Ben and Suz bought a townhouse (7 minutes from us!) to live in while their house in St. George was being built, planning to rent the townhouse out once they move. It was so great to have them so close! We tried to take advantage of the proximity while we could since we knew it was a temporary arrangement. And though we're so happy for them to finally be in their dream house and glad that we're still just a few hours apart, it's sad to not have them nearby anymore.
Whit joined us at the Curiosity Museum one afternoon while Suz's family was making final preparations for their move a few days later. We were there for two hours but of course by the time we were leaving the kids were scrambling to keep exploring the Mazes & Brain Games area we visited at the end. We might just have to go back one of these days.
Eliza took the water structure construction very seriously, until she came up with the idea of filling the rain boots with water...
and splashing around in them.
Sloth hang!
It was fun to give Whit his early birthday present - a Strange Planet picture book about cats that is really cute and funny.
Suz's family came over for one more family dinner the night before their move, which also meant one more fort for Whit and Luke, and one more game of Telestrations for the bigger people.
Also not sure what's happening in this picture but I wanted to document it too. Tying up Whit with scripture dress-up items...?
Moving day! Ben, Cat, and Dustin provided some extra muscle and the other kids and I came later on to help with cleaning and food. Thank goodness they aren't going TOO far away or saying goodbye would have been even harder.
I'm still not sure why the boys were dropping grass on Cat but I thought it worth documenting.
Friday Night: Hot Air Balloon Glow Night Eliza's friend joined us at the the Freedom Festival Balloon Glow night. It was our first time attending and it was really cool! The balloons inflated in a rectangular formation, then when the sun set they used their propane to light up the balloons so you could see the bright colors in the dark. There were a few times the balloons even coordinated their lights to music. I definitely want to go again, but next time we'll arrive earlier and get prime seats and bring dinner and a frisbee and a deck of cards to play with until sunset. (I have a cool video I want to share but I'm having trouble with it tonight so I'll post it later.)
Saturday Morning/Afternoon: Colonial Fest
My cousin Lindsay and her two kids met us in Orem for Colonial Fest. Cat's friend Dustin came with us as well. It was fun to see some of our favorite things from years past, as well as a few new things. We missed the children's militia this time but Eliza found a little candle holder for the candle she made and she and C sat through a manuscript lesson. Jack and Luke also bought wands from a woodcarver.
Saturday Evening: Cousin Dinner & Fireworks
Lindsey's family hosted a yummy cookout. Michael brought a bunch of sparklers and fireworks that keps us entertained until the Pleasant Grove city show started, right across the street. It was a great night! And Lindsey got a fun picture of Cat anticipating her upcoming birthday.
Big news! Circumstances dictated that Henrietta henceforth be known as Henry. We suspected this might happen after seeing the development of his/her comb and waddle but when I heard the new sounds coming from the garage, it was confirmed. I'm starting to wonder if we shouldn't consider professional gambling, having beaten the odds and gotten a rooster twice (the odds being a 1 in 10 chance that a chick will turn out to be a rooster, and we got one in our first batch of 5 chicks, and another in our second batch of 4 chicks).
Secondly, the Chickies, as our new birds have come to be known, graduated from the big tote in the garage to the backyard. We expected they would sleep in the coop with the original group, but the older chickens wouldn't leave them alone. They picked on (pecked) the younger ones, so the Chickies, preferring to sleep in peace, which I can't blame them for, found a different place to sleep: the rafters of the run. We tried a few times to bring them into the coop, but they always huddled as close as they could together to try to stay away from the Big Chickens, and the next night they would just go back to sleeping in the rafters of the run. At some point, Henry decided he liked sleeping in the coop, so he goes in there at night while the younger hens still sleep in the run.
(Chickies huddled on the right side)
In other news, Hei Hei, who'd been taking a break from laying for several months, finally started laying again. The eggs were small, just like when the hens first started laying, which I found interesting.
I just like this view, with the lavender someone else left in the yard for us in the foreground.
Cat only had less than 48 hours from the time she got home from SC until the time she needed to go to Youth Conference so we decided to go do a little something together. We all went to the gardens at Thanksgiving Point which currently features several big Lego Animal sculptures. It was a great way to spend an evening with our whole family, Suz's family, and our friend Dustin.
