Life Out of the Airport

How to Make Moving Easier

2012-01-13T20:03:00.002-07:00

Two of my cousins are moving soon and I told them I’d post some info about how I organized when I moved. I’m about 2/3 done with a really long, detailed, boring post, but realized they didn’t need that much info. So Aubrey and Heidi, here’s a shortened version…
I’m slightly obsessed with organizing. I researched moving tips before I started and I came up with a pretty good plan. We moved the second week in December yet I didn’t feel stressed out. The move went really smoothly (except for ordering too small of a truck) and everyone who helped out said it was the best moving experience they’ve ever seen. I was even able to be fully unpacked in 6 days. These are some tips to help out:

First, get tons and tons of boxes (try to find free or cheap on ksl). It’s easier to have too many than to run out in the middle of packing. And don’t shun the small boxes. They’re good for books and canned food. Packing paper will make your life easier too. Same with good packing tape. Get lots of it. And one of those packing tape dispensers (ask around to see if someone will lend you theirs if you don’t want to buy one).
Next, you need a good labeling system. This was the key to my smooth move. I have a sticker maker (which you’re more than welcome to borrow), so I made my own. Assign each room/section of the place you’re moving into a color and a name. You can use any stickers you can find that have enough colors and are big enough to have numbers written on them (that you can see from across a room).
When you pack up a box put the proper colored sticker at the top left corner of every side and one on a top corner of the box. You’ll need 5 per box. Rather than writing the contents of the box all over it, you’ll be writing a number on each of those stickers (do this before putting the stickers on) and then writing the corresponding number on a *paper.
As far as the *papers go that you write the box contents on, here’s how I did it. Use one paper per room. Write the room name at the top and put the colored sticker at the top. Then write down the box number and its contents. If you ever need to find something in the middle of packing, you just have to look on your sheet, find the number and locate that box. So easy. If you fill up one paper for a room, label the next one the same way, but with a “2” after the title. Keep these all together on a clipboard. It will be handy and easy to write on.
Prepare “keys” for moving day. Have a colored paper with the room name ready to hang outside each room. Also, prepare a map to hang up that people can quickly glance at while they get to know the layout/colors.

That’s the basics. Having all of the rooms labeled by color (rather than just written on top) made it SO much easier for those helping to know where to put things. I also labeled furniture and bags with colored stickers. I don’t recommend just trying to tape colored paper to the boxes. It will take way longer to pack that way. And don’t skimp and try to only put a sticker with the number on one side. You don’t want the people helping you move to have to search the box to find out where to take it.
Here are a few other things to keep in mind:

Keep a box out that will contain all of your “moving day supplies.” Label it as such. Put items in it that you might need: tools, cleaning supplies (for both the place you’re moving out of and the new place), towels to protect your carpet, soap, hand towels, toilet paper (ideally, you’ll be able to set those things up the day before the actual move in, but that’s not always able to happen), box cutter, etc. Carry that in your car with you (or pack it very last and make sure you’re the one to get it out, so you know where it is).
Have food/drinks for those helping with the move. Both at the place you move out of and where you move into. Make assignments to other people if you need (ie have someone pick up some pizza). Have the paper goods you’ll need for the food/drinks ready. If it’s not around meal time that people are helping move, snacks and drinks are fine.
In the days following the move, utilize your crockpot. Make meatless taco soup. Nothing has to be refrigerated and you can just dump it in and turn it on (don’t forget a can opener in your moving day supplies!). Use one of those plastic crockpot bags and paper bowls, so you don’t have to bother cleaning anything. You could even do this on moving day instead of getting pizza if you want to save money.
Don’t feel bad about giving people assignments. If people are already offering to help with the move, they don’t have to be doing the actual moving of boxes. They could help with kids, food, cleaning, etc. Think through everything you might need and ask people to specifically help with those things.

I think that’s it. Sad that this is the shortened version, huh? Anyone who knows me, knows that if you ask me a question you better expect a long answer because that’s all I know how to give .
Anyway, hope that helps someone! Let me know if I need to clarify anything.

