House!

We are so excited and ready for our house to be done and to get the keys in our hands!! It's been so fun and such a great learning process to be here watching them build it and put all the finishing touches on.

We have our final walk through on Christmas Eve, which is a perfect Christmas present! Then we close on Friday and move in shortly thereafter. Can't wait for the unpacking/organizing to begin!

Here are a few more recent pictures of the house.

Tennesseeans

We made it to Nashville! A lot has happened so I will try to give you an update.

First, Merrick started work at his new job on his 30th birthday and has now been working at Genesco for a month. He has really enjoyed his first month of work and comes home every night very excited about his job. He's getting used to the half hour commute each way and also getting up a lot earlier to beat the rush.

The girls and I stayed in Wisconsin for a extra 10 days to wrap everything up. The girls had their first ballet recital and their last week of school. I got to have parent teacher conferences with both their teachers which was surprisingly emotional for me. We made owl treats for their classmates that said "Owl miss you". We had play dates with their BFFs. It was fun and busy.

Then the moving date loomed and I worked really hard to get ready for the movers- I had to separate out anything we would need for the next 5 weeks (which is a packed carload of junk, by the way!), and I decluttered and I cleaned. And then the ginormous moving truck came, along with six scruffy looking guys. But they were amazing and packed my house up top to bottom better than any elders quorum ever could and they had it all done and loaded in the truck in 6 hours! Amazing.

So then I was left with an empty house for 34 hours before Merrick got back. Some awesome friends hosted a brunch to say goodbye and many others helped watch my kids, provided dinner for us, and helped me clean my house. I truly felt loved and blessed. We camped out two nights in our empty house with sleeping bags and an air mattress. Merrick arrived late Tuesday and Wednesday morning we got up and left, saying goodbye to our home for 4+ years in Wisconsin.

We drove that day to Nashville. It was the day before Thanksgiving but the weather was clear, there was no traffic through Chicago, Indianapolis or Louisville. We didn't rush and took a long lunch break so it took about 11 hours, including a stop at the airport to get Merrick's car. The kids did fine.

And since we've been here we've been living in corporate housing. It's furnished, which is nice. (I did find an old box cutter and a magazine from 2009 in the couch today though. :-/) Its kind of nice to live on less for a while. The kids have been enjoying exploring a new place and I have been missing all my kitchen supplies but also enjoying the gym associated with our complex.

Since we've been in TN we've been to the doctor twice, had 4 pink eyes (2 kids), 1 strep throat (me), 3 stomach bugs, and 3 colds. The doctor told me we are just catching all the bugs here and it will take about a year. :( I'm crossing my fingers we can stay healthy through the holidays.

Avery started school a couple weeks ago. She is doing great. They definitely have different teaching styles and are more fast paced here but Avery doesn't seem to be struggling to catch up too much. She's bright so I think she has been enjoying being challenged a little more. And she has been making new friends and keeps saying that her new school is better than her old one so I think that's a good sign.

I decided to wait to put Camryn in preschool until January since Dec is a short month and they don't have 4K here. So we have just been hanging out and getting ready for Christmas between dropping off and picking up Avery from school (I spend about 2 hours in the car every day - not my fave).

Our house is coming along very nicely! We frequently drop by to check on the progress. My favorite was last Saturday when we went over and the wood floors were in and the kitchen cabinets were in. Today I drove by and they were finally working on getting the sidewalk and driveway prepped for concrete. Exciting! We will be spending Christmas in our little two bedroom apartment but our big gift will come three days later when we close on our house!

I'll leave off there with a bunch of random pictures from the past month. Happy Holidays!

Oregon Trip

In October we made a trip to Portland, Oregon to be there for Merrick’s sister Taryn’s wedding to Brian Butterfield. You may not know that Oregon is home to both Merrick and me! I was born in Portland and lived in the area until I was 12 (then we moved to Cleveland, Ohio). Merrick’s family moved there when he was 6 and they lived in Lake Oswego and Sherwood areas until he was 16 (then they moved to Bountiful, Utah). So we both had old homes to go see while we were there.

We arrived several days before the wedding so we had fun getting to know Brian and his family. The first day we were there we went to a local pumpkin patch to go on a hayride and pick out some pumpkins.

We also had some fun going to an indoor play area one day, watching Brian’s brother play football for the Oregon Ducks, and of course the wedding. Taryn and Brian were married in the Portland Temple, which has always been my favorite.

It rained off and on that day but we still had some nice dry spells for pictures.

The happy couple-

We had some time before the wedding dinner that night so we drove around and saw some familiar sights. This is the house Merrick lived in when they lived in Lake Oswego.

And I had to go see Oak Hills, my old neighborhood in Beaverton. Same sign!

This is the house in Oak Hills. I have so many childhood memories from here!

I went to Oak Hills Elementary school in Kindergarten and 5th grade.

