A glimpse of our Life: The big move . . .

Now that the kids are all in school I am going to try to sum up our whirlwind summer. Wayne completed his fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Hematology/Oncology in June. We loved our time in Minnesota. I could have done without the winter, especially last winter's polar vortex where we experienced temperatures of -60 with windchill. Wayne loved his training and all of the wonderful people at work. It's strange to feel like we are now planted.

Wayne and the other Mayo fellows surrounding the Mayo brothers. :)

Before the move we decided to sale or get rid of a good amount of stuff. We had a garage sale, my first, which was exhausting, but we did sell most of the items. We sold most of our furniture. The house was sadly bare and we all felt a little out of sorts for a few weeks. The move was pretty slick as we had movers come to pack, load, drive and unload. That was amazing. They finally finished loading by 2:00 in the afternoon. I was hoping to drive out by noon because we were heading straight to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, but it worked out. Once everything was loaded we all looked at the house, our first house, and drove away. Before we left Rochester Wayne met us at Flapdoodles, our favorite ice cream stop. We laughed and reminisced. Then we all gave Wayne hugs (a big fat kiss from me) and we were on our way. Wayne stayed at an extended stay in Rochester as he finished fellowship. It was not as nice as we were hoping. He immediately called to get a new room since the one he was given hadn't been cleaned. After they apologized profusely he was given a new room. He went to Target and bought cleaning supplies and cleaned the room.

Kiss, Kiss. Last days at our house in Minnesota.

My sister, Sammie, flew in to drive to Utah with me. It was so fun and amazing to have her with us especially since Wayne had to stay for two more weeks to finish fellowship. The kids knew it was going to be a long drive. Our first day was short, only 3 1/2 hours. Once we arrived there was a small waterpark for the hotel guests. We grabbed dinner and went to the pool. They had so much fun.

The next morning we woke up and hit the road by 9:00 a.m. As we were driving we laughed and laughed seeing billboards for a place called Wall Drug 300 miles away. Once we hit the area we thought, "Why not?" We stopped and ate a late lunch, walked around the adorable old western like town and drove a few more hours to Mount Rushmore. Once we arrived I heard Trevor say, "There it is! I see it!" I looked up and there it was. It was pretty amazing to see something that I have seen in history books. It was really windy and we were cold, but it was worth the detour to see.

Poor Alexis was sick that night. She started throwing up in the hotel. At first I thought maybe she caught a bug, but then I realized that all she had been eating was junk. It took a little bit to work through her system, but she was able to sleep all night. THANK GOODNESS.

Oh the antics, the kids at Wall Drug

The kids and me, Mount Rushmore

We had a 3:30 a.m. wake up call so we could leave by 4:30. It was the longest stretch and I knew the kids would do much better if we finished early. Off we went. They slept for a bit longer and watched show after show. Sammie and I laughed at the landscape of NOTHING that is Wyoming. Wow. I even paid almost $5 a gallon to fill my car in fear that I wouldn't find another gas station in time. Thankfully we crossed the Utah border to cheers and arrived at my parents house by 4:00 pm.

A few days after we arrived my Mom and I flew to Oregon to accept delivery from the movers. We were even able to arrive in Eugene early since there was an earlier flight to Eugene from our layover in San Francisco. After waiting an hour for our rental car we drove to the house at 11:45 pm. There were still people there. They had to be out by midnight and used every spare minute. I was worried that we would have to get a hotel, but we decided to drive for a few minutes and come back. At midnight we saw them pull away. We inconspicuously drove around for a few more minutes and went into the house. We ended up buying a whole bunch of furniture from the landlords. It worked out, especially because we slept on the sofas for the next two nights as the movers were a day late.

We saw these at Home Depot and truly wanted to drive our exhausted bodies around.

We went and bought things for the house. We ate at Cafe Yumm everyday. We loaded the house with cleaning supplies and food. We had a great time together. I love my Mom.

When the movers came Mom and I put away things as the boxes were brought into the rooms. It worked out beautifully. I would say about 80% of the house was unpacked by the time we flew back to Utah the next day. It took so much pressure off when we finally arrived in Eugene in July.

We were able to spend a lot of time with family. The kids had a ball playing with their cousins at the park and splashpads. Andrew was a stay at home dad for the summer. When Kara was at work we took the kids to a man made lake in Herriman. They loved the sand and swimming in the water. My mom and sisters and I also went to Grand America Hotel for Tea time (or Hot Chocolate). Wayne's parents took us to a huge, new aquarium. We also went to the children's museum. It's amazing to see pictures and compare them to pictures taken in the past.