Kaylee

2011-11-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Kaylee turned 4 this November. She’s growing up so fast! Here’s a look back at each November since she was born.

November 2007- born

November 2008 – 1 year old

November 2009 – 2 years old

November 2010 – 3 years old

November 2011 – 4 years old

Darling girl!

Logan

2011-11-20T00:00:00.000-07:00

Logan turned 2 this past August. I can’t believe how fast the time has gone! I decided to show some pictures from each August starting with when he was born. Take a look at how much he’s changed:

August 2009 – born:

August 2010 - 1 year old

August 2011 – 2 years old

Seriously, ADORABLE!!!

Halloween 2011

2011-11-18T20:00:00.002-07:00

We love Halloween around here. It’s Joel’s favorite holiday and he’s quickly teaching the kids that it should be theirs too. Here’s a quick look at our Halloween this year.

As is the normal for us, we started off our Halloween season carving a pumpkin.

We did the usual: Jack Skellington from “Nightmare Before Christmas.” The kids love him!

The kids and I went to the Kiddie Corn Maze at Cold Springs Trout Farm with Kaylee’s Joy School group.

They found some exciting things.

They both got to pick a pumpkin to take home with them.

And they got to feed the fish.

We also went to a neighborhood pumpkin carving party, which was good because Jack was looking pretty disgusting by that point. (That’s what happens when you get so excited for Halloween that you carve your pumpkins the first few days of the month… you end up getting TWO pumpkins!)

We don’t do this on purpose, but we tend to each have 2 different costumes every year (thank you Savers!).
Kaylee costume #1: Cowgirl. She wanted to wear this one to her Joy School Halloween party.

Logan was the only one who didn’t get 2 costumes (he didn’t want another one). For our ward party I was a hippie and Joel was a BYU fan the night they played TCU (the game was on during the party).

Fun surprises from the fishing game:

On Halloween day, the kids and I went to the Halloween party at Grandma Mum’s (Legacy House). They loved it! Kaylee wore costume #2: pirate. Logan costume: Spiderman. He’s slightly obsessed.

It was fun to see Grandma Mum (Joel’s grandma).
And the kids thought trick-or-treating to each apartment door was pretty awesome.

This is right before trick-or-treating. Kaylee kept her eye patch on the whole time we were at any party, until I realized this and let her know it was okay to take it off. She was relieved because she said it hurt after awhile. I stayed back to pass out candy while Joel took the kids around. He said they were pros!

After trick-or-treating we went to Joel’s aunt and uncles for a big family Halloween party with delicious chili that his grandpa makes. Yum!

Costume #2 for me: Medusa (I have snakes in my hair and a fancy dress from Savers).

Costume #2 for Joel: Ron Swanson (from Parks and Rec. Pretty much the coolest character on tv right now). For those of you who know the show... Joel has a bag of bacon.

Ron Swanson

Cutest picture from Halloween: Logan with his cousin, Connor. (Thanks for the pic. Spenc and Tiff!)

We had a great Halloween!

Love these kids!

2011-09-21T15:16:00.000-06:00

Kaylee Jane/Sweetheart/Princess

2011-09-20T14:01:00.004-06:00

Here’s a conversation I had Sunday with Kaylee:

Me: Thanks, Babe.
Kaylee: Don’t call me Babe.
Me: What should I call you?
Kaylee: Only call me Kaylee Jane.
Me: Okay, I can do that. You don’t like “Babe?”
K: Nope. Just Kaylee Jane. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . or you can call me “Sweetheart.”

We continued to discuss what I could and couldn’t call her.

"Pumpkin" and "Squirt" are both out.

"Princess" is okay.

Also, "Snot Face" is okay, but only if it’s her Uncle Mikey that is calling her that.

Island Park Days 3 & 4

2011-09-09T00:00:00.000-06:00

Paige and Colton arrived at night on day 2. Day 3 Paige and Colton were wonderful and watched the kids while Joel and I went to the Rexburg temple. The rest of the day we relaxed at the cabin (Joel’s grandma’s cabin).

We had a fire and roasted hot dogs and marshmallows.

