Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Ever since taking the position with MassMutual on April 2nd I've been living in Salt Lake City in an apartment.  We've only been together as a family on the weekends which has made for some long weeks.  It has a silver lining though.  It has allowed me to really dial in and work long days and nights which is needed as I become adjusted to the new position.  It has also made us appreciate one another more than ever before. 

This weekend Andrea and the kids came to Salt Lake City and we stayed at my apartment.  Today we got up and found a local ward to attend.  Afterwards we made our way over to Temple Square for a few hours.  The boys loved all of the water fountains and Brynlee and Andrea enjoyed the sweet smells coming from all of the new flowers.  I enjoyed just being with my family.

Families are Forever

 I love this picture.  Lately Ridge has been carrying around pennies in his pockets.  He likes how they rattle around when he walks.  He'll also take his prized coins out throughout the day and count them.  So you can only imagine just how excited he was to see that all the fountains have lots and lots of coins in them!  He loved staring at all the bright coins in the water for what seemed like an hour. 

Nash didn't care as much about the coins but he did love the water.  One of his favorite things to do is throw rocks in the water.  There weren't any rocks laying around so he just enjoyed the warm spring afternoon next to the fountains.  He seemed like he was in deep thought.

Something that has become a tradition in our family is whenever we go somewhere that we walk, Nash always likes to let either me or Andrea get ahead of him so he can run full speed into our arms.  Today Andrea was the lucky one.  I hurried and got the camera ready just in time to capture the moment.

After we went back to my apartment everybody piled out of the car.  As I was helping Ridge out I noticed what looked like a rock stuck in the tire of the car.  After careful inspection I could see that it wasn't a rock but rather a bolt that was lodged in the tire.  I felt very thankful that I saw it.  I don't believe that it was happen chance that I parked just right so that the bolt would be pointing right at me when I got Ridge out of the car.  I knew that early tomorrow morning Andrea and my 3 little kids would be making the 5 hour journey back to Meridian.  I'm so thankful that we were able to avoid any of the potential dangers and inconveniences that inevitably would have come had we not noticed the bolt.  Ironically enough when I went to get the tire changed, the service person found another nail in the tire. 

Only 3 more weeks until we get to move into our new home in Alpine.  Andrea got to see it for the first time on Thursday.  Yep, you read that right, the FIRST TIME!  I have the most trusting wife.  She let me pick out our new house without even seeing it!  Luckily she loved it!  I look forward to the near future when Dad comes home every day at 5 for family dinner and time to enjoy each others company.  In the meantime, we'll keep preparing to pack, move, and all the other fun stuff that comes with a relocation.