Journaling 2023

I feel very inspired to begin journaling. I'm going to shoot for daily but if I miss some days, that is okay. I listened to a podcast that talked about President Henry B. Eyring. His children describe him as very consistent with his daily routine, and that routine ends every day with journaling. I type really fast so typing my journal entries seems like a good plan, and I love having this blog to refer to anytime I want. The last few months have been a whirlwind! In January, we decided we were going to move to Gilbert, Arizona. In April, we pulled our kids out of school right before Tennessee state testing and homeschooled them the last 6 weeks of school. Last year was Caleb's freshman year and he did all of his schooling online through a hockey school. So, it was easy for him to continue that in Arizona! We drove our large Sprinter Van we call the "Party Bus" across the country with as much clothing, toys, bedding, and belongings we could fit, and our dog Rocky and lizard Summer. We traveled through Dallas where we enjoyed a day at Great Wolf Lodge, and then headed on over to Arizona. We stayed in a REALLY nice VRBO in Queen Creek, just east of Gilbert. We worked with our realtor Shannon for 3 weeks to look for houses. It was so hard! Emotionally exhausting. But we loved staying there and were really enjoying the sunshine. After a week or so, we knew what area we wanted to land in - the block right around the Gilbert temple. We went to church at the church building next to the temple and felt the Spirit testify that this was the place for us. I began crying at one point when a friend of ours, Ally Bloomer, began to tell me about her daughter's massive friend group text, that was the age of Caleb. This community in Arizona was just what our family needed. We found a house we loved... but it needs a lot of updating. We put an offer on the house and it got accepted! We were under contract. So, we headed back to Tennessee on the date that we had plananed on. Back in Tennessee for 2 weeks, we packed up the rest of our house. An organizing company helped me do the whole thing, and they really blessed us with their service. We purged and organized everything. We only filled up 3 pods! After 2 weeks of hanging with friends and packing up our life once and for all, we headed to Europe on a trip with my parents. We went to Rome and then on a Mediterranean cruise. It was amazing! We flew from Italy to Nashville, stayed the night, and in the morning got on the plane to fly to Arizona once and for all, in June. We stayed in a different VRBO in Gilbert this time while our house is being remodeled and the backyard prepped for a pool. The VRBO is not as nice as the one in Queen Creek, but it is located less than a mile from our actual house and in the same stake as our house. So, it has been a smoothe transition. But all 5 kids are using 1 bathroom! They have 3 bedrooms to share. Caleb has his own room and the other 4 kids trade around in the other two rooms. It has worked, but the backyard is tiny and it was so HOT this summer - record breaking - that we didn't go outside much, not even in the evenings, unless we were getting wet. We tubed down the Salt River almost every week, and swam a lot. Our VRBO has a pool, which our actual house doesn't yet, so that was a huge blessing. The kids have all made friends! Caleb is at the public high school - Higley - and he has a girlfriend which is a whole new story. He also has a really great friend group with his carpool friends. I really like those kids. Anndi is at American Leadership Academy, the charter school. She has been slower coming on making friends, but she is also friends with Caleb's carpool group. She made the Junior High cheer squad, also! Everli has a million friends and so does Finn. Still working on besties for them. And Gweny is still making friends. She really likes Caleb's best friend Canon, because he babysat her once and hes so nice. We move into our new house in 2 weeks and can hardly wait!! Tomorrow our backyard gets the outline for the pool sprayed on it! Let's do this.