It's time already...

...For a blog update. Also, because I'm into choices, I might have titled this one, "The First Day of the Rest of His Life...Darin Gets His iPhone". (stay tuned to the end of the post for some of his first iPhone photos.  They're worth hanging on for.)

But really, the first title encompasses that news as well, it was time already.

We moved into our house in Chapel Hill

Here's the one interior shot only barely ready for a close-up.

We arrived here in Chapel Hill on July 9th, exactly two weeks later on July 23rd our first shipment from Korea arrived.  On the 13th our stuff that had been in storage for two years arrived, so we started sleeping at the house.  But that was a full 10 days on air mattresses before our beds arrived.  To say we were ready to move out of hotels, is mostly an understatement:

 (Thanks to the Major for this sweet window into my reality!  I know, Sleeping Beauty wishes she could look this good when she is sleeping.)

One good part about living in hotels, and waiting forever for our kitchen stuff to arrive, meant we kept eating out.  And really, that would be tragic too, if Chapel Hill wasn't "America's Foodiest Small Town."  We are out to prove it's a title that is warranted.  We're doing our best to hit up every local establishment that has generated a buzz...  

Darin had heard about Elmo's Diner, so one rare morning when we were up and ready for breakfast when it was still breakfast time, we went over to check it out.  Henry was delighted to order the traditional biscuits and gravy for breakfast.  Darin and I were excited to try grits without having to order it for ourselves.

Mostly I'm still confused by grits.  Are they good, or are they gross?  I'm still deciding.  But Henry gives two thumbs up to true Southern buiscuits and gravy.

The fact that we were there on the morning when breakfast Chilaquiles were the morning special felt prophetic to me.  Though I'm sometimes torn when I answer the question "where are you from (as in where did I grow up)".  Do I say California, do I say Maryland?  But when it comes to food I am a Californian at heart and if Mexican food can be eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner, it's considered the most delicious sort of day!  I'm still dreaming about Elmo's Chilaquiles!!

The first night after our stuff arrived, Aunts Rachel and Christine arrived too!  We were so excited to welcome our first house guests.

And the best thing about their 2am arrival was that it gave us plenty of time to at least unpack the kitchen boxes before our house guests arrived!  Nothing like a little motivation to bust out the vaccum for the first time either.  It worked beautifully. 

The weekend went by too quickly.  But they are only four hours away.  We'll do it again very soon I hope.  Next time I'll even put sheets on their beds.

Their arrival also gave us an excuse to go check out Mama Dip's, which instantly became endeared to all of us when a side of Mac and Cheese was listed under the available "vegetables" you could choose.  Only in the South!

In conclusion their fried chicken and chicken fried steaks were everything you could hope for.  Their Red Velvet Cake was tremendous.  The Coconut Custard Cream pie left me wishing I had ordered the Red Velvet Cake.

And yeah, if you're wondering if all we do in Chapel Hill is go out to eat, let me assure you it's not.  We also swim (which deserve a few photos because it's so beautiful, but we don't have any), go to the mall, and occasionally visit botanical gardens, this time it was to Duke's prized gardens:

I hope this picture properly conveys how excited the children were to be at a botanical garden, instead of at the pool.

P.S.  Here are the promised iPhone photos.  And if you don't think I'm embarrassed that they are more photos about us going out to eat, then you don't know me very well.  But I'm not embarrassed that Darin and I jump at the chance to go out on a steamy date to Franklin St., or about how I hope this is only the first of many times that we bring home treats from Sugarland. 

That's the mosaic built into the cement on the ground as you walk into the shop.  So, so cute!

We made it!

So I don't really know how it became July 11th.  Or why I could never get my blogging act together during our month in Utah.  Blogging always felt like"the next thing" I was about to do.  I guess I never got very far down my list.  We had a great time in Utah.  We loved all our outdoor adventures, time with cousins, visiting Utah's proud collection of Snow Con Shacks, as well as visiting with lots of old friends who were all passing through, just like us.  The time went by quickly and was a great kick off to Summer 2010. 

