Salt Lake City

Our first week of living in Salt Lake City has come and gone, and we're really enjoying it. We got here last Saturday and have spent this first week unpacking, exploring and hanging out. We are living in a little apartment on the border of Murray and Salt Lake City - the boys are liking our new "home", it is very primitive because we only wanted to bring the bare minimim. We are using our empty boxes as end tables, night stands, and drawers! It amazed me at how much stuff we have that we really don't need. Our first night here we "christened" the house with a little Singstar action, Jack even joined in!

We hit the park, the Hogle Zoo, frosted sugar cookies with our Blake cousins, and visited Temple Square this week. The boys really loved the being outside because we're not used to not having a yard to play in. Jack is having the hardest time adjusting and his napping has been crazy! Yikes! Hopefully this is just a stage. Sam on the other hand was happy to be reunited with all of his toys from Iowa and put me to work on his Halloween costume the minute we got here. Isn't Robin Hood the cutest guy in Sherwood forest?

Yesterday we decided to try Ruth's Diner in Emigration Canyon and it was AWESOME! Not only was the drive great as we saw the beautiful fall colors in the mountains, but the food was the epitomy of comfort food. We then headed down to Temple Square, which was really great to see, and the boys again loved being outside and seeing all of the buildings. The older I get the more I'm in awe at the beauty of the Salt Lake Temple. Really is it amazing that my pioneer ancestors built such an amazing structure and sacrificed so much to see it built. We also visited the Beehive House (home of Brigham Young), which I'm happy to report have updated the candy treat you recieve at the end. The lemon drops are much better than the homemade molasses candy thing they used to give! I love this picture of the boys - it almost brought tears to my eyes.

Shawn is SUPER busy at the VA and really learning a lot. They have given him a lot of liberty here and pretty much let the students do whatever they feel comfortable doing. Kind of scary, but its been a great learning opportunity already, and I think he likes being busy, maybe not missing lunch basically everyday because of it! But the greatest part about being here is being together as a family again, and living like a family in our own home. I already can tell a difference in both boys - though we miss seeing our family in Idaho as much - it is nice to have some kind of normal life back!

The one great perk of the VA is Shawn gets all holidays off - so that's right Happy Columbus Day tomorrow, we'll be off playing with our Dad!!