From the end of April to the beginning of June, things went topsy-turvy for our family. It was even crazier than telling a Kindergartner to juggle six hula hoops!
The madness was caused by a life changing decision that Jeremy and I were nervous and excited to make. After a lot of discussion, prayer and soul searching, Jeremy accepted a marketing job with a completely different company: Bumble Bea Seafood.
This was a big deal. It meant that we would be moving to downtown San Diego, California. And the transition was going to be a fast one.
We were excited for a new life in San Diego. We would have better climate year round, be closer to family, have better amenities, be close to beaches, and get a nice pay raise. Jeremy would be able to move forward in his career. We felt like this was an answer to many of our prayers.
But we were also heartbroken! Jeremy had been with Hormel foods for over 12 years. The company was like family to us. Six of those years were in Minnesota. That is Dallin’s entire life! There were many exciting things happening for our family right here in Austin that we didn’t want to leave. Jeremy had just been put in charge of Hormel Peparoni all but 3 months ago. My career had grown a lot with my home music studio thriving, the HHH field trips growing, and my jobs in the schools were paving new opportunities for me. Tanner had recenlty qualified for an elite academic program in the district called Pi Academy and was scheduled to begin that fall.
A part of us wondered if saying goodbye to Austin was a stupid idea. We had to remind ourselves we had felt really good about moving. We had to remind ourselves that there were many aspects of Jeremy’s work that were not ideal, how the winters were affecting our family, how our goals for financial independence could be better achieved elsewhere, and how we missed being closer to family. I had to remind myself there will always be more projects and jobs for me elsewhere. And there will be so many more opportunities for Tanner and Dallin in a bigger city.
But one thing that couldn’t be replaced by moving was our church family and all our friends in the community. Leaving them was not going to be easy. To say that I was overwhelemed with emotion during this time is an understatement.
We told Bumble Bee “yes” right after Easter. They wanted Jeremy to begin his new job on April 29, but that was only two weeks away! Jeremy convinced them to wait until May 20, which gave him just four weeks. Could we really pull that off? We wanted to let the boys finish their school year in Minnesota. And I had already committed to working a longterm sub job for an elementary music teacher for the last 6 weeks of the school year. School didn’t end until June 6. We decided there was no getting around it. Jeremy would have to start his new job without us.
For the next two weeks, we QUIETLY started to get things ready for the move. We bought plane tickets, researched moving methods, prepared for a garage sale, and browsed San Diego homes for rent on Zillow. We had to do it quietly because Jeremy didn’t want to tell Hormel until he could formally give them two weeks notice on May 3. (He wasn’t sure how Hormel would take the news). And since Austin is a small town, the only way to keep things under wraps until Jeremy was ready to make his announcement was to tell NO ONE! Especially not Tanner and Dallin. Those two weeks of keeping everything hush-hush was very difficult. Every day, parents and coworkers asked me about my summer plans to teach music camps, and I had to say that I wasn’t sure yet. To some freinds, I mentioned that Jeremy was being offered some attractive job opportunities, but I didn’t tell them he already accepted one. I felt like a giant liar!
Navigating our schedules during this time was a big balancing act. May is a crazy month all on its own with field trips, piano recitals, and school concerts (one of which I would be directing with my sub job!). So to add moving into the mix was just insane. Before I knew it, our schedules were packed and overflowing. We had a family photo shoot at the Nature Center to commemorate our life in Austin. We did Dallin’s birthday, and we managed to squeeze in an early birthday party for Tanner. (photos and stories about their birthdays will come in a later posts). I also was still teaching the family music class with Macphail for a few more weeks and doing piano lessons until June 1. I felt like everything we learned in Puerto Rico about not getting too busy had to be thrown out the window in order to get through this stage of our lives.
We were honored to attend the first communion for our Gabrielson friend. He was so excited. It was a great expierence for the boys to visit their church and see how they take the sacrament. Afterward, Lacey had a beautiful breakfast spread for us at her home. They shared a special Easter treat with us. It is shortbread smothered with homemade pistachio pudding and topped with cream. Harry likes to add Jelly Beans. The pudding alone was delicious and I want to add this treat to our Easter family traditions. It was weird for me to watch the kids playing together, knowing it would be one of their last times, and not being able to tell Lacey.
