Happy Reunions and Moving Muscles

Mike came home from teaching his seminar, the kids took in some summer fun, everyone enjoyed some LA attractions, and we kept preparing for our big move.

On Monday, Mike, fresh from his week-long doctoral seminar, went to a quick benefits presentation at BYU before rushing back to Springville to get some gymnastics scheduling information for the kids from Airtime and to the new house to catch the shuttle up to the Salt Lake Airport. A late departure out of SLC meant he had to run to catch his connecting flight in San Jose. The gate had closed, but he did manage to get onto the plane as the very last passenger. Back in California earlier in the day Hallie took the kids and seven bags of cans and bottles to the recycling center where we scored a whopping $11. Then the three amigos headed to gymnastics for a while before they headed to LA to pick up Dad. After picking him up at the airport, we went to Café Rio for salads, soup, limeade, and horchata. The drive home was actually pretty manageable.

Mike took the kids to the movies on Tuesday. Well, sort of. While the kids watched, Mike napped (with Hallie napping at home). A dumpster was delivered so we could get rid of some things that have been lingering around that we just couldn’t get rid of, and boy did it fill up quick.

Our friend Mrs. Dennis came over on Wednesday morning and helped us in the garage for three hours. The garage looks amazing, and our stuff is finally coming together when it comes to packing. It’s shocking what four people and a cat can accumulate.

Thursday Hallie had her hair cut and colored super dark. She looks different, and she loves it! Why not get a new ‘do for our trip to Oklahoma and our move?

Hallie hit her five-week mark since surgery on Friday and is recovery very well. The tiredness still persists, but she is taking precautions and trying to get a handle on this. Mike and the kids have been super helpful by letting her nap and picking up some of the extra slack. Here's Fergus, our resident pro, showing how it's done: 

The kids’ big activity throughout the week was (drum roll): gymnastics.

That is until Friday. Hallie received word that Goorin Hats was having a sample sale down in LA’s Garment District, so we ventured down and got a couple of hats.

The mom of Landon’s teammate Moses from gymnastics told Hallie about their trip to Muscle Beach Venice, so since we were already in LA, we drove down so the kids could show off their mad skills. And show off they did, garnering notice from passersby and the other adults working out. Gymnastics makes you strong!  

Speaking of strong kids, on Saturday we all got together to tackle a major project related to the move. It involved demolition, and Landon managed to splinter the handle of the sledge hammer with his super strength. Eliza held her own wielding the big hammer too. In all, the kids were very impressive helpers who made it possible for Dad to get the job done.

Hallie is applying for school at BYU, and as part of that she needs to have an interview with the stake presidency, so after church on Sunday she met with President Maddux for her interview. Mike treated us to slow cooked ribs on the grill as we slowly empty of freezer and cupboards full of food before the big move. Yummy!!!!