What a Week!

Progress on the house... Our official walk through is June 17th and we close and move in on the 25th. We do love this house and are looking forward to being there.
They added the middle shutters, I think it finished up nicely. They still need to paint the front door, which will be the same color as the shutters.

Here is a bit of the kitchen. The cupboards are not as fancy as our SG house, but it will finish up nicely once we get knobs and decorate up top. We also may darken them a bit, antiquing, is what Kwint's mom calls it. In order to get the fancy ones we would have had to do a big upgrade package that just wasn't in the price range. So, we'll do our own upgrades!!

The bathrooms: Sorry, I couldn't rotate it, I tried. This is the 1/2 bath.

The kids bath.

The Master bath.

It is hard to capture in a photo, but every window has an amazing view. Mountains on every side... and the kids can see the park from their room, which may or may not be a good thing for me. :)


I am going to miss being here at GnG's though. I am blessed with the kindest of in-laws and there is a lot of love in this home. Not to mention, Grandpa is the only one who can get through to Brennan when he loses control. He has saved my bacon a good many times, just this week.

This has been an interesting week in terms of learning from life... I love it when that happens. I start being grumpy about it, and end up being grateful.

As I mentioned last week, we worked through the weekend getting ready for the big "launch". We were super stressed and very excited to see Erik on TV and hear him announce his new career as a Life coach and tell about the website on Live TV. So, if anyone was able to watch the Biggest Loser on Tuesday, you will have noticed, as we did, that they didn't weigh Erik in as they had promised. They showed him in the audience and announced his weight loss, but that was it. He looked great, but didn't get to say anything. NBC told BL they had to shave an hour off the finale, and so they cut out his weigh-in.

I was a bit mad because they made this huge deal about the fact that he'd gained weight back and made him a promise that he could weigh in at the finale and show everyone how he was doing. He spent several months away from his wife and three kids at Fitness Ridge and worked SO hard, and all he got was a 10 second blurb. I wish that he could have promoted Fitness Ridge, they deserve the attention.

On the bright side, he was able to appear on Larry King Live the next night, with several of the contestants from this season. He spoke from his heart and was so sincere. He did announce the website (which received 800 hits that night). He was also featured in an article in "InTouch Weekly". So, we are proud of him and excited to be in business with him.

Speaking of business, Kwint has been pretty busy. He has been doing a lot of phone sessions with clients from St. George and previous guests of Fitness Ridge, and he spends two afternoons a week at Utah's Live-in Fitness Camp-- which by the way, is a sweet program that I really want to get more involved in as I finish my certification. Kwint loves the owners and hopes to help wherever he can. I think it may have something to do with the fact that they are planning on expanding soon... in Hawaii. Ha ha!! He does have a few clients in Park City, but doesn't spend a whole lot of time in his actual office because of the drive. Once we live there he will do most of his work there. I am so proud of him for working this hard and growing his business so quickly.

I got sick this week and lost my voice, which made parenting a wee bit tough. On a particularly frustrating day, Brenny ran away from me and as I lunged to grab his arm, I pulled a muscle in my neck. I was grumpy about that, I must admit. My shoulder just barely healed and here I was, sick and unable to move my head.

But, as the weekend rolled around I began to learn from my frustrations. First of all, with our big launch that didn't launch, I learned that it is ok that we work a little harder for success. Everything we have comes from God and it could be gone in a moment. It is not my place to demand, but to be grateful when the blessings come. I am grateful for every hour Kwint spends helping others and every penny he makes. I spent a long time barely breathing when we first opened the private practice, worrying about money, and although I do not wish to relive that stress, I can be grateful for every little success along the way without having to be talked about on national TV.

Second, I am so grateful for my health. Yes, I have had some annoying injuries lately, from my feet to my back to my shoulder to my neck, but my body has bounced back amazingly fast every time. Except for my feet, but I have learned to live with that. Priesthood blessings work miracles! Rotator cuffs usually take months to heal, and I was better in two weeks. My back injury could have lasted years and involved surgery, but I was better in less than two months. My neck healed in 3 days. I am still hoarse, but I was only mute for two days. If I can't be grateful for that, that is pretty selfish. I am active and healthy and grateful for it.

