It has been so long in this process, I kind of forgot that things might actually happen. It sure felt great to drive into ElkRidge yesterday and see this backhoe on our lot!!! Like REALLY felt great!We were even more surprised when they called us today, in the middle of all activities and school, to tell us that they were going to dig TODAY! We rapidly jumped in the van and drove the hour and a half to get there as fast as we could. They had already started to dig by the time we got there, but we did not mind at all! Our House is FINALLY getting built!!!We had a few other visitors that came before we did. I am just so super excited to be in these mountains and see all the incredible wildlife that lives here. (Snakes and spiders can visit someone else though.😏)We had to come without Natalie and Alex, because they were both in school and had no notice of this. But no big deal! We are finally getting a place to call our own. We could not be more excited!!!!! Sandy was so sweet and brought us the golden shovel to mark our ground, the construction hat, and a bag of gummy bears for the kids. It was SO nice. Now our pictures should include the makings of a house, much better than just a field of dirt. 😁

Today Lucy started her Irish Step Dancing class. A mom in our homeschool group reached out to the group because her daughter was the only child in her morning class. I couldn’t believe it because Sam and I were just talking about trying to find Lucy a class like this. She loves her ballet and tumble classes, but her little feet love the beat as well. And she is always on her toes! Lucy LOVED the class(And the music!!! Brie’s going to be so proud!), and Miss Hannah got three more friends to join her on Monday mornings.😁

Lucy has been so sad that the snow has not stayed on the ground by the house for her to build a snowman. While we were at the park today, I realized that it would not be too far of a drive to go see it. Once Sam finished with work, we headed up to the slopes.I LOVE Cottonwood Canyon! The views are just breathtaking! Of course Lucy fell asleep on the way there, so she was quite delightful to wake up. Once we got out of the van and the shock of the cold was gone, she was super excited. I don’t know what it is about snow, but it always seems to entice everyone to chuck a snowball at someone else. 🤣Alex just happened to walk into William and Sam’s battle. (Revenge was later) Lucy so sneakily got Natalie. Our neighbor buddy enjoyed drawing in the snow and trying to figure out what was underneath it.And Alex finally got his chance……William’s backend didn’t stand a chance!The kids had a blast finally being able to build a “life-size ” snowman. Those Texas mud-monsters are no match for this guy!Natalie came prepared with Cocoa Puffs for the eyes and mouth, carrots for nose, and her trout hat to top him off.We all had a wonderful time, aside from realizing that our Texas winter gear is quite inadequate for Utah winters. I guess I’ll be hitting the store really soon.The sun set, and the moon rose, on our beautiful mountain top adventure. “Goodbye Brighton! It’s off to get hot chocolate!” (Which turned into hot fudge sundaes when we got back into the 60 degree valley. 🤷🏼‍♀️😂)

The kids keep complaining that everything in Utah is uphill! As we were passing out fliers for our neighborhood fall festival today, Sam got the REAL feel of Hills!Pictures do this Beast no justice! We just can’t imagine what a driveway like this would be like in the snow and ice!Sam gets the “Hero of the Day” award for sure!It’s a Dance Party afternoon!

William has been working on lighthouses for the past couple of weeks. Today, he finished his art project on the subject. I definitely think art is a talent he needs to explore some more. 😊

We started off our day at storytime. Today we talked about pumpkins. It fit in great with all the pumpkin patches we have been to lately. Afterwards, Miss Sarah had a pumpkin craft for the kids to create. Lucy’s turned out pretty good. 😊When we were finished, we hurried home, ate some lunch, and headed over to the orchard. We have watched these apples grow for the past several months. NOW IT’S PICKING TIME!!!I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the orchard was from down below. I’d just love to curl up on a blanket underneath the trees and watch the birds and deer. There were SO many apples! I can’t believe how many apples one tree can have!!!These are definitely NOT Texas apple trees!We learned a lot about apples. We learned how to look for worms, how to take the apple off the tree without harming the branch, and how to look for hail damage. A lot can happen to an apple while it grows.William was such a super helper with Lucy. (As always. He is such a fabulous big brother!)Lucy found a slug on an apple on the ground. She decided to have it ride with her the rest of the time we were there. When it was time to go, she let it “go back to its family to have fun.”Couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day!❤️

Alex had a “Family Fun Night” tonight with his school. I’ve got to say, one thing I absolutely LOVE about Utah is how reasonable their family activities are! (And also the quality of them!) We were able to get our entire family in for $20! And that was NOT for the school sponsored activity of skating. The kids had an absolute blast. Lucy wasted no time “being a big kid” and trying to do all that Natalie and William would do. Some even quite terrifying things, that Mom was a big meanie about. Who in their right mind would agree to let their teeny tiny 3 year old jump off a cliff?!?Yeah, I got talked into that one! The kids assured me that she was completely safe. 😳 I feel bad that this is the only picture I got of Alex for the entire night, but he played Laser Tag pretty much the whole time we were there. He had a wonderful time!

