A few Hello's!

Before we got to Idaho, we were "lucky" enough to go to Utah! It worked out great because the kids could see their cute cousins - Morgan and Elsa.

Uncle Jared declared we go to the park. The kids had been in a car for 2 days, it was time.


This park is in Cory and Liz's neighborhood.

 Jules loved it!
 Mason did too. He loves to climb. I think he made the other adults nervous but not this mom!
Mason feels the need to get as close to death as possible, as often as possible.
 Elsa just hung around and watched.
 Morgan and Uncle Cory.
 My kids love kids, so hanging with the little ones is oh so much fun.
 Elsa and Juliet pretty much loved each other and hugged the entire time.


Auntie Erin taught the kids some Yoga.
She also taught Bridget a little routine.
The kids ate up their time with the Aunties and Uncles.

 And then to the hotel we went. We spent one night with Liz and Cory, had a yummy breakfast and lunch with them off to see what was up with the truck.

I am so glad we are only 3 hours away from them. 
I bet we will be seeing a lot more of them now!

Ahem. We are in Idaho.

What the What? We are moving?
The long and the short of it is…yes!

We have been trying to find a way to be happy in certain aspects of our lives, and it seemed almost impossible to do without moving. So, we prayed and searched and prayed and waited and then one Wednesday, we decided to just try it out! See what would happen if we threw it into the universe. The next day, things started rolling into place and our house was pretty much sold. Does one actually need a reason to up and move? If you do need one, here it is : We wanted an adventure, we wanted to get out of our ward (yes I said it) and we wanted a fresh start. 
We wanted more than Colorado could give us.

Why Idaho? We didn’t want to stay in Colorado. It seemed that nowhere would work for what we were actually looking to do. Nathan was given an awesome opportunity and we jumped on it. Oh, and Why not? We have never been there, and it felt right. That is all you need to know.

Everything in Colorado went so fast, we were so blessed.

We packed up the moving truck, said our goodbyes and then --- all of the fun started to happen.
Fun? Well, if you think having your moving truck BREAKING DOWN at 11pm in Evanston, Wyoming FUN then yes! It was fun! It was 20 degrees our kiddos were so cold and tired. (we sold our minivan, and huddled up in the moving truck and car) They couldn’t fix the truck after waiting 6 hours, so we stayed the night in Wyoming. The next morning was oh so much funner. The moving company decided to tow our truck to Salt Lake City, Utah, because that was the closest place. Luckily, Nathan’s brother came and picked up half of our crew while we waited to see what was going to happen. We spent the night with Liz and Cory and still no word. The next day we heard that the fuel pump was busted and they couldn’t fix it, so they totaled it. They couldn’t fix the 24 foot truck so they gave us a 26 foot truck instead. They hired professional movers to move our stuff from one truck to the next and did a TERRIBLE job. (we didn’t know until we got to Idaho)


 We were finally Idaho bound and heard back from 3 houses we put “offers” on. They all fell through. One had a leak that the inspector said needed 10k to fix. 2 others were under contract with better offers and they took the local people over us on. We were in our 3rd hotel in 4 days. We were feeling low, and then decided to pray that we would find the house where we could do the most good (in the ward) and we thought we found it. Come to find out they changed the terms on us and we were in a hotel for 2 more days.Ugh! Trying to be positive and upbeat when everything seems to be spiraling out of control is very difficult.  We tried one more time on Thursday and it didn’t work either. After a complete breakdown to my mother in law, we decided to try a rental. We were running out of time, the kids had missed 3 days of school, and in 39 minutes we were approved – and had the keys to the new kingdom. It is a large, 6 bedroom 3 bath, and finished basement house with just enough space! On our way to the house, I registered the kids in the school I wanted (YES!!!!) and we were unloading the truck in a neighborhood we had never seen.
 Finding a rental that was empty is next to impossible in October!

Within minutes, the neighborhood kids were coming home from school and helping us unload the truck. My neighbor, Becky asked what we needed and within the hour men from the whole street came to help us move in. I could not believe my eyes. What an incredible service they did for our family.

We found out that our ward was just created. They just completed the stake center, or stake house as the Idahoans call it and they hadn’t met as a new ward yet! Talk about LUCK! Talk about TIMING! Talk about HF’s PLAN!

The next day, (Friday) the kids met the principal – talked to him, and they got to meet the teacher which best suited them. It was very Harry Potterish. But, they loved it!
It was an intense weekend. I was feeling really sad about not “buying” a house, but I feel at peace about it. We are where we need to be. We have a year to build in our neighborhood if we want, we can shop around (instead of buying a house we have never seen – which is what we were doing) Heck! - we have the freedom to move to another state if we want.

