Beheaded Barbie is indeed Broken - brought to you by the letter "B"

Sophie came up to me just a few minutes ago with a head in one hand and a body in the other and informed me that her "Barbie broke." The title of this post was my response. Poor Barbie, we loose so many good ones that way....

Aside from the lessons on decapitation and plastic resiliency, we had quite an enjoyable weekend this weekend, which was a well deserved variance from the chaos that has dominated the past few before this.

For those that don't know, Melodie's dad has recently moved out to Utah, only about an hour away. This provides a unique situation, since we have not resided in the same state, let alone within reasonable driving distance, since she was a year old. Prior to February 5, she had not seen him since 2006. Right now we are trying to establish a workable comprehensive visitation arrangement, but needless to say there are inherent bumps and spills along the road.

Couple the changes in circumstances with potty training, teeth loosing, school registration, summer sport sign up, inoculations, and the flu that will not leave, and our well was running a little dry....so despite airline tribulations, having my friend Chris from Phoenix visit was a great respite.

The kids and Chris got to experience some new things together - we went to Angie's, a local restaurant that is the very pinnacle representative of small town everybody knows everybody atmosphere, which is also conveniently a block from my house. Angie's is always busy - but the kids were awesome.

This was followed with our first trip to Willow Park Zoo, a cute little zoo here in town that I can't wait to go to again. I think it is a safe bet to say that we will be spending many spring and summer evenings there, as well as at the adjacent park and play area.

Some of the most fun was probably found in the flurry of excitement from some sword play - Nerf style. Chris purchased four Nerf swords on Friday night at Walmart, and as most of you saw on my Facebook page, plenty of enjoyment followed.

Time machines, memories and dreams

"We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams" - Jeremy Irons

While I have been busily straightening the house, preparing for a weekend guest from out of state, I finally managed to unpack the last few boxes from our move. I have also managed to vacuum out the van for the first time since our arrival (it should be noted that frosted mini-wheats, no matter how much children like them, are NOT good travel food) , and post some recent pictures on Facebook. It is only now that I realize we have been here almost five months. Five months? It seems almost hardly possible. Even though some of the very cold and snowy days have felt individually endless, it also feels like we just got here a few weeks ago.

We had great travel weather - bright, sunny, and gorgeous the entire time. Nothing dramatic happened, unless you count that we subsisted pretty much the entire drive off of McDonald's, there were a few desperate miles of waiting to find civilization, and the lone rest stop resembled something that would make "The Shining" seem like hospitable and feel good. We also learned that slight incline and 90 degree demon drop can mean the same thing on directions, and that will power alone will not cause a van to drive over 35 mph if it is climbing a mountain and pulling an overloaded trailer.

People came out of the wood work to help when we arrived - providing enough cooked meals to last us two weeks, and unloading the van, trailer, and car top carrier so quickly I barely got the word "Hi" out before they were done.

We have been incredibly blessed to have a great ward, good neighbors, and a generally open hearted community. Upon learning that we were new comers, people made sure I knew where everything was, what numbers to call, and had recommendations on where to go for everything from pediatric care to Popsicles. To ease some of the scramble for Halloween costumes, we were able to borrow from my visiting teaching companion - and we got to experience the annual Pumpkin Walk - which is a walk through of displays comprised of scenes made out of pumpkins, and ended with cider and cookies.

Was the move everything I hoped for? Absolutely. I could not have done a better thing for my family. Every time I step outside, even now, I am swept away by the beauty and majesty of the scenery surrounding our small community. There is simply no way to capture it, on film or in words. It is truly awesome.

Moving here allowed me to transfer into a full time position with Home Depot, with a set schedule and guaranteed hours. I have weekends off, and get out early enough in the afternoon that I can have some quality time with the kids before they go to bed. They go to better and safer schools - I get calls on a regular basis from parent volunteers at the middle school with kudos from the teachers on Melodie's performance in the classroom, and Chloe's school secretary has even gone as far as to help arrange transportation for Chloe to go to birthday parties.

Shortly before Christmas I finally caved and cut Zachary's hair, primarily because my little monkey man had started pulling it back into pony tails on his own. Zachary copy cats everything Sophie does, which means I am now potty training two toddlers, though only one of which is ready - and the standard warning issued to unsuspecting visitors in our house is "Watch out for puddles." I am also getting the special treat of some spectacular tantrums thrown by two very stubborn and opinionated toddlers.

Speaking of toddlers, it is their bedtime. More to write later, such as the many deaths of the parakeets, the recent updates with Melodie, and the desperate search through pictures to determined if the newly lost tooth was indeed supposed to actually come out......