you, me & the z: Kentucky!

It's about time I update this blog! We've been in our new home in Kentucky almost 6 weeks! Plus I didn't blog at all in July or August! I vow to catch up :) Here's a little run down of our arrival here.

My parents did us a HUGE favor and drove our minivan from Utah to KY for us. They left on a Tuesday morning and drove everyday, stopping to do a session at 3 temples along the way. That means I got to stay behind for one final week in Heber before flying out on Saturday to meet up with them in Louisville. Ben graduated from Chaplain Basic Officer Leadership Course at Fort Jackson, SC on that Friday and got a ride to Louisville with another soldier, so we all met up there on Saturday. It couldn't have worked out any better!

I was nervous to fly all day with 3 kids by myself, but it ended up going just fine.
My fabulous cousin Beth took us to the airport at an unfortunate morning hour and got a pass to get to the gate so that she could help us through security. It was so wonderful to have that help! I don't think I would have made it through without her. The girls each had a backpack for the flight with snacks, a new sippy cup, sweater, a change of clothes, and a few surprises to keep them entertained on the flight. I also loaded the iPod Touch and my iPhone with new games and videos. I had lots of stuff in my bag for Grant as well. I may have been a little over-prepared, but better safe than sorry. We had a short flight from SLC to Phoenix before hopping on a longer flight from there to Louisville. The first leg of our flight was full but there was ONE empty seat on the second leg and they gave it to ME! So I got bring on Grant's carseat and he sat in that. It gave my tired mommy arms a rest. It's hard to help two other little kids when you have a heavy, squirmy 8 month old in your arms.

Claire fell asleep for awhile on the second flight. Grant did too (as well as on the first). I think he had recently woken up when this picture was taken.
(all of the pictures for this post were taken with my phone :/ )

Paige had to sit across the aisle from us since we got the extra seat for Grant. This lovely teenager sat next to her and Paige ordered her around the entire time. I felt a little bit bad a first but then decided to just be happy it wasn't me :)

Ben met us at the airport (they let him come to the gate!) and then we were off to Fort Knox. Its about 40 min from the airport. Our first stop, before even checking in at our hotel, was at our new home on post. I was dying to see what it looked like, as well as check out our new neighborhood. We hadn't yet signed for the home, but that was the plan come Monday. Here are the very first pictures we took:

the backyard:

Paige's first pronouncement after seeing the fenced yard, "YES! Now we can get a dog!"

Hmmm, not so fast . . .

On Monday we signed for the home and just a couple of hours later, our "household goods" were delivered. They'd been in storage in KY awaiting our arrival ever since we moved out of our house in Orem last May.

Here is the empty front room before the delivery trucks arrived:

I took a bunch of other photos of the house before all of our belongings arrived, but they're on my mom's camera. The whole first floor is laminate flooring, and the house is painted the same as this throughout. I am really happy with the paint color; it was a happy surprise because it just happens to go really well with our decor. It's 4 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths, with a 2 car garage. About 2100 sq. feet. And as you saw, a pretty big fenced backyard. We love it.

Here's one of the many playgrounds scattered around post. They are all newer looking and lovely. One of them is just 3 houses up the street from us.

Our first impressions of Fort Knox were that we could be very happy here, and nothing has changed that for us yet! Paige loves her new school and got a fantastic kindergarten teacher. Claire is loving having the run of the house for a few hours a day while Paige is away. Grant has started to get opinions and is army crawling and will soon be getting into everything. And Ben's job is going really well so far, and he is enjoying not having the stress of school.

I've been having a good time finding a place for everything in our home and getting rid of stuff that doesn't fit or we no longer need. My goal was to have every box unpacked in one month. I figure if we're going to be living the military lifestyle and moving every 2-3 years then we better learn how to settle in fast and make every new place feel like home. I didn't quite reach the one month goal, but there are only a few boxes of "craft room" and "garage" stuff that haven't been unloaded yet. And the only room that isn't "done" is the craft room. I'm pretty happy with that progress :) We're working with what we already have, and really the only thing that I think we'll "need" are a couple of area rugs for all that hard floor downstairs. Otherwise, we are good to go.

Here is what that front room looks like now that we're all moved in: