Final installment

I've been excited about not having to work and all the improvements I could make in the cooking and eating departments of our family life. Part of that is making out own bread. I'm on my third loaf now and, while I have improved, I think I need to find another recipe. It's been tasty, but not quite the softness of the store bought that I'm looking for. Both Cash and Tupp have been great helpers. I've also planned out our meals for the week and so far everything is going swimmingly. Yay!

 I've also started, mildly because she's only three, a bit of homeschool with Tupp. I got the great idea to follow the format in the scriptures from a dear friend in Windsor and I really like the idea. So we're starting with the creation: first is the solar system/stars/moon/sun. We worked on the letter S and we talked about how Jesus made the universe. I've got more but she wanted to play with her baby and legos the last couple of days and who am I to stop her from building and pretending to be a mamma? She even wore baby "Thatcher" to pick up Cash from school.

 I made my first trip into Carson by myself for some groceries and a couple of house items. Half hour there and a half hour back. Dayton is a smidge closer, but pretty much all they've got is a Smith's, which is like Safeway. I actually prefer that, but I had rain boots for Tupp and a couple other things that compelled me to go to Walmart. Sure miss the proximity of things in Windsor. There are a lot of things that I appreciate more now that I'm gone.
Pherson, like always, is climbing. His goal? To turn the fans on of course!

 After dropping Cash off at school this morning Tupp wanted to go to the Catholic church. It's the oldest in Nevada actually. We had stopped in their museum over the weekend on one of our walks, per the kids request, and they both are rather transfixed with the church. Anyhoo, we went in and she loves the little pews with the door on either end. She said a prayer at one of the candle kneeling benches and again in one of the pews. I had to tear her away because she wanted to stay.

 Afterward we came home and had hot chocolate. She's just so adorable.

 I realized that Pherson hadn't actually been in the snow because each time I took the kids out to play in it he had been napping. So today I bundled him up in his snow bibs and set him down. The look pretty much says it all. He hated it. Refused to move and screamed bloody murder when I handed him a snowball.

 The other two, however, loved to play on the tube we got from Walmart. Good thing since more snow is in our forecast.

There are a lot of things I like about our new home. The house is quirky and in need of some work, but it has charm and I really like it. I don't think I;ll like the heating bill though- there is daylight around the front door and the windows let every passing breeze in. The water tastes as good as Windsor water and gets hot pretty fast. We may have no garage but the storage in the pseudo basement is AWESOME. I love the washer and dryer- so much better than what we had in Cali, but my skin is dreadfully dry, my nose bleeds a bit all the time and I feel like I have to blow my nose a lot. And don't forget drinking water- it's a good thing it tastes good because you have to drink a lot here it's so dry. It's colder, but it's not that bad with the right layers on. We've been pretty prepared in that way. Taking a walk is always fun and interesting because there's so much to explore. You get a good workout too since most of it is uphill and we're at such a high elevation. Actual civilization is 20 minutes or more away, so running out of milk or a necessity puts a damper on things. Clay bought me a freezer and we'll be putting it to good use. Cash was having trouble sleeping at first but we figured out it was because of too much light- there's a street lamp outside their window. Pherson has fallen into a bad sleep habit- wakes up two to three times in the night and ends up sleeping with me. I haven't retrained him yet since Cash was having a hard time sleeping. It's truly wonderful to have more time to spend with Clay and to have him as part of our regular daily routine- breakfast, dinner, lunch, school pick ups, bedtime snuggles. It means so much to see Pherson toddle up to him in the morning and snuggle. He's no longer a visitor in his own home and that is worth all the inconveniences and longings I may have for our old home. We are together and so much happier for it.

I'm a bit more of a recluse- an introvert through and through. I've met some nice people at church, but no one lives nearby and most people are busy with callings on Sunday- it's a small ward they're stretched pretty thin. We're hoping to go to a ballroom dancing class one couple offer just to get out. We'd rather be swing dancing- all in good time. We need to find some young women willing to baby sit and we need the weather to stay nice so the roads are safe. I just keep reminding myself- all in good time. And in the meantime I'm enjoying our new life, our new surroundings. I've been able to find the beauty and joy thus far. I know that if I focus on my family and on service it will only get better.