A New Start --Sort of

The drive to Yuma was long (2 days), and relatively uneventful. The pets traveled better than the small children. FYI, La Quinta Inns allows pets, at least at the place we found in Las Vegas. Plus they had a very good complimentary breakfast, including yogurt, waffles, pancakes, and boiled eggs along with the usual cereal and bagels.

Here we are in Beaver, UT, taking a break. It was the only photo we took of the drive. 

We arrived in Yuma around 4:00 p.m. Monday and took the children to see the house. The mortgage company had told us we would likely close by the end of the week, so we couldn't move in yet. We had made arrangements to stay with our friends, the Jacobsons for a few days. The moving truck arrived on Wednesday, and we moved all our stuff into a storage unit.

By the end of the week, the underwriters still had some hang-ups with approving our loan and would not give us a definite closing date. The Jacobson's daughter, Patti, offered her home for our use--she said she had a guest room and the children could share her children's rooms. She works all day and said we wouldn't be any inconvenience to her or her boys. So we relocated for a few more days to Patti's home.

As you can see, the children adjusted just fine to our new temporary housing situation.

Yes, they are still in their jammies--swinging came before breakfast or anything else.

They also had much fun jumping on the trampoline.

And we helped ourselves to Patti's many fruit trees (oranges, tangelos, grapefruit, lemon).

Ian found this overgrown grapefruit and picked it for fun.

No, it wasn't any good inside. It was all shriveled and full of seeds.

 Kevin had his teaching job to go to each day, but the rest of us had to find something fun to do while waiting to move in. If we could have had access to the house, we could have started unpacking and setting things up, but the sellers wouldn't grant us early occupancy. So, we ventured to the desert one afternoon.

It was mid-January, and some lizards were active.

 

We didn't find any horned lizards, but the children had fun digging in the sand

and looking for other treasures.

 Ian got busy in his new scout troop and Megan started attending her YW activities too.

Here is Ian at the annual Blue and Gold Banquet with his new troop.

We played at several parks, but this one was by far the favorite.

It reminded us of Ryan's Place back home.

 

Erin emerged from a dragon's mouth after going down one of the slides.

Dallin test drove the train.

Erin became a pilot for a few moments.

 

We also liked this gecko.

 

Days continued passing with no definite closing date on our house.

We were enjoying the warmer temperatures, but it was rather frustrating waiting and waiting...