Robertsons & Daughters

One of the last weekends in the summer we went down to Alabama for Ciera's doctorate graduation!

So exciting to see her walk! Lots of years of hard work! Go Ciera!!!

Steph and James came down too which was really fun. We had to hit up Hattie B's! Clark had a few things to get done before heading back out to Utah so he didn't come down with us.

After we went to Barber Motorsports Museum. There is even a racetrack there you can drive on. Don't know much about it, but we saw cars on it.

A map of visitors!

On the way back we stopped at Buc-ees!

Hanging out at Sheldon's in the afternoon. I went with Shanna to the pool for an hour or so.

Always great seeing Jackie!!!

Lumber delivery!

I think getting to know you stuff like this is really fun. This one was for seminary.

Clark and Lee got his car running! Someone drove it to the office. There are still some tweaks needed because something keeps draining the battery.

Some shopping at Walmart before we take off. We have some room to bring stuff, so might as well!

I'm way behind on the blog like always, and the addition is actually already done. We heard about getting insurance for theft of materials during a building project, but never did. Thankfully no one stole anything!!!

Ahh, beautiful lumber!

EEK! So exciting! Walls going up!!!

Cal and I went to the Richmond temple!

Started up copies at the elementary school!!! Can't believe school started. Elden missed the first few days though because we left on Friday to go to Utah. I found out that if he waits to step foot inside the school building, then that's when they start counting him as a student that year. So all those days we were gone in Utah and Nevada didn't count against him because he hadn't stepped into school and officially started school that year. He missed the first week and a couple days of school.

More progress!

The girls have been busy cleaning out their rooms, packing up their stuff to store and packing up their suitcases. Cal brought out stuff too that he'll leave at Roger's. Then we'll pick it up in Utah in September when we fly out and drive up to Rexburg.

Pennies!!!! During COVID and other times Cal would get TONS of pennies. It was hilarious.

He got a lot!!!

Shanna and Haley out in the neigborhood.

Getting rid of stuff too!

Haley had a couple friends over for a last hurrah. She bought all the fun goodies and then brought them with her to Utah.

Haley even made little ice spheres!

Lee takes pictures of Shanna, for Shanna. Not sure what they are documenting, but here is one of the classic photo shoots!

Elden and Clark bonding time. And see those awesome apples?!

ANNNNNNND we headed out! Clark caravaned with us. Getting gas by our house!

We stopped first in Indiana to stay with Steph. I went and saw my friend Elizabeth quick first.

Haley got this 3D guy from Sheldon's house. Our little mascot on our drive out.

Sadly Lee got a flat tire that day. Ugh. It's pretty bad!

He got the donut on thanks to a guy at a used car dealership. He was really nice and let Lee use the tools there. God surely blessed him!

Lee's bike ride before the flat tire.

Lee also fixed this drawer--yay!

He picked lots of apples too!

Lee's veggie shake.

Haley left her cactus. I think Lee will bring it to his office.

Lee's motorcycle tire is threadbare too!

Apple crisp with our apples that Lee made. Yummy!

We then headed to Deb's and arrived Saturday afternoon.

We stayed Sunday as well. We haven't been to church with them in a few years so it was fun to attend her ward again.

Deb is making mini furniture. So cute!

We left late afternoon so we could get to Lincoln, NE to our hotel. About 20 miles out of Cedar Falls, his timing belt broke. At the moment he wasn't really sure what it was, but soon figured that out. We were trying to get on the road that night. Deb got me the contact for a guy in the other ward who was a mechanic and we went to a couple auto stores, but none of them had what we needed. The store that did have what we needed closed early. The mechanic told Clark that they could go to his shop Monday morning to fix it. Clark's car is the type that if the timing belt breaks it doesn't affect the engine which is great!!! Clark watched some YouTube movies and said lots of prayers and Cal and Clark got it fixed in TWO HOURS! I couldn't believe it. I asked Clark how he did it so fast and he said "lots of prayers". We left about 10:30am and headed to Rawlins, WY where we did have a hotel. Longer drive, but that's okay. While we were off the side of the road, we had a plan of what we could do in case Clark couldn't get his car fixed. Though it was still stressful, mainly because Shanna and Haley wanted to get to school in plently of time to move in. Kind of an interesting moment, but as we were waiting on the side of the road for the tow truck (we had it towed to the guy's garage which was actually out of a storage unit) I felt so grateful for my temple covenants. This situation wasn't ideal, but we were going to be fine, especially because we've been sealed together and have been to the temple. I hadn't quite felt the power of my covenants before like that (sadly) but did then! I feel so blessed we have temples today, the House of the Lord where we can continue to enter into a covenant relationship with Him and our loved ones!