Trevor swimming at Kevin's parents pool.

3-D shark movie at the aquarium.

Alexis at the aquarium

Jacob at the aquarium

Trevor absolutely loved the aquarium

Jacob at the Childrens Musuem

Alexis, Childrens Museum

Trevor, Childrens Museum

We joined my family for their annual 4th of July parade in Murray.

Alexis helping Grandma Ormsby water her beautiful flowers.

Alexis, Wayne and Trevor

Grand America, of course Kaysha had to leave early!

Rytting family 2014

Kaysha also had her temple endowment taken out at the Draper temple. It was amazing to be in the temple with all of my siblings. We celebrated at Leatherbys.

Kara, Ali, Kaysha, Dad, Mom, Haley, Sammie, Meg and Chad at the Draper temple for Kaysha's endowment.

While we were eating at Leatherbys I received a call from Wayne. I was excited because I was going to be picking him up from the airport. I could tell something was wrong as soon as I started talking. A few days before he was running around town trying to get everything in his car in boxes and shipped to Oregon. We weren't told that they car needed to be empty before it was shipped. The worst though was his crappy flight to Utah. He has vowed never to fly with United again. There was a problem with the plane. The flight was supposed to leave around 6 p.m. After multiple changes in departure time it was finally announced that the flight was cancelled and he would have to camp out at the airport overnight. Wayne was able to acquire a "bed roll", but gave it to an elderly couple as there weren't enough for everyone. He literally walked the airport the entire night. United wanted to put him on a midday flight with a layover, but he stated that he didn't want to fly with United and told them to put him on a Delta direct flight that left very early the following morning. So they did. At least he was able to get to Utah by late morning. The poor guy was frustrated and exhausted. So was I.

Wayne and I decided to party this summer. We took the kids to the Alpine Slide and Alpine Coaster followed with Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. We explored BYU campus and ate at Brick Oven. We took the kids to Gateway to play in the water. We went to Scheels and rode the Ferris Wheel. We went to Taylorsville Dayzz, ate popcorn and snowcones and were dazzled by their amazing firework show. You'd think that we were exhausted, but it was just the beginning.

At the Alpine Slide and Coaster

Ice Cream at Rocky Mountain Chocolate

Trevor and Ryan watching the amazing fireworks show

Kaysha, Kevin, Alexis and Nikki snuggling up watching fireworks

Trevor with Grandma and Grandpa Ormsby at Taylorsville Dayzz

We also decided to take the long way to our new home. We drove to Las Vegas, San Diego, San Francisco and then home to Eugene. The kids were amazing. We saw wonderful friends. Went on a gigantic ferris wheel overlooking Las Vegas, ate at Hash house a Go-Go, took the family Tournament of Kings where they ate with their hands and watched an amazing show. As we were walking down the strip Trevor said, "WHY are there people asking for money?" The people in front of us were snickering. When we hit San Diego we saw our friends, the Shermans and my best friend from high school, Candice. We went to the beach together. We also hit Extraordinary Desserts, Sea World and a harbor cruise. We woke up insanely early to head to San Francisco because we had an Alkatraz harbor cruise that left at 2:30. We barely made it. It was amazing. We topped it off with fish and chips and grabbed some sour dough bread the next morning before we left for Eugene. It was quite the adventure.

IHOP in St. George

Driving through Nevada

Wayne and Alexis in New York, New York hotel

At the Hershey Chocolate store

Waiting for Tournament of Kings (Trevor was not thrilled to have his picture taken. He thought it wasn't allowed.)

Hash House a Go-Go

Ferris Wheel at the Linq

Once we arrived in Eugene we were able to relax and settle in for a few weeks. Then the kids and I drove to Utah for Kaysha and Kevin's wedding. We were able to stop in Boise, ID and stay with Dean and Carrie. We were able to see them in the knick of time before they moved back to Utah. They had already sold their home and had a few weeks until they needed to be out. It was a great place to stop and the kids had a blast with their cousins.

Finally in Eugene, OR

Roasting marshmallows in our backyard.

Wayne flew in both weekends that we were in Utah. The first weekend was for his 20 year high school reunion. He was awarded with "The person in school the longest" and was given caramel sauce from Leatherbys. YUM. Meg came with us since she graduated with Wayne and it was her 20 year reunion as well.

The following weekend Wayne flew in for the wedding. I love seeing him at the temple. His brother, Alan, picked him up at the airport and dropped him off at the temple that morning. Being able to sit next to each other in the sealing room and listen to the promises and covenants of a temple marriage was beautiful.