Des Moines! Finally!

Before we left... Cute, huh?

Well we have had such a crazy last few weeks. But we are FINALLY here and mostly unpacked. We are really starting to like the area a lot. We are still learning where everything is, keep finding out about all the hidden expenses of moving(did you know you need a $10 annual licence just to have a dog in the city of West Des Mines?!), and exploring along the way. But we have missed so much since our internet got disconnected in Idaho that we have some catching up to do... So here we go...

We last left off with a promise for pictures of our trip to Yellowstone. So cool. The first day we saw cool things and loved it. We stayed the night just outside the park in a little hotel. Haley did not sleep well, so neither did we. But then we got up and met Terry and Cathy(Benjamin's parents) for our second day. We jumped in their suburban and we drove around looking for animals. Our family prayer that morning was said by Laura. She learned from a young age from her mother Claudia about the beauty of our Heavenly Father being able to say no to a prayer. Thats the worst that could happen, right? So she prayed that we would see all of the animals that we wanted to and had not yet seen. We can tell you that prayers are answered! We saw so many animals. Two grizzly bears, one black bear, 3 different packs of wolves, elk right next to us, big horned sheep, coyotes, buffalo... It was so cool. But as we were heading back out, we saw a big commotion on the side of the road. Long story short, a pack of three wolves had attacked a pregnant(we think that is why it was a little slow) elk and she had found sanctuary on a sand bar in the middle of a little lake. The wolves lay on the shore sleeping and hanging out. It was a standoff. And it just happened to be right off of the road. Benjamin was the one extremely excited to see a wolf, so we got out to watch. We took a few pictures, and decided that Terry would stick around to take pictures and see if anything would happen while Cathy, Benjamin, Laura, Haley, and Rufus went to our last stop at the falls. We would come back for Terry and see if anything had happened. The side trip was fun. Haley had a HUGE blowout on the way back to the car from the falls so we had to stop and clean her up... for a long time. When we got back to Terry, the elk, and the wolves, something big had just happened. We missed it because of the hold up with Haley's bowels! But it was still fun. Terry watched the wolves take the elk down when she finally got tired and laid down on the sand bar. She put up a good fight, but could not make it. The other cool thing about this story... Laura discovered that if we put our little digital camera in the eye piece of the spotting scope, we can get really zoomed in pictures. They are not in really good focus, but still cool to see what was going on. So here are some of the pictures. (also, we got a cool video through a TELESCOPE that someone had brought of the wolves eating! We can't figure out how to load videos... so sorry you will miss the blood and gore part!)

After the Yellowstone trip, we went to San Diego one more time. We went to the Park where we flew Haley's new Elmo kite. The first picture is on the bench where Benjamin proposed to Laura!

Laura also went with her Mom, her sister Shannon, and her Grandma Kitty to get ice cream before Grandma went in for surgery. The surgery ended up going well, and she has been healing better than first expected. The reason we mention this is: LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT ICE CREAM!! You go girl!

Benjamin flew up to Idaho in the middle of the trip to go on a camping trip with his side of the family. Laura and her Mom went to visit her sister Andrea at UCLA.

Before we left, Claudia and David, Laura's parents, took us to the San Diego zoo! (She was growling at the lion...)

When we got back, we went on the ward campout. Lots of fun!

We also went on a trip to Tex Creek with Benjamin's side of the family. For sake of space, we will post that another time.

So what else has happened since then? Well, before we moved we wanted to have one last big family gathering and wanted to celebrate Haley. She will be one year old (OH MY!) on August 12th. So we had a birthday party before we left. It was safari themed. Laura made a cake, we had ice cream, played a couple of games, then went to the zoo in Idaho Falls. Danielle has some cute pictures on her blog that you guys might want to check out as well. We haven't gotten the pictures from Terry yet (who Laura designated as the official picture taker-er) so we will have more soon.

Then it was time to pack and move. Laura took pictures of some of the things along the way. Isn't the truck towing one of our cars the most rediculous thing ever?

(This was on the wheel of the dolly towing our car. Like we would really drive THAT far going 55 mph... yeah right!) It was very flat, straight, and there was lots of wind. Look! We even saw a truck load of pigs... one of them had an ear sticking out the side!

