From LA to SA

A bittersweet post ahead! I mentioned in my last post that the older kids went with Sam's parents back to Albuquerque while we headed back to Los Angeles to pack up and move. My parents flew in to help pack and drive Sam's car back. We were worried about our household not fitting in the truck, but my parents and Sam succeeded in their Tetris game! We also had the missionaries come and help, so the truck was loaded up quickly. 

That night we treated my parents to some Gelato at Century City Mall. I was soaking in as much of the atmosphere as possible since I didn't know the next time we would be able to be back to visit.

Look at this cute place!

Since the older kids were still in Albuquerque, we split up the next day. Sam and my dad drove all the way to San Antonio while my mom, Noah, and I would head to Albuquerque. My mom and I stayed back a little longer to also clean the house some, then we headed back later that day. When we got to Albuqerque, I noticed our older frogs dried out! I didn't hydrate them as much as I thought and two of them died. I was pretty upset with myself, but we still had the baby frogs. I decided not to travel with them anymore after that sad experience. 

My mom was still taking care of my Grandma, so another part of coming to Albuquerque was to resume that role for a few days. I remember how hard it was for my mom to go anywhere and it was always an ordeal to find care for Grandma if she wanted to see me. I'm so grateful to have a mom with such a big heart for caring for Grandma and making efforts to still help me when I need her.

Noah with his twin cousins.

While we were in Albuquerque, Sam and my dad, along with the help of our current ward, moved everything into our house. They even set up all the beds and unpacked a lot of things before we even got to San Antonio! That was so nice of them!

We drove back the day before Eden's birthday, so we immediately celebrated the next day. Eden got donuts for breakfast, a cake from HEB, presents, and a trip to Build-a-Bear.

Happy 5th birthday!

Eden's choice of cake.

Stuffed animals, her absolute favorite things to get!

Putting a heart into her new Stitch.

Her choices: Stitch and Toothless.

The kids had a great time!

Our Primary in our ward had a Pioneer Day activity. I was really shocked how much the primary shrunk since we came back. Still, the kids had some fun.

Three-legged race.

Wheel-barrow race.

Sack race.

I coincidentally was called to be the new Primary President not long after and got to know all these kids really well! 

As sad as it was to leave Los Angeles, I still love our house in San Antonio and we settled in quickly. I missed our huge tub, and bath time is definitely more fun here than our last house! Joseph also has his own room now and he is loving it. 

What was hard coming back to was the weather! It was over a hundred degrees for what felt like weeks! It was the hottest summer in recorded history. So, yes, I miss my beautiful SoCal weather. I felt pangs for weeks just thinking of California, but we are at the point here in San Antonio where I feel very settled and I like it here, too. We'll go back and visit someday, but meanwhile we are enjoying our day to day here in Texas and soaking in our family time.