We left Utah on July 5th on our way to Colorado Springs to visit old friends and to check on our house.  Our four days in Colorado are quite possibly the fastest four days of my life!  And just to prove it to you, we didn't even take a single pictures.  Lori, Kim, how did that happen?!  Did anyone take a picture?  I'm so sorry that I didn't.  We had such a great time seeing so many old friends.  What a treat.

But we were also extremely anxious to meet back up with Darin who was traveling perpendicularly to us, and made it to Chapel Hill on July 8th.  He was able to get the keys to our house, and acquire the all important summer pool pass, all before our late night arrival on the 9th.  And just as predicted, our best laid plans to have our stuff arrive before us, didn't quite pan out.  But much to the kids great relief, the van has, so at least we have moved out of too small rental cars!    Perhaps the rest of our household goods will be here before the week is over?  Great news, we at least know that our stuff is in America, so that sounds close in our opinion!! 

On our first night in town, Darin took us to the little down of Pittsboro, NC established in 1787, which finds itself on the National Historic Registry! 

The General Store Cafe was were we had our amazing dinner

And felt very posh while eating listening to live music.  Which was particularly interesting to Darin who thinks North Carolina might be the place where he learns to play the banjo. 

I think we'll always remember Pittsboro as the first place where the kids saw fireflies!

And how all of my childhood memories came flooding back to me as I demonstrated how to catch them. 

So here we are!  We've arrived.  I think we're going to like it here. 

But mostly it's just great to back together again as a family.  I think we can do anything, as long as we are in it together.  Stay tuned...

Sitting around is for sissies...

Or, another possible title:
When you download 120 photos from your camera, you know it's time for a Blog post!

You decide.

Anyway, we're doing our best to make memories around here.  We are getting these cousins together as much as humanly possible.  We run ourselves to the point of exhaustion most day.  We fall into our beds well past 10pm most nights.  We sometimes don't climb out of our beds until well past 10am!  If this isn't what summer is made for, then I don't know what summer is made for.

Also, I've had a few dreams for my kids (they can thank me later).  I'm making some of them come true while we're here in Utah.  I'm dragging lots of people around with me along the way.  We are surrounded by good sports.

Did you know I've been living at my mom's house for 4 weeks now (with four kids and about 84 bags)?!  And did you know she's still acting like she hasn't noticed?!

I tell you what, if that isn't what a good sport is, well then I've never met a good sport in my life!

Here you go, dream number #1 that I made come true:  Take 8 children, two sisters and a grandma, and hike up "Y" mountain!!

Oh yes we did:

The thing about hiking "Y" mountain is that it's not that far.  Less than half a mile ROUNDTRIP.  So try not to feel too sorry for anyone, except Sarah who often carried two kids at a time.  But it's pretty steep.  In fact, it's very steep.  So while I generally don't feel sorry for this latest privileged generation, I'll hand it over to them for a steep hike up "Y" mountain.  The other thing about it, after you leave the parking lot, you never see the "Y" again until you are basically sitting on top of it.  It's hard to keep kids motivated when they've lost sight of the end goal.

You most definitely should not feel sorry for this guy, getting a ride wherever he goes!  How will he ever learn to walk on his own two feet?!  I'll make him hike it next summer! 

But once you actually reach the "Y", you basically feel like you can do anything!  Especially if you are 42" or less.  Jane completely impressed herself with this mountain climb.  She couldn't stop smiling.  Oh yeah, until it was time to walk back down, then she resumed complaining.

Our three boys, Oliver, George and Henry made it to the bottom of the "Y" from the path, and then were so excited that they had reached the end point that they climbed the face of the "Y" all the way to the top!  Sadly, Brenden, Sarah, Huck and June had to turn back.  Sometimes despite our best efforts we still have to accept defeat and say we'll come back again next time!

Though Grandma and Ruby thought they would never make it, by simply putting one foot in front of the other, they joined the rest of us for the most amazing view in Provo.  And, it's a good thing we brought grandma, she'd never been there before!!

 

A gorgeous moon climbing up over the mountain,

followed by a tremendous sunset over the lake

Followed by a giant snake slithering across the path,

Had everyone nearly convinced that I really had helped make one of their dreams that they never knew they had, come true.  You're welcome!