We are now in West Des Moines to be exact. It is its own city but we live right by the city limit to go to Des Moines. We live in a cute little house(that was originally built in the 20's... someday we will have a place to live that was at least built within our lifetimes...). It is a little smaller in square footage than our house in Idaho but it is a better layout with a better use of space. It also has a full unfinished basement so there is planty of room for storage and laundry(the washer and dryer are actually next to each other!!! Imagine that!). Terry and Cathy helped us move out here so we all took turns driving. When we got here, they helped us unpack the truck and do some other necessary things that we couldn't have done without them.

When we first got here, Haley did not adjust so well though. She couldn't be put down, even if she was right next to you. It was a rough couple of days but now we have to follow HER around the house. She is so full of life and love for everybody. She says quite a few words. She says hi and waves to everyone she sees. Walmart is pretty crazy! She is teaching us more everyday what the Savior meant when he said to be childlike. She is not judgemental in any way, and is so incredibly resilient. She hits her head, then is over it in about 30 seconds. She is really good at "helping unpack". She loves seeing what is in boxes and taking the things out of those boxes. She also has learned that electrical plugs go into sockets. We have to be careful to put those outlet covers on everything because she gets cords and tries to plug them in. We caught her a few days ago trying to plug a lamp into a phone jack. That wasn't so bad. But still very entertaining.

On Tuesday, we drove down to Omaha, Nebraska (about two hours away) and went to see the museum and Temple at Winter Quarters. That was awesome. What sacrifices they made!Then we went to this Chinese restaurant. When we walked in, the lady looked extremely irritated that we would come in to eat during lunchtime in her restaurant. Make sense? It didn't to us either. So we were already laughing pretty hard. But then Cathy and Laura were crying with laughter because in the middle of it all, she came over with our waters, and plopped the ENTIRE BOX of straws on the table and walked away. Almost slammed it down. Once everyone regained their composure, Laura put the straws in each of the cups and passed out the cups. We dined the entire time with the box on the table. It was really funny. It was a strange little place. The food was good, but Cathy(who went on her mission to Taiwan) couldn't figure out what language they were speaking and one of the wall hangings of a chinese character was hung upside down. We had a good laugh. Benjamin got this awesome picture of Cathy and Laura at the table with her in the background. You can even see the box of straws on the table.

Then we went to the Omaha zoo. We felt at first like it was not that impressive. There were a few cool things, but as we walked around it got better and better. We went into a "big cat" area with all kinds of lions, tigers, jaguars, leopards... It was really cool. Then we went into a giant dome that had lots of desert animals in it. Underground, there were a bunch of nocturnal creatures. We saw big caves of giant bats flying around, and all kinds of animals up close. In the swamp section, they had built a swamp and then animals roamed around like they normally would while we walked around on a really long bridge that went throughout the whole swamp. It was so fun and exciting to be so close. We also saw an orangutang enclosure that was pretty fun. Someone was throwing peanuts at them even though no one is supposed to feed the animals. One sat there with her arms through the cage trying to catch them. She would clap and wave her hands as if saying "Come on! One more!" It was really fun.

Then we took Terry and Cathy to the airport to go home. They were sad to say one final goodbye to Haley, but they felt lucky to spend that much more time with her than everyone else.

We now are mostly settled in. We will finish unpacking and then take pictures of where we live so that everyone can see. They will be coming soon. Benjamin starts orientation on Tuesday the 4th so then life as a podiatry student will begin. We are glad that we are in this great place. It is beautiful and the weather has been extremely pleasant (except for the first day or two which was sweltering and muggy). Now we don't even use the A/C because we just open the windows instead. We already know a few families here. Brody and Dana and Luke and Ashley are living here and both couples were in our ward in Rexburg. Brandon and Michelle will be here soon as well. Brandon was a mission companion to Benjamin in the MTC and they have always got along great. Brandon and Michelle are expecting their first and Michelle is going to be induced next week. She will have the baby in Utah, then fly out when her and the baby are ready. What an especially crazy time for them! Hopefully within the next month they will have a healthy baby girl, and all be living together out here. Then Laura will have a friend and Benjamin will have a study buddy. Benjamin also knows a few other guys in his program because he had classes with them at BYU-Idaho.

Well, this has been a long post, so we will end it here. More will be coming soon! We will leave you with our new address(our phone numbers are still the same) and a picture of Haley with special significance to Laura and her side of the family. There is a picture just like this of Laura when she was about Haley's age. Yes, that is right. She is standing in the dishwasher!

532 7th St

West Des Moines, IA 50265

Love you all!

Benjamin, Laura, Haley, and Rufus