Opening gifts, I was able to get all the kids in one shot. They were too busy otherwise!
One thing on my bucket list that I really wanted to do before moving was sing a song with Misha Stanley and Amanda Gilbert at church. Five months earlier, the three of us were standing next to each other to sing a xmas song at a church activity. The Holy Ghost spoke strongly to me, “You need to sing with these women again!” I knew we would make an amazing trio.
I asked my friends if they would sing the Olve Tree with me soon and could it be before May 20? They understood later why I wanted to get a date chosen quickly. I chose this song because it is about gathering Israel during the Last Days, which is something that all three of us have shown excitement about.
Jayne Ekins was our amazing accompanist. We practiced a few times and got our solos and harmonies all figured out. When we sang during Sacrament meeting, we were told it sounded absolutely beautiful and that there was an amazing spirit as we sang. I agree! Brent Henry said it was the best muscial number he’s ever experienced in church, which coming from him meant a ton. It was a big highlight of the month for me! I am so grateful those ladies were willing to perform with me. It’s an experience I will treasure my whole life.
I wasn’t able to get a picture of all four of us together. But here are ones of me with each of these amazing ladies.
Misha and Me (taken on my last Sunday with her)
Amanda and Me (taken at our goodbye picnic)
Jayne and Me (taken at Easter)
The boys played in the yard a bunch as the weather got nicer. They got more independent with running around the neighborhood to play with different friends. It was so much fun to see them having so much fun, and to reflect on how their playing has evolved over the years as they have grown up here.
I jumped right into my fulltime sub job with no problems! I had to be in charge of the Spring Concert at Sumner Elementary (grades 1-4), and I had 3 weeks to put it all together. Mrs. Tharp had the kids geared up for a few songs before I got there, and then I prepared the kids with the rest. My cellphone became a helpful tool because I taught at two different schools for this job. I took a picture of this CD as a reference for some songs I was using and now it is a big reminder to me of how inspired I felt planning lessons and songs for the concert. I decided to include some patriotic songs with Memorial day and 4th of July on the horizon. I also used my sign lanuguage skills to teach the kids to sign with these songs. And I was forced to learn how to use the newer versions of iTunes!!
I took a picture of the rhymes the 1st graders came up with for Down By the Bay so that I could type up the lyrics during one of my planning periods at Neveln Elementary the following day.
I took shots of my lesson boards at Sumner Elem in case they got erased. I worked at Sumner Tue, Thrus Fri and at Neveln Mondays and Wednesdays.
Both places had the COOLEST music equipment and amazing students. I was in Music Teacher Heaven the entire time! I was also really proud of myself because I did all my lesson planning at the schools. I know it’s hard to believe, but I met my goal to not do any teaching work at home. Woohoo!
Jeremy organized a bunch of his memorabilia while he packed the library. He found some pretty funny letters and pictures that his siblings sent him while he was serving a church mission in Texas.
May 3rd arrived! Jeremy told his superiors the news. His boss was really disappointed. They had a great talk about the reasons Jeremy was leaving. When asked “What can we do to keep you here?” Jeremy said, “Can you let me work in San Diego?” Of course, they couldn’t.
When the boys came home from school, we read them a social story that I had created for them explaining everything about the job offer from Bumble Bee, how we made the decision, how we are going to miss Austin, and the exciting things about San Diego. (I think the social story was just as much for me as it was for the boys.)
As expected, Tanner was furious to hear the news. He yelled and screamed, tried to hit us and tried to ruin the furniture. Jeremy grabbed and cradled Tanner, who started balling and balling. After about 20 minutes of crying, Jeremy laid down with Tanner in his room for another 15 minutes while Tanner continued to cry. While this was taking place, Dallin didn’t show much emotion. He frowned and said “I don’t want to move either.” I told him I know it’s hard. But then he read ahead in the book (which was just on the computer in digital format) and said “But look! It says we will live near the beach and LegoLand! Tanner, we get to live next to the beach!”
