Its Bittersweet to say Goodbye

In early April we left our home of 9 years in Draper and moved about 25 miles south to Eagle Mountain. Why EM, you ask?  My sister lived there already and a home became available at exactly the right time so we decided it was going to be a good move for our family.  While we loved Draper as our first home together and we will never forget the friendships made there and experiences we had there, we are happy with our move to Utah County.

Eagle Mountain is the very definition of a bedroom community.  If you don't work a the Chevron, Ice Cream Store, Great Clips or a Mexican restaurant, then you are a commuter and you drive a good 20 miles to work every day.  We  have left the center of commerce that we once lived right in the middle of and honestly, while its a pain to get to the grocery store, I am starting to appreciate it.  Its so beautiful here and we can just enjoy being home without the hussle and bussle constantly around us.  And the view....stunning! 

The commute kinda sucks and I had to sell my SUV due to gas over-consumption, but I have actually learned to enjoy the quiet time in my car.  Life has been a big adjustment with the change it has created in our schedules, the changing of schools, the getting used to living a WHOLE 5 MILES FROM WALMART (vs .5), and missing our old friends.  Braiden instantly made new friends and just finished up a great football season with the Westlake Thunder football A team.  He is adjusting well.  

Life moves fast.  You have to bend with the change and that's exactly what we have done but that doesn't nor will it ever change the fact that I HATE MOVING!!  Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you look at it) we will likely be doing it again within a few month as we look at buying a new house rather than renting. 

Draper House:  Before and during the packing and moving nightmare.

Draper House during and after the moving.

Eagle Mountain House during the move. 

The great thing about moving is that it really forces you to decide what you want to keep and whats not worth moving.  We have unloaded so much junk in the last few months.  I am proud to say that our basement storage, outside of the usual holiday decoration boxes, is actually quite small.  We do have some furniture that we are storing for a future move but everything has a purpose.  No junk loading here and it feels GOOD!!

Bye Bye Birdie

 For a few months now we have been watching this mama bird build a nest in our pergola in the back yard.  Well, apparently there were baby birds in it and they were ready to leave the nest...right onto our patio.

Paige and Cameron had a ball watching these baby birds hop around the back yard and even got so brave as to touch them.  Paige gave them water and even tried to find bugs to feed them.

All the while the mammy bird was flying in circling over our heads.  She was not happy.  

This particular baby bird was the pudgiest one and didn't try to hop away much so he became Paige's favorite.  They really wanted us to go buy a cage to put them in so we could keep them. 

There were 4 total birds in the nest.  Two were on the patio and these 2 eventually jumped out of the nest into the tree. 

We eventually put the birds on the fence and they flew away.  I couldn't bare to leave them on our patio to be eaten by the neighborhood cats.  It was a fun experience for the kids to experience a little bit of nature and to see that its better to let baby birds fly free than to put them in a cage.