Here are the precious moments of the week:
I took the kids to the park on Wednesday. It has a couple hills which they gleefully rolled down on the way back to the car. Then as they were running through the field, Kaeleb spotted a fuzzy dandelion. He stopped, stooped down, quickly said "I wish light sabers were real!", blew off the fuzz and ran away. I giggled so hard!

Kaeleb will be starting swimming lessons in a week, and we were talking as we were driving one day about how important it is to learn to swim so they don't drown if they fall in the water without a life jacket. Brennan piped up in his most matter of fact voice and said "If I fall in da water I won't die, betause I know how to turn myself into a frog." I laughed, and Kaeleb said "Oh yeah? Then do it!" Brennan scoffed and said huffily, "Well, I tan't do it NOW. Dere's no water in here!"

I love these guys!!

The Biggest Loser is our big winner...

The best part about Grandma's house, by far, is the backyard. We all love it.

Another busy, busy week. We are making a mad dash at getting ready for the launch of our growing business.... Tuesday, during the live finale of the The Biggest Loser, our new business partner, Erik Chopin, (season three winner) will weigh-in and talk about his new career as a weight loss coach.... Erik lost 214 pds, and has recently received a lot of attention because he gained a lot of it back. The Biggest Loser offered to let him work it off again and weigh-in at this finale. He has been out at Fitness Ridge working super hard, which is where Kwint met him. We are so happy to have him on board. Some other former contestants are reviewing our materials and we hope to build a huge network of coaches. We are expanding our services to include teleconferences and webinars as well, and we are really excited about it. Feel free to check out our website www.thegreateryouonline.com if you are curious to see all the details.

We are loving being back in Layton. It has been so nice to see our friends and family so much. We love being at GnG's and we are really going to miss them when we get in our house (which, by the way has cupboards and is painted now). We have not seen it for a couple weeks, so we will have to get up there soon.

Have a happy week!

Fun, fun, fun

I am sad... I did a blunder. We had a fabulous Mother's Day with both of my mom's here for dinner, AND my brother and his family, AND Kwint's family... and I forgot to take any pictures at all. I will just have to remember the fun without any visual aids.

We had a good second week. We tried to go to the zoo yesterday, but apparently EVERYONE else in Salt Lake City got there before we did, and there was not one place to park anywhere within a mile of the zoo, so we went to "This is the Place" monument five minutes before they closed.... So, we went to Gateway and played on the splash pad. We had the Jacobs with us, so it was fun anyway!!

We also went to Kris' birthday party and enjoyed some good food, family and friends. While we were in Heber we checked the progress on our house. We have trim, doors, and primer... it is starting to look like a home and we are excited!

I impinged my rotator cuff on Friday morning. I don't recommend it to anyone. I wish it was a cool story, but just like when I threw my back out, I was doing something completely ordinary. Sleeping. I woke up with my arm over my head and when I put it down, I could no longer move it. I have been gimpy lady all weekend and now that the inflammation is dying down I can move it 45 degrees. It will seriously cramp my style lifting weights for a couple months, but I have gained a new gratitude for my shoulders.

So, that is that, pics will edit in later....

This is the House....

This is our house (soon). We love it. We went to check out the progress on Friday. It is drywall and cement but they said this week will be a big one, so next week we should have a few finishing touches.
There will also be shutters on this middle window.

Check out the size of the yard! Compared to SG I feel like we have a whole park at our house!!


Nice big front porch... can't wait to get a swing...

and little back patio...

It is the perfect size and layout on the inside. Next week I will post inside shots. I am so nervous about my not-so-green thumb and this big plot of land.... and the cost of the fence to keep my kids contained... sigh.

So, we have had a fantastic week!

