Our Big Move

And so the big day came where we finally moved. It was actually over several days. We moved out of our house on a Monday and into our dear friend's, The Sharp's, house. They let us stay there for a few days so we could finish packing up the truck and cleaning our house and get our keys turned in and all that super fun, stress-free stuff done.

(I lie. S T R E S S should have become my middle name)

Just take a gander at what our house looked like at midnight the night before Andy was scheduled to leave with the moving truck:

We were a little behind schedule, if you can't tell. Luckily, that guy up there in that picture (Dan, Andy's super awesome, generous, and kind cousin) stayed with us until about 2 or 3 AM (when he had to go to work the next morning at 7 AM) and helped us get most everything into the truck.

Andy didn't end up leaving on Monday, or even Tuesday. On those days, we were trying to fit odds and ends into any possible crevice we could find, and also making these kind of decisions, like, "Do we really need this couch? Or that old 1,000 pound, 10 year old TV? Or that baby swing?" (the answer to that was, of course, NO! And I gave it to my friend who was pregnant with a surprise baby :) We left several things behind that just couldn't possibly fit, that we also didn't really need. And then Jean (my dear, dear friend Jean) came over and helped me scrub that house from top to bottom. She is so sweet. Andy finally left Wednesday morning. He drove off in that big white rental truck, towing our little black Maxima behind him, with my two baby boys strapped in tight next to him. I watched him drive away from our house, and I started to cry. I turned in our keys on Thursday, and on Friday, I picked up the 3 kids a little bit early from their last day at school, and we were off. Off on our new adventure... 

 Andy was on a time schedule because he was trying to make it to Utah by Friday for a job interview. And because he left Wednesday instead of Monday, he was trying to hurry. Unfortunately, he didn't take into account that he would only be able to go about 35 miles at times with this huge, heavy load going through the mountain passes of West Virginia. He didn't end up arriving until Saturday morning. Poor guy. He also told me that after the first day, Magnus pretty much cried the rest of the trip, at least, whenever he was in the truck. They would get to their hotel at night and he would be so happy, jumping on the beds and laughing and stuff, and then the next morning, Andy would strap him back into his carseat, and he would just start crying. He said by the last day, Magnus finally stopped the crying, but he was just in a kind of daze. He was so sad and kept asking for mommy. Oh, break my heart :( I was so glad he took those little boys with him, though!

 watching movies

 Look at that pouty lip on Bear...

 Here's proof that they were happy for some of the time!

 Magnus driving the Big Rig

 Sleepy boys

 "Are we there yet?"

 Driving up to the kids' school was a sad moment for me. I know I have said it a million times, but I loved their school.

 All snug and cozy and ready to hit the road. We had Sadie in the back of the car in her crate, and she was a super traveler.

 Leaving the lovely tree-lined roads of Virginia

I left Friday afternoon and drove all the way to Kentucky that night where Andy's sister Breanna lives. We stayed with them for the night and then we were so happy to have company on the rest of our journey. Bree and her 3 kiddos caravaned with us the rest of the way to Utah because she was coming for a visit the weekend we were moving home. Couldn't have been more perfect!

 Trying to pass the time and illegally take pictures while I drive

 I bit all my nails off (and I don't even bite my nails) on Saturday night trying to stay awake while we drove to our pit stop of Lexington, Nebraska

We hit some super scary weather Saturday night. There was some crazy lightning and thunder and when the rain started falling, I had never seen anything like it. I had to pull over because my wipers couldn't wipe it away fast enough. I couldn't see 2 feet in front of me. I was terrified, and shaky, and I ran over (with an umbrella) to Bree's car from mine, after I pulled over, to tell her I was going to wait it out for a few minutes until it slowed down, and when I got back to my car, I was soaked head to toe. (How's that for a run-on sentence?!) It finally slowed a bit, and we continued on our way.

 On Sunday morning, after we got going, my check engine light turned on. "Oh, yay," I thought. But, The Beast didn't let us down. He kept on going, even though this past fall he was 16 years old! What a trooper. And guess what? The check engine light is STILL on. How's that for awesome? haha :)

 I never drink soda or caffeine, so you would think these would work, right? You would be wrong if you thought yes. I swear, they made me more tired. And they were absolutely disgusting.

 The plain boring state of Nebraska... or Wyoming, I don't know or care.

 More sleepy kids

 The famous Missouri Arch ( I guess this picture is out of order. I don't care, I'm not moving it.)

 And sweet success.... we finally made it! Bug-splattered windshield, check engine light glowing, nails bitten down to the nubs, and all. My mother welcomed us with a delicious Sunday dinner, and it was so good to see my husband and kiddos!

It was not good, however, to see the mess awaiting me at our new rental home:

 Sheesh. We got to work early Monday morning and were were pretty much unpacked a couple weeks later. Although, we do have about 3 or 4 boxes left to unpack. A couple of them are in the garage and some of them are in the spare bedroom closet. I'm not sure what's in them, and I don't really care. I obviously haven't needed it, so I should just throw them away!

 These are the most important boxes of the lot, of course. My shoes! All 52 pairs of them.... that's happiness right there.

I kid, I kid. I am happy to be back in Utah, even though it has been quite an adjustment. And it was pretty rough for the first few months. Good thing for family, and their endless loving support. 

And that's the story of our move. Good times, am I right?