Columbus to Pennsylvania by way of Utah

Well, well, well..... We have lived in Pennsylvania for 2 1/2 months now. It seems like a lot longer and so much has happened so quickly in the last year that I really can't believe it's been just 2 1/2 months. Wow!  Yet, some days I find myself wanting to cry because it all seems so overwhelming and then other days I'm just in awe at how blessed I have been. Sadly, I am in the first camp latey and feeling a little overwhelmed so I am going to cut down on the details and get on with catching up - quickly so I can move on and not feel behind on something!!

So....

We moved from Columbus the first week of June. The kids flew to Utah with my mother-in-law and we planned to meet them there with the car after John and I stopped in Chicago for his conference.

John was in classes most of the time, and I took the time I had after sleeping in, to explore chicago. I was able to meet up with Becca my sis-in-law for lunch one day, but otherwise I was on my own. I have decided I never want to live in Chicago, though I would be okay to visit occasionally if I had some friends with me!

 (all 3 taken from a moving boat - I was able to take the architectural boat tour. Very cool!!!)

Or, I would love to time travel and go back as a young 20 year old student of architecture and live like I imagine young 20 year olds living.. always having fun with places to go and explore, a never ending bank balance and a smallish group of friends to do everything with.  --- well back to reality...

After John's conference we drove to Utah for our extended stay vacation with his parents in Highland.  We played hard and the day we drove off I cried and was torn between missing family, wanting to be our own family again and scared, apprehensive and really excited about what was ahead of us.

 The infamous Provo 4th of July parade (I think I'll skip it next time!!)

 More puppies to play with... one of their favorite activities!

 LOTS of hiking... John had a secret goal to make us buff.. Elayna hated going up but LOVED going down, and would chatter away "I wish we could do this all the time, this is so fun, I'm so good at it.. and so on)  So funny to see her flip attitudes in mere seconds depending on the elevation!

And somewhere along the way, Elayna turned 6,, Poor girl hasn't had a normal birthday at home since she was 1.  Next summer isn't looking too good either.


Yup... I did the 30 seconds under Stewart Falls.. k, maybe it was more like 10 seconds, but Liisa H and I are awesome by anyones account!!!


We stopped in Colorado that night and stayed a few days with my sister. I was lucky enough to see my cousin and go thrifting with her and just spend a day which was really nice.  And I was able to see another sister and her kids, so all in all, I was doing pretty good in the family department, and the kids - they were loving their cousins!!

We took the slow route to PA, stopping at some church sites along the way and making a stop in St. Louis. We had a list of things to see and do, but shortened it dramatically when we realized the zoo was as fun as it was!  We hope to be able to go back and see the kids museum and science center. We hear they are amazing. We did get to Fitz's to enjoy dinner and watch them bottle some fuzzy drinks! We also stopped for some renound BBQ somewhere, but for my life I can't remember what state it was, or the name of the BBQ joint. But I can tell you it was pretty darn good BBQ!  We waited in line for about 30 minutes and enjoyed the dinner that followed.

Then we headed back to Columbus to stay with the Harpers and enjoy a day to play with them before we really had to start being adults again.  It was hard to leave, but being only 6 hours away from our final destination was starting to take it's toll. We were ready to be done with our summer.

We finally made it to State College on a saturday afternoon and had time to get some food and get settled, we had church the next day and then a short week to prep for the start of a new school year.  That week was full of unpacking, getting settled, finding clothes for school and all the back to school picnics/orientation meetings we could stand. When school finally started the next week I was ready for some time without the kids!  Since then we've been on a speeding roller coaster and I am anxiously waiting for another break from our schedule!

We enrolled the kids in a charter school and so far it seems to be working out. When we actually find a place to live and not just rent we may look more closely at the zoned school, but for now we are happy!

 First day of school for the kids and John!! John teaching, no taking!  Weston - 5th grade, Tyler 3-rd grade and Elayna 1st grade!

Things I'd love to update you on are the fun adventures we had in Utah... we really miss our family! I'd love to get detailed on our stops on the way back because we used that time to play and be adventurous... and I'd love to tell you about the charter school the kids are in. The school is fairly unique and seems to be an interesting adventure on it's own. The kids are all learning spanish and mandarin chinese along with their other studies. What baffles me is that they come home frustrated with Spanish because it just doesn't make sense, yet the mandarin is just rolling of their tongues!!   But, until things feel less overwhelming I'll just stick to being current!  Maybe I'll get some time to reminise later!

(Halloween 2013. Tyler crazy/mad scientist, Weston says he's a "runner" we say he's a walking Adidas add, and Elayna is a skeleton)

So today, this is where we are.  Living in State College PA. A small town in the middle of nowhere, but in the middle of everything. (Or at least that's what we're told!) Looking forward to being settled and calling this town home, and hopefully be done moving for a while! (Well, after we find a house and move into that next summer!!!)


(Nov 12, 2013.. First snow fall for the season. Weston 10 1/2, Tyler 8 1/2, Elayna 6 almost 1/2 !!)