Tanner was able to finally calm down so we could read the rest of the book. It was a rough afternoon. The boys seemed comforted to know they were going to finish the school year with their current friends and teachers.
We had a bonfire with the Brolsma’s that evening to tell them about our move. They knew for awhile that Jeremy wasnt thrilled with his job and that he was ready to get out of Austin. Kristin said, “I knew you were just having us over to break up with us!” But we assured them that Jeremy and I were still coming to their wedding, which was taking place end of June after we would be gone.
We spent the rest of the evening figuring out how to cook campfire muffins inside orange peels. We were really succesful and it was delicious!!
Dallin, Tanner and Caden all played really well together. They ran all over the yard and taught Caden how to climb the climbing tree. This trio had been getting lots of playtime in lately because of the marriage class that we were doing with Riley and Kristin to help them prepare for their new life together. I almost forgot that we did the class every Sunday evening for 7 -8 weeks during this time. It was super tricky with our schedules, but the three boys played together at Grandma Serena’s house while the adults had the class at Renee Anderson’s home.
The next day, I helped host our annual family event at the HHH called History at Play. We had a really great turn out. I was stationed in the master bedroom teaching kids how to make button spinners and something else that I cannot remember.
The boys explored the home with Jeremy and friends from school and church. They enjoyed frosting cookies, bean bag toss and tiddliwinks. There was also Raggedy Anne doing story time in the library of the home, dress ups in the living room, tea sets in the dining areas, ring toss, lincoln logs, and other historic games inside and outside. If I remember correctly, about 65 people came. Whatever the real number was, we were really happy about it!
As always, Jeremy and the boys helped me clean up after the event.
We ate out a bunch because there wasn’t a lot of time or energy to make meals every evening. I was excited that soon we would be able to eat from a much bigger selection of restaurants in SD. I still don’t understand why Applebees is so well-loved in the Midwest.
Dallin didn’t want a picture at the restaurant.
This was an evening playing outside. The boys got home from school an hour before me every day while I subbed the music job. So I hired Misha Stanley to be our afterschool nanny. She came over to our house with her two girls right before the bus would drop off the boys. She helped them get their snack and go through their backpacks and play nicely. At first Tanner was paranoid that the girls would mess up all his stuff, but then he warmed up to playing with them and was sad to say goodbye to them when the school year was over. I might have taken this picture after we waved goodbye to Misha one day. I guess I never got a picture of them playing with the girls.
Our garage sale was a big success! That’s in large part because of Riley and Kristen helping us move everything onto our driveway, putting up signs and price tags, buying stuff from us and bringing us doughnuts.
I was really excited to get rid of so much junk. Downsizing had become a recent dream of mine after being inspired by the FIRE and minimalist communities online. Finally, we were going to get out of our 3300 sq ft, 4 bedroom 4 bathroom home to a place with 1200 sq ft, with hopefully just 1 or 2 bathrooms and 2 or 3 bedrooms, which would be much more manageable for me. I had no problem saying goodbye to half of our furniture, including our Ca King bed, 3 dining tables, and our entire family room furniture and decorations. We got rid of 200+ books, half of all toys and games, half of my kitchen supplies, the remainder of our baby stuff, and half of my craft supplies.
Dallin made this funny holder for Tanner’s birthday balloons. Remember, we did their birthday parties during this time too, which I’ll blog about later.
Oh yah, it was also Mother’s Day that weekend. Thank goodness for the boys’ school teachers putting something together for mommies. Otherwise, Jeremy and I would have completely forgotten about it. Dallin planted a flower in a little starter dish for me.
Tanner made a scavenger hunt for me, and I found his gift outside. It was a beautiful ceramic bowl he made for me in Art class! He really wanted to paint it turquoise for me, but he said that wasn’t one of the color choices. I was really impressed with his skills!
Dallin lost his first tooth!! He just tugged on it a little and said it was out!! He was really happy about it. A couple weeks later, his second tooth was ready to come out, but he did not want it to. He said he was nervous about the blood like when his first tooth came out. I had to yank it out for him. So let it go down in the record books that both of my boys pulled out their own frist tooth and then both boys chickened out for their second tooth and mommy had to intervene to get them out.
