Saying Goodbye

Saying goodbye to all our friends was so hard for me. I loved our friends, our ward , our neighbors, our place. Our friends the Walshs had us over for one of our last meals in Va it was kind of ironic since they were also the first family in the ward to invite us to dinner when we moved into the ward. Our other friends the Sharps were there too so it was good to get some pictures of all the kids together one last time. Although leaving was hard and I started to cry once we hit the van.

Emily and I


One Last Wii Game

Todd and Patrick
Mia and KapriceAwe Mia and Andrew... Who knows maybe they'll meet up again someday at BYU
Or maybe these two...

The Girls saying Goodbye to their favorite Babysitter Renee

We couldn't leave without saying goodbye to the Garbage Men. Boston ran out every Friday to greet them.
Alana and Alexa our awesome neighbors/ dinner buddies, stopped by to give pictures to Kya of her walking the Poodles

Sassy saying goodbye to her best friends Lacey Anne and Oliver

So many people came to help us clean, pack, watch kids, haul away trash and load up the truck we made some really great friends in VA and they will be missed a TON!! Thank You EVERYONE!!

Crazy Fall- Part 1

Our Fall was fast and furious and stressful and crazy and depressing and fun all in one. So here's the condensed version....

By the end of August we realized that money was running out and we couldn't wait around in Virginia for Todd's job offer anymore. So with in a week we packed up the house and headed back West. Thankfully some friends of ours were headed East and they took over the remainder of our lease. It was really hard for me to leave. I felt like it was the first time we had met friends outside of school in an area where we thought we would be for a long time and I was really upset to leave them behind. But we really had no other options especially with the economy the way it was we had half our ward and our neighbors trying to find us a job so we could stay but the jobs just weren't there.

The Drive-

We left really late around midnight the first night by 2:30am I was done so we pulled into a truck stop to snooze, after 2 hours of Kaprice climbing all over me I figured I'm awake now we might as well drive, so I woke up Todd and we drove off. Not an hour later my cell rings and Todd is now falling asleep so we pulled into a Lowes in West Virginia and slept a good 3 hours. Had a little BK for breakfast and stopped into Sears to get a Headlight replaced on the Van and we were off again. We decided that we would drive until 6pm and then stop at a Hotel with a pool to give the kids a break.

We continued to follow Pratt tradition and stop at every Cabela's along the way. The one in West Virginia was HUGE and it had a whole Safari section and a laser shooting range which we had never seen before.

Boston excited to see "Boog"

Reece not so excited

Everyone took turns but Kya was an amazing shot. We ended the day in Indiana, grabbed some KFC found a dog friendly hotel with a pool and set up camp. The pool was AWESOME it felt like a hot tub, the kids had a blast and Kya swam up and back the entire pool without any floaties, she was very excited and we were very proud. Everything seemed great until we tried to go to bed. The kids were wide awake, there was shredded biscuit all over the place Todd stepped on a BBQ sauce packet which shot everywhere, Todd and I had Zero patience because we were exhausted. We finally got everyone asleep and then had to wake up pack everything back up and hit the road.By the time we loaded up, paid the bill, and got on the road later than I would have liked, we agreed we might as well push through and get this over with. Mind you the kids were PERFECT in the car, they were either sleeping, watching a movie, coloring or eating, they never complained it was so nice.

Somewhere in Nebraska where we ate breakfast and heard everyone's life story. Seriously every old person came and sat and talked with us at one point.
We stopped at some really nice rest stops and made sandwiches along the way, one even had a HUGE really nice playground with a soft squishy ground that even Reece could crawl around on. Kya felt sick a few times but we just kept her loaded up on Dramamine and she was fine. So the day we left the hotel was a 16 1/2 hr day of driving before a 4 hr nap at a truck stop followed by a 18 1/2 hour day of driving and we finally made it to UTAH! Coming over into the mountains in Utah was a nightmare it was so dark and FYI I can' t see at night and almost never drive anywhere at night. Trucks were flying past me I thought I was going to die, I was crying Todd was way ahead in the moving truck I just kept thinking I'm gonna wreck or the van will die and Todd will have no clue where we are, we had no phone coverage for most of it and to make matters worse I had no idea where we were going. Luckily I was able to catch back up with Todd and we headed for Uncle Bobby's House.
Our visit in Utah was short but it was nice to break up the trip a little bit. We were able to catch up with family and see how huge our Nephews had gotten since we last saw them and even had time to run over and see our friends Pete and Taylor from law school. The cousins had a blast outside digging in the sand, Sassy had fun with her doggy cousins, and Kya got skateboading lessons from her long lost bud PJ.

After our 2 nights in Utah it was off to Uncle Danny's house in Nyssa, OR. It was Danny's birthday and they had wanted to go to a burger place in Boise that had been on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, so we met them in Boise and then followed them home. Our visit there was so great. We were able to see their house they had bought for the first time and see our Little Niece Lauren which we hadn't seen, who's only a few monthes older than Kaprice. Todd and Danny took the boys to a Nyssa High football game and then the next night we all went to the Drive-In movie. The kids were falling apart so Jordan and I loaded them all in the van and left after the first movie leaving the boys to see the 2nd. After sacrament we headed out onto our last leg of our journey. Home to Eugene, OR.

