It's Been Almost A Year....

O.K., so it has almost been a year since I last updated our blog. I am really stretching myself now, because this time I am going to attempt to add some pictures to this blog, so you all better have a look!

Alot can happen in the course of almost a year. In our case, since the last time I wrote, we drove from Charlotte, N.C. to South Jordan, Ut., Attended one more year of school (Jason, Ashley, Brady, and Aimee in preschool), Ashley got baptised, sold a home, moved into a condominium - short term, Brock broke his thumb, got a graduate degree from BYU (Jason), celebrated by driving to Southern California for a family vacation to none other than Disneyland-including a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Smart and Uncle Nate, drove back to South Jordan, Ut., had car problems, returned to S.J., diagnosed car problems, bought a newer suburban, sold the old one- just in time (yes, in that order), to drive back cross country, stopping in at Black Hills, South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore, then on to Cincinnati, Ohio. Through the course of the summer, we have seen the Zoo, Children's Museum, Clermont County Fair, spent countless hours at the community pool- with some swim lessons, taken tennis lessons (Ashley), taken golf lessons (Brady), broken an arm (Aimee), and not to leave anyone out - Brock has bumped his head to many times to count! Seriously!! Now, this is where we will reside (in Loveland a suburb of Cinci) for who knows how long, but we will enjoy it while it lasts!!

Today was Ashley's and Brady's first day of school, and first day of riding a school bus to school. They couldn't have been more excited, a big day. I love the fact that the bus stop is right in front of our house (that will be great on yucky weather days)!

Ashley is in 3rd grade and has a new teacher, Mrs. Hess, at Loveland Elementary (which comprises only 3rd and 4rth grades), she likes the fact that the teacher is new, because Ashley is new as well. Ashley reported today that her teacher was really nice! She likes the fact that she has a locker of her own (this is an older school that used to be a high school) .

Brady is in 1st grade and has Mrs. Flick (who just had a baby so, she won't be coming until after Halloween, in the interim he has Mrs. Mellet). We have been informed by numerious people that Mrs. Flick is the nicest 1st grade teacher at Loveland Early Childhood Center (a school for just kindergarten and 1st grade). Brady reported that he had a great day and enjoyed touring the school and having recess!! Doesn't surprise me.

I love to see my kids growing and doing new things and having new experiences, and starting a new school year. After having two summers in a row that were basically 4 months long each, I have to say that I am glad to see my kids back in school. I don't think I could take another day of them all (all 4 of them) at home grating on each others nerves. That is what happens when you spend that much time together.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love them, every one!! Very much, but enough is enough, it is time to move on.... so here we are the beginning of a new adventure for our little family. I will work on keeping things up to date on the blog, and keeping in touch with the loved ones better, but if I fail at it every once in a while, please forgive and know that we are always thinking of you all (and you know who you are) and missing you very much!

Welcome to the Midwest...tornado sirens and all!

Well we made it, yes we have now been here for one whole month and I am just finally getting around to updating things on our blog. I know that I haven't made any entries since last summer, but I now hope to make this a regular thing. Living away from our entire families and all of our 'Utah' friends, I will do my best to keep this thing up to date....(I promise, I think).



We survived the drive here (all 4 days of it), we even stopped off at Mount Rushmore on the way to see the largest man made sculpture in the world! We were amazed! Even the kids thought it was great and didn't understand exactly what it was, but now I am sure they won't ever forget what it is either. The Black Hills of South Dakota is truley a beautiful place and there is plenty to do and see there. I wish that we would have had at least one more day, but we saw what we could and then we moved on!



The first night in a hotel on the drive was in South Dakota and Brock decided to tackle the table in the hotel room and he just about lost to it. He ended up with a 1 1/2 inch gash in his forehead that luckily didn't pierce the skin deep enough to need stitches, in fact for being a cut, it really didn't even bleed either. It just left a goose egg the size of Texas right in the middle of his head and I am sure he will have a scar there for years to come.



After that first stop we were down to business. We made it to our new home 6598 Miami Trails Drive, Loveland, Ohio three days later.



Ohio is a beautiful place, and I can't help but always think about the pioneers and how they lived in this part of the country, the woods, the rivers, the wildlife, the beauty to take in everywhere! Did I mention that the first week here I was looking out my kitchen window and two deer just went walking right on through the backyard!! I go on morning walks, or jogs and see bunnies hopping across the neighborhood lawns and then just this week was on a bike ride with Brady and we came across a Turtle in the middle of the path that Brady decided to pick up because he wanted to bring it home and then it happened to 'wet' on him! The wild life is crazy, but we love it. All of us that is except Ashley, she seems to take issue with the increased amount of bugs than she is used to. The Lightning Bugs have to be here favorite (if there is one) so fun to watch in the evenings, until Brady decides to step on one and smoosh it across the pavement, just to see it glow.



Now the weather in this part of the land is another story, we heard the Tornado Sirens three times by the time we had only been here two weeks. Little did we know that meant things were really serious and we should be hanging out in our basement, instead we were out on the driveway watching the coolest storm move into town that we had ever seen!! Sort of like 'Something Wicked This Way Comes', it wasn't until later when a neighbor called us to tell us that she would take it upon herself to call and let us know when we should be moving downstairs for the time being. Our neighbors were probably all laughing at us, what a sight to see!



Well, the kids are keeping us hopping we are working on getting them into school for the fall, but this week Ashley finished her first set of Tennis Lessons, (we hope to do more this summer). She loved it and her coach said that she is truley a natural, so I guess we better keep up on this sport! I think we will focus on swim lessons next, since we will be spending nearly everyday at the neighborhood pool this summer.



Jason is at the Emergency room tonight with our little Aimee, who fell down on her arm and may have broken it. I am still waiting for the phone call to see what he finds out! I sure hope she isn't in a cast (I guess that would change the everyday at the pool situation for this summer, right?)



Jason was just recently called as the Elders Instructor and I was called to the Primary as a Sunbeam Teacher and Activity Days Leader. I am soooo excited, I get to work with Ashley at Activity Days and teach Aimee's class on Sundays!



This is quite a post, I look forward to keeping in touch with all of our friends and family where ever you may be.