William is studying Utah history this year. Right now, he is learning all about the geology and early life of Utah. So, I thought it would be fitting to visit the Museum of Ancient Life. What a fabulous museum! And even better, we were pretty much the only ones there! (Sure beats the overly crowded Perot Museum in Dallas!)The exhibits were great, as well as the number of hands-on exhibits that they had.William and Lucy spent a long time at the Tsunami simulator, making megablock houses to try and withstand the impending waves.Our last attempt, was pretty successful! It took pretty large waves crashing into it for a while before it finally was lifted off of its foundation. Lucy and William also tried to build houses to withstand a VIOLENT earthquake. Yeah, they were no match for the quaking ground. William is SUCH a fabulous big brother. He teaches Lucy so much, and with so much love. I love watching their precious relationship together. He built her special “reservoirs” at the water fossil station so that she could wash her “newly discovered fossils” off in. Lucy Loves twirly dresses. If given a large enough space, she will almost always seize the opportunity to spin. The dinosaur models at this museum were spectacular! I wish I would have taken more pictures of them, but of course Lucy had to go potty when we were at the biggest of them. We had to make a mad dash through the entire museum back to the restrooms, and then took a short cut to get back where we last were. She fell in love with this baby dinosaur. (But no, we were not the ones to feed it goldfish.)We will definitely go back soon.Everything is decorated so beautifully right now. When we left the museum, I promised Wii and Lucy a little treat. They had a fabulous little cafe next door, with some pretty amazing treats. Lucy was able to get an ice cream for $0.50! William got an Oreo Shake, and we brought treats home to everyone else who could not join us. Sam said we have to go back because his chocolate mousse was absolutely divine. Guess I’ll be trying that next time.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day! The snow is still on the mountains, but the temperature below is just right!Moving to a new state makes me a bit emotional at times. Trying to figure out how to keep our family holiday traditions can be stressful. I have researched and looked at events and activities all over northern Utah, to try and find things that the kids will enjoy. This pumpkin patch made me SO happy. The kids had a blast! William was not able to join us, since he was camping with the scouts. He’ll have other opportunities that the others won’t coming up soon though.

Lucy and Natalie LOVED this momma pig and her totally adorable piglets! When momma pig was finished nursing, she rolled over on her tummy and covered everything up. The piglets were so confused. They were like, “What the heck Momma! Where’s the milk?!?” This one baby pig kept trying to jump, unsuccessfully, over the top of her to check the other side. It was hilarious!The corn pit was amazing! We probably hung out in there for an hour, covering up our kids and everyone else’s!After the corn pit, we headed for the Ducky Races. Lucy kept walking really funny. I asked her what was wrong, and she said that there was something in her boot. I had checked her boots when we left the corn pit, and nothing was in there. When we stopped , I took her boot off and it was FULL of corn! After we started walking again, she started crying again. I took her boots off, and they were full of corn again! I finally asked her, “Lucy, are you pooping corn?!?” She thought it was SO funny. The corn had gotten all in her pants, and every time she walked, it would work its way down into her boots. I finally had to stick my hands down her pants and work it all out. She had amassed quite a bit of corn! 🤣They had some pretty amazing slides. Alex kept going over and over again. Lucy fell in love with the Wilbur cut out . The instant she got her face in the hole, she started oinking like a pig. I wish I would have videoed it.Natalie LOVED me taking their pictures while she held this super heavy pumpkin. 🤣One major difference in Utah pumpkin patches, from Texas, is that most of them have REAL pumpkin patches. The pumpkins are still on the vine and you actually get to pick them. It was super cool to see the pumpkins really growing. Lucy had to find the smallest. The corn maze was not a very good success. I was trying to show Lucy how the corn grows on the stalk. One ear of corn was hanging out of the husk. I told Lucy, “Feel how soft the corn is.” Yeah, she proceeded to rub her hand down the ear of corn along the husk and sliced her hand open. I don’t think I’ll ever hear the end of that. I ended up having to carry her the rest of the way around the maze. Thank goodness we chose the smallest one. (I think we walked a mile and a half before we found our way out.)Natalie and Alex found all of the animal tracks in our maze so everyone was able to get a prize. Lucy loved her super sticky tootsie roll.My phone ended up dying before we got our heavenly caramel apples and went on the hayride. But we had a fabulous time. Cross E Ranch was definitely worth it, and we didn’t even have to drive an hour to get there. Only 20 minutes!

Alex had to finish the night “Pooping Corn” in Dollar Tree’s parking lot. I think we will leave trails of where we have been for a while. 😂