One of my favorite parts of this area was the Greenbelt. Tons of paved trails where we rode bikes, took walks with my grandpa, rode the Roller racer, etc.

That night we had a nice wedding dinner at a restaurant.

My girls enjoying themselves with Brian’s niece.

One of the things I love about weddings is that you get to know a whole new family. I have enjoyed that part of all of my siblings weddings because it’s fun to see the new family your sibling will be a part of. Brian’s family was very welcoming and we had fun staying in their motor home. We had a great trip and we wish Taryn and Brian the best in the beginning of their lives together!

Nashville…

It has been such a busy past few months I have gotten behind on this blog. I thought I’d start with the biggest news and then hopefully I’ll find some time to backtrack and update you on our Halloween, trip to Iowa, trip to Oregon, and everything else we’ve been up to in the past couple months.

So what’s this about Nashville? Well we are moving there in about 10 days! It has been a whirlwind of a couple months. Merrick got a new job at Genesco in their SureGrip/Licensed Brands division. He is very excited. He started the interview process in September and flew down there a couple times. We accepted an offer mid October and he finished up his last day at Kohl’s on November 2nd. He starts his new job tomorrow morning! I am staying here in Wisconsin for another week to get things wrapped up and we will be driving down there the day before Thanksgiving.

Here is a picture of his new office at Genesco. (By the way, Genesco owns a few stores you may have heard of - Journeys, Johnston & Murphy, Lids, etc.)

We are sad to leave our friends here in Milwaukee and we are so grateful to Kohl’s for bringing us here for the past almost 5 years. We have truly loved it here. Now it is time for the next chapter of our lives. We really feel that we have been guided and inspired by our Father in Heaven to make this decision to move to Nashville. He has aware of us and we both feel strongly that this is the right place for us. After Merrick’s second day of interviewing at Genesco he felt so excited and happy and then he got into his rental car to drive around and see the area a little bit and this song came on the radio. It just added to Merrick’s joy and ever since has become our theme song for this move.

Home

“Hold on, to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road
And although this wave is stringing us along
Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home
Settle down, it'll all be clear
Don't pay no mind to the demons
They fill you with fear
The trouble it might drag you down
If you get lost, you can always be found
Just know you’re not alone
Cause I’m going to make this place your home”

Merrick and I had the chance to go house hunting last weekend. It was my very first time in Nashville. I really liked the area. There are a lot of trees and tons of rolling hills. The weather is going to be much more temperate than Wisconsin, which I’m excited about. We decided to look for homes in Franklin, TN. Which is about 30 minutes from Merrick’s work. But it has the best school district – Williamson County Schools. I’m excited about that. There’s also a mini temple in Franklin right next to the church building that we will go to, which will be amazing.

We also contracted on our first home, which is very exciting to us! It is currently being built in a really nice community called Ladd Park. It will be done at the end of December so we will live in some corporate housing until we close on it.

This is similar to what it will look like when it is completed-

Here is a picture of some of the community we will live in. Very pretty area.

While we were there we had dinner with two of Merrick’s bosses and their wives. It was very fun to get to know them and to hear more about the area from them. I think it especially helped me become more excited about moving there. It sounds like everyone really loves it there and it’s going to be such a great place to raise our family.

Plus we’ll only be 20 minutes away from downtown where we can get outfitted with some cowboy boots, stop in at some honky tonks to hear some up and coming country music acts, try some amazing BBQ, etc. It will be an adventure to get to know a totally new city again!

And of course we’d love to have visitors so come stay with us in Nashville and we can get to know the city together!

School Time!

Avery started the first grade this month! And Camryn started half-day 4K. So that leaves me with 3 1/2 hours every day with just Lily at home with me. I have been enjoying it. :) Here are some pictures of the girls going to school.

First off, I got to do a Bus Orientation with Camryn a week before school started. We rode the bus together to learn about bus safety and make me not so nervous about putting her on the bus every morning.

Then Avery actually had her first day of school three days before the 4K started up. So she rode the bus by herself those three days. But she’s a pro because this is her third year riding the bus. No worries.

(Look how much bigger they look than this picture last year!)

Waiting for the bus to come…

Home from her first day!

She had a good day! See that big bug bite in the middle of her forehead? Ugh. Our mosquitoes didn’t come in July like they usually do, because it was so hot and dry. But now they’re definitely here and Avery got a nasty bite the night before school started.

It was a long three days for Camryn and me. Avery gone all day, us waiting for her first day. One of the days we went in to meet her teacher, which was good. Isn’t her Minnie backpack so cute??

Then the day finally came. She was able to ride the bus with her big sister. And they wore their matching pink polka dot skirts. So cute.

And off they went…

So they’ve actually both been really enjoying school, as far as I can tell. Camryn loves to tell me about the friends she’s making and the “adventuring” she’s doing. And Avery has been playing with her BFF Jenna at recess, even though they’re in different classes this year. So far so good! My girls are growing up!