Friday, July 19, 2013

Life in Missouri

If you had asked me when I was 18 where I thought I would be in 5-6 years, I would've said hopefully married, possibly with a kid, and living in Salt Lake. I NEVER pictured my life living outside of Utah.
And I think Heavenly Father was laughing at me and how little I knew what was headed my way.

So here we are 6 years and 5 states later.
Once I realized my life may not end up in Utah (at least not for a while), I still never dreamed that I would live in the mid-west, in Missouri.
And here's the biggest shocker: I love it here!

I love all the trees, they remind me of Oregon. They're just all deciduous instead of evergreens.

I love our townhouse. For once we are not living in a crappy apartment but in a place that feels like home.
I love the location we are in. We are close to everything! Every store, the freeway, library, etc.
It is my favorite place we have lived location-wise.
After all the places we've lived I have learned that I am not really a city girl, and I am not a country girl, but I am a suburbs girl. And this is the perfect suburbs location.
sweet bridge on our drive from the airport to our new home.
We live in Blue Springs, home of David Cook (who beat David Archuletta from Murray!), a suburb of Kansas City.

One thing I do not love about Missouri - it is SO humid here.
It is 7am and the humidity is 81%.

Milk is expensive here!
Aren't the cows a whole lot closer to us here? Shouldn't it be cheaper?

The garbage truck doesn't have a robotic arm to pick up your trashcan. Guys walk along with the truck and bring your trashcan up to the back of the truck. (Maybe other places do this? This is the first time we have had our own garbage can instead of dumpster). Once it's been emptied they put the trashcan back up against your house.

Cicadas make the weirdest and loudest sound ever.
Turn up your volume and listen.

We live in tornado alley. Eek!
There are sirens that go off throughout the city when there is a tornado watch or warning.
And maybe I freaked out one day when our smoke detector went off and I thought it was a tornado alert...

Chris works every other Saturday at Walmart (as the optometrist. Everyone seems to think he just got a random job there pushing carts. um no!) so we don't get to go out exploring as much as we want. 
But we've done a few fun things:

In our little backyard grilling for Chris' birthday/the 4th of July.
 The birthday boy. (Geezer alert!)

The grill master :)


We went to the Independence visitors center to learn about the church history in this area and saw this cool building across the street.
It is the Community of Christ temple so we went and toured that while we were at it.
It was very interesting. They had some cool artifacts from Joseph and Emma Smith, and had the jail door from Liberty Jail.

We have a swimming pool at our complex and we've taken advantage of it on the hottest days!
It's hard to tell if Londyn enjoys swimming or not...
She doesn't crack too many smiles but when we get her out she always tries to get back in her floaty.

We went on a little hike walk at the Burr Oak Woods Nature Center.
 The terrain stayed the same the whole time, no changing landscape, no changing elevation...
definitely something we'll have to get used to for "hiking" here.
We can't wait to do some more exploring here!

Sunday, July 7, 2013

The Big Move.

Oh how we love moving.
Love it like a fat kid loves dieting.

This move required 17 hours of driving.
Since that is a lot and Londyn isn't the best road-tripper, Chris insisted that I fly with Londyn to KC.
My kind, generous, amazing, selfless, giving, caring, wise, skilled, knowledgeable, BEST dad ever (who I will be eternally indebted to) helped us move YET AGAIN and drove the moving van which towed my car behind it.
Chris drove his car, they did the drive in 2 days - leaving Friday and getting there Saturday, my dad flew home Sunday night and I flew out to KC Monday afternoon.
Boxes waiting to be loaded.

The moving van all ready to go and my trusty ol' explorer ready for another ride.
That old gal has put up with a lot from us...praying she makes it for just 1 more year!

Pictures from the drive...all taken in Nebraska according to Chris. 
They drove through a tornado watch (eek!) and saw some cool lightning.

They made it!
Due to some delays with the apartment not being ready (seriously?!) Chris and my dad couldn't start unloading the van until later...and then a huge rainstorm hit and delayed them further.
Rain bouncing off the roofs.

And that concludes move number 10 in the 4 1/2 year marriage of Chris and Heather Lowe.
I couldn't be more grateful to Chris and my dad for doing this move.
They worked so hard and had everything moved in and set up by the time I got there.
Those 2 guys are the greatest men I know.
Here's to staying put for an entire year!

Monday, July 1, 2013

Before the Move...

We had 4 weeks back in Murray before the move to KC so we did our best to enjoy every last minute.
Rockin out.

A favorite spot of Londyn's to check out Aunt Nikki's wedding photo.

Wheeler Farm-ing it up. 
Back when she wouldn't walk without holding someone's hand. 
Shortly after this picture a cow that was down at her level moo-ed seriously loud and angrily at her which made her burst in to some serious tears! It was pretty funny...and sad...but mostly funny.

We had a little playdate with my friends Angela and Staci and their girls since Staci was in town.
Londyn, Evelyn and Kadence were all born within a month of each other and were so cute "playing" together. (More like stealing each other's toys).

Playing at grandma and grandpa Lowe's house.

Excited to be going for a walk with cousin KK.

Diploma comparison for doctorate, bachelors and high school.
I guess diplomas get bigger the higher the degree?

I love working out on lythicals.

Hanging out at Daybreak watching The Neighbors (Grandpa Brooke's band) play.

Chris did a Fun Run with my niece Cambria since my brother had to work.
She did not get the Thomas running genes, that's for sure. She is a great runner!

My high school friends get together every month (those that are around) and we each take a turn planning the activity.
May was my month so I planned a campfire in the mountains to roast hot dogs and mallows.
It ended up being freeeeezing and someone (cough-chris-cough) couldn't get a really good fire going to keep us warm...so we all left after hotdogs since Londyn's lips were blue and her hands like ice.
We went back to my parent's place and did smores in the oven, a new and exciting experience for all of us! 

We went to the zoo with my sister, her kids, and my mom for Londyn's first time.
Trying to get her to sit on the rhino. 
 Londyn was probably a little young to really enjoy the zoo, but we still think she liked it.
Walking around while everyone else rode the carousel. 

We hung out with friends... 
Londyn and Tayvia having fun with lids.

Chris finally got to hike Mt. Olypmus again.

Londyn always smiles so big at herself in the mirror after a bath when she's all wrapped up in her towel.

Just chillin.

Quinn and Londyn, the cutest cousins!
And yes, Londyn is often mistaken for a boy since she won't wear bows anymore.

We had a great time in SLC before we moved which made it harder to leave!