New Life

We are now settled into our new home in Spanish Fork. The children are loving their new schools and their new teachers. So far, I am very impressed with everything they are doing. Ethan is taking an art class, which has prompted him to want to be an architect. A fitting aspiration since he loves to draw and create. Garrett and Mckenzie are in the same class (there are only two 5th grade teachers.) Chase chose to be in his own class. There is another set of triplets in the same grade! That's never happened before. They are identical girls and love Mckenzie. The 5th grade classes get to make movies. The kids are planning a movie called Nightmare on Sesame Street for Halloween. I love hearing all the stories about it. Carter is enjoying 3rd grade. He loves being able to do his extra classes, including percussion and computers. All the kids are enjoying new opportunities and learning a lot.

I was so worried about Ethan. He had wanted to attend junior high in Orem for a year but changed his mind at the last minute. We quickly registered him here and he started without a problem. He has made new friends and met "old" friends that he grew up with in Orem. It's been such a good experience for him to start over without prejudice from people who should have known better than to judge him.

We like our ward. It's sort of a transient ward, so there are always new people moving in and out. It's hard for our poor bishop to keep up. There are FIVE nursery classes and the junior sharing time is enormous. But the senior sharing time and Young Men's classes are quite a bit smaller and a little more manageable. The kids have a lot of their friends from school in their church classes and from our complex.

I've been enjoying my solitude. I really love Spanish Fork. It's a cute little town that's not too far from Provo and Orem. I go into Orem for school and visit Provo when I go to see my brother and sister-in-law. Beyond that, I stay here and enjoy my solitude. I spend my days with Seth and when he is with Eric, I do homework. It's a nice, simple way to live. It's helped heal my heart.

I'm trying to find a job. Scary.... I was more excited about my search when I thought I'd be sharing babysitting duties with my sister. But she decided to move to Rexburg after being away from her husband all summer. He is finishing his degree at BYU-Idaho and he'd been commuting back and forth from Rexburg to Pleasant Grove on the weekends. It's a good move for her, but since calling off my wedding, I've relied heavily on my sister and sister-in-law so it's been super hard to have her gone. So, I've lost motivation in finding a job. Silly, I know. But I really don't want Seth in day care. It was a lot easier to think about working when I knew Seth would be with someone who will love him almost as much as I do.

Speaking of Seth, he is growing so fast. He is 8 months old and finally figuring out the whole crawling thing. He has been scooting around for quite awhile and pulling himself up on furniture but no one will really let him be down on the ground long enough to try crawling. There are 5 people (ok... six people including ME) who can't put the baby down. He's too cuddly.

It's strange how I feel such a sense of freedom here. Like a load has been lifted from my shoulders. It's as if I was released from my anger. I've been able to extract myself from people I felt were not good for me or my children and truly be able to make a fresh start. No more neighbors excluding my children for whatever reason, no more "friends" saying one thing to my face and another behind my back, no more trying so hard to be ok when I wasn't. I've purged those people from my life who I don't need. Now I'm ok. I may have only moved 20 minutes away, but it's like a whole new world. Of course there are friends that I miss. They know who they are!

The best part about living here is seeing how well my children are treated. They were welcomed and immediately loved. There are tons of kids in this complex! Our town house opens into a sort of courtyard and the kids play kickball with their friends, trade Pokemon cards, study in the shade, and sometimes just run around like crazy people. Parents hang out and watch the kids play. It's just pleasant. It's the best way to describe it.

So, that's our update. Fresh start. New life. Happy family!