Silly Jaylen

I really need to post some stories I've been meaning to put on here for awhile:

We were out playing around our complex a few weeks ago and one of the little neighbor kid's name is Aaron. His dad came out and yelled at him to come inside. Jaylen turned to the dad and said sternly, "You CANNOT talk to my Daddy like that." Oh, it made me laugh. I love how he stuck up for his dad. So cute!

Steve gave Jaylen a key to all CAT tractors (apparently they all use the same key). Jaylen LOVES it, but demands I pull over so he can drive any tractor he sees along the highway. I love the things that he thinks he should be able to do.

I forgot if I posted this one, but I was feeding Gavin in child care before taking off, and a little hispanic girl was trying to get in the baby area. Jaylen said really loud, "Hey, that brown girl is trying to get in here!" Somewhat embarrassing since ALL the ladies working at the time were hispanic and I hoped they didn't think I was training him to be racist. I asked him if he knew her name, and he didn't, so he just figured he'd call her by her color. Way too funny.

At lunch in the park, Jaylen and his friend Julie needed to go potty. They ran to a bush to go, and Julie watched stunned as Jaylen peed a perfect stream into the bush. After much confusion and prompting from her mom to squat and pee like she was used to behind the bush, she squatted in front of the bush and Jaylen was having quite the time trying to process what she was doing. He was crouched down looking around and under trying to figure out what was going on. Poor Julie came back, unable to pee due to stage fright. It was quite funny and I'm waiting for the questions to come.

I know I have more, I'll add on to this post as I remember them.

Move to Washington

I figured while I'm up from Jaylen breathing his dragon breath all over me, and getting up to feed Gavin, I might as well record our trip so far and add the pictures later.

PACKING UP:

Extremely painful to say bye to friends and long time clients. Won't miss much of the culture and trash in New Mexico, but will miss all the memories, friends and what I've become in NM. Really enjoyed getting rid and selling alot of our junk and cleaning house. Yard sale was ridiculously hot and thank goodness Aaron helped so much getting our move together. Jaylen would ask in the saddest voice, "Mom, where's my bike?! Where's my bookshelf?" Poor kid. Everything was just walking out the door so fast.

Our good friends, Tiffany and John, had us over for dinner on Monday night before we left. It was delicious and so good to spend time with some awesome girl friends before we left!

FIRST LEG: Albuquerque to Monticello, Utah: 5 1/2 hours

The kids did great on the drive! Poor Gavin hated it towards the end, and Jaylen was getting stir crazy the last 30 minutes, we made it in decent condition. So fun to spend time with my cousin Kristen and her 3 adorable kids and my cousin Kara was there helping her out. It was so fun to see our kids running around playing and catch up with their awesome family. I laughed at how my cousin Kara is 10 (same age I was when my oldest sister Rach got married) and how much she was taunting and teasing Aaron (just like I did to Rach's husband Ben). It was total flashback to me at that age. She is adorable and I love her cute little Kansas accent.

SECOND LEG: Monticello, Utah to Orem, Utah: 4 hours

So fun to spend a few days with the Edgley bunch. Adam and Crystal are so awesome to host us and we can't get enough of spending time with Aaron's brothers and families.

I realized why Aaron was wanting so badly to leave on Wednesday after we showed up Thursday just in time to watch the NBA draft with his brothers. Aaron cracks me up sometimes. We ate yummy pizza and played around in Alex and Jen's place.

We had a blast at 7 Peaks water park on Friday- we were there from 11 am to 8 pm. It was incredible. Jaylen LOVED it and we're dealing with the consequences now (sunburnt!!!!!!!!!!!), but good thing it was just us adults that got burnt. We had a fun hot dog roast and smores cookout at Adam and Crystal's place Friday night with everyone and James. It was really fun!

Saturday morning the boys went golfing and Crystal and I took the kidos to Heber City to ride the old steam engines. It was sooooo fun. The kids loved it, until the train stopped and some "robbers" got on the train and acted out a stand off. Lyndon absolutely freaked when the robber made her way into our train and Jaylen just sat their stunned. Oh it was so funny.


