time she got our attention she'd been driving the car for five minutes after hearing that noise. We all pulled over, and the Altima completely died on us. We were in the middle of a bunch of corn fields in Nebraska and had NO idea where we were. We said a quick prayer that everything would be ok, and called a towing company. They took us to a tiny little town and we got the car looked at. Apparently the engine was fried because the noise Kirstin had heard was the water pump breaking, and the engine overheated and completely died.  Fixing it would cost more than the car was worth (and more than we could afford) so they offered to buy the car from us for $250. It was a major downer for Trevor and I because we really needed that second car. So we had to pack all of our stuff into the Lexus, go to another town and drop Trevor off to get a rental car, (this town was so small they didn't even have rental cars) he had to drive back to the tiny town while Kirstin and I and and kids drove on to Missouri to where we would be staying that night. By the time we got to the hotel it was after 11:00. And Trevor didn't get there for a couple hours after that. Needless to say we were exhausted. 

The next day we had planned to go to Liberty Jail while we were in the area, and decided that despite the previous day we should stick with our plan. As we pulled out of the hotel though, with Trevor in the lead with the rental car, I saw a cops lights come on and he pulled Trevor over. This was literally as we were pulling out of the hotel parking lot! I actually started laughing because what else do you do at that point. We pulled over and waited, and Trevor got a ticket for "failing to yield." Another downer on the trip, but on we went to Liberty Jail. 

Liberty Jail was a great experience. It put a lot into perspective for me on that trip. Joseph Smith sat in a cold, dirty hole in the ground for four months. He dealt with freezing winter conditions with barely anything to keep him warm, sickness, loneliness, hunger, and evil men out to harm him. Yes, our trip had been rough the past 24 hours, but we were alive and healthy and doing well. It was a testimony builder for me and an experience I will always remember. 

That day we drove the rest of the way to Louisville and I can't TELL you how excited we were to see the signs that said Louisville was just up ahead! We were so happy to have finally made it! 26 hours is a long drive, especially with kids. And our kids really did awesome especially considering the circumstances! 

We stayed at a hotel that night and the next morning we got the keys to our new rental house. And that, my friends, is where the next part of our journey begins in Louisville, Kentucky! We made it!