Half Moon Bay

Not a lot to report for last week. I am very frustrated with the progress of Dallin's stuff. Nothing has happened really since last monday. I plan to make lots of pushy phone calls this week. Eden got her first hair cut. I finally got tired of her mullet. It was getting so long in the back and the front was still pretty short. It is a little more evened up now. Yay, now I don't have to keep it in pigtails all the time. Yesterday we went and visited my sister Cami in the San Francisco area. Her husband is selling there. It was fun to see them and their little baby. After lunch we headed to Half Moon Bay. Of course the kids loved it. Especially Dallin, he really likes the ocean. I asked my brother in law to take a picture of Peter and I and somehow we got a group hug from the kids instead.
Peter wanted me to document the San Francisco love.
This is us teaching Dallin to dig a hole in the sand.
This was when we were digging the hole and Dallin threw a handful of sand in my eye.
This is the sand castle Peter built with the kids while I was flushing my eye out.

On our way over there were these hills with thousands of windmills over several miles. The kids thought it was amazing. They kept saying "winda mills!". I think Dallin literally said that for 20 minuts straight.
Casual daddy duty.
We attempted a family picture to no avail but you get the idea.
Cami, Daniel and Clare. The are having a baby boy in October.

Things are going pretty well here in Cali. We went to church for the first time 2 sundays ago and the day after that they asked us to speak. So we spoke last sunday. I knew it was coming so I am glad we got it done with. Our talks went well and now everyone knows us because I introduced us and gave our background. That was kind of nice. It was rainy the first day we got here but since then it is always sunny. The big news here in Sacramento is of a mother and baby humpback whale that somehow swam into the San Francisco bay and made it all the way over the Sacramento. That is all we hear about. All of the scientists have been trying to figure out how to get them to go back home to the ocean because fresh water is not good for them and the water is too shallow. Everyone is whale crazy. After over a week they are finally going the right direction. We have met many nice family through the church. There are 2 play groups a week that I can go to. One is park day and the other is music day for the kids. They combine wards for this so there are a lot of other mommy's to meet. Tonight I am invited to an American Idol party with the other moms. It is nice to be so welcomed and accepted here. Dallin's programs are still in the works. Nothing too new to report except the school district is trying to get him placed into a 5 hour/4 days a week preschool. His Oregon preschool was only 90 minutes/4 days. I know great things are about to happen for this little boy and it is so hard to be patient. Peter hates being away from the kids so much so we take him lunch and go to the park sometimes. He usually spends the morning with them too and of course all day sunday. Being alone with the kids all the time and no school for Dallin yet, I have been going really batty. Their bed time is now 7:00 because I just can't take it anymore by that time of the day. Dallin and Eden stripped down and then found some apples the other day. They can be so naughty when they play together, but it is so cute.
This was at play group yesterday.

Eden loved the slide and did it over and over. Whenever I suggested swings she would scream "NO, I don't like it!" That is a phrase I hear about 500 times a day lately from Dallin and Eden. She even woke up last night yelling it. I assumed she had a bad dream?
I have to be careful to keep all pens put away lately because eden will color on herself or Tanner or on any kind of paper.
Okay, so to catch up a bit, Peter's brother Jimmy got married right before the move and then we had a family reunion at a cabin so here are a few pictures of that.
The flowers were gorgeous so it gave great backgrounds (I was the photographer)
This was the best we could do for a family picture. Cooperation level was very low.

This was a hike at the cabin
Eden, Ammon and Spencer were cute little cone head playmates.
This was early in the morning. Peter and I could not stand to sleep anymore with kids laying all over us so we decided it would be better just to get up.

Tanner loves his Grandpa D

Whew!!!

So we are now residents of Elk Grove, California. I would not relive the last 4 weeks for anything. What a huge ordeal. Things have really lined up for us and I am so grateful for that but it has been so much work. So the house that we were supposed to be approved for was given to someone else the day before we moves. Some kind of "mistake". We decided to take things into our own hands and started calling everything in our price range on Craigslist. We finally found someone who didn't think we were crazy when we told them we were driving down with a U-Haul tomorrow and willing to move things quickly, so we faxed back and forth and got things going. Amazingly it worked out just fine. The home we are renting is really nice. Only 3 years old and 2100 S.F. It is a little more expensive but I am kind of happy it worked out that way now that we are here. It has a gorgeous little back yard and the kids seem very happy. They are adjusting just fine. I can't believe it has been over a week already. I have been really busy unpacking and trying to keep the carpets clean. We are not used to that since we have hardwood in Oregon. The countertops are white tile too so that is pretty but a lot of scrubbing. The master bath is my favorite. It is has double sinks and walk in closet and soaking tub. So even though it was stressful I think it worked out just fine.

So as soon as we arrived I began making phone calls for Dallins programs. I hand delivered a packet with 100 pages of reports and history about Dallin so that there will not be a delay to the school district and regional center here. They are the ones who will fund his therapy. I have heard that gathering all of the info can take a while so I was trying to bypass that by just giving it to them. Now I am waiting for them to get back to me with appointments for finding placements for him. Also, a few weeks ago I called all of the ABA centers that provide the therapy that we want and got on waiting lists. It was looking like it would be minimum six months to get him in to any of them. So when we got here and I called to see where we were, one of them said they may have an August opening. I was very happy with this. Then the next day she called and said she could get him in in June! Wow, I was blown away. I was expecting everything to take a few months but now I am hoping for just a few weeks to get everything started. I am just so happy that everything we were hoping for is real. I am constantly amazed that the miracles that happed every day since we have made the decision to move here and do this. What a testimony builder. It is quite an experience to go forward on faith not really knowing what will happen next. The Lord has really led us every step of the way.

Peter's work is going well already. He is highly motivated and getting big numbers already. He even got a 10 day. He works hard but still gets to come home for lunch each day for now so that is nice. I am kind of used to the hours he is gone from doing pest control before. Our house has a lot of windows so Dallin gets us up between 5:30 and 6:30 every morning. At least we get to see Peter for a couple of hours before he leaves that way. I know this is a crazy blog but I am at the library and don't have much time so hopefully everything makes sense. I am sure it is full of typos. I will put some new pictures up when we get internet next week.