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!

Camping Trip

Recently we started building up our camping equipment and we used a gift card we had to buy a nice big 3-room tent. Merrick had a half day off of work on the Friday before Labor Day and so we decided to try our first real camping experience with the girls at Menomonee Park, which is only about 10 minutes away from our house.

We had a great time! The kids slept great through the night. Lily woke up early but that was fine. We took the kids on a hike in the morning and ended up at the lake.

It was a gorgeous day and there were beautiful wildflowers everywhere so Avery made up a couple of bouquets.

The beach was closed for the season so we couldn’t swim but there was a playground there we hung out at for a while. Lily unfortunately tripped and hit her face on this slide.

Poor girl, got a big bruise on the side of her face.

We ended up going home at about 1pm but leaving our tent up. We had a BBQ to go to Saturday evening but afterwards we went home, got our PJs on, and went back to our campsite. We roasted marshmallows for S’mores and put the kids to bed. Merrick and I always seem to play Cribbage when we camp so we did that. Sunday morning we made pancakes on the fire, packed up and went home to get showered for church.

It was a great first camping trip! We’ll definitely be doing it again sometime soon!

Utah Trip, Part 2

After the Haws reunion, we all parted our separate ways and we drove down to Bountiful to spend the rest of the week with Merrick’s family. We had a great time! The first day we were there was our 8th Anniversary. We took advantage of the babysitters (Grandma and Grandpa!) and went out to eat at The Mandarin and then we went shopping at IKEA.

The next day we went to the Davis County Fair with Merrick’s mom. It was pretty hot outside but we had fun riding rides, eating good food, seeing some animals, and playing games. Julie took them on the Tilt-a-Whirl.

Classic picture of Dad and Grandma taking pictures of the girls on the airplane ride!

And then oh man, we waited in such a long, SLOW line for this balloon lady. In that heat it was not my favorite. But Camryn was bawling for a balloon at one point so we did it.

Here they are with their prized balloons. Too bad half of them were popped before we even got in the car to go home. :)

The petting zoo was pretty cool, I must say.

We were pleasantly surprised to find a big old tortoise there. Camryn came home from summer school one day and started calling Lily “Tortoise”. And it’s kind of stuck. We are kind of considering getting a pet tortoise now just to break her of the nickname!

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Anyways that was a really fun day. Unfortunately I don’t have nany pictures of the rest of the fun things we did there. One night we had a picnic up the canyon from their house. We had yummy food and played Bocce Ball and Ladderball. Another day we drove down to see City Creek Center and really were impressed by that. Then we drove down to say hello to Merrick’s grandparents, and also got to see the condo Merrick’s brother Brett just bought. Then we went to see the Fiddler on the Roof at the Scera Shell in Orem.

That was really fun. We left early because it started pretty late and the kids were tired but it was nice to be outdoors in the gorgeous weather. The last day we were there went to the Bountiful Rec Center and went swimming. I loved it because Avery has been really close to learning to swim on her own and having her Dad, Grandpa, me, and Uncle Tanner all there helping her learn really pushed her to the point where she was able to swim by herself for 5-6 feet. So I loved that. Friday night my grandparents came over to see us and then everyone went to the Bountiful Braves football game. Tanner didn’t get to play but Merrick was still thrilled to be back at his old stomping grounds.

Saturday we drove a looooong day from Salt Lake to Omaha, Nebraska. We stayed in a hotel and got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way home. I think we were home by about 4pm on Sunday. The kids did great and Merrick and I read each other Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson (such a fun book- I definitely recommend it!). We had a fun trip and thanks to our family for hosting us!

Bear Lake, Continued

My sister Ashley and my sister-in-law Kara just gave a ton of awesome pictures from our Bear Lake reunion and I had to share a few more. Enjoy!

This is the craft we did – I cut up TP tubes and they painted them the colors of the Olympic rings. Had to get the dads involved to contain the mess!

My sister Katie, the HP fanatic, serving up some “butterbeer” (cream soda), licorice wands, and “Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans” (Jelly Belly’s). The kids got these awesome glasses and watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids had a fun Olympic treasure hunt put on by Ashley. This is them while they’re opening a clue on the trail.

Their prizes were matching shirts!! So cute, right?

And here are just a few more cute pictures Kara took of my sweeties.

Thanks for letting me share some of these memories with you!