We had known for several months that our Tahoe was on its last leg and that we were done dumping money into repairs at the mechanic's. It had served us well and for a long time, but especially since the move to Utah (during which the Tahoe had pulled a trailer) on top of which it was shocked with cold weather in its old age, it was not doing very well. With our poor car leaking coolant everywhere, needing conditioners in the oil and the fuel to even start in the morning and giving me nightmares of being stranded on the freeway with four kids, we headed out on a search for a new family car. We knew we wanted something that could tow, seat at least 8, and with 4 wheel drive for yours truly who does not have experience driving in the snow. It was certainly not a rash decision as we test drove several cars in CA, searched online in both states and tried to do our homework, but it went pretty fast once we started shopping. We happened upon a used dealership selling strictly large SUVs and vans. Just what we needed! They were no nonsense and within a few hours we had put a deposit down on a 9 passenger Yukon XL with 50,000 miles. My sister in law told us "you don't seem very excited" but I guess Jared and I are not really fond of parting with that much money and I was trying to reconcile my feelings of relief that my car was no longer a ticking time bomb! I am getting more excited about it now. I am certainly excited about the cargo space- I can fit groceries in the back of the car, a stroller, projects, you name it!!
Last month the girls had a family roller skating night for their school. They allowed razor scooters and we rented a nifty balance walker which made it a lot simpler helping four kiddos. We had a ton of fun! Jared was even able to join us and to top it off, we ran into some of our friends from Morgan Hill who had moved to Utah only a couple months before us. I babysat Eva and Quinn off and on for several years to trade for art classes and it was such a blast to spontaneously run into them!! What a happy reunion. We topped off the night by getting shakes, onion rings and fries at the Purple Turtle-Jared's high school fast food job. His old boss was there and they had a chance to catch up on the last 17 years!
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| The Okusi Girls!! |
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| Roller Skating Fun |
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| Roller Skating Rink |
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| Treats at Purple Turtle |
On top of adjusting to our new schedule, we have been house hunting pretty regularly. My aunt Heidi happens to be a realtor and lives in Draper, where we decided to focus our house search. She has been such a pleasure to work with and is very knowledgeable regarding neighborhoods, etc. It has also been fun for Jared and the kids to get to know her better. We generally focused our efforts and time into narrowing down interests on the internet MLS listings, walking through our favorite potential houses (sometimes just Jared and I, sometimes just the kids and I) and we decided to put an offer on a house that did not pan out. The sellers did not want to come down in price as much as we wanted! We also put an offer on this house in Draper-see pictures below which we are excited about. The sellers came down in price so that, in combination with our down payment, we can have a mortgage that is literally half of what we had in CA. The price for the square footage on this house was a deal, and although it was built in the 90s it has been updated, it is around the corner from the elementary school and down the street from great trails and the community pool. We are in contract and scheduled to close on May 10th.
The update on our chicks is that they are now nearly chickens! They are larger and smellier and eat a whole lot more. I suppose I would liken them to a gangly awkward early teen stage and the kids are losing interest...We are also fostering an additional 4 chickens on top of our own 6 for a grand total of 10 chickens!! We received a call from Jared's brother, Jeff, one weekend asking us if we would be around at midnight that night. Apparently Jeff's roommates thought it would be fun to buy some baby chicks and try to care for them in a boys college apartment. It was not as fun as it sounded and, as it turns out, it was a bit overwhelming and smelly! He was sending the chicks down in a box with a friend who was going to be headed our direction and we immediately took over the care of Donatella, Michaelangela, Raphaela and Leonarda so we can fatten them up for Jeff to butcher this summer. I told my kids not to get too attached and we told Jeff he and his roommates should focus on the other kind of "chicks" instead!!
Since we moved to Utah it seems that one or more of us have been sick in one way, shape, or form almost constantly! I did not realize I was signing up to homeschool- as it seems that at least one (school age) child has been with me at least a few days a week every week. And when it is not them, it has been me or Emma! We have had everything from colds and headaches to respiratory issues to stomach flu and Strep throat. Poor Lillian probably took the brunt of it, but even poor little Emma had a week-long virus that made her fever, listless and decreased appetite. I had a nasty case of strep that made it so I could not talk or swallow for days! I am hoping this is just our immune systems adjusting to the new environment and germs. Hopefully we will pay the price then return to our usual selves! But, of course, we will probably adjust in time to move to our real home and have to go through another round of sickness :( I suppose it makes us thankful for our usual health.
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