1st week in Minnesota

We arrived in Austin on a Sunday evening. The church members came earlier that day to clean our house. They also had a warm dinner waiting for us! That was such a nice welcome, so so kind of them! The moving truck didn't get here until Thursday, so we used blow-up mattresses for beds and survived with some kitchen supplies and toys that we brought with us. 

Jeremy had to work right away. In fact, on Monday morning he had a 1 day business trip to Boston. DadR started working on projects in the house. He installed new closet doors, replaced the locks on our entry doors, fixed driers and plumbing and heating, built book shelves, installed window treatments and light fixtures, and the list goes on. He took dozens of trips to Home Depot, which was a huge ordeal because it's 22 miles away!

But he also made sure to spend time with his grandkids.

At the end of every day, Jeremy and I evaluated what we had done and added more things to the list of stuff to do: start utilities, take baby for his 2 week check-up, buy pp towels, etc.

I focused on taking care of the baby. 

MomR entertained Tanner and cooked for all of us.

This was a time of many changes for Tanner. He did really well during this first week, and was mostly his sweet, tender self.  As Tanner "wrote" in the previous post, he became Papa's special helper with every task on hand.

Dallin was super precious the whole time.

In the evenings, Jeremy helped DadR with the two-man jobs.

Notice Tanner helping...

My Dad helped me start my own garden. The soil is super rich here, and lots of rain, so we'll see how things grow!

I should also mention that all of our neighbors came to meet us and brought us cookies. Everyone seems very nice here, down to earth, slow paced, no one is in a rush. We quickly learned that we can't rush through the stores while we shop. People are just to eager to stop and talk to you, to have a nice visit in the store. TOTALLY different from what we are used to! It is very refreshing to experience this slower way of life!

On Saturday, we celebrated all our hard work by going on an outing to the SPAM Museum! It's a super cool place, with interactive exhibits and lots of fun facts and history to learn.

Tanner LOVED the SPAM factory station.

DadR drove back home after the first week. Tanner was so sad about it; he constantly asked "Oh no! Huh Gampa go?" We are so grateful DadR was able to be with us for a whole week to share his wisdom and skills with us. We couldn't have made so much progress without his help! 

Luckily, we weren't left totally on our own. MomR stayed with us for a couple more weeks.