As soon as Jeremy announced his departure from Hormel, people came out of the woodworks all over the company to tell him how much he was going to be missed. People thanked him for things he had no idea anyone had appreciated about him or his work. He couldn’t believe he had made such an impact on so many people, and there were moments where he second-guessed his decision to leave. We learned an important lesson here: Don’t wait until someone is leaving to let them know how important they are to you and your team. Sometimes the people you value the most have no idea about it, and that lack of knowledge greatly influences their decsions.
The Epsilon Agency team that he collaborated a lot with at work made Jeremy this awesome goodbye present. It’s a poem about him leaving Hormel, and they included every brand that he worked on while there:
Heading West
In the Valley of Fresh you started your post,
So the Natural Choice is to head back to the coast.
The road ahead is as smooth as Skippy
You’ll pep it up there like you did with Hormel Peparoni.
Best of luck, it’s all sunshine and Bumble Bee ahead.
Jeremy and Tanner took home a bunch of Jeremy’s office stuff one night. Tanner had fun pretending to give a presentation in a conference room.
Friday, May 17 was our Spring Concert day at Sumner Elem. We followed the normal performance schedule for the school, which meant that the whole school performed in the concert three times during the school day. (Crazy, I know!) Thanks to the gracious help of many staff members and teachers, I pulled it off with a huge success!!
We used the whole length of the gym for our stage.
Orff instruments stage left
Risers center stage
African drums stage right
I was given a wrist corsage from all the teachers. I was pumped!!
Each grade level performed one after the other. I made sure they each had a high energy song with professional recording tracks to accompany them and actions or sign language that I choreographed. The other two songs helped show-off the learning that students had accomplished during the year with acapella folk songs, dancing, rhythm compositions, and/or playing instruments. The fourth grade played two songs on the recorders, which included improvising to jazz music. Here was the concert outline. And yes, we did it three times during the one school day.
Fourth Grade Recorders
No Math with the Jazz Kittens
Hot Cross Buns
First Grade
Down by the Bay
Sol Mi songs on Orff instruments
Funga Alafia on drums
Second Grade
Sarasponda singing and folk dance
Rain on the Green Grass with instrument compositions
This Land is Your Land with sign language
Third Grade
Old Brass Wagon with folk dance and new dance moves
Tideo with Orff
America the Beautiful with sign language
Fourth Grade Choir
My Future is Out There
Forever Learning
Teachers and parents had the NICEST compliments to say about the concert. They were especially impressed with the kind of energy and expression the kids had as they were singing and making music, that it brought them to tears to see the children so joyful. Mission accomplished! I had a ton of fun, too.
That same day was Tanner’s spring concert at Banfield Elem. I was bummed that I wasn’t able to see it. Fortunatley, Jeremy was able to attend and document for us. At Banfield, each grade level performs separately just one time during the day. It was really interesting to experience the pros and cons of different concert schedules, something to put in my back pocket for the future. Tanner is the kid in the middle of the back row, blue shirt.
Tanner loved all the songs he got to learn from Mrs. Zerke. They played Orff instruments, danced and sang. They also did a little poem for mother’s day. We are going to miss Banfield, Mrs. Zerke and all the teachers there so much!!
That evening, I got to be wild and crazy with Kristin at her bachelorette party. We had dinner at Four Daughters Winery and then went to Torge’s to dance. I don’t wanna brag, but I brought a lot of life to the dance party.
Then Jeremy left. This was an important milestone during the madness!! If you are feeling exahausted at this point by how much we were doing, YES. That is correct!
Here’s me barely digesting everything going on while visiting with Leighsa.
Here’s me barely digesting everything going on while visiting with Leighsa.
Here are some adorable pictures of Dallin at school during this time. His teacher, Miss Leathers, posted pictures and updates on FB of all the fun things the kids did in class. Regretfully, I don’t think I have any pictures of Dallin with Miss Leathers.
