House-Hunting in Luxembourg {October 12-17}

We flew out of Salt Lake on a Sunday and had a bit of a whirlwind trip to Luxembourg to find housing. Eliza did reasonably well on the flight there – she cried for a while but we walked her around to get her to sleep, and she slept for several hours. We spent most of our 3.5 days there looking for housing (it felt like we drove all over the city with our relocation consultant) and setting up a bank account, etc. We did manage to do a little sightseeing just within Luxembourg City, and got to know it well enough that we were excited to come back and see more. We did find a place to live, which made packing easier when we got home, and alleviated some of the stress and uncertainty. Some of the fun spots we saw as we explored the city (a little background: Luxembourg was built as a fortress city, which is pretty evident when you see the huge stone walls that surround the city center. It’s also very hilly and has some beautiful valleys that a river runs through).

      

Eliza was probably a little sad to go home after having the undivided attention of both mom and dad for a few days! She took full advantage – especially in the middle of the night when we spent hours trying to get her back to sleep.

October Highlights

A few random pictures that didn’t earn their own post:

Ryan’s face pretty much sums up how he felt when he discovered the pumpkin patch we went to wasn’t open (we tried to go in the morning with a play group, but they didn’t open until the afternoon); Eliza was delighted when she discovered her daddy outside mowing the lawn; she stood there squealing and watching for a long time.

Eliza turns 10 months! She has 4 teeth on top and 2 on bottom. She crawls and walks along things like a pro. No real words yet, but lots of “na na” and “da da” babbling. She eats a ton and eats almost anything, and you’ll definitely hear from her (a very loud screech / scream) if you try to stop feeding her before she’s done!

 

A little picnic on the trampoline while having a play date with friends; Bennett and Ryan reading on their ‘boat’

A little Sunday picnic and walk at Seward Park in Seattle with Camille and Bryce. We enjoyed a nice walk around the park loop, skipping (or in Bennett and Ryan’s case, throwing) rocks in the water, and seeing the sunset.

Ryan’s “Mom, take a picture of me” pictures while shopping at Old Navy and Costco; Bennett’s letter to Santa

My sister Jessica came up from Portland for a few days to help us get things sorted / de-junked and packed up for our move. Camille came and helped a lot too – I felt like we made good progress with the 3 of us working, despite the 6 kids (Jess brought 2 of her 4, plus my 3 and Avery) running around wild.

below: Asher & Eliza watching their big brothers out the window; this is the best shot I could get of the 3 little ones. At least they are all sitting still, looking, and not crying :)

Fall Trip to Utah {October 8-12, 17-19}

Nate was asked to be on the planning committee for his MBA class’s one-year reunion, so we had been planning on a quick trip to Utah in the fall; when we made the decision to move to Luxembourg, we decided to extend the trip so we could spend some time with family before moving, and threw in a little house-hunting trip to Luxembourg for Nate, Eliza and I while the boys stayed with their grandparents.

The MBA reunion was great – things seemed to go as planned, it was really fun to see our friends and catch up, and it was fun to have some kid-free time together too. We were on BYU’s campus for part of the time and up at Aspen Grove for the rest, and it was beautiful with the fall leaves in the mountains! We went on a lift ride at Sundance and hiked from the top over to Stewart Falls.  

Before the reunion, and after we got back from Luxembourg, we had fun spending time with family. The kids loved doing the mini golf at ‘scary hill’, and Kate and I had a joint birthday celebration on a Saturday afternoon that the whole family was able to come up to (including Jake & Stacey and their family). We had just missed the annual harvesting of ‘Grandpa’s Pumpkin Patch’, but they left some pumpkins for Bennett, Ryan and Eliza to pick. When the boys carved their pumpkins, Ryan requested a “fancy” pumpkin face with heart eyes and an “up and down” (zigzag) mouth.

below: Eliza enjoying the attention of Kate and Mabel, and enjoying the big red balls.

    

  As excited as we are about moving to Luxembourg, it was definitely a bittersweet trip as we had to say good-bye to everyone!