Utah Without Lance

I wrote this ages ago, but never posted it.


Lily and I have been in Utah for three weeks now, and the past three weeks have been a roller coaster of emotions.

It has not been easy, but I've tried really hard to stay positive, kind, and happy.


I miss my husband, most of all. I've never been apart from him for so long.  I am a fairly independent person, but when he's gone I feel like I can't and don't want to do anything.  But I've been pressing forward anyway, trying to occupy the time and really take advantage of all this extra time with Lily.

I don't have a car here, so it's difficult to do what I want to do, when I want to do it.  I'm very lucky to have Elise with me all day. She works the same schedule I do.  But she and Aziz share a car. So Elise is without a car until the afternoon, and then we have about three hours to get things done until she has to leave for work.

Adjusting to the new time zone wasn't difficult. Getting off of work at 1 am is much better than 3 am. But now instead of vegging out or taking a bath, I talk to my sisters, and sometimes Eric, and I still get to bed really late.

Lily can sleep upstairs, but I've enjoyed snuggling with her. I love coming into our room when I'm done working and see what silly position she's sleeping in.  She wakes up with the sun, but I do my best to keep her occupied in our room until at least 9 or 10am. Then I roll out of bed at 11.  When we have our own place I will get up earlier.  But right now, with this living situation, the later the better.

My parents are currently hosting Eric's family as well as me and Lily.  The owner of the condo Eric was renting decided to sell, and Eric and Katie are house hunting, so they're staying here for the time being. Elise and Aziz live here as well. The basement is mostly "theirs" but they've been gracious enough to let me use their second bedroom, and Elise lets me use her computer to work on after I put Lily to bed.

It's nice having so much family around, but not without its challenges.  The biggest challenge is Lily and Mabel.  They fight a lot.

Lily's Preschool

Too busy to blog.

It's unfortunate because I like reading old blogs and I sort of feel like I have a six month gap in my memories now.

Here are some things I want to remember.


Me and Lily lived with my parents for 2 months, without Lance.  It was really hard to be away from him for so long, but it was nice being close to family and friends again.

I flew to Florida to help Lance clean up our apartment and to drive with him and the dogs back to Utah.  Once we got here, we lived with my parents for 2 weeks until our belongings from Florida arrived (via PODS).

Our new place is OK.  It's really hard finding places to live that are
A. Within budget
B. Big enough
C. Allow pets
D. Not in Timbktu (figuratively speaking, of course).

But, we did what we could and we ended up in a town home in Saratoga Springs.


I used to have a chip on my shoulder about Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.  It was, like, so totally far out here.

I guess that was when the only way to get here was Lehi Main, and that street was BACKED UP, yo!

But now there's 2100 S Lehi, Lehi Main, and Pioneer Crossing.  If we're heading up to Salt Lake, we take Redwood Road to Bangerter.

All in all, it's not too bad.  Actually, I've grown to like it.  I like it a lot.  I like this neighborhood and the people around here. They are friendly, and I don't feel judged, so that's nice.


But yeah, our town home is small, and completely disheveled most of the time. There is ZERO storage space, so our stuff just sits around, getting moved place to place as is convenient for us.

It also doesn't help that we moved in when I was 8 months pregnant, this place has 3 floors, and I had Lucy 2 weeks early.  I've never really caught up on anything.  We aren't fully unpacked, and I've never felt organized.  Every room has a box in it.


We've been here 6 months now.


Just in time to move again!  But more on that later. *evil grin*


Lily started preschool at Knowledge Explorers.  I found them on a yard sale site, but they're really good.  They have 2 locations in Eagle Mountain. Preschool is held in the basement of a home, but it's got nice hard floors, a carpeted "circle time" area, and tables for coloring, writing practice, art projects, etc. Lily has her own cubby, and knowing her, she probably uses the same peg every day to hang her coat and backpack on.

First Day of Preschool - September 6, 2016

This was also the day I was induced with Lucy.  I feel like there's too much to say on that matter, so I'll try to gather those memories in another post.


After I had Lucy, for two months, Lance would take Lily to either his sister, Nicole's house, or my friend, Sierra's house. That way, Lily would get some love and attention while I was taking care of a new born and working The Cycle at my job.

(I took 10 days off, and then went back to work.)

So the first couple of months, Lily's hair is a bit disheveled. (Dad tried!) But it looks like she was happy and having fun!

Every preschool day (Lily goes twice a week) they post photos from that day on their private Facebook page.

She loves being "The Explorer." She gets to help with circle time.

Learning to write her name. She's improved so much on holding a pencil, and now can write her name on her own.

Even though I was exhausted, I decided to keep Lily at home with me the day they went to the pumpkin patch, so I could go with her.

But afterwards, I took her to Nicole's house and went home and slept. Thank goodness we have family nearby!

Show and tell

They had a cute Christmas program for the parents to come see.  Lily is SUCH a performer!

This is from last week. She loves preschool!

She's definitely confident and comfortable there!

They use "Bob Books" to teach them how to read. Lily is currently on book 4, and I am incredibly impressed with how well she reads!  She also got her first math homework the other day.  She's learned and grown so much in the past 4 months.