Things to be Remembered

Now that we have been here a whole month I can really post this...

Things I miss about Cleveland...
The fire flies~ Thunderstorms- the crazy lightening ones that come with the wall of rain and water~ Having family so near- Cami and Nate!!!~ I miss Cami's laid back character and her joy in serving others~ I miss talking to her about everything~ I miss how Nate IS the Party!~ My kids best friends- Reuben and Evee~ My amazing friend- Kristen~ I miss asking her where she got all her amazing and cute stuff~ I miss watching her make something new and creative. I miss my best Visting Teacher ever who took care of me the million time we were sick~ The spray park- It was ALMOST a break~ Going to Coulby park to play tennis, play at the park, or swim in the awesome pool~ My very entertaining neighbor Sheri who was always willing to help me by watching my monitor, my kids and letting me borrow item after item~ I miss having a neighbor on the city counsel who knew everything that was going on~ Taking a walk around the block just because Ashlyn wanted to~ Watching Dylan learn to ride his bike up and down the street~ Visiting the Kirtland sites whenever we wanted~ Connor having enough flexibility to work from home if needed~ My basement where I could store everything and anything~ Trading kids randomly with Kristen and Cami~ Calling Kristen or Cami when we really needed someone to play with~ My green yard to play on barefoot~ Being able to walk to the pool, park and library~ Watching the golfers out my back window~ My big dishwasher~ My flat drive way~ Having Simeon over to run with Dylan (I am surprised the carpet didn't get worn to threads by the many laps they ran)~ Playing in Cami's backyard~ Having a lawn worth mowing~ Watching Sofia love Connor more than me~ Free time and playground world~ Being able to go sledding 250 days out of the year~ My cozy neighborhood where I knew the mail lady by name~ Sitting on my front steps watching my kids play~ Watching Sheri and her kids drive up knowing they would come straight over to talk to us~ Cleveland Metro parks- seeing all the wild life~ American Hot Rod store- where Dylan could race his remote control car~ All my new friends from the Kirtland play~ All the many wonderful people in our ward who loved us even when they knew it would only be for a year.

So with all the things I complained about in Cleveland there really were so many wonderful things about it all. And most of all I miss all the friends we made that we hope to one day see again. I know I complain about moving so much, but I have been blessed to meet some of the most amazing people in the world that I can now call my friends! I am hoping to have the biggest collection of Christmas cards on the planet by the time we settle down and plant some real roots!

Many have been asking for a look at our new place, so here it is:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

West Side

My wonderful neighbor, Sheri, has been wanting to take me to the Cleveland market called West Side Market. I have never been to a market (well, in the US) and to be honest, I wasn't too excited. But now that I have been, I wish I lived right next door to it. The building alone is an architectural gem but it is also a cultural and culinary diamond in the rock! I was so impressed by the diversity in foods - from meat, poultry and produce to breads, pastries and exquisite pastas. Not only are they all of high quality and freshness but more affordable than the local grocer! There are also stands that sell prepared foods and I was tempted by all means to try all the different ethnic foods.

I guess this reminded me a lot of Boston (which I dearly miss) with it's cultural diversity mingled with history and elegance. There are few cities in the US that have such great markets, so if you are in the area, this is a stop worth seeing!!

Leaves, Leaves and more Leaves!!

This is for all my friends in Boston who wish they had a house (or even a yard), and also for my friends and family who live in the dry West who wish they had greener vegetation.


This picture represents what I did today- ALL day! This is 1 of 5 piles of leaves that I raked in the BACKYARD alone- and only two weeks worth of leaves. I promise that this pile is bigger than it looks in the picture (taken by Dylan who refused to come out and be in it- pretty good for a three year old)! But it didn't end at making huge piles. I then had to rake them onto a tarp and pull them to the front curb. I decided our curb isn't big enough. I also didn't realize how heavy leaves are! By the last few loads I also had a couple of kids on the tarp as well. I didn't know it would be so hard to juggle leaf raking and two kids in the cold! So nap time, and a little TV really helped. It didn't help that my Dylan, with his three year old curiosity (those with three year olds know what I mean) asked why we have to rake the leaves. It really made me rethink the worth of what I was doing.

Most of you are probably wondering why a 7 month pregnant woman is raking so many leaves. Today was one of a VERY FEW dry, and amazingly sunny, days here. I had to take advantage of being able to rake dry leaves, wet ones are even harder to rake! I also have a husband who gets home after dark and I wanted to spare him the hours in the dark. To top it off- our "leaf guy" comes any day now to suck up our leaves.

So to all of those who don't even own a rake- I envied you today!!

Ashlyn's room

This is a picture of Ashlyn's room. Jenny, does the rug look familiar? Thanks for the great addition to our new home.

This is the one bathroom is the house, but it works great.

Here is our new house in Cleveland

Hey Everyone!

We are enjoying our new house and job in Cleveland. We live in a town called Wickliffe, about 5 minutes from Cami and Nate in Euclid. My commute to work is about 23 minutes every morning. We are in the same ward, a newly created ward called the Euclid Ward. I was just called as Cub Den Leader in our ward, so I'll work with the 8 to 10 year olds including Luke! Dylan loves his new room and so does Ashlyn (I wasn't able to get a picture of her room because she was asleep when I took them, but I'll post one later). The yard is great, both front and back. It's fun to have the golf course right there behind us as you can see in the pictures. Work is going well. They gotten me involve in a bunch of projects, some are small, some are much bigger. I like the people I work with and the environment at work is great. I'm still learning to navigate such a big company, but it is coming along. I've got 2 weeks under my belt.

We have good neighbors on both sides. One is a woman who's husband is in Iraq, but will be home this fall. She has two children, 4 and 2, Leah and Dominique. Dylan loves playing with Leah and Ashlyn loves the dog they have that she can see through the fence. Well, check out the pictures below, we'll post some more too.

Entering Blog World

This is our first blog. We thought since Joel and Kadi were doing it we might as well too. We are excited to share our lives with you all. We are excited about finishing our year in Boston. It has been a fun adventure and we have made some great friends. We are also ready to be done with the city life. We have decided never to live in this kind of neighborhood again, no matter what. We are kind of sick of Dylan and Ashlyn having a parking lot as a playground. There are parks close by, but we are excited for our new house in Cleveland with a yard, playground, and access to a golf course. Plus it's on a nice street and great neighborhood. We will post pictures when we get there. This is my last week of my MBA program! By Wednesday night I will have my MBA in the bag! Then next week it's off to Cleveland for some training. Then the next week all our stuff gets packed up to be sent to Cleveland, while we come to Utah to see everyone! Below are some pictures of our time here in Boston. Halloween - we dressed up as the Incredibles, Dylan was Dash, I was Mr. Incredible, Michal was Elasta Girl, and Ashlyn was Violet. There is also my graduation picture with some friends in my class.