Kaeleb had an amazing first day of school, and in fact an incredible first week. I am so proud of him. If any of you remember how the first month of Kindergarten went, you will be proud of him too. He has afternoon kindergarten in Mrs. Moore's class. Kaeleb is going to the school where his Grandma teaches first grade and Mrs. Moore is one of her best friends. I took him early, during the teachers lunch break to meet her and see the classroom. He was SO nervous, but she is very kind and positive and he calmed right down.

When it was time for school, Kaeleb begged me not to take him. He wanted to know exactly why moms can't just teach kids everything at home. I said I could, but I wouldn't be very good at it and there wouldn't be any friends. SO, I was all geared up for a fight and a good cry, but once he saw his classroom he zoomed in without looking back or saying goodbye. PHEW! Was I ever amazed!

The kids in his class have welcomed him with open arms. He made friends the first day and they are so cute together. He gets to be the spotlight kid on Monday so I made a picture collage and get to go to his class and tell the kids all about him.

Kwint has had an equally impressive first week at Gale & Associates in Park City. (He's one of the associates.) He had a nearly full schedule (Already?! WOW!) and was so happy. The drive only takes him 45 minutes, so it is better than we were planning on and once our house is done, 20 minutes from Heber will feel like nothing.
I have never seen him so excited about his work and there are some really awesome irons in the fire. You might just hear about him on TV if you watch the Biggest Loser finale two weeks from Tuesday. :)

Brenny and I are having a harder time than those two guys. I am really surprised at how emotional I feel-- I wanted this after all, but I miss SG so much!! Even though I saw on the news that it was 90 degrees there and I am walking around in a jacket here. I miss my friends and Tam like crazy. I love it here and have had a great time being back with my friends here. I went to hang with Dee and her boys one morning. It was nice for all of us to have some familiar faces and friendships that have stayed so strong. We also went to see our good friends, the Chavez family, who had a very handsome baby boy two weeks ago, and it felt soooo good to be there! We are truly thankful to be back. So, I am sad and I am happy and it makes me feel all jumbled up inside.

Brennan has been saying "I liked St. George Mom." and "I don't want to sleep in this bed, I like MY bed." and "I'm NOT going to Heber." I took him to the library on Tuesday for Story Time. We went every week in St. George and he loves it. He was all excited for it, but when we pulled up to the Davis County Library he looked at it and said "This is not my library." and utterly refused to get out of the car. He curled up on the floor of the car and yelled "I want MY library!" His disdain is waning every day though, and I expect that he will be fine very soon.
I bought them both swords and guns since they had to leave their toys packed, we have been to the park with GnG, and we brought their scooters & have been out scootering the neighborhood, all of which helps him to realize he will be happy wherever we go. We all will. :)

Goodbye is never easy

Yesterday we drove out of this driveway for the last time...
I went for a walk early in the morning, listening to the birds, feeling the sunshine on my back and reflecting on our 7 years in St. George.

I am so grateful that the Lord brought us to Dixie. I realize now that His hand was in every step we have taken and I am amazed at our growth and our blessings. We have faced many challenges and learned lessons we could not have learned anywhere else from any other group of people than those we associated with in St. George.

Miracles of miracles that He knows us all, individually, well enough to give us what we need even if we don't know it is what we need.

As I walked, I thought to myself, "It feels so right to leave now. Why?" After suffering through 5 hot summers, last year I finally stopped complaining and decided to follow Elder Wirthlin's advice to "Come what may and love it." We struggled through the first stages of owning our own business and now it is thriving! We have the perfect home that is all we could ever need. We have family close and incredible friends. One of the owners at The Biggest Loser Resort asked Kwinten, "With all we have going on with NBC, WHY are you walking away now?"

We don't know. It sounds crazy and no one understands, least of all us, but we KNOW it is right. I am sad, very sad to say goodbye to what we have "grown" there-- deep roots-- but it feels so undeniably right, right enough that I am willing to leave not knowing why.

We didn't know why the Lord prepared the way for us to move to St. George in the first place, but now we do. So, we take the first step to Heber now, not knowing why, but knowing that we will.