You'll want to come check in again soon to hear more about the next dream coming true, of taking the whole family (this time even convincing Grandpa) to go see the Mormon Miracle (Manti ) Pageant.  And how even though we got home at 2:30 am the one night, we were all gathered back up again by the following afternoon for a little bit of this:

And this,

And this,

And finally this!

And then how the day ended like this:

all impromptu and completely candid.  All lined up like they still loved and care for each other even after we keep dragging them all over creation.

So, in conclusion, let me just say, if the Garden of Eden herself is more beautiful than Sundance is right now, I probably wouldn't believe it.  It's that gorgeous.

Seriously, tune back in, there are about 73 other photos where these ones came from, and you won't want to miss the Manti recap!

I've got some girls...

And now they have their ears pierced:

Jane all full of trepidation before she was to sit in the piercing chair.

Also this photo was taken just moments before Jane had a full on meltdown.  She's been wanting her ears pierced even more than Ruby.  She's been telling everyone that would listen about how she was getting her ears pierced when she moved back to America.  But suddenly when standing in the middle of Icing at the University Mall, on the actual day of the biggest event of her life, she was overcome with the greatest fear.

Before arriving at the mall, she told Ruby that Ruby would have to go first and tell her if it was going to hurt.  Ruby protested saying Jane made her go first when they got their kindergarten shots (and that's true).  So I sided with Ruby and told Jane she would have to go first.  But when it came right down to it, she melted, and could not bring herself to sit up in the chair.  

Ruby bravely and disgustedly climbed up in the chair to "go first" again.  Ironically, Jane is the one who was born first and often reminds Ruby of that.  But I guess being born first in the twin world really just gives you the authority of saying who goes first for what events, etc.

Ruby did not cry.  Neither would she lie to Jane and say that it didn't hurt.  In fact she told Jane that it hurt very much.  Which nearly made Jane back out once and for all.  Instead, I held her on my lap, and loaned her the courage to do what she wanted to do all along.  

She wailed and cried.  But mostly I think in a gush of relief that it was all over. 

Oh boy do they think they are fancy now!

The brothers came along.  They were equally fastinated and annoyed to be watching.

Before we left Icing, we all tried on pairs of fake reading glasses.  Henry told me I actually looked good in mine.  I may go back to Icing before leaving Utah and invest in my next hot fashion accessory:

When we had had all the fun a family of five can have at Icing in the University Mall in Orem, we left to go watch Toy Story 3 in 3D.

It was a lovely movie, and by the end when Andy was saying good-bye to his toys as he was heading off to college, I'll admit I was crying.  I mean, Toy Story was the very first kid DVD we ever bought, to be played in the very first DVD player we ever bought.   I feel like we've all grown-up together with that movie.  After this movie George admitted that he was crying at the part where it appeared that all the toys were going to be incinerated at the city dump.  I questioned if he was actually crying or if he was just worried.  He confirmed that indeed he had a tear he had to wipe off of his cheek.  And he was not too embarrassed to admit it.  I'm telling you, it was a good movie.

And that's how we spent the weekend together after the kids returned from their week of family camp with Grandma and Grandpa.  It was the grandest sort of weekend.

It's been two weeks.

How've we been spending our time you ask?

One week ago Darin's Grandpa Simmons passed away.  It was somewhat unexpected, amplifying the sudden sorrow of the situation.  He was a big character, full of life.  I know I'm only married into the family but he made it easy to love him.  And besides, word was he was a huge "Earnest Review" fan.  Who's not going to love a man who read my blog?!

When Darin heard about his Grandpa, we both knew that he would want to be at the funeral.  Luckily there was a flight leaveing the ROK about twelve hours later.  He started making any arrangements he could to catch the flight and make his way to Utah for the funeral.

Althought it's sad to see a loved one pass on, isn't it ironic that funerals often prompt the most enjoyable of family reunions?!

Grandpa Simmons was in the Navy during WWII.  To honor his memory, Darin wore his uniform for the day.  I am partial, but he is so very handsome when in uniform:

The military honor at the graveside was one of the most moving parts of the day for me.  I guess after 11 years of being a military family I am finally beginning to understand the magnitude of the sacrifice that all military families make.  It's touching that there are Veterans all over the world who will come to funerals to pay their respects, even if they didn't know the person.

