I’m writing this on Tuesday, Sept 27, 2016. We were supposed to move to our house on October 1st but it didn’t happen. There is still so much to be done. They just barely got started on the deck last night, the cabinets aren’t finished, we’re battling them on our sloped sidewalk and a myriad of other last-minute headaches. The good news: they painted the house the wrong color and corrected that without much backlash. I say that because we’ve received push-back on so so so many of their design center staffers’ communication screw-ups and we’ve had to eat the cost. Remind me to never build again.
We’ve been doing this Park City to Heber to Midway commute for about six weeks now and though the days are long, the weeks are short. I will truly miss our glorious townhome at the base of The Canyons and even more glorious Park City in the fall. Here are a few of our happenings.
Bode. Still slowly getting settled and it’s surprising to me how long it’s taking him to make meaningful connections because he finds BFFs everywhere he goes. Spoke in church a couple of weeks ago and I got a glimpse at the dynamic of the boys his age: pretty unruly. For a rule-abiding kid like Bode, this isn’t a great fit. He hangs with my friend Sarah’s three boys in the morning before school and has fun with them; hopefully more friends will follow soon after our move. Academically, he’s doing great. He was selected as one of two students from his class to attend the “Math Bus,” which is essentially an advanced math outing every month at the high school. He proudly says that the kids check their math answers against his for their corrections, a great compliment, indeed. I received the following email from his Assistant Principal today: “I just wanted to let you know that Bode’s name was drawn out in our Mustang Buck drawing this morning. I appreciate the great things he does each day to earn those Mustang Bucks. I am so glad to have students like Bode at TIS. He stands out as an example to other students.” Straight-A report card at mid-term.
Hadley. Still settling in surprisingly well (maybe I should have prayed harder for the rest of us and not just her? 
She attended her science club field trip to UVU on Saturday, has been hanging out with her new friend Zoie and is somehow juggling her busy middle school schedule. Zoie is my new hero when, being bullied by a boy at school who called her a weakling (among other things), she countered: “Can YOU lift more than your weight and mountain bike for miles?” Hadley has taken a new interest in her appearance, watching a lot of hair and make-up tutorials on YouTube. This is fine and dandy except her room and bathroom constantly look like a bomb exploded. Our new house isn’t move-in ready so she’ll be cramped for a while. We have three small bedrooms on the main level so she will be temporarily living in what will become my den while we hire someone to finish two rooms in the basement ASAP. We’ll then boot her to the basement and Jamie’s office will be next to her.
Jamie. Rock star. Despite having a multi-week rheumatism attack, barely sleeping and a lot of back pain, he’s been a warrior through this whole process. He’s been on the front lines of battles with our builder to get everything right and handles all the documentation with the exception of setting up all our utilities, which he put me in charge of. Translation: we’ll probably end up without power, water and sanitation. Surprised me with a lovely romantic lunch he grilled of steaks, scallop and shrimp with roses. This guy is a keeper.
Me. After suffering a “what am I supposed to do with my career” panic attack last week, I’m feeling temporarily peaceful knowing now is not the time to worry about jobs and that we just need to get settled. Missing Colorado daily (especially all the amazing event invites I’m getting) but am truly happy most of the time to live in Park City. I’m a pretty simplistic person; put me in a beautiful place with lots of trails to explore and I’m good.
Here’s for hoping all goes well with this crazy move of ours!
I'm a Canadian-born mom of two, former Denver Post columnist, family travel writer, editor of MileHighMamas.com and 9News contributor. Expert on all things Utah, Denver, family and travel. Lover of laughter and life. Happily married to a man obsessed with growing The Great Pumpkin. 