The Big Move

We started to pack 1 1/2 weeks before our three week trip to Utah. It took us every moment during that time to get everything packed. This is how our kids slept the night before we packed our truck.

It was BLAZIN' HOT in Virginia Beach on July 24th. The hottest day that I had felt all summer. We had some really sweet guys from our ward come to help...it would have been a nightmare without them. We have one piece of furniture that has got to weigh close to 1,000 pounds....no joke. Our entertainment center is ridiculously heavy but I REALLY wanted it so these guys all worked together to get it out of our place and up onto our truck. It was so hot that my camera was fogging up....so the photos are a little blurry.

Some of our helpers. It is times like these that I am so thankful for my church. It is something special to have people who do not even know you come to help you. These girls and one of the guys in the picture are from our ward but were new and we did not know them. They stayed with us for 3 hours until our truck was all packed and I am so grateful to them for their service.

Relaxing in the shade. We were all exhausted by this time. My body felt BEYOND weak. My emotions were high and I had no control of them because of how tired I was. For those of you who got a few tears from me...I apologize.

It was 102 degrees before you calculate in the humidity. It was registered as feels like: 112 degrees.

Just incase you don't believe me.

Ella is one of Hailey's good friends in Virginia Beach. It was sad to say goodbye to all of our friends. Well, most of our friends were not actually there to say goodbye too since they were all on internships for the summer but we had some very important people to see us off.

Ella's fabulous mother Jamie! Saying goodbye is one of my least favorite things to do.

We left early in the morning...okay not that early. It was supposed to be 5am and it ended up being 10am

Because of our delay, we ended up traveling at the same time as everyone else...BIG MISTAKE! Our 9 hour trip turned into a 16 hour trip! We were not prepared for that. It was rough. John always had one kid in the truck with him and I always had two. They rotated at each gas fill up.

They finially slept from about 11:30 pm to 2am when we arrived in Erie.

You can't really see this so well because it was dark but it was 68 degrees when we arrived in Erie. What a difference from that morning of 105 degrees in Virginia Beach.

This was the sweetest welcome that we could have received when we arrived to our house. We had air mattresses all ready for us and dinner and breakfast and towels and these sweet welcome wishes from our new neighbors The Stowells. Jandi has been amazing and has gone above and beyond her call of duty as a neighbor. More to come soon!

Meet My Family

I think that most families are the same. If you get together for a reunion, a family picture will be taken. We've tried many different ways to do pictures in the past. My mom wanted this picture to be low stress so we all just gathered...wore whatever we wanted...and had someone take a few shots. Here is our 2010 Niepraschk Family Picture!

I have 4 brothers. I am the only girl but have since been blessed with the best sister-in-laws.

All of the grandchildren!

My sister-in-laws

Bean Museum

When John and I were dating, he asked me if I wanted to go to the Bean Museum at BYU with him. I thought it was a little strange to go to a museum displaying beans but I was just glad to be with John so I said yes. When we walked into the museum for the first time I was glad to learn that it is actually a museum of wildlife and nature. John got a big laugh out of my surprise!

We had a great time there with our cousins!

My cousin Jennifer! We grew up super close but have lived on different sides of the US for the last few years making it hard to get together. Her and her husband just built there home right across the street from my parents so I will get to see her more often with our Utah visits!

My two sister in laws and my sweet mom!

The kiddos! These are all of my mom and dads grandchildren!

The pretty girls!

Cutest little Alyse. She is only 10 months younger than Hailey and she is like half of Hailey's size. I have some great pictures of them next to each other that I will post later. That butterfly is made entirely of real butterflies (not alive of course :).

Of course we had to go right next door to BYU since we all graduated from there. It was so fun to show the kids where we went to college. We enjoyed lunch and the bookstore.

What a wonderful day!

We've Moved!

OKay...no pictures! I know that's so boring but I promise pictures are coming soon. We have moved to Pennsylvania and so far so good! I love the house and we've had a lot of fun unpacking and getting all organized. It does seem a little silly to put so much work into a home we'll probably not be in for very long but it needs to feel like home...right? I just bough some new plants and pots today and PAINT to work on a few projects that are spinning around in my head. I should do one thing at a time but doing 5 things at a time is always more fun :)! Thanks for all of the calls and well wishes. We miss so many of you so much ALREADY! I have the best neighbor in the entire world and thank goodness because she is the only person in all of Erie that I have to talk to. Hopefully after going to our ward on Sunday they'll be a few more. Hey Jill...funny thing...not ONE person from the ward came to help us move in. I'm sure it was just a fluke but still really funny! Thank goodness for our other neighbor Victor who is probably 75 years old. HE WAS AMAZING and helped us all day long! Sweet man! We are really enjoying the cooler temps...it was like 72 degrees today! More to come soon!

Cascade Springs

I have never heard of this beautiful place before! I couldn't believe it. It is located in the Alpine Loop past Sundance. It is so pretty! There are these springs that come out from the ground and they have been preserved by not letting people play in them. Before we started the hike there were signs everywhere that said no picnicking and no playing in the water and I thought...that's silly. This isn't going to be much fun. After just a few minutes I really appreciated those rules because we were able to enjoy the natural beauty of the Springs.

Here's a group shot before the hike (although it's not really a hike..it's super short and stroller friendly!)

Hailey and her cousin Evelyn!

Because the Springs have been so well preserved you get to see wildlife at it's greatest! The water is so clear and you can see all of the beautiful fish. We were even lucky enough to see this baby moose and her mom (to the left). It was awesome...and a little scary. The mom was four times the size of this baby! They were drinking and eating moss from the water.

What a great way to start our trip. I already miss these mountains so much. They are amazing to me. My heart belongs in Utah!!

The best three weeks!

It all started with a REALLY long plane ride! At first the kids all crashed. All three and all at the same time! I kept thinking, "Wow, we've finally got this flying thing down." They slept for almost an hour. We still had 4 more hours on that flight and it was hard work to keep them entertained.

This is them playing with the family behind us! Oh what a flight! We landed in Las Vegas, had a two hour layover and then caught our last flight to Salt Lake City. Traveling with small children is always a lot of work and extremely exhausting.

Three kids came kind of fast in our family. One day there's just Hailey as a baby who ate hardly anything and then BAM...all of a sudden my family eats an entire loaf of bread at a time. It was interesting to try to figure out who had a big enough car to fit us and all of our stuff - to take us to the airport.

Lots more pictures of our trip to come! It really was the best three weeks!!!