It was a busy couple of days, but we wouldn't have missed it for the world.  What a treat to unexpectedly see so much of our family.  It was great.  We will all miss Grandpa Curly. 

The day after the funeral, my parents took all the oldest grandkids up to spend a week at Aspen Grove Family Camp.  We all went together three years ago, but this time my parents were offering to take the kids while giving the parents a few days all to ourselves!  Darin overlapped with Aspen Grove for two days, so we had two amazing days of sleeping until 11am!! I haven't slept in that long since before I was married.  Of course, staying up until 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning certainly helps you sleep in too.  Because, it's the same weekend that our favorite Aunt Rachel came to town!

Just a touch of family resemblance, you think?!

There have been so many late nights, talking, laughing, eating, playing cards.  It's the sort of stuff that would make me so sad to be missing out on.  I feel so blessed to be here right now.  

Before Darin left, we drove up the canyon to say good-bye to the kids at Aspen Grove.  It's one of the most beautiful places on earth, taking photos is no longer optional in such a location.

We got there in time to eat dinner with the kids

And Grandma

To play some games

and to steel baby Huck away and pretend that he belonged to me!

Huck Wiley

Oh dear, how are we ever going to want to leave?!

Poor Darin had to fly back to Korea.  He isn't supposed to leave for another three weeks.  I miss him already.  It was such a fun surprise to have him join us, that it makes me feel like three weeks without him is entierly too long!  

And now I am alone, sans husband, or kids for the first time in who knows how long.  The silence is at times magical and at times eerie.  I am going to try to savor it as much as possible.  But Friday will be a happy day for me too!!! 

P.S.  thanks to Darin's sister Alyssa (and one of his cousins) for the funeral photos.  That day we were not remembering to get our camera out.  I'm sure glad she thought of it!!  Thanks Alyssa.  

A Total Worldwhind.

Though I carried my huge camera with me the entire journey, are you surprised to hear that I never once paused mid course, traveling from Korea to America, alone with four kids to snap a photo to remember?  I'm not.  There are some things best forgetten, and it's not like I needed photographic evidence to remember the magnitude of the situation.  It was imminently clear to me as I kissed the Major good-bye at security that it was going to be a VERY long journey. 

But what can I say now?  We are here, and mostly all of the travel wounds are healed.  And to tell you the truth, nothing horrendous happened (unless you view the disappearance of a 1-year old DSi as horrendous.  All things considered, I don't). 

But I will tell you something else, when you are the only adult traveling alone with four kids, you don't find many opportunities to fall asleep either.  So the greatest casualty by the end of the journey was my incredible fatigue.  But masked by the jet lag, it wasn't anything spectacular.  I was just really, really exhausted.  After all, we traveled for  something like 18 hours before landing in Seattle.  That's just a long time!

Really though, by the time we were at Baggage Claim in Seattle I was nearly in tears with how well behaved my kids had been.  Not that it prevented me from yelling at someone for spilling the contents of their backpack, or chastising someone else for playing "tag" while we were waiting for luggage.  But when I took a moment to think about what I had just required of my children, I was swelling with pride.  They did remarkably well. 

Our 24-hour layover in Seattle was a welcome relief.  One of my best friends from High School, Kat, now lives in Seattle with her cute family.  When she heard we were headed to an Airport hotel for the day, she absolutely forbade it, and drove her mini van and little ones to come pick us up!  Though I felt terrible imposing on her hospitality, I had to quickly admit that it was the best thing that had happened to me in the past 24 hours!  That was such a fun layover!! 

A quick flight to Utah the next morning (where Jane and Ruby were both bracing themselves that we might not land in Utah until the next day, since that had been their experience up to that point), had us eating lunch at Provo's In-n-Out and browsing the racks of both Gamestop and The Disney Store all by the late afternoon.  Remarkable! 

After two days of serious retail therapy and a much need hair cut AND color (photos to come soon!), we were all starting to feel the joy and triumph of our journey.  We are now happily settling into the real pace of summer vacation. 

P.S.  Nature walks, ice cream on demand, and late bed times are plentiful at Grandma's house.  In case you were wondering!  We are eagerly anticipating the return on the Wiley cousins this week to introduce a whole new level of excitement! 


P.P.S.  WE MADE IT!