Back in the saddle again!

After nearly six months of missing in action the Brimhall Bunch is back. We have successfully moved all of our possessions from Lubbock, TX and now reside in St. Louis, MO. Obviously, successful in this case means tying as much stuff as possible on top of your car so it will all fit. We are so grateful that "Poppy" (Heather's Dad) came to help us with our move. Without his ingenuity we would have never been able to save those plastic laundry baskets! Ironically, we spent nearly two days of hard physical labor and strenuous mental energy to design a way that we could keep Katie's big girl house. And yet, it sits in our backyard and has never been used. In fact, it hadn't officially been assembled until yesterday afternoon (four months later). Fortunately, the reason it hasn't been used is because all of the children in our neighborhood (and there are a lot) all play out front in our cul-de-sac. As a result, they never venture in to our backyard. It really is an amazing neighborhood. After being here for several days Dad Baker nick named the subdivision "Cleaverville" because everyday that we came home the kids were out riding their bikes around the circle and the parents were sitting in their drive ways conversing. We have really loved the neighborhood and have felt very supported. As far as the house, perhaps when Baker gets into his, "I want to have a big girl house" stage he can use it. If nothing else it forced me and Dad Baker to be creative with our knots and our rope. What an adventure.

As for leaving Texas it was one of the hardest things that we have ever had to do as a family. We miss being Red Raiders and "getting our guns up." Even Baker at six months had learned the ways of the land. But we know that we are being watched over and protected and that the Lord has our best interest at heart. Although we truly miss Lubbock, and the many friends and family that we left behind, we have absolutely loved St. Louis. It is a decent size city that has an enormous amount of things to provide a family. We have been here now for almost four months and we have barely begun to scratch the surface of what is available. One thing that we didn't realize is that they officially lowered the legal driving age to four. As a result, Katie has been out exploring the sites of downtown with her little gang (the tatoo's and earrings are hard to see from this distance, but make no mistake, they are there). That little gang is Katie and her three little cousins from Orlando. We were very blessed to have them come visit us shortly after our relocation. It was nice to have Shelby and her children in our home. Having people that we love dearly that close definitely helped with the transition period. Katie continues to talk about the memories they made during their trip to St. Louis.

As I close, I want to apologize for dropping the ball on this site. I think it is a wonderul way to stay in contact with friends and family and get updates from the ones we love. There are several fun stories that I want to share regarding our move to St. Louis. As a result I have committed to try and blog one entry each Sunday. Rather than going back and trying to catch up I am going to start on our current experiences. On those weeks that I have more time I will go back and share those funny experiences from the past.

I leave you with one funny comment. Today we decided to go to a park to spend some time together as a family. We had just taken naps and needed to get out for some fresh air (I tend to get a little stir crazy on Sunday afternoons if we don't get outside the house). Anyway, the past several days have been extremely cold here in St. Louis. As we arrived at the park near our house Katie noticed a building off to our right. She immediately blurted out in her beautiful voice, "Mommy, that building is making a bad choice." Intrigued, Heather and I asked Katie about her comment. Both of us were curious to see what type of choice a buidling could make, especially if it was bad. She looked at us like we had lost our marbles and said, "It's smoking!" Heather and I both looked at each other with our sheepish grins and said, "Of course, how could we be so foolish?" Although this experience was comical, it reminded me of an important lesson. On those days when I've asked Katie to do something a bazillion times and I feel like she never listens I'll have to remember the smoking building and remind myself that some of our lessons are definitely sinking in. We love our children and are so happy for the joy they bring our family. We hope everyone is well and look forward to reading your comments.

Love, The Brimhalls