Let’s Start at the Very Beginning.....

So the last thing I wrote about, I was in the midst of packing up our house in Cleveland, and we could not imagine what was in store for us up ahead. But, right after my last post, life picked up pace considerably. Brigg finished up his clinical work and had his shoulder operated on to repair it so that hopefully his frequent shoulder dislocations will become a thing of the past. He was knocked out for days. I think it took a lot more out of him than either one of us anticipated. But, shortly after that his mom Jacki came out to visit, and the boys loved the extra attention and getting out of the chaos of the house with her. We would not have made it out of Cleveland without Jacki’s help! The boys did not enjoy moving. Stratton would end up on my lap crying most afternoons telling me “Moving is hard!!!!” I couldn’t have agreed more. Dashell decided that right before a move was a great time to become accident prone and repeatedly dove into the cement and both boys fought tooth and nail to keep out as many toys as possible.

Dashell sporting the results of a couple concrete face plants and a whack in the face by a bicycle pump...what are big brothers for?

Checking out the sheep with Grandma at the Farmpark!

Our next family pet....the boys enjoyed hitting a few of our favorite Cleveland spots in our last couple of weeks. They just didn't like being in the house.

The Graduate!!!! Wasn't he lucky that the hood color for Dentistry is such a lovely shade of lilac?

The real highlight of May was Brigg’s graduation!!!! I am so proud of him for making it and doing so well. His graduation day was a wonderful bright spot in the month and we enjoyed every minute of it. We were so glad that his parents were able to be there for it. I think that it was great to take a whole day out from the demands of moving, new jobs, etc. just to celebrate his accomplishment and really enjoy having reached that point. I’ve never really been one for graduation ceremonies before, but we both really enjoyed Briggs. And thank you again to Hailey for watching the boys for us for the day. As much as we enjoyed the ceremony, I don’t think they would have. Unfortunately, the next day was back into the fray of packing and cleaning to be ready for the movers to come on Wednesday and let’s just say that 4 years and 2 kids after our move to Cleveland, the amount of stuff we had and that needed to be sorted through was ridiculous. We made the move to Cleveland just towing a small UHaul trailer and were certainly leaving with more than that! In some small way, it made me appreciate the 5 year expiration date on many of our things. It seems like between our 5th and 6th anniversaries, about half of the stuff we got for our wedding has up and died and we haven’t replaced it because we didn’t want to move any more than we had to. Now on the other end of things, the list of things missing can be a little disheartening. At least our marriage hasn’t expired with the wedding gifts! So the Monday and Tuesday after graduation we packed and cleaned like crazy and went to bed at a hotel Tuesday night ready to get up and meet the moving truck at 10 am the next morning.....(to be continued)

We are unpacking!

Slowly but surely we are finally getting unpacked in our new house! Look for a series of long catch ups on the past couple of months soon!

Moving on again...

Today as I was packing, I found a stack of pictures from my BYU days with this beauty of me and my roommates a few months before I got married. Yes, that's me looking young and well-rested. Anyways, it was fun to think about how much has changed in the last 6 odd years. When we took this picture, I was so excited to be moving on to the next step and getting married and then I was excited to move to Cleveland, and have a baby and another baby and now move back to Alaska. But I think each time I move on again, even though I am excited, I feel a little bit more sad about leaving the last step behind. Maybe because I am recognizing each time that you don't revisit the past the way you think you will and life keeps moving forward way to fast. I remember when Stratton was born thinking about how old he would be when we left Cleveland and thinking there was no way he would get that big, and now here we are with a tall skinny boy that talks my ear off and tells me he wants to a be a pilot when he grows up(on the days he isn't leaning towards being a robot). If any of you have talked to me lately and find this surprising, don't worry. I can still hardly wait to get to Alaska. But I will miss our time in Cleveland. It has been great for our family and for me. I will miss my lovely friends here. Thanks for a wonderful 4 years. I still can't believe no one wants to move to Alaska.

And K and N, here's to you! I can't believe how much life has changed for all of us since we took this picture. I never thought I'd have to act like a grown up so much of the time. I miss you guys, but I hope your next steps are as exciting as ours! Judging by how cute your kids are, how could they not be? And I promise the next time we are through Salt Lake, I will call. If my boys haven't hidden my phone.

A Real Cleveland Moment

Today I was out running errands with Stratton and we were driving by one of the many synagogues near our area. For those of you who don't know, Cleveland has a pretty sizable Orthodox Jewish community. Since today was Saturday, and the Jewish Sabbath, there were several families walking to and from the synagogue. The wind was really whipping and an older man leaving the synagogue lost his big black hat that the men wear outside.It blew all the way across the street. A tricked out Cadillac a few cars ahead of me slammed on its breaks and HUGE black guy got out and stopped the traffic going both ways, ran across the street and retrieved the man's hat and brought it back to him. I don't know where I else I would have witnessed something quite like that, but I will definitely miss seeing things like that when we leave soon. Cleveland is a great community in its own right.

