The Importance of being Allen: May 2010

Well, after 41 years, I have left Sunny California and have now entered Utah! Bob transferred with his job at Watson to Salt Lake City in January and me and the kids moved in March after selling our home, of 15 years, in Ontario. We are now residing in Layton and are settling in. We love our ward and have met some very nice neighbors.

When you think of Utah vs California what is the first thing that comes to mind? Well, for me it was less crime. Within our first 2 weeks here, B's car was broken into (it took 13 years in Ontario for that to happen). The upside was, the crooks who broke into B's car were nice enough to not cause any damage. They just unlocked the driver door, popped the trunk and took his laptop and Garmin. Then, about 2 days later, we woke up Sunday morning and found that our neighbor's wall was covered with grafitti. True, all true! When I woke up Sunday morning to see the grafitti on the wall my first thought was...."everyone will think it was one of our kids since we are the new ones on the block from California!"

The grafitti, took a little more effort for us to remove. After numerous attempts from B and our neighbor, the EQP and other EQ members, B finally found some "grafitti remover" for concrete and that did the trick.

We had a wonderful neighborhood in California and we all were concerned about and helped one another. But it wasn't quite like what I have witnessed here. My brother calls it "The Bubble" and on this occasion, I have to agree with him.

We are really happy here and feel that this is a Great move for us and our family.

C has started school and loves her teacher and all of the "neat" things she is learning. She was so excited to actually have an Art class. The new adventure is that she takes the bus to school every day.

R is wishing, every day, that he could go to school. We did our Kindergarten Open House walk-through and he is extremely excited to start school. He will get to ride the bus also and thinks that is "way cool!"

D is working with one of our very creative neighbors and is learning wall painting techniques. She is enjoying the work and independence with "Skuttle." She will also be starting a second job in the upcoming week. We are very excited for her.

B is still in California finishing her senior year. She is extremely busy with school, Play practice, Swim practice and AP exam study group. We have wonderful friends who have adopted her and she is fitting in very well. We will be seeing her in May for graduation and then she will be ours again!!! YAY!

I am getting used to the Altitude! I felt like I was having a heart attack every time I started walking up and down the stairs. Yes, it is the altitude.....I'm not out of shape, I am a shape...."round". It is fun setting up my new home and figuring out where to put everything. We have lots of storage, and an extra bedroom so you are all welcome to visit anytime.

B is enjoying his work and is getting used to having a YARD to mow at home. The first weekend without snow, B decided to mow the lawn. It took........ ALL DAY! Granted, he had some glitches with his lawn mower but it still took a very, very long time. Now I get to do more of my most favorite task, yard work.....NOT! It is pretty but I will need to learn to love yard work with our new yard.

Here are some pics of the house to date.

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