Really weird that in a few weeks it will just be me and Lee and Elden on rotation!

More progress on the house!

New lamps came for the basement rental.

The little mini closet!

More apples!

We spent the night at Deb's again and then drove all the way to Rawlins, WY that day. Chicken tacos at a rest stop.

Clark and Cal changing the timing belt that morning!

I really wanted to stop at Martin's Cove with the kids. We didn't have much time but we poked around for about an hour. It was neat to be in a place where so many pioneers ventured through. Sad for the suffering, but what strength they had in Christ and their temple covenants with Him!

I don't think I have another picture with Haley looking up.

We stopped in Rock Springs at a gas station to visit Sue for a little bit. She's about 45 minutes or so away. It was so sweet of her to drive up to meet us. She gave us some yummy brownies too.

Can't resist!

Yep, we stopped at Little America! Did you noticed Clark shaved? Chloe likes kissing him without a beard.

We made it to the Engstroms, and on time! It was fun meeting Chloe's niece, Millie and more of her family. Chloe was going to take the bus to Rawlins and meet us there, but with Clark's car breaking down she had to skip that. It was sad because it was going to be a surprise and she had spent that money on a bus ticket. Super sweet of Kelly and Bob (Chloe's parents) to host us for dinner.

Back on the home front. A second story going up!

Lee decluttered stuff in the laundry room.

It will be fun to move a bunch of stuff out once the garage is done. But right now it looks great!

Welp! Crazy and exciting day!!! Time to move it! We stayed at Roger's while we were in Utah and had a bunch of Amazon packages sent there, like some pans and other apartment stuff. Time for check-in to get the ID card and info!

Haley's view!

Shanna and Haley are both in Heritage Halls, but different buildings. They have the same layout, just flipped. This is Shanna's living room.

Their apartments are so big! Probably bigger than our house! They are about an 8 minute walk form each other.

Not sure how much they enjoyed it, but it sure was nice having Cal and Elden's help!!!

Next up, stocking up! We went to Walmart and were there for about 3 hours. Cal and Elden were ready to leave haha! It was really nice and I am sure the Spirit prompted me to do this. With Shanna, Haley and Cal, I just gave them the money that I would have normally spent on them and let them manage it. I gave them each about $700 to buy groceries and stuff for their apartments. And they used basically all of it! I was keeping track of it at first when we were buying stuff on Amazon or out here in Virginia. Then I thought, they should be keeping track of this and then I don't have to! It was a good budgeting experience for them.

More moving!

We also got the three of them hybrid bikes to ride around on campus. Cal's we'll pick up in Idaho in a couple weeks when we take him to school.

Footers going in for the new front porch!

Love the BYU Bookstore!!! Our friends Lee and Shar Lorimer kind of hate BYU (not exactly sure why!) so I have sent him this photo of the hat wall at least twice to be funny.

Lee picked up his motorcycle! I'm guessing it has a new tire on it.

Shanna's bed all set up!

We also had the deck moved so we could put in an egress window in the basement--that 3rd bedroom. It was a very expensive project. Ugh. The ramp needed to be moved and the existing railing couldn't be used because it was warping. Lee put down new rocks!

Our dishwasher has been having problems. It works and cleans the dishes, but it won't dry them. Lee even replaced the heating element, and then tested the old one and it actually still worked. Not sure what is wrong with it. For now we'll just dry the few dishes that are wet.

More house progress!

Oh yeah, back to the shopping.... It was fun, at the Walmart by UVU they were handing out cupcakes to the college students. Red for UVU, Blue for BYU.

Dinner! Campus is so beautiful!

Exciting night! Though I was super digusted with a song they had playing while they were trying to form the Y. I emailed the office of the president about it and contacted another department....not sure who. Super inappropriate song and explicit. What makes me more mad is that tithing money is used at the university and why in the world was this silly person allowed to play this song?!