Limbo no more

So the past few months have felt like limbo. We knew that we couldn't stay where we are at as sad at it would be to leave. The economy has reeked it's whirlwind upon us. And sadly all our hopes and plans have diminished. We were on the house hunt hoping to find something to fit our financial goals. But it was long and slow.
Paul wanted to be able to rent out the home to BYU students but choices were slim and getting it to work out was slimmer. So when Paul found a home listed on Criagslist for rent we jumped on it. The price was 1/2 of what we are paying now and it has the room we need for our big family. It is also close to work and we will be in the school boundaries we wanted.
It will be sad to leave a gorgeous area and good people but hopefully we will be able to get our feet under ourselves again soon.
I feel like there are things to look forward to again.

Trip to the Grotto

We took a lil' trip up to the grotto in Payson Canyon. It was a beautiful day! It is a pretty short hike so very doable for kids with short legs. We packed some sandwiches and brought the two dogs as well. The kids played in the icy water when we got there. A birds nest was perched on the back wall of the cliff. Trey, Bryce and Isaac braved the steep climb to the top of the falls and peered down at the rest of the family. Another family came in behind us with another dog. Ginger seemed to not like this dog AT ALL!! So I fought to keep her from eating this poor cute little bassett hound looking thing. I looked over at Paul to see him talking to the owner. When we got back to the truck, I found out it was one of Paul's bosses!
On our way out, Twix nudged Ronnie off one of the walkway's in her excitement to go. He took a nice tumble into the stream. Luckily, he was mostly scared and not too hurt.
The boys getting their feet wet.
Michaela and her favorite pal: Twix
Tess freezing her feet off
Ronnie staring with amazement at his totally awesome brothers.
Trey, Bryce and Isaac conquer the falls.
Isaac gave me these pretty flowers.
Here is the same spot I took a picture the last time we were at the grotto in Oct 2008.