The Big Move

Elora leaving our old home headed for the new

We are now in Logan, and have been here for about 8 days. I am so behind on writing all of these events!
It took us three days to get here rather than the two we had planned on.
My mom, dad and brother Thain came up to our house on Friday and helped us finish up on our packing and getting things ready. Mom was invaluable in getting all the rooms cleaned up. Dad just tried to stay out of the way until the time came to load the truck on Monday. Thain wanted to help more, but there wasn’t much I could find for him to do. His main job was keeping Elora occupied so that she wasn’t in the way.
Elora adores Uncle Thain, and was happy to spend all of her time with him. Of course, he gave her whatever she wanted, so when mom and dad had to take over, or it was time to go to bed, she threw worse temper tantrums than I have ever seen her do before.
We all went to our ward’s barbecue at Mukelteo beach, so that was a nice way to spend our last Saturday in town. It was overcast and fairly cool, and the food was pretty good too. On Sunday, we blessed Joshua at church, and Thain got to help.

On moving day, we had some of the young men come over to help us. They were great and got the job done quickly. I think my mom was surprised as she didn’t expect teenagers to be much help at all. One of my older friends came over with her son too, and she did a lot to help with cleaning and doing last minute things. We still had a lot to take care of after the big things were loaded on the truck, and we ended up leaving after 2:00.
Thain drove mom and dads car and I rode with him and the babies in the back. We arranged it this way because we didn’t want the kids overheating in our car, which has no air conditioning. Elora loved riding with Uncle Thain, which is probably why she was so well behaved. Joseph drove the moving truck, and my mom and dad were kind enough to take our car. They drove with the windows down the whole way so they weren’t too hot, but I bet it was just miserable with the wind and not being able to hear any music. We all had walkie-talkies to keep in touch with each other, and that made things kind of fun.
We had to stop several times for baby feedings and to get food and gas, and each stop took longer than anticipated. We were glad Elora and Joshua were actually very good on the whole ride, but that first day we only got to Spokane. We went that way so we could stop and see Joseph’s dad, and since it was evening already anyway, we thought we might as well stop there.
Elora threw a major fit when Thain had to go to another room to sleep in the hotel, but we eventually got her to calm down, and Joseph brought McDonalds into the room for us to eat. She likes hamburgers.
The next day we made o ur way into Idaho and down through Montana. Cuor D’Alene was beautiful…you would never know it was the headquarters for the white supremacists! When we drove through northern Montana, we saw some forest fires just a mile or two from the road, and we saw helicopters carrying stuff to drop on them. That was pretty exciting. We heard a few days later that the fires were still burning, and they might have shut down the road right where we were traveling.


Thain and I had fun driving; we sang some songs together, and he even sang me some hymns in Slovenian. That day we only made it to Idaho Falls. It was already pretty late, so we decided to call it a day.

The next day, Wednesday it was slow going again, but luckily we didn’t have too far to go this time. The drive off of I-5 and onto the smaller highway (30?) was very pretty and scenic. We arrived at our new apartment around 1:00. We had to go to the head offices to get our keys and to get all signed up, but that didn’t take too long. One of our downstairs neighbors helped us move some stuff. But he was very out of shape and couldn’t help much. Despite that, we unloaded everything fairly quickly. My pessimistic father was of course, quite surprised by that.

Thain helping out

There is a play area behind our apartments and my mom took Joshua and Elora and kept them occupied while everything was unloaded. She met a bunch of my neighbors and told them all about us..now everyone is going to expect me to be all social like my mom. Dang it!

After we were unloaded, mom and dad had to go to visit my other brother in Salt Lake.
Our new apartment is much bigger than our old one. I think its very nice , just a little too hot right now! Our living room seems to trap in the heat, so in the evening when its cooled off outside, our thermometer says it is still around 85! The bedrooms aren’t that hot though, so that’s okay. ITs a big difference from the daily averages in the 70's that we're used to.
That night I think the heat must have got to Elora and Joshua, because Joshua screamed for a long time, and Elora got very sick. She threw up in the hallway, the living room, the bedroom floor…I was trying to help her go to sleep and she threw up on me and her pajamas. We got that all cleaned up and she was almost asleep on my lap again, when she suddenly sat up and threw up all over herself and me again! It was quite disgusting. The next morning she threw up one more time, just a little bit, but now she is better.
And that is where I will end this little tale, that is already way too long! Hope you enjoyed it.