Paige was thrilled that the kids wanted to play with her hair that night.

The next day we went to Yellowstone. It was Paige’s first time (and my 2nd). We did the hot pots and Old Faithful stuff this day.

Almost every time we passed this natural spring, we stopped for drinks and to fill up water bottles. It’s on the way to West Yellowstone and is delicious water.

We all enjoyed seeing the amazing natural wonders of Yellowstone.

Between all the driving and walking we did, everyone was tuckered out!

See ya till the next post about day 5!

Island Park Trip- Days 1 & 2

2011-09-07T00:00:00.000-06:00

We were extremely blessed to be able to go to Island Park, ID for 8 days for vacation this year. If you’ve never been to Island Park before, let me just tell you… it’s heaven on earth. Seriously beautiful, peaceful, and amazing. You’d think that after 8 days there we would have been excited to get home. Nope. We were sad to leave and would love to live there all summer (too much snow in the winter). Here’s our travel log.

Long drive to get there. The kids did well. Logan was thrilled because I let him be forward facing for the first time. We got in late and the kids went straight to bed.

This is how Kaylee’s hair looked the next morning. Between the long drive and sleeping, it was sticking straight out.

We (especially I) did a lot of this while there. Reading and relaxing on the porch.

We also walked to the tressel and played in the water.

Joel taught Kaylee about skipping rocks.

See ya next time for days 3 & 4!

August

2011-09-05T00:00:00.000-06:00

Here’s some of what we did in August and a heads up on some possible future posts. (Really, who knows with me?)

We finally got sand for our sandbox.

We went to Cherry Hill (with passes we won… of course).

Logan turned 2 and had a great birthday and a fun Toy Story party.

We went to Island Park and Yellowstone with my sister, Paige, and her husband, Colton.

We worked on random projects around the house and yard.

It’s been fun.

There Might Be Giants!

2011-09-03T11:17:00.001-06:00

We don't know exactly why he started doing this, but apparently the "trees" in Island Park were occasionally giants.

Train Up a Child in the Way He Should Go...

2011-08-03T22:10:00.001-06:00

Only a few more years until we can take full advantage of child slave labor!

Foreground and Background

2011-07-25T23:52:00.008-06:00

I always like to prove (to myself) that our family does more than just watch movies and TV, so here's some pictures from our latest adventures.

This is also going to be an exercise in foreground versus background, so hopefully, it's going to be fun and educational!

We went fishing at the Cold Springs Trout Farm. In the background we have Uncle Mikey's fishing method. In the foreground, we have Kaylee's fishing method.

In the background we have Logan, who is thrilled about fishing. In the foreground, there's Uncle Mikey, equally excited about fishing.

Logan caught a big fish which flopped around a lot, so he was a little hesitant at first.

But he soon warmed up to the cold, slimy, icky fish.

Even Kaylee got brave once in a while and would touch a fish - but she mostly just yelled and ran away.

Logan was doing a really odd dance that day, so we had to take a picture.

In the foreground you have Connor getting his face cleaned. In the background, Logan is having empathy pains.

Who cares what's in the background? The foreground is just plain adorable.

In the foreground you have Kaylee and Logan playing in the inflatable pool Ma Nae brought to Camp Atoka because the river was too high. In the background, we have Connor holding down the cooler which is holding up the pool's wall on that side.

In the background, you have Kaylee, who loves the kiddie train at the Burgener's 4th of July party. In the foreground you have Logan, who is unsure of Ryan's conductor skills.

In the foreground you have Logan saying "Push High!" He's a little obsessed with swings. In the background, you have all the other toys he's ignoring because there were swings.

"Mommy, quit taking pictures and push high!"

He seriously went from swing...

...to swing. He couldn't get enough of it.

There were also fireworks, which Logan obviously enjoyed.

In the foreground, we have our brave and trusted pilots of the space shuttle at the Hill Aerospace Museum. In the background, their backup crew.

"See? I told you we wouldn't crash it, Mom!"


No one in the background seems to be as amazed as Kaylee in the foreground about the mysterious floating ball at the museum.