That following Monday, Jeremy began his new job!! This is the view from his office desk. It is in a historic building that overlooks the Petco baseball stadium.
During his frist week, he did a ton of cuttings to get more familiar with all the products.
We talked almost every day. The boys didn’t get to talk to their Daddy that much while he was gone because by the time I was home from teaching and done with family music class or piano, it was time for bed. I am really grateful to the ward members for bringing us some meals on our busiest days while Jeremy was gone.
Jeremy sent me lots of pictures while riding a bike around town looking for a place for us to live…
Meanwhile, back at home, I was cherrishing some calm moments with me kids.
I wasn’t the only mama flying solo at our house. This mama duck built a nest right next to the curb and our mailbox. She sat on her 3 eggs for what seemed like 12 weeks. We kept an eye on her and started to get worried that she was still nesting after such a long time. In the end, her little eggs turned out infertile and they got eaten by either the mama or other animals.
I tried to do a lot of packing while Jeremy was gone. (We paid for movers, but we had to do the packing.) When I made it to my dresser, I wanted to remember all the pictures that Dallin had made for me to display. I got so used to seeing them there, it felt really weird when it was time to take them down. I also decided to take pictures and then toss them, since space would be limited in our next home.
This sign was put on our bedroom door over a year ago. It says: To Dad from Tanner. Work is not fun. Playing is fun.
A portrait of Jeremy done by Tanner when he was 4 or 5 years old.
The fun with my sub job continued! At Neveln, I did a lot with improvising & Jazz, using various singing games and instruments. I reviewed rhythms they had learned throughout the year and also did a unit on African drumming. Mr. Wolf, the principal, came into class a couple times and played All Around the Racetrack with us. It was hilarious because his motion was a handstand against the wall! The fourth graders gave me a run for my money the first few days, but I whipped them into shape so that we could finish up their recorder curriculum and get into African drumming and Orff playing. It was a good feeling to hear them say they were sad when our last day of music came to an end. This picture is of a 3rd grade class that I got to sub for in their general classroom earlier this year and then with music, so I knew them a little more than the other students. I’ve got cuter pics of us up close, but don’t want to post those here.
At Sumner, the fun was almost too much for my heart to handle. The support and hands-on help that I got from all the teachers and staff for the spring concert was the most I’ve experienced in my career. I’m super jealous of the fulltime music teacher that gets to work there!
Not only did I get to bond with students while directing a super fun concert, I got to bond with them outside of music time, too. I helped them get their breakfasts, I played with them at recess, I particpated in a few assemblies and the all-school walk to the park, and I taught a drum circle class on Star Student day. As an added bonus, about 1/3 of the students I was teaching here were kiddos that I taught music to at Woodson Kindergarten Center over the years. During our last two weeks, we did African drumming, staff work, rhythmic work, and jammed our hearts out together with all the percussion instruments.
What can I say? I fell in love with everybody at Sumner in an incredibly short amount of time. It was so wonderful being there!!
And then I had to say goodbye. Forever.
It seemed like God was playing some trick on me. If we stayed in Austin, I could keep these relationships going, I could make more headway in some of the programs I’ve been involved in, I could come back to this campus and sub more, or maybe even get a fulltime job here in any of the classrooms. I doubted our decision to move. A lot.
The last day of teaching Sumner students was hard. The students knew it was our last time together. Students- “Are you going to be our music teacher next year?” Me- “No, remember, you’ll have another fun teacher.” Students- “But you’ll still come to sub for us won’t you?” Me- “I sure hope so!” It seemed pointless to tell them I was moving. I’ll always hold a special place in my heart for these amazing children.
We managed to get a playdate with Tanner and Dallin’s friend Sam from preschool. They were sooo excited to play together. When these three kids get togther, they squeel a lot. But this last time, their squeels of excitement took the cake! We had a warm rain storm, which gave them lots of energy. They just ran and hollered as loud as they could. Then they found the water running in the street gutters and squeeled some more. They had a blast trying to create dams in the gutters with rocks and grass clippings.
