Busy, Busy, Busy

We had a super busy end of July! We closed on our house on the 17th of July. So it is now ours. On the 18th we went to Ikea. It was my first time. I liked it. We bought some very nice shelves and we took them immediately to our new house and set them up for the sole purpose of unpacking things to put things away quickly. The next day was Ben's 5th birthday and unfortunately I had already packed the camera. He received all the Star Wars things that he could possibly want and Ryan the Man decorated the cake to look like Obi Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker fighting in the lava (Star Wars 3). Ben liked it a lot. Then we took a load out to the new house. The rest of the week was spent taking out random stuff to the new house.

We had been planning to have the big move on Saturday the 25th with little help but it was decided to move on Thursday the 23rd because there would be more help that evening. So we moved. I felt really pretty settled in the new house but there was a big feeling of not being done because we still had to clean the old house. That stunk. I hate cleaning the old places. We finished cleaning that day with some help of the neighbors. On Saturday night we had our first house guests. Ryan's brother came to visit from New York. I really enjoyed having them stay with us. On Sunday we went to our new ward for the first time. It was so loud! It made our kids seem like they were really well behaved. It was fun and I am really looking forward to being here.
On Friday, July 30 We had the start of Camp Jeppesen. The Family gets together in Mantua at Grandma and Grandpa "Jeppies" house. We even get t-shirts that say Camp Jeppesen on them with our own squirrel mascot. I really like Ryan's family and we all had a great time being together and letting the kids play.
School starts on August 20th here and I am so not prepared. I have not gone school shopping yet and I don't know when I will get a chance to go. We just bought a house and we are on a major budget. I am in a major love-hate relationship with our budget. Ryan loves the budget, it really suits his personality. I have always been the spender and so I now just can't run to the mall and get a little something here and there.
I feel like I have had to grow up a lot these last couple of months. This was my first move that I have done on my own with little help from my mom. It has made me have to face being a grown up more than I ever had. It wasn't as much fun and excitment as there has been in the past moves. This time it was just a lot of work that I was responsible for. I am very happy to be settled. We unpacked every box before Ryan returned to work and it is nice to have our own house. I am still trying to get used to it and to try and get a routine going. The kids are happy and used to our new house already. I am really looking forward to the new friends we will have.