Nicknames

Does this look like a 'Tertzie Beth' to you? Thats the nickname my mom gave me when I was little, for some unknown reason. She still calls me that from time to time. My dad's nickname for me is MO-chelle, from my middle name, Michelle.
My sister Kiera lucked out. My dad calls her "Annie", partly because her middle name is Anne, but I think mostly because as a small child she looked like Annie from the 1980's movie of the same name.


When my brother Dain was a small baby, my dad started using the name 'Blit'.. I think it had something to do with his spitting up all the time. As a teenager we started calling him 'Jimmy'. I'm the one that started it, because he reminded me of the character Jimmy from the movie Saturday's Warrior. We still refer to him by that name on occasion, with the variations of Jimmy Sparks, or Jimmy Cocoa Puff.
Thain, my next brother, was simply called 'Baby' until he was about three years old and Thorin was born. We jokingly experimented with calling him Sally, but it didn't really stick.
We referred to Thorin as Buddy for the longest time; again I think this one came from my dad. Today my dad usually calls him The Thorinator, in reference to his habit of destroying things randomly, even now after eighteen years. My sister sometimes calls him 'Schnauppy'.

Now with the next generation, it looks like the nickname legacy is continuing.


Elora has already amassed a number of monikers in her 21 months of life. Her main nickname is Saucy, with many variations : Saucilito, Saucy McGee, Saucy Pants, or simply Sauce. I've also called her Poppy Seed, and Honey Bee, but only a few times a day. When she was first born we tried out "Ya-ya" but that one didn't really stick.
My dad calls her The Elorinator (not so original) and more often, Squacky. Before she was born he called her Leopold, but that name seems to be history.

Even little Joshua, at almost one month, has been burdened with new names. While he was still in the womb - and I don't know where this came from - we started calling him Poe-pea. Somehow, this name has stuck, and I've even heard Elora refer to him with this name. I also like the variations: Poe-pea McGee, Poe-Pea G, Little Pope (no, we're not Catholic) , and on stinky days, Poopy McGee.
Not surprisingly, my dad calls him Cthulhu (see previous posts addressing this subject) and Joseph likes to call him Buddy, or Little Buddy. That one is cute.
I just hope their school mates don't come up with anything worse.
Does anyone else have an interesting nickname?

Elora Mae and Joshua J

As most of you know, little Joshua Joseph was born last Tuesday. His birth was an exciting VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean, for those of you not in the know) and he is doing well.
In comparison to my previous c-section, I am doing phenominally well too!
Elora is still adjusting.......
Today she threw her baby doll on his face because I told her to keep it away from him. Earlier this week she put her feet on his head because I told her to be careful around him. She squeezed his arm a couple of times because I told her she needs to be soft.


She's started crying outside the bathroom everytime I go in because I won't leave the door open for her anymore. (Believe me, that would be a bad idea right now.)
She threw a washcloth in the toilet for the first time, and has developed a high pitched scream that she tries to pass for crying.
In other words, she is still having a hard time.
But she can say, "Joshua" and she always asks where he is. So I guess she must like him a little bit.

Kiera and Isabelle come to town

This last week my favorite sister, Kiera, (Yes, she’s my only sister) came to visit me with her daughter Isabelle. Her husband, Patrick, stayed home in Texas to work, so it was just us girls…. oh, and Joseph.

Our week probably wasn’t exciting by anyone’s standards, but we all had fun visiting and playing together. After all, we hadn’t seen each other since last summer when the girls were still under one year old! Now Elora is 18 months and Isabelle is 15, so they were much more interested and interesting to each other than at their first encounter in July.

