New Surroundings

The Move
This week we moved into our new home in State College, Pennsylvania.  Dane drove for several days with the cats and arrived Sunday evening so he could sign all the paperwork Monday morning.  While Dane was driving and listening to our cat Azure meowing every hour "are we there yet", Tara and the kids were having fun playing in Utah.  Here's the crew at Liberty Park.

However, the fun eventually ended and Tara and the kids headed out to State College. They were scheduled to have a 6 hour flight on Wednesday that took them from Salt Lake City to State College (including just one layover in Detroit). However, the weather in central Pennsylvania was so stormy, that all the connecting flights into State College and the surrounding areas were canceled, so Tara and the kids got stuck in Detroit overnight.  Since her bags were not available, Tara had no clothes, food, or diapers for the kids.  Fortunately, a nice man named Gary Taylor, who worked at the hotel where she was staying drove 3 miles away to the closest grocery store and picked some diapers and wipes up, along with gummy bears for the kids. We are so grateful for his kindness.  Fortunately, she and the kids were able to fly out the next day and arrived in State College.

That same storm also caused trouble for Dane with unloading.  Originally the moving truck was supposed to arrive Tuesday, but it didn't show up until Wednesday.  Wednesday evening, when help from the ward was scheduled to arrive, it began pouring so hard, that the unloading was called off and rescheduled for Thursday.

New House
Our new place in a beautiful forested area, with lots of wild life.  In our yard we've seen rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, cardinals, a ground hog, and lots of fireflies. None of us have ever seen fireflies before, so this has been a real treat.  Here's a pic of the fam hanging out on the porch swing at our new place.

And here are a few of our new woodsy friends:

The groundhog who lives under our deck

Mr. Toad

Mr. Rabbit

New Car
Because of how difficult it is for us to get all 3 carseats into the backseat of our Ford Focus, we decided we needed to get a bigger car. We picked up a Dodge Caravan, which has fold down seats that make it so easy to get into and out of the car.

Ryzen
Ryzen is now ~6 weeks old.  Since we've been so busy with the packing, moving, and unpacking, we haven't taken as many photos of him as I would like.  So here are a few more of the little guy.  He sleeps well at night, although he loves to be held during the day.  He's now beginning to develop Mommy Attachment Disorder (MAD).  This means Dad is not good enough.  Mom is clearly the one he prefers to hold him.

Heading out of Dodge

The Junkyard

We've finally packed everything up and begun our move from Tucson Arizona to State College PA.  During the final packing phase I began tossing all the random stuff I found into the living room, which Zade affectionately began calling his "junkyard".  He had fun playing in it until I packed it up on him. :)

We hired ABF to haul our belongings to our new home.  This will be the first time I won't have to drive our moving truck.  Thank goodness.

Dane's Family Visits Utah
Tara and the kids flew to Utah a few days before the end of the month to spend time with her family while I finished up the packing and cleaned the house.  My sister Kari, her kids, and my parents happened to be in Utah as well visiting our extended family and dropped by to see our new baby.

Connie and Mark enjoying some quality time with little Ryzen.

As always, Aria had fun playing with her cousins Audrey and Gena.

Summer Fun with Tara's Family
 Since the temperature has been above 100 degrees recently, it was time to bust out the slip-n-slide. Aria has been loving it, but Zade not so much.

Zade prefers to kick back in the pool. Here he is hanging out with Aria and Phoebe (who lives in the apartment below Terry and Jerry's house.)

Dinner in East Millcreek Canyon
Once I got the house cleaned up, I drove to Utah to join the family.  We're hanging out here until we can move into our new place in Pennsylvania next week.  Now that the mountains are close by, Tara is trying to get her fill of nature. We went up to East Millcreek Canyon for dinner.

Zade passed out on the drive and enjoyed the luxury of sleeping on the picnic table bench when we arrived.

We also introduced the kids to the fine art of making s'mores.

We also went a nice short hike through the woods.

Hiking at Solitude
The next day we went up to Solitude and hiked around the lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  Aria and Zade argued about who got to sit in the stroller.  We settled the matter by saying 5 years were to old for strollers, and Aria was bitter. :)

Visiting Oma
That evening we introduced little Ryzen to his great grandmother, Oma. We had a nice time chatting with her and my uncle Klint and aunt Roseanne.