This leg went fairly smooth until the end where shortly after leaving Bend our GPS sent us out in the boonies to go up a windy road that our 26ft truck with car trailer in tow could barley even fit and couldn't turn without taking up both lanes. Next comes the torrential downpour (Welcome to OR) we could barely see and all I can see is the back of the trailer bouncing off the side of the mountain or off the guardrail of a cliff. We finally make it into Thurston and I call Todd because the water is coming of the trailer weird so I pull up next to him at the light and sure enough we have a blow out. Luckily I went to school out here for a few yrs and new the area so we pulled down the next street and pulled into the LDS Church parking lot. Are you kidding me we're a whole 10min from my parents house and stuck. So I left Todd to call Penske and drove to my parents house. Now we have to send out 2 drivers one to drive the extra driver for our car and one to drive the car out home and Todd can drive the truck. So my Sister Kelsie drives my Dad and I out. Penske said we could just dump the trailer and they would come pick it up so we unload our car and Todd garbs the truck and we all head back to Juju and Papa's house.

August Happenings

Herndon had a really cool Trucks show for kids, it was really great. We went there and they had hard hats for all the kids. The kids loved getting to climb into all the trucks and equipment. Their favorite part was getting to use the siren on the Police Raid Truck and the demonstrations of the diggers and bobcats. And of course Firetrucks are always a hit!

Boston thought driving the raid truck was much better than riding in the back...

Riding in the back
This one is for Papa

We also kept a pet turtle for about week. While Todd was away in California interviewing we found a turtle in our backyard. I could not figure out why Sassy would not stop barking and then I finally went to investigate and there he was "Speedy". Of course we had to keep him until Daddy came home so luckily our house has so many bathrooms we had a bath tub to spare. This was our second "Pet" found at our house. We also found a frog in the garage that lived in a cookie for a few days. Kya made sure to feed her turtle veggies and take him out for fresh air a few times a day. When it was all said and done we snuck him over to our neighbors back yard and set him free.

Poop

Well I guess I can't make it at least one year without a poop blog. Like my life wasn't crazy enough with trying to pack up a HUGE house with a Husband who's M. I. A. interviewing and what not, but then I also get to clean messes like this.

I walked into Kaprice's room and the smell hit me right off the bat. We're talking ALL over the room. I didn't even know a baby could produce enough poop to make a mess that bad. All over the carpet, the door, the walls, her bed, bedding, blankets, the air mattress, not to mention her face and body. She'll never go to bed without pants on again... makes the diaper too accessible!

I'm Really Sorry Mom

Just Kidding

Juju and Papa come to Virginia

Right after Todd got back from taking the bar my parents flew in. This is the first time my Dad has come to see us so I was REALLY excited! The first thing we did was head out to Home Depot so the kids could do a workshop with Papa. We were planning on heading down to Six Flags but then my Dad was acting weird and we thought he might of had a baby heart attack so we kept it local instead. So we went to the Watermine a local little water park it was a blast. Kaprice would not get out of the water and we were there for like 7 hours. Kya went down their biggest slide I was so proud of her and Mia was a little water dog. Boston had fun too but insisted he go down on his belly on all the slides. The next day we went to the Zoo another fun day at the Zoo and it was pretty dang hot. We also went to the mall so Papa could ride the train with the kiddos and we got to see the chick-fil-a cow so the kids thought that was cool, and after a near death experience on the escalator with Mia, we had lunch and went home but not before piercing Reece's Ears. I know 3yrs old was my rule but everyone kept telling me how much she looked like Boston and I couldn't handle it anymore, not to mention my kids are tougher when they are younger it's the older they get the bigger wieners they become. So anyways she looks stinkin cute and I wish I would have done the other girls earlier too.

So I had my Mom smuggle some freezer jam across the country because her raspberry is my favorite. And after 4 days my Dad had eaten at least half the container I flipped out so my Mom sent Todd and I out to get raspberries and we brought back 3 times what we needed... Yeah for us we'll have jam forever! The kids had fun helping Juju make the jam and squishing the berries. After all the crazy running around we even managed to squeeze in a little Grandparent Photoshoot.

Kaprice Gets a Big Girl Bed!

After watching my 9mo old try to flip herself out of her crib and use monkey toe grip to climb the bars., I decided it was time for a Big Girl Bed. She loves it! She sleeps fine in it and feels so big.

Kya is a Youtube addict

Ok so we knew Kya had a gift when she could log onto the internet and check the weather before she was 3, by 4 she's surfing all the preschool gaming sites so what did age 5 bring... I found her on youtube looking up videos, mind you she's done all this without parental help, she's even picked up some German by singing to videos. These are some of her favorite videos...

4th of July Week of FUN!

These last few days have been a blast. It started Thursday when Emily and I took the kids to the Zoo. They lasted 5 hours it was crazy we got to see a lot. The weather was perfect and the kids loved getting soaked in the misters. Friday was pretty quiet I was still recouping from the Zoo trip but we did manage a trip to the park after getting to the library only to find out it was closed. Saturday started early with an 8am Breakfast in the church parking lot. It was so much fun the food was good and they had lots of activities for the kids including a giant sling shot for water balloons and a rocket launcher that launched 2 Liters with water in them and let's not forget Boston's favorite the Firemen with their Big Truck. After the breakfast we swung by Home Depot so the girls could make their monthly project a picnic caddy which was great because I used them later that night for our BBQ. After home Depot it was naptime, followed by a Gorilla Glue incident I'll explain later but just know you should always read the label before using and wear gloves! We ended the evening with a small BBQ with the neighbors and some friends. Than we had smores and went out front for fireworks. I had gotten the kids glow stick braclets which I have to say was the hit of the night. Next year forget spending money on the fireworks I'll just hit up the dollar tree again for more glow sticks!

Buddies at the Zoo

Baby Mia was chilling in her stroller so she missed this shot
Kya thought driving the truck was pretty coolBoston's Heaven
Our little Patriots

These two were eyeing the brownies
Getting the fire ready for Smores
Yummy Smores
Um I'll take that
Back off Kaprice

Our Neighbors The McCubbins

Getting ready for the fireworks

We ended our weekend of fun with a visit with some friends from Law School today the girls were really escited and it was a great visit Thanks Janalee!