Woodfords Reunited

I’m not sure who decided to time our move to Dallas so as to arrive right when the summer heat was at its peak. I’ll have to check with the planning committee on that one. When I opened the car door at our first gas stop in Texas and felt the heat engulf me, I almost turned around on the spot to drive back to Island Park! I had packed a picnic lunch in my naivety. We found a Dairy Queen, ate our picnic INSIDE, and then ordered ice cream to thank them for the use of their air conditioner. This is no place for a summer picnic! I looked at Kate as we were waiting for our ice cream and said, “How are we going to live here, Kate? I think we are going to melt in this heat.” She calmly looked around and replied, “Look at all these other people, Mom. They live here and they didn’t melt. We’ll be alright.” In spite of the heat that would fry your eyeballs if you forgot to blink, we made it to Texas and are grateful to be together as a family again.

Typical Woodford style, our arrival in town was our best impression of a Texas tornado. Leading up to the two day drive, the girls had two days of cousin fest extraordinaire at Grandma Shelly’s house. While they were in heaven playing bear, making forts, baking cookies, digging in the sand, and running through sprinklers with 14 cousins, I, with much help from Alan, filled our last storage pod with all the things we have been storing at my parents house since were married and packed up our suitcases with the essentials to get us through the next few weeks. We were all exhausted as we crawled in the car to make the two day drive to our new home. Kate cried all the way to Provo. My mom took pity on me and accompanied me on the drive. Otherwise, I would have cried all the way to Moab. I don’t know what I would have done without her help. It softened the departure and having an extra pair of hands proved invaluable when the polly pocket carriage needed to be fixed 20 times and the sippy cups slipped out of reach. Driving with children is not a one man job. We drove all day to Albuquerque, had dinner at a local restaurant per our new tradition, and went for a swim. The next morning we got up early and drove into Dallas. That sounds so easy, but those are two long days of driving with little ones. We arrived late Thursday with just enough time to sweep the floor, bathe the girls, eat dinner, and flop into our makeshift beds. My mom flew back to Salt Lake early Friday morning. We went house hunting into the early afternoon, put in an offer on a house, and drove to the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort near Austin for the BCG Summer retreat. Saturday we did pony rides in the morning, followed by breakfast, a wagon ride and an afternoon at the pool. Saturday night the girls went to Kids’ Camp while Josh and I attended a BCG dinner. Sunday morning we slept in, dropped in to see our nearest kin (Jon, Laura, Christian, and Grace) who were gracious enough to receive us and make us feel welcome although we had not called in advance, and then went to see the LaPierres, our dear friends from Virginia. We arrived back in Dallas around 10 at which point Jane had a complete melt down. I think we were all near maxed out, but Jane hit her limit and let everyone within a ten mile radius know about it. I have never seen her quite like that before. I think I’ll have to check with the planning committee again. We may have overdone it!

We had our first taste of celebrity while at the BCG retreat. The dinner on Saturday night was a costume party. Josh and I went as Woody and Jesse from Toy Story. Our friends the Paulsens lent us the costumes, and if I do say so myself, we looked pretty amazing. We certainly have the right physique going. The awards that night for costumes went to two crazy nutters who came as Avatars and painted their entire bodies with bright blue acrylic paint, and a woman dressed in an outrageous lady gaga costume. We were sadly overlooked. However, when we went to pick up the girls from Kids’ camp, it was another story. Children came running up to give us hugs and high fives. We were asked to pose for pictures. Everywhere we walked we would hear, “Woody!” “Jesse!”. The girls thought it was pretty big stuff to have such famous parents. We went to get an ice cream cone with the girls and perfected our, “Howdy” with a wink, smile, and tilt of the hat to all of our adoring fans. It was pretty fun, but I must say one evening of celebrity was enough for me.

After Jane’s melt down Sunday night, I decided the next couple of days I should be in recovery mode with the girls. All we did yesterday was make a quick trip to Target to pick up a few items non-essential to a bachelor pad and essential for anywhere I am willing to live like a scrub brush and toilet cleaner. I let the girls retreat into imaginary land and I spent the day scrubbing this disgusting lair until it was shining. The girls were grateful not to be dragged anywhere. This morning we went for a quick bike ride down the Katy Trail, a running path that winds through Dallas. I just wanted to get the girls out for a few minutes. When we finished, we were all dripping with sweat. We came back and jumped in the swimming pool to cool off. Jane is taking another monster nap today, as she did yesterday. I think the planning committee may have finally gotten something right.

We are still in negotiations on a home. I’m trying to stay emotionally unattached and let Mr. A Plus in Negotiations handle things. We are making the most of the bachelor pad. The girls sleep in the nest we made in the closet. They have made a play room, which they call their secret club house, out of another closet. We will do okay here for a bit, but I would like to have some place set before Kate starts school on August 22^nd. Here’s hoping!

Josh is doing great at work. He loves the work itself and his work schedule on his current project is much better than the first project. The only problem is that while we have been recovering the last couple of days from our Texas tornado weekend, he was running a workshop, giving a presentation, doing all his normal work and handling all the negotiations on our house. Maybe we will let him sleep in on Saturday!

Have a wonderful week.

Xoxo,

Sunny

p.s. I feel like I need to include an acknowledgments section to this letter to thank so many of you who have helped us out over the last couple of weeks.

Shannon – Thank you for hauling your whole family down to Salt Lake to give Kate and Jane a last chance to play with their cousins before leaving Utah. It made the goodbye harder, but the leadup to the goodbye infinitely more fun.

Alan – Thank you for helping me load up yet another pod. With any luck it will be the last one we do for a while. I still owe you a scooter dinner next time we are together.

Michele—Thank you for pretending like two days of driving was the best thing you could think of to fill up your time. You are loved, appreciated, and missed!

Narda—Thank you for inviting us over for dinner at such a busy time and for playing ball with the girls. We loved being with you.

Jon & Laura—Thanks for welcoming us into your home unannounced and reminding us that although we left family behind we also have family here to welcome us to Texas.

Grace—Thank you for giving os the polly pokits. We love plaing with them. we evin mad a secrit hid aot with the polly pokits. (from Kate) I think you may have saved us with that sweet gift! (from Sunny)

Josh & Amy—We loved taking credit for your creativity with the Woody and Jesse costumes. Thank you for sharing them, for mailing them, and for saving our hides. What great friends you always have been and continually are!

Lisa & Bryce—Thank you for welcoming us into your home, feeding us, putting up with our tired girls and lifting our hearts as always. We are so happy to be living close to you again.