Corwin and Judy Bunkall lived in the same home in Taylorsville for 49 years. They moved into this home a few months before Jill was even born. They have added on and renovated a few times, but it's been the same address for 49 years (5866 Surrey Road).
Last summer, though, they made the hard decision to move. They have been building a new home, closer to us, in Riverton. Their new home is in a 55 and older community. It will have one level living (with a basement as well) and the yard will be taken care of by the HOA. For months, they've anxiously watched the progress on their home and have been so excited to see it near completion. It will be nice for them to have fewer stairs to manage and less yard work to do. They're also excited to have some new features, like a master bath and walk-in closet.
There were some challenges with timing the sale of their home and being able to move into their new home. So, the Bunkalls hired movers to do the heavy lifting and take the big furniture and boxes and put them in storage for a few weeks. The family then helped move lots of the little boxes and odd shaped items (like things from the garage) and stored them at our house and the Roundy's house.
Jill spent a lot of time helping over the last few weeks, getting things boxed up and cleaned. On April 12th, moving day finally arrived. Jill and the kids helped during the day and then I came after work. We loaded a lot into our trailer, where it would stay until their house was ready. When the work was done, we grabbed a last farewell picture, but Jill had left to run Alyssa to volleyball practice and missed it.
We stored the odd-sized items in our trailer for about a month, until the Bunkalls could move into their new home. They will be staying with us for that time and we're excited to have that time with them in our home.
Jill has felt a bit sad at saying goodbye to her childhood home. It was a wonderful place to grow up and then to visit. We've all made so many happy memories in this home. We are also looking forward to making new memories in their new home. It's been fun to see how happy Corwin and Judy are with this change.
This Winter/Spring Alyssa has been playing club volleyball for Club GSL. She loves volleyball but was really nervous to play, because she was unfamiliar with club ball and she didn't know anyone. It turned out to be a wonderful experience. She made great friends and was even voted team captain by her teammates. She learned a lot and really progressed in her volleyball skills.
Alyssa practiced every Tuesday and Thursday from 4:00-6:00 pm at Sport City and had tournaments about once a month up in Syracuse or Farmington. The tournaments were Friday evenings and all day on Saturdays. It was a big time commitment for Alyssa (and for us) but it was completely worth it.
Alyssa got so much better playing volleyball. Her serves, especially, really improved. During one game they played, Alyssa scored 13 straight points! The score was 2-2 and when she was done it was 15-2!
Between games we would rest our eyes.
Grandma and Grandpa came to watch her play during her last tournament.
At her last tournament all the girls began crying they were so sad it was over. They were also tears of happiness, because of a great season. We're so glad Alyssa had such a good experience playing.
A man I knew from Ecuador was in town; his name is Vicente Cedeno. I went down to Provo to visit with him for an hour before he went back to Quevedo. It was great catching up with him and he was able to share lots of good updates of what is happening with the church in Ecuador.
Riverton City has a city cleanup each spring and brings dumpsters to the park. I had some things that needed to be dumped, so I took them for a Saturday morning chore. It was nice to clear them out of the yard.