Arboretum

Having Brigg home the last few days has been great. We have packed almost as much as we comfotable can at this point and have enjoyed the sunshine. Tuesday we went to the Holden Arboretum, one of my absolute favorite places in the Cleveland area. I feel bad it took me so long to discover it. It is so beautiful. I think it is the place where I can most see what people were excited about when they came to Kirtland. As it happens, it's just down the road a couple miles from Kirtland. If we had time to do another round of family pictures before we moved, this is where they would be.

And you think he doesn't cause trouble?

In the Rhododendron Garden.

Stratton shows off some sweet moves

A rare shot of the whole Neibaur family, Piper included. Not perfect, but we're all present.

The Best Laid Plans...

We were supposed to be in Alaska this week looking for a house, but we are still here in Cleveland. Just another change in plans! Monday Dashell started to get a fever and it just got higher and higher. He was getting up to 105 at night and we were doing everything to keep him cool. The doctor said we needed to wait and see if it was roseola or something different, and we were hoping that the fever would break and he would be fine so that we could fly on Friday. But although he was improved, he wasn't fine. So here we are in Cleveland with one SUPER grumpy baby who is going back to the doctor tomorrow and a little boy who still doesn't know that we aren't going. He has had a bag packed for Alaska since Christmas, and we had finally told him that we were going to go again and now he will have to wait a few more weeks with the rest of us. This week he kept telling me, "Mom, I love Alaska. I think Grandma and Granddad will be happy to see me when I'm a good boy." But, Brigg has finished all of his requirements to graduate and had already taken the days off of clinic, so we are going to try and get ahead on some packing and get in a few more fun things in the area. It makes things with the move a little more uncertain, but we have 3 weeks after they pick up our stuff before it makes it to Fairbanks, so we will just be working fast in May!

Stratton has been so funny this week. The older he gets, the funnier I think it is to hear what is going on in his little head. This week our schedule was a little off with Dashell being sick, so a couple of nights we let him watch a few minutes of The Fantastic Mr. Fox with us. We finished watching it together last night, and at the very very end, Mr. Fox turns on his little Walkman and they all start dancing- as much as stop-motion animated woodland animals can dance. Stratton was sitting on the couch and said in the most genuine little voice, "Wow, I wish I'd done that." I asked him if he meant their dance moves, and he said, "Yeah. I like them dancing. I wish I'd thought of that." I told him he could dance like that if he wanted to, and when we were saying bedtime prayers he prayed to learn to dance like the foxes. If any of you have ever seen his dance moves, you know he doesn't have too far to go. At least he has a goal! Dashell, before he got sick, has discovered playgrounds are his job. He takes playing with all the equipment very seriously. He could be hired as playground quality control. We can't leave a park until he has tested and approved everything there. He has alot of fun, but in a very serious, business like way. I just wish he's get back to being that headstrong little boy who doesn't live in my lap. Now on to another unpredictable week ahead.

Unbelievable

Do your kids ever take your breath away and leave you completely speechless? You know that feeling like the rug has been taken out from under you and you aren’t even sure what to do next because you cannot believe that your child just did that? And that sometimes you aren’t even sure you believe your eyes or know what you are looking at? That’s what I felt like this morning when I came downstairs to this....

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Well, I was feeling that, and thinking ‘There goes my morning’. And if you too aren’t sure what you are looking at, it is about 15 cubic feet of shredded polyurethane foam that used to provide the stuffing for the boys bean bag. 15 cubic feet can go a long way in covering a living room. I was so shocked, I didn’t even feel mad. Who was I supposed to be mad at, anyways? From what Stratton told me, I think this was a team effort by all three of the troublemakers at our house- Stratton, Dashell and Piper. Here’s a breakdown by the numbers.

2 little boys

1 dog

15 minute shower for Mom

3 hours clean up time for Mom

4 garbage bags

16 times emptying the vacuum cleaner

12 times unclogging the vacuum cleaner

-1 bean bag

At least Stratton helped me clean up for a while with his dump truck. After about 15 minutes he said, “Mom, I think we should call a guy to clean up this mess.” A great idea, but not an option. Then he got distracted by finding all the different shapes of foam and what they looked like. A brief list of his finds: A rocket ship, a zebra, a dog, an alligator, a hairbrush, a triangle, Lightning McQueen, a dump truck, a dinosaur, a mountain, a monster and a horse. Given the amount of foam we were dealing with, I can’t believe he didn’t find Abe Lincoln and the Taj Mahal, too. It was quite a morning, and definitely memorable. I think our vacuum cleaner is in shock. When I finally had finished the clean up, Stratton said “ Okay. Let’s make a new bean bag.” I didn’t think it was funny.