Yeah!!!! We finally found a house!!We went under contract with it today!! I was doubting whether it would ever happen, house hunting was not as fun as I thought it would be, but we did finally find one a couple of days ago that actually fits all our needs and we are excited about!! Everything has just fallen in to place and we feel really good about it. It is an old farmhouse built in 1850, so I figure it's already stood through the test of time, and the boys shouldn't be able to take it down too easy. It is on 1/2 an acre with a cute little gazebo out back, so there should be plenty of room for that trampoline we have been promising the girls for years, and they're convinced their daddy is going to build them a tree house as well.

Yesterday was July 24th (Pioneer Day). Adam and I ran a 10k and the girls a 5K with their aunts, Melanie and Erika. It was their first 5k, the furthest they'd raced before that was 2.5k. Ours started an hour earlier, so we were able to watch them finish theirs. I was in a porta potty taking care of after the run business when Adam started banging on the door yelling that Sarah was coming. They were a good 5 minutes faster than we had expected them. I finished the last stretch with Sarah and Adam with Emma. They both finished in 25 minutes! Sarah has been celebrating her victory ever since, it was only her second time of beating Emma, and the other time Emma had tripped. They are SO competative with eachother!! They had not shut down the roads for the 5k, just the 10k and marathon, and Emma was not happy about it. I did feel bad about that though, who wants to stop at a light during the middle of a race? It was technically a 5k walk, I guess that's why they hadn't shut down the roads, but there were a lot of people running it as well. I was pretty impressed with my girls though...their time had been exactly half of my 10k time, and their legs are about half as long as mine, they had to stop at lights, and they haven't run a race in a long time, just watching a lot of Hanna Montana lately. They were both pretty sore today though. Sarah could barely walk, in fact, she refused to walk until she got tylenol this morning. And actually it wasn't morning anymore though, she slept till 11:00!

After the race yesterday we went to the This is the Place Historic Park, it was great little step back in time. The kids loved it, especially Emma and Sarah, they're always all over the pioneer thing.

Tomorrow we are having a little early birthday party for Luke, only about a week and a half early. Then we take off for the big roady Friday morning, hoping to arrive in RI by Monday night. Our inspection on the house will be Tues. morning, so our goal is to make it there for that. I bought a few new game boy games, leapster games, dvd tv series, and a new magna doodle today, and I'm finding all sorts of good roady activities for kids on the internet....hopefully it'll pay off!!!

Last day of Yochien.....waiting for the bus.

I'm having trouble attatching pics, but was able to get one...this was the day before we left, Yumi, in the middle, had given Jen (on right) and I both Yukata's (summer Kimono's) as a going away present. We wore them to church, it was so much fun! Thank you Yumi! We will miss you!

Wow, it's been a while! So much has happened. We survived the travel to conus. I was a little nervous about the trip when...well, I'll start from the beginning...

It's Monday morning, we had been up late the night before packing up and saying our last goodbyes, and then Adam and I pretty much tossed and turned all night, but 5:00 am finally came and we arose and got ready. For once in our lives were were all ready with all our bags out in front of the TLF (hotel) ready on time at 6:25 am, before our ride arrived. It was pouring rain, but we were waiting under the ledge. After a couple of minutes we decided to walk down to the other end of the building to see if our ride was down there. After we were about half way down, I asked Adam, "how many kids do we have again?" I was only counting 4. I ran back the the room, and there was little Luke, crawling around, like nothing was unusual, like he hadn't just about got left in Japan by all by HIMSELF! He was wet, apparently he'd been crawling around on the wet/post-shower bathroom floor. He was happy though. It was at that moment though that I really started to get nervous for all the travel that lay ahead...it was not looking good so far. But, I am very happy to tell you all that we made it! Through all the trains, planes and automobiles, we made it to Utah on the 4th of July in time for dinner and fireworks, all 8 of us, dog and all. Traveling with a large dog was a little bit of a new experience, we spent our layover in San Fran (after we got through customs) in the doggy play/poop yard with one very excited to see us pup. She was a little out of sorts for a few days, but has now decided that Dan and Jeannie's (Adam's parents) house is her new home, and having fun tormenting their cat, Teddy.