We got some free passes to Cowabunga Bay, and when we first got there, the kids were miserable. They didn't like the water. We thought it was going to be a short trip, but soon they warmed to the idea and they loved the pool.

In the background, some kid at Cowabunga Bay. In the foreground, a spectacular shot of my thumb.

In the foreground, my son who was apparently freezing because his lips are blue. In the background, the fun water slides that the kids did not enjoy.

Kaylee loved floating on her back in the pool, as shown in the foreground. But she didn't always look where she was going, as shown on the faces of the kids in the background.

Just ignore the foreground because my wife and I had an agreement where we wouldn't take pictures of each other while there. Instead, pay attention to the background where my daughter is flailing around in the water.

We also made a quick trip to Chuck-E-Cheese's because Logan got some free half-birthday tokens. Here, Ma Nae is doing her best to pull Logan out of the background and into the foreground.

We also made some progress on the sandbox. Not pictured: Sand.

May Memories (and some of June)

2011-06-13T23:25:00.001-06:00

I wasn’t planning to do a post tonight, but I just found out that I might not have a chance for a few months (yay for summer and for visitors!), so here are a few highlights of what we’ve been up to.

The kids and I went to visit Joel’s sister and her family in Texas. Joel’s awesome mom went to help me with the kids on the flights. Kaylee absolutely loved flying.

We had a blast with them and I’m already wishing I could go back.

We’ve also been doing a ton of yard work, including emptying our pond. This is my (again) awesome mother-in-law helping catch fish. We still have a big pit in our yard and can’t figure out what to do with it…

but despite the pit, we’re loving having a backyard!

Logan got himself stuck in a bucket full of sand/gravel.

Notice the layer of sand on his face. And in his hair. And everywhere else. I’m not sure what I’m thinking wanting to build them a sandbox…

He was just fine once he had a bottle.

This is the kids’ current sandbox. Complete with a hanger (we’re white trash like that). I was moving this gravel/sand stuff out of the way so we can put a real sandbox down and I was putting it in this box so we could move it somewhere else. The kids thought it was pretty awesome and have been playing in it ever since. (I believe Kaylee put the hanger in there because it was her pirate hook.)

The kids love playing together. This day Kaylee would lay on the glider swing then fall off. Logan thought it was absolutely hilarious.

And the best part of the backyard? I can watch them do all these things from the kitchen. I love having a fenced backyard (especially one without a pond)!

They play hard during the day and crash hard (and weirdly) at night.

We spent Memorial Day with Joel’s family. Kaylee loved putting flowers on the graves.

Joel had an earlier than normal Quick Wits show, so we took the kids. They thought it was the coolest thing ever to see their daddy up on stage being funny. Kaylee was cracking up the whole time and Logan kept throwing his hands over his mouth and hunching over laughing. It was such a precious thing to see. Kaylee keeps talking about how daddy was so silly in his show and then she tries to mimic some of the things he did. So precious.

Fun kids. As Kaylee told me today, “we have the best happy family.” I agree.
(Though I probably wouldn’t have agreed yesterday… man Sundays are hard with little kids!)

Kaylee Crocheting

2011-04-27T00:01:00.000-06:00

Kaylee loves to pretend like she’s crocheting when MaNae (Joel’s mom) is doing so.The cute girl even insists on wearing the glasses MaNae uses when she crochets.Funny girl!

The Other Stuff

2011-04-22T00:01:00.008-06:00

Besides celebrating birthdays (mine, Joel’s, Joel’s dad, Joel’s brother, our sis-in-law, Joel’s uncle…) since Feb. here’s a little bit of what we’ve been up to on a daily basis.

Logan’s still getting messy…

…as is Kaylee.

So they’re still having lots of baths.

While in there, Logan likes to pose for pictures…

…while Kaylee draws “friends” on the wall with her bath markers.

They both like helping me bake;

even if they do occasionally fight over who gets to hold the bowl.

We said goodbye to Francisca and Javier (exchange students from Chile staying with my parents). Kaylee was obsessed with Francisca!

