Trips to North Dakota and Utah

As soon as we put our Nebraska house on the market the morning of June 1st,  we packed up the car to head to North Dakota and Utah. However, we realized the tired on our minivan needed to be replaced before we took that long of a trip, so Ryan took the car to get new tires and me and the kids walked 2 miles around Shadow Lake while we waited for them to finish:

Road tripping during a pandemic was not ideal, but we made the best of it. There were a lot of fast food meals eaten on a blanket on a tiny patch of grass by the road, plus a lot of bathroom trips into gas stations with masks on:

Yay for getting to Grandma and Grandpa Schuetzler's house in North Dakota!

The kids spent a lot of time in the hot tub with their cousins:

We left the kids with Grandma and Grandpa Schuetzler in ND, then Ryan and I drove out to Utah Valley to look for a home! One morning we did drive in Provo a bit and walked around the Provo City Center Temple:

We spent three days looking for a house and ended up putting an offer in on one in Lehi. Someone way outbid us on that one though, so we didn't get it. Our realtor did a video chat walk-through of a house in Vineyard that went on the market the next week, and we put an offer in on that one, and it was accepted!

The kids had a blast with Ryan's parents, younger siblings, and their cousins:

They went to a national park where they hiked, had a picnic, and saw some buffalo!

They went to a fun park:

Hyrum learned how to mow the lawn and went golfing:

They even got to see a ND treasure: The Enchanted Highway!

And of course, they got lots of treats, like shaved ice and ice cream!

 

We got to celebrate Ryan's birthday with his family there too when we got back from Utah:

Exactly two weeks after we left Utah, I flew back there by myself to see the house we were under contract for and to go through it for the inspection. I had two long layovers in the STL airport (St. Louis):

I had some extra time while I was there, and I was not visiting anyone due to Covid-19 and I was trying to social distance, so I ended up going to see some of the temples in Utah Valley.

Jordan River Temple:

Oquirrh Mountain Temple:

Draper Temple:

Mount Timpanogos Temple:

Provo Temple:

 

Payson Temple:

I ended up liking the house enough that we decided we're for sure buying it! I headed back to NE the next morning, and the next time we'll be in Utah we'll be moving there!