life on the Palouse.

We've been in our new home for about a month a half now. I dare say  maybe we are settling. Maybe things are even a teeny weeny bit . . . normal.

We've been having fun. On Labor Day Friday we planned to go camping, but I called ahead to the nearby national forest and they said their campground were full. So we did the next best thing: we set up the tent in our backyard and roasted marshmallows over hot coals. The kids thought it was all sorts of fun but the 5-man-tent was in no way fit for 5 people, even with three of them being small, and Chris and I ended up shoved in the corners. But when I woke up way too early and saw my whole world all in one tent, it was pretty sweet. We also hit an Idaho Vandals volleyball game. Chris's cousin Alyssa plays on the team and it was so fun to go cheer her on. This past Saturday Chris took the kids on the city bus (all of which have Washington State Cougars painted on them, so the kids call them "Cougar Bus") up to spend some time on campus and get ice cream. Quinn will tell you all about "me sissy daddy John-boy red cougar bus mama stay paint door blue." She's a story teller, that one. Carly also got invited to a birthday party for a friend at school. They welcomed John and Quinn and all three got to dress up like pirates and go on a treasure hunt. Its a simple life, but its the kind of simple we've been looking forward too.

Carly found her groove at school. Just like last year, she had a rough beginning. It takes her a bit to warm up to situations and people and places. There were tears for the first two weeks, and one day was so bad her teacher and I had to pretty much drag her in. She told me she hated school. It really isn't in Carly's character to hate school, so I tried to casually discuss what was happening at school. One thing that Montessori does is self-led learning. The children choose what they want to work on. One day Carly just let her problems out: "There are SO MANY fun things to do! I don't know which one to do so I just stand there!" Hating school? Not in Carly's character. Being overwhelmed by choices? Bingo. We made a plan that she'd start at the first thing on the first shelf and work around the room. I think just talking it out eased her worry, and she has been great ever since. Another issue was feeling out friends. Who knew 5 year old girls could be so dramatic? That has since smoothed itself out, too. A week or so ago her teacher said, "So I don't think we have to worry about the friend thing any more. She has a lot of them." She has given me a list of girls she wants to invite over for a party, and when we went to "Lunch Bunch" (where kids from her school have a picnic lunch after AM school and before PM), it was so fun to see her running around and giggling with her friends. She also had her first dance class last week. She's been asking for quite a while, and after mediocre interest in soccer or t-ball, we decided to give it a go. Its a tap/ballet/tumbling combo, and its safe to say that after one class, she's in love.

Chris's job is pretty great. The university has really treated him so well and he works with a positive and enthusiastic group of people. His classes are going well, though he didn't have as much time to put it together as he would have liked. As part of his job and contract he was given funding to start a kinesiology lab. It has been a lot of work for him, but it has been really exciting work. His lab has a "Bod Pod", which measures body fat percentage, and I got to be the guinea pig. He got a lot of experience working in the lab at Michigan State, so now he is bringing that experience in starting his own. Its a really great and exciting thing, and it will be exciting to see how it grows in the coming years.

I'm plugging along. To tell the perfect truth, I have had a hard time. I really loved Lansing, and I had a group of friends there like I don't think I've ever really had. The most surprising part for me about moving was how intensely alone I felt. I have been meeting people. Our ward is incredibly friendly. I go to a D&C class on Tuesday mornings and joined the book club. We went to playgroup when it was still going on. And it has really been great. But real friendships take time, a lot of time. And I have found myself really missing that. Pullman has been an adjustment too. A month and a half later, I feel good about this new place we call home. It is small, but there is something refreshing about that small-town feel. Last night Chris went to the well-loved drive-in in town to get us shakes, and the girl who made them asked for extra credit. Ha! He's going to have to start making sure he is well-dressed on milkshake runs if he's going to be running into students all over. But I am learning to love it here. And I hardly even have to use my GPS anymore. If I'm not sure where I am, the best thing to do is go down whatever hill I'm on and it will take me to the one main road (ha!).

Our house it coming along nicely. We had a painter paint the main living area. He was nice and painted almost at cost, but he was completely undependable. When the project was over it was nice to not be stressing about it anymore! But he did paint over the awful mint green in our kitchen for free, which was awesome. He took pity on me when I mentioned how much I hated it. We also got new wide faux wood blinds for the living room. They are so beautiful. Our old ones were bent and ugly. Really, a person shouldn't love blinds as much as I love mine. When Chris put them up Carly walked in and he asked her if she liked them. "They look exactly like our old ones," she answered. Ha! Wrong, child, very wrong. I've also been painting the front door. The intent was a nice bright navy blue but instead it came out BLUE. I think I might love it, though, It is kind of fun. That being said, I reserve the right to paint it darker, once I'm willing to look at a paint brush again. We love our yard. It is a total wreck, really, but its going to be beautiful when we get done with it. . . in a few years. We have a tree that we thought grew crab apples, but no, its a real apple tree. They are tart but really fresh and crisp. I ate some today with caramel dip and it was so good. It is so fun to walk out your door and pick apples off your tree. Legit Washingtonians, right here. So we are setting in, and really loving it. The other day Quinn called it "my new house" and Carly said, "Its not really our new house anymore. Its just our house." That sums it up perfectly.

The leaves are changing, the air is cooling, and life on the Palouse is good.