Jackson Hole 2015

Jackson Hole with the Hardcastles.  

We were missing a few key players, namely my mom, who was in California, because Jodi happened to deliver Benson (on Milo's 3rd birthday -cousin twins) a week before the Jackson weekend.  Justin was at the Navy College too, so it was me and the kids on our own.  Well, on our own, with my dad, Gordon and Jessica, Grandma Hardcastle, and eventually Matt and Jenny & Charlotte.  

This lady had plastic dinosaurs zip-tied to her car.  And showed the kids the inside of her car, which was also full of dinosaur stickers and pictures.  It was... strange.  

We drove up Thursday afternoon.  Friday morning we went to the outskirts of town for breakfast.  It was a beautiful weekend, and warmer than it had been for years.  We went to Signal Mountain to hang out by the lake and take Grandma to her condo (she stayed at ours in Teton Village the first night).  

I'm not sure how many rocks Gordon ended up stuffing in Charlotte's back pack before Matt noticed.  But, it was a lot.  

The kids and I saw a moose on our way back to Teton Village hanging out right next to the road which was cool.  

Saturday morning I did what no parent should do, and woke up the kids before 6 am and went into the park to see and hear the elk.  We were pretty successful, and it was a good morning.  

The kids were much more interested in throwing rocks in the puddle than watching the Elk in the distance.  

On our way to the campground to meet the rest of the family for breakfast there was a huge elk crossing the road right next to the road.  

Jenny Lake was a picture that morning.  

The kids had their primary program on Sunday, and I didn't want them to miss it, since we had just moved in, so I left with them Saturday afternoon.  I was a little nervous about the drive home (bathroom breaks being the biggest concern) it went great and we made good time.  

I'm imagining next year will have a LOT more little babies! 

 What we saw when we pulled into the condo.

 Our view from the balcony.  

We moved!

So... we moved a month ago.  Okay... 5 weeks ago.  But there's still a few boxes in several corners of the house, so We just moved!

Here's a timeline on what happened after we accepted the offer on the house that eventually led to the move for when I forget and in the off-chance we ever think about moving again, I'll go back over this and change my mind.  Probably.

We had less than a month to 1-find a house, 2- go under contract on said house, 3- go on two vacations, 4-pack up and move.  So, we got to work.  Steps 1-3 ended up being the easy part.  About 3 days before the scheduled move we got a call that there was a problem.  Our buyer hit a 'snag' during the final underwriting of his loan to buy our house.  He hadn't filed his taxes for 2014, which was fine, he had filed an extension so the loan was based off his W-2's.  Which would have been fine, if his employer had filed their W-2's, which they had NOT.  So, our buyer quickly filed his taxes and then he had to wait for a written transcript of from the IRS.  I have never had the opportunity to find a reason to particularly dislike the IRS until this experience.  We were supposed to close Thursday.  We had to wait until Friday to find out if the transcript was available.  Then it was Monday.  After that first Monday we all assumed we'd here by the following Friday.  We were dumb enough to assume that when we didn't hear by closing on Friday, we'd surely know by Monday.  That went on for a month.  It doesn't sound like much when I write it all down, more than a month after everything is signed and completed, but trust me, it was horrible.  We were packed.  In boxes.  We were using paper plates.  I never knew how much food to buy when I went to the grocery store.  We had already attended our new ward.  We didn't know how to plan on getting a UHaul or ask people to help us move.  School started for Hyrum and Kate.  We'd wait until Friday and then wait through the weekend, only to hear that we should probably plan on Friday again.

But... as it is true with most things, everything worked out.  We signed.  We moved.  And we're here.  And we're happy to be here.  We really like the house.  We love the neighborhood.  We like the ward and already have callings (this happened two weeks before we even had a house).  I'm SO close to having everything put away where it's supposed to go.  The only things that are waiting are storage items (having an unfinished basement allowed us to have a lot of STUFF).  I've made a half dozen trips to the DI (I thought I had gotten rid of everything I didn't need and want, but turns out I hadn't).  Now, we just have to decide on a few book shelves and kitchen storage solutions and we'll be done.

I, of course, took little-to-no pictures during the entire process, but I did manage a few.

 One good thing about the move being pushed back a month, 4 days before our original closing date I sprained my ankle.  Which has only felt 'healed' for about 2 weeks.  I can't believe how much it hurt and how long it took to feel better.

 Last Sunday pic at the old house.  Even though we didn't move until a month after this was taken.