And Kaylee got a black eye (her stool slipped out from under her while washing her hands).

She also practiced her photography skills this past month.

And both kids have LOVED playing in the backyard

even when it's snowing!

We’ve been busy (this post doesn’t include a baby blessing, yard/house projects, church callings - I have 2, Joel has 3 - hanging with family- both mine and Joel's sisters have been in town-, or any of the other many things we’ve had going on), but we’re having fun!

Joel’s Birthday

2011-04-19T12:35:00.001-06:00

Joel took the day off work on his birthday and we decided it’d be fun to go to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden. Since it was a weekday we practically had the park to ourselves (and the museum we did have to ourselves).

It was a lot of fun!

Even though we did almost get eaten multiple times.

And the kids had to be caged for a bit.

We saw a bunch of dinosaur bones

And even dug for some ourselves.

The kids made a bunch of new friends

And they played on the dino playground…

…all 3 of the kids.

It was a great day!

And I think these pictures prove that:

Our Recent Days

2011-02-21T23:22:00.004-07:00

This is a picture of the kids at Boondocks. That was fun. But that’s not what this post is going to be about. This is about the random things that happen on normal days.

The kids get a lot of pictures taken of them at dinner time (I’m already taking pictures of the food for my gluten free blog). They’re pretty used to it. Logan is especially good at cheesing it when he sees the camera come out…

This is pretty much what I get of Kaylee.

And occasionally I get something as precious as this:

More eating ones, but from a picnic lunch in the backyard.

Kaylee is letting Logan know I want him to look at the camera by pulling his hair. She's so helpful.

Less than a week later we had snow and Kaylee was excited to build a snowman with Daddy!

Even though it was really dark out (they’re making snow angels).

Logan was a little late getting out to play in the snow. This is why:

He had a lot of cleaning up to do.

Usually we throw them in the bath when it’s that bad.

Kaylee decided Logan’s hair needed washing with bubbles. Logan wasn’t so sure.

Kaylee was ecstatic about our Valentine’s dinner. And yes, she is wearing her Cheer Bear costume.

Logan was also excited. And homeless looking.

Speaking of Logan, he is OBSESSED with Toy Story! On this particular night he was getting quite concerned about the characters while watching it. He kept saying “oh no” and his eyes got teary. I think he was extra tired.

He also loves playing on the stairs. He was pretending to fall asleep on them this day.

And he loves hats. Apparently bonnets are his favorite because he’s able to put them on himself.

Kaylee also likes wearing hats, but only if it’s for a specific reason. Like fishing. She found a yard stick and knew they’re meant to be fishing poles. She sat on the edge of the coffee table and requested a fishing hat.
She wasn’t too thrilled that I said the fish she caught was stinky and I wouldn’t eat it.

After eventful days like these they sure get tuckered out.

They are busy and fun kids!

Where a Kid Can be a Kid

2011-02-12T07:00:00.026-07:00

Our 4 year anniversary was on Wednesday the 9th. Joel and I actually celebrated the weekend before, so we decided to do something fun with our kids on the actual day.

We went to Chuck E. Cheese’s!

Contrary to what this picture leads you to believe, he really does like broccoli.

The kids enjoyed the rides.

Can't you tell?

They thought it was pretty awesome to be riding on a horse. Especially since they're both obsessed with Woody and Jessie from Toy Story (cowboy and cowgirl for those who don't know).


Even more than the rides, they liked the games. They loved looking at all of them and pushing buttons.

One of Kaylee's favorites (and Joel's) was Deal or No Deal. Kaylee loved to push the lit up buttons to select the briefcase. Each time it was a low number she'd cheer just like this. Darling! I can't get enough of my cute kids!

We had a lot of fun!

Helping Daddy Make Cookies

2011-02-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

The kids loved helping Joel make his famous crinkle cookies.

Kaylee was the stirrer and Logan was the taster.

Doing their jobs well.

Logan might be getting sugared out.

Kaylee thought Logan's job looked like more fun, so she decided to help him.

Hi Mommy! We put powdered sugar on too!

Why won't you hug me, Mommy?