Kiera arrived early on Saturday morning. Although she had to wake up at four AM to get to the airport (and we had to get up by 7:00) we drove straight from the airport to the Seattle Zoo for our big adventure of the week. (Okay, first we had a quick breakfast at McDonalds in Ballard. I love fruit parfaits!)

Kiera and I had visited this zoo together when we were both single, as well as with our family years earlier. Joseph and I took Elora last summer too, but she wasn’t quite old enough to fully appreciate it. We adults were quite entertained by the orangutans and the elephants. The girls seemed to be most impressed with the afternoon show, which consisted of some African acrobats and native drum beats. Isabelle is quite the dancer!

When we got home that afternoon, the girls were understandably tired, as were the rest of us. We had borrowed a port-a-crib thing from someone in our ward for Isabelle to sleep in while she was here. That first day, she was absolutely terrified of her new accommodations. Kiera finally had to lay down with her in our bed, but eventually we all got some much needed rest. The rest of the week, Isabelle (or “Belly” as I liked to call her) adjusted to the crib just fine.

(incidentally, my nickname for Isabelle somewhat confused her. Whenever I’d say “Belly!” She’d lift her shirt up and look at me inquiringly. “What about my belly?”)

Sunday we all went to church together, and Kiera got to come with us to the nursery, where Joseph and I have our calling. The highlight of that day was seeing the babies in their matching outfits from Grandma Kimber. Isabelle looked like Strawberry Shortcake, and Elora looked like she could work at the Green Show in Cedar City. Cute!

Most of the rest of the week was slightly more mundane. As Joseph has school in the mornings and work in the afternoon and evening, we were left without transportation most of the time. I really wanted to go on a nice walk or something on Monday and Tuesday, but the person we were borrowing a stroller from wasn’t able to drop it off ‘till Tuesday evening.

We did manage a jaunt around the apartment complex on Monday, with a stop at the playground. Unfortunately, we were all suffering from bad allergies and the onset of a bad cold (which Kiera brought with her) so we didn’t stay out too long.

Elora seemed to think Isabelle was a little baby, but was quite excited to see her everyday. She wanted to help put her clothes on, was extremely interested in her diaper changes, and was happy to help give her food and milk whether she wanted it or not. Bathtime was a huge success for everyone.

Since then, Elora has been treating her toys like babies for the first time. Maybe this is an indication of how she'll be with her new brother next month?

Our big adventure on Thursday was a trip to my doctors appointment then off to a picnic at the beach. While waiting for my appointment time, we stopped at a nice park where the girls played on the wet toys. Elora even climbed all the way up the plastic tunnel. What a big girl!

After my appointment (the new baby is doing fine) we picked up Joseph from school and headed to Picnic Point Beach, teriyaki in tow. This beach has a nice grassy picnic area before you hit the beach, and on this day it happened to be covered with beautiful little white flowers. (Elora loves flowers.)

We ate quickly then went down to look at the water. As I wasn’t even close to done with my food, I closed the Styrofoam carton and wrapped it tightly back in the bag it came in.
Unfortunately, we had forgotten about the abundant crows in the area. When we returned about 45 minutes later, our containers were scattered all around the grass and the food was completely gone. Even my tightly secured meal had been violated. There were giant holes in the box and the plastic bag was torn to shreds. My food!

Oh well, at least the beach was pretty fun.

Elora the Explorer

Elora, Joseph, tummy, Me

Kiera gives Isabelle a closer look

The rest of the week involved some movie watching, nap times, and one late night run for McFlurries at McDonalds. We played a few games, and there was some general sillyness from Kiera and I while Joseph fell asleep on the floor more than once. After all, he didn’t get a nap everyday like we did. Elora and Isabelle became fast friends -as much as toddlers can- and even learned to share once in a while.

Although it wasn’t much, the week passed quickly, and this last Saturday found us at the airport again, this time saying goodbye. Who knows when we’ll all see each other again…hopefully sooner than later! But I must say, I’m glad I have a sister and that she was able to come see me, even for a short time.

Good Bye Bellie!!!