Watching the boys play in the gutters was such a perfect moment. I took a picture of myself watching them on the porch to help me remember all the feels I had. So much joy and trying to savor it, and trying to ignore the sadness of it being their last time to ever play together. It was so much to take in, and I am still processing all the emotions as I write this post.
Packing was kind of tricky because I would gather up things to be put in boxes, and then the boys would come play with it all. Tanner decided it wasn’t time to pack his whiteboards and markers. He drew the Book of Mormon and Bible on one board because they were doing a pretend Sunday School lesson. And on the board in front of him, he is making up math problems, just for fun.
I was so, so, SO excited to host a piano recital for my eight piano students at the Hormel Historic Home. Jeremy flew back into town the night before since it was also the weekend that we had to pack up the truck. Each of my students played a song they enjoyed from their lesson books and then a song they had composed or planned to improvise. It was really neat to see these young people showcase their learning with such confidence. Some of my students I had been teaching for 2 years. A couple of them had just joined me months prior (which made it all the harder for me to leave). These students were each amazing to work with and taught me more about how children think and learn, how music can be interpreted and expressed, and how we experience joy through music. I was also excited that these musicians had the opportunity to play for an audience on such a beautiful piano, made in 1914.
Tanner played Let’s Play Ball as a duet with me. Then he played his composition called Proudness.
Dallin played Ode to Joy as a duet with me, and then improvised his own lullaby in the key of G.
I gave flowers to all the students at the end and we got some precious pictures! I’m glad I got to take two of my students to San Diego with me, but my goodness, I have been missing my other students and their families like crazy!!
For me personally, this recital had another layer of special sentiment. The first time I stepped foot in the Hormel home was because I was going to teach a music class here. Quite literally, music brought me to the home, and once I got there, I felt a draw to keep coming back. The home inspired me to embrace the town of Austin and its history, the Hormel company, and the family legacy. To make things more magical, Lilian Hormel was a music teacher and played piano and organ. I felt a strong connection to her the entire time I worked in the home. We can assume she taught piano in the living room and had recitals with her own students here. All my experiences with this house and with teaching music in Austin came to a special culmination with this piano recital. I left feeling like I had fulfilled my potential in being like Lilian as much as I possibly could while living here.
After the recital, we had apples, cheese, crackers and cookies. I was able to give hugs to all my students and say our goodbyes. The boys enjoyed eating their refreshments in the tea nook.
Tanner and Dallin had a special guest, Brother Carolan, that came to watch them play at the recital. (Sister Carolan was not able to come). It meant so much to me that they could support the boys. I think it brought more meaning for the boys to play at the recital knowing that someone who cared about them besides mom and dad wanted to hear them play. Just look at these sweet pictures of Dan connecting with and congratulating the boys. He and Carol are such loving primary teachers and we have missed them a lot!!
The recital guests were allowed to explore the home a little, so of course the boys had to say hello to everything they love about the house.
This was one of my last days at the home and I soaked it up. I sat in my favorite rooms and told the home thank you for all the stories it has taught me and inspried me with, and all the experiences it allowed me to have with my family. Yes, I balled my eyes out in the atrium. Knowing it was the last event I will be involved in at the HHH made it really hard. (I do hope to come back when I publish my first book).
Dallin was sitting so adorable on our way home. Such a happy little spirit.
We had the rest of Saturday to pack, but there was a ton of work to do (the movers would be here in 2 days to load up the truck). We were really behind and stressing big time. Lori Henry came over to help us fill boxes. She was a miracle worker with all our fragile items. As we packed, we had some great visits. We were also making pretty good progress, but there kept being stuff everywhere to pack or throw away. I could not believe how much junk we still had laying around even after our garage sale and my weeks of constant sorting and vetting.
That evening, we were fed a delicious dinner at Kellie Benning’s house with the Gabrielsons. Bittersweet to eat and visit with such great friends. The kids had fun running around the yard and playing on their bounce house. My goodness, there were so many goodbyes happening all at once, it was getting very overwhelming.
The madness was almost over. Or was it just beginning?!?
Moving day was right upon us, and that deserves a post of its own!