After our layover in San Fran, we flew to LA, where we had our new family car, a black Suburban, waiting for us. It worked out so great. Well, there were a few annoying quirks at the bank. We had found the car online, a woman from LA was selling it, so we had arranged for her to bring it to the airport, then we'd go to the bank and square things away. So, Adam sent me with this lady, Leslie, and her "friend", they were SO nice, I am totally lesbian-friendly now, not that I wasn't before, I have just never know any lesbians before...ANYHOW...I left Adam, the dog, and 5 kids, and about 15 bags on the curb of the airport, while I went to the bank w/Leslie and her friend. Such a pain, the stupid bank wouldn't accept my power of attorney, and to make a long story short, they had to go back, pick up Adam/kids/bags, then back to the bank, then finally a new car for the Workman family! We were so excited, we love the car, and it was great to have keys again. The first thing I said to Adam after we drove away and I stretched out my legs onto the dash was "Man, it's great to be back in America where everything's super-sized, especially my car". We ate at Denny's and grabbed a hotel that night. The kids were so screwed up, they didn't know whether it was night or day, but we finally got them settled down and to bed by about midnight. Our bodies apparently thought it was a nap though, because at 4 am we all started popping up, so we decided to just hit the road and avoid LA morning rush hour. We arrived in Las Vegas before 9:00am, and had the rest of the day to play. We checked Duch into a kennel, and started checking out hotels, and let the kids pick. They liked the idea of sleeping in a castle, so we got a couple of rooms in the Excalabur hotel. We had great day swimming, napping, and then dinner at the MGM grand buffet. I think they might have lost $ on us, Adam had prepped the kids, "no potatoes, rice, breaded foods, and soda, stick with the steak, shrimp, and crab legs". After dinner it was dark and we decided to walk down the strip and try to find the firework show. The first place we stopped was the M&M store. While in the store, I found a $5 on the floor. The kids were all envious, Isaac especially, and I told them, you just have to be observative, look on the ground as you're walking, you'd be surprised how often you'll find some. So we walk out, and not more than 5 yards away was the beginning of people handing out all that Vegas trash, pics w/topless women w/2 little stars to cover them up, people drop it, and it's all over the ground under our feet. Could the timing have been any worse? I immediately tell them, "but there's not any money on the ground here, let's not look for any here, maybe some will fall from the sky, let's look up for some". Yikes! Then not but 5 minutes later, Isaac says, "Look Mom, someone lost her ID", as he's pointing to the ground at a card w/a pic of a topless girl w/2 little stars. He was so serious. And coming from a kid who just spent his last 3 years on a military base where we use our ID for everything, entrance to the commecary, on/off base, everything. It was too funny. Can you imagine the look on the face of the guy taking her pic at the DMV?

The next day we picked up Duch and drove to Utah, stopping in Holden to say hi to my aunt Rose and my grandparents' house.

Like I said, we arrived in time for fireworks, had a little birthday party for myself the next day, then the next morning I headed off for RI w/Luke to find our new home. I have been back for a week now, and can say we still don't have one!! We have been making offers though....they are just so rediculously expensive though, we are trying hard to find something that will work for us and that we can hopefully rent out after we leave in 3 years, and have the rent come close to covering our mortgage. Not the easiest task I've ever had.

This past Sunday I was able to go to my Aunt Anna's house in Brigham City (my mom's younger sister), with both of my brothers and several of my cousins, for an awsome roast, mashed potatoes & gravy, rolls, and homemade icecream dinner. It was so great to see everyone and visit. I left feeling great.

Then I got a phone call the yesterday that my mom's older sister, Marie Coray, had passed away in a tragic hiking accident over the weekend. She had been hiking with her husband in the San Rafeal Swells in Utah. After not showing up for church on Sunday, people got worried and contacted family, who began searching. Search and Rescue found my uncle Monday morning. He had been with my aunt, when she slipped and fell, and after working for hours could not rescue her. She was in cold water, and died of hypothermia. I can't even imagine what my uncle and cousins are going through. Even having lost my mom 12 years ago myself, at least we had some time and were able to say goodbye. The funeral will be on Friday. It's so strange, things like this are in the news all the time, but never to anyone this close to me. It's amazing how life can change so drastically in just an instant. My aunt was such a wonderful person. So humble, never said a negative thing about anyone. She and my mom were very close. It seems strange that they are together again. They both passed away so young, my mom only 43 and my aunt only 58. If anyone wants to watch a news video clip, here is a link...

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1491261