Our kids have adjusted fabulously. Their school is incredible. (3rd in the whole state!) The church is across the street from the school. They get to take a bus! And our entire neighborhood is our ward. That is so weird and crazy cool. There are a million kids in our neighborhood and they are all in our ward and in the kids school and so far very respectful. 

We are happy about how supportive our family and close friends are. It is funny that people feel the need to know the hows and whys when they don't see or talk to us everyday. We literally moved randomly, one day in broad daylight, without any fanfare or large goodbyes - no mega announcement - nothing. We just upped and moved. I am so glad we did it this way. It was a complete blindside.
I can't wait to go and explore this new place. I can't wait to stretch out and be utilized in a calling. I can't wait to see what our family will get to do and accomplish. I can't wait for Nathan to do what he loves to do. I can't wait for family to come visit. I can't wait to meet new people.

*sigh*
This is the life!



Week of Goodbyes! - 6375 and neighbors!

We will miss so many things. Our house, which was a great size and never had any horrific issues.

Our neighbors, and our friends. I brought all my babies home to this house, and each room has been painted at least twice. Hehehe.

Our first meal in this house was KFC sandwich stackers which had just come out at the time, and Nathan was so late coming home from work (when he used to work in the hospitals) so he grabbed a bunch on his way home. It was fitting to have KFC for dinner as our last meal.



Our house sold! 20 days from when we put it on the market, to the day we closed on the house.
It was under contract in 28 hours with multiple offers. We got more than asking and love the people who bought our house! Also, the wife was at the Adams State football game where I was hit head first in the pelvis by 2 football players!!! Small world!

Here is a better tour of the house

We feel extremely blessed to have this all happen so quickly.

We will miss E, everyone's favorite Hampson.

And Maddie and Amelia, our across the street neighbors.


It was nice to spend our first and last night in the house just as we started, without children.
I teared up a little, but we are SO HAPPY to move on! Woot!

Week of Goodbyes - Chris/Kelley/Alex/Spencer

We spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa's, spent the day there, and then celebrated Spencer's 22nd Birthday!

Bridget helped make the cake.








We were happy to be with family, and will miss these Witte gatherings. :)

Week of Goodbyes! - Glacier Peak

My kids love their school so much. It was really hard to leave all of their teachers, past and present.
They loved the old principal and the new one.

We will miss how close the school was:


Each kid brought a goodbye snack to share with the class.
Lucas's class asked for his "lucky trail mix" from 2nd grade.

Lucas has loved his 3rd grade teacher so much.
She has been incredible.




After the song, his teacher had everyone say something nice to or about him. After the 4th kid, everyone was crying. Even the boys. When it was his teachers turn, Lucas and her were bawling.
I was too. She wants to know what Lucas will do for the world, and expects him to write to her.


Bridget was not sad at all. She said she KNEW she would make new friends and is so happy to go to our new place. Her teacher and I cried because we have had some good memories being Lucas's teacher and now, Bridget's.

Scarlett said she was only going to miss her friend, E. She was also going to miss bringing lunch to school since she is in full day K now and wont be at the new school. (they dont offer it)



I am going to miss a lot about this school, but have high hopes for the new school. :)





Week of Goodbyes - Ryan/Veronica/Noah/Sydney/Elijah

We always go to the pumpkin patch with our cousins.

Different patches, but we always to this together. 
What a perfect evening to go. The weather and the scenery was awesome!

They had enormous cows!


 Wait! Lets zoom in there!





The kids had a fun time and it was a beautiful day.





Afterwards, we went to their house for dinner where the kids were able to let loose.

It was a teary good bye, but not for too long.

Week of Goodbyes! - Ben/Danielle/Maxton


We had dinner at Casa Bonita. The kids and Nathan had never been there. Ryan and Veronica took me there for my 21st Birthday (many moons ago) and it is something people always say 
"when in Denver..." so we hit it up!

Highlights:
1. Eating like we are at school in the lunch line!

2. Eating food that tastes like school hot lunch. I will admit the food tastes better than it used to.

3. Watching the live show and the divers!

4. Fried Ice Cream, another first!

5. Hanging out with this lil' fella.

And then the CAVE!

 Where Scarlett said the same thing I said when I went in it many years ago: "the air tastes like pee"
The kids had a great time until Scarlett screamed and cried and then Lucas was grabbed and I flashed the camera and everyone screamed and was scared.

And then I couldn't stop laughing because all of us ran out trying to figure out what happened.
I laugh right now as I type this up. It was SO funny. (to me)

Then we went to the arcades.




It was a fun evening and we will sure miss Ben and Danielle and Maxton!
My kiddos are already asking to go back this summer!