Crystal and I were crying we were laughing so hard. Lyndon entertained everyone in our car really well- although he was NOT entertained. It was a beautiful 3 hour trip down to a park and back. Really, really fun. We hung around and chatted then went to the mall and used an unused gift card we had to Texas Roadhouse with everyone. It was great. Love the Edgley crew!

I asked Jaylen what his favorite part of Utah was and he said, "Ummmm, Lyndon." It was super cute!

THIRD LEG: Orem, Utah to Boise, Idaho: 6 hours

Oh painful to be back in the car, but excited to be able to relax when we get there. Here we go!

FOURTH LEG: Boise, ID to Kennewick, WA: 4.5 hours
This leg went quickly- Gavin slept the ENTIRE time, amazing. We loved being able to take the boys swimming at night and in the morning before we took off. It was really helpful to have them tired out for the drive.

FIFTH LEG: Kennewick, WA to HOME, WA: 4 hours
Oh it was torture to get in the car again, but so exciting to finally be heading to our final destination. The kids didn't do so hot on this trip- they were really tired of being in the car too- but we made it and was so relieved to see all the family and start getting moved in.

We're happy to finally be here! Aaron doesn't start until Tuesday, so we had a good part of the week to get what we needed, organize things, get a planter area setup outside, and play around with everyone. The view is incredible. I lay in our bed at night, looking out over the ocean, and just can't believe we live here. So fun! I can tell the weather will be a challenge for me, but the past couple days were BEAUTIFUL, so I just need to stay active and resist the urge to just lay in bed on the dreary days.

Fun with the Collins

I can't even express how much I'm going to miss these guys:

They are family to me and have done so so much for me, our little family, and I could never thank them enough.

They invited us to eat with them at a great New Mexican restaurant, Sadie's, then had us over to Steve's office to give Jaylen a ride in his tractor. It was very bittersweet. I love being with these guys, I'll miss them dearly.

Jaylen LOVES this tractor he calls "scoop." He was reading a trucks & dumpsters book the other day and said, "When I get big, I'm gunna be Steve." He's totally in love with tractors, trash trucks, trucks, machines- all of which are right around Steven's office. It's pretty funny...




Ellie and cute Gavin...

Sarah loves kids... ha (not really).

But she did love it when I wiped Gavin's booger on her. She about threw up. It was awesome.

Hopefully they'll come to visit up in Washington. I'm really, really, really going to miss them. They've made this move very difficult for me. They are definitely like family to me and have really made me comfortable in my own skin. I feel like I came to New Mexico depressed, broken and sad really. I feel like I'm leaving a much different person- happy, loved, and glad to be who I am, much to the constant love and support from Steve and Ellie. Strangers who didn't know me, but have taken me in just how I am. Its hard to express, but they have definitely changed my life for the better.

June Madness

The cute little certificate they mailed us from the hospital. It as taken the day he was born.

Aaron and Gavin at Jaylen's swim lessons..

Jaylen's all about taking pictures now days.

Jaylen awkwardly sleeping..

Jaylen's swim lessons. Didn't really learn much about swimming but did learn to listen to others.


Here's a few of the kids that meet up at lunch in the park..

Here's our typical group. Sam, Evelyn, Emily, Lexi and my kids.

Jaylen and Lexi (my friend/neighbor Sam's oldest girl). They are sooooo adorable together! Jaylen will miss her for sure!

Jaylen holding Lexi at Sam's house while we were doing our anniversary fun...

Sam and Sean's family came over before they left for Utah to say goodbye. We found these 2 snuggling on Jaylen's bed. Maybe it's a good thing these two won't be living by each other anymore?!


The madness is going strong, but we're excited to be moving on Wednesday. This past week and a half have been extremely crazy. Selling most our things, yard sales, packing, cleaning, working still, saying goodbyes. Ugh.