We're Here!

And it's hard to believe it's only been a week - Utah feels like a lifetime away! Last week, we were sitting here in a dark, empty house, twiddling our thumbs (ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration - Jared's family took pity on us and invited us over for dinner last week, but we did spend quite a bit of time sitting around an empty house the first few days). Now, all our worldly belongings have arrived (with nary a casualty, that we've found yet, at least!), we're on the way to being unpacked and able to park a car in the garage again, and we're starting to settle in a bit. We went to church today and met a ton of people - I'll be surprised if I remember anyone's name by next week. There were lots and lots of kids there, to my relief. Despite Jared's assurances that, "there are kids in California, too!" I had my doubts. ;) We've spent a lot of time with family enjoying various activities including a delicious Thanksgiving dinner, and now it's time to settle in to reality. I'm going to take Audrey over to school tomorrow to register (the kids had all of last week off, for the Thanksgiving holiday, so this will be the first day, even though we've been here a week). We found out at church today that Kindergarten at this school is full-day, which both Audrey and I are a little nervous about (I'm trying to hide my apprehension from her, not sure if it's working). 9:00 - 3:20 just seems so LONG after going from only 12:00 - 3:00 at her previous school! I'm sure she'll do fine, I'm just a little sad about having my little girl away from me all day. I'm really going to miss her!

Unless the kids object, I think I'm not going to decorate for Christmas this year. At least, not much. All of the unpacking is starting to get to me, and that combined with the 70 degree temps have me feeling not all that festive. We'll also probably be leaving for Utah mid-month, so I can bask in the decorations everyone up there has put up. We'll see. I'm having mixed feelings about our trip up. Of course, I'll be thrilled to see all the friends and family we miss so much, but I've quickly adapted to the temperate weather here and dread going back to the coat-wearing, ice-scraping, heater-running days of winter. Maybe if I focus on curling up by the fire with a mug of hot chocolate, soft Christmas carols playing in the background after a good old-fashioned snowball fight...