Our Adventure

moving I will say started on December 15, 2009. My parents and brother had come to our house to help us with whatever we needed. We were so grateful for the help that they gave us. I don't think I have ever seen my brother work so hard. We got our moving truck that night and started to load it. The next day we finished most of the loading, just the odds and ends were left. My parents and brother left later that day. I was sad to see them go. It was so nice to live close to them for a few months. That morning we get a call from Scott's brother that he had missed his flight. (He was coming to drive one of our vehicles across for us) He was supposed to get in around 2:30 that afternoon. He ended up getting in around 7:00 that night. I was a little stressed out to say the least.

The plans for the next day were to have Scott and Kent leave early in the morning and I would leave after the kids got home from school. Scott and Kent finally got everything done and hit the road around 2:00 that afternoon. I think Kent was a little worried because he had plans to go to a Christmas party on Saturday in Utah. Good thing Scott and Kent are both crazy. They plowed through, missed the bad weather and made it in time for the Christmas party. They drove long hours and slept in the trucks at rest stops along the way. Scott made it to Oak Harbor in great time. He made it to the island on Sunday night, signed the lease to the house I had picked out 1 1/2 weeks before on Monday, and unloaded the truck with the help of some awesome friends Monday and Tuesday.

When the kids got home from school, I had them use the bathroom and we were off. As we started Kaleb starts freaking out that he had left his Christmas gift from his teacher at school. I told him that we were not going to the school to pick it up. I was ready to go and traffic was already horrible. Kaleb then informed me that he also forgot his coat. Ahh, I couldn't believe it. We had just bought him a new snow coat and I knew he would need it, so we fought 20 minutes of traffic and made it to the school. Luckily there were still a few people around that had a key to Kaleb's classroom. We found his Christmas present, but the coat was nowhere to be seen. We went to the lost and found, it wasn't there either. By this point I was not the happiest mom in the world. I think the Lord knew he needed to intervene, we were walking towards the van when a Lady came up to us holding Kaleb's jacket. I almost cried. Kaleb was so happy to see it. The lady had found it on a bench outside. We were both very grateful.

We finally got on the road by 4:30. I drove until I got tired and stopped somewhere in Louisiana. I decided to take the southern route and stop in Texas and Arizona to see our awesome friends and family. When we got into Texas the kids were so excited, they really missed it. I never thought I would ever get reeled in by Texas, but I did. The kids and I stayed in Texas for a few days, then started our drive to Arizona. We stayed in Arizona for a couple days and then headed up to Utah. When I got close to Flagstaff, it was snowing and horrible. My washer fluid motor decided it didn't want to work. It is really hard to drive in dirt covered snow and not be able to clean the windshield. I had a water bottle and would roll down the window and clean it that way. We finally made it to Salt Lake City late on the night of the 23rd. (Scott was able to order the new motor and I picked it up in Murray and he replaced it on Christmas day. By that time I didn't even need it.)

On Christmas Eve Scott flew into Salt Lake, we picked him up and then headed up to Logan for Dinner and his brothers house. We had a wonderful time, the kids loved seeing their cousins, and I loved the break. We spent Christmas Eve in a hotel. I was selfish and got my own room for the night. I was so exhausted and didn't want anyone to wake me up. I woke up at 6 am Christmas morning and went into the other room to see if the kids were awake, and they were all still sleeping. I ended up waking them all up. I should have just stayed in the same room. (All well it was nice to have the extra room and shower) We have awesome family who had set up a Christmas tree in our hotel room. It was great!

Christmas Day we spent at my brother Bill's house in Sunset. He and his wife made us a delicious meal. They were awesome and got us all gifts. (On our whole journey it seemed we would get gifts almost every where we went. The van was getting really full really fast. Scott and I felt awful, we didn't get anyone anything but our presence.) We also got to see my brother T.J. (whom we haven't seen in about 5 years) and meet his girlfriend.

The day after Christmas, we went sledding with so many friends and family. Thank you to everyone who showed up, brought chili, hot chocolate and their families. After sledding we went to a Stake Center and played basketball and had tons of pizza. It was a blast! We were so tired that we went back to the hotel and crashed after a soak in the hot tub and some Laundry room issues. Thanks Bryce for breaking into the Laundry Room. It was great fun!

Sunday Scott and the kids went to church with his sister Lorinda, and I drove down to Salt Lake to pick up my cousin Courtney. She was going to drive with us the rest of the way and help me with the kids and with the unpacking. We then drove back up to North Logan, picked up the family from church and headed up to Pocatello to stay with Scott's brother Ralph.

On Monday the 27th we headed out after Scott got a new drivers license. We made a short stop in Boise to see his sister. Then made the rest of the drive to our new home. We got in around 1:00 am and the kids were so excited to see all the presents from Santa that they did not want to go to sleep. I think we finally crashed around 3 am.

Scott left on Saturday for his training in California. He doesn't really talk much about it. Just that he was cold, tired and hungry. I thought he was going to eat us out of house and home. Lets just say he was only 15 pounds down for a few days. He has put it all back on and is happy and healthy. He does still complain about his hips every time he sits on the floor too long though.

The day before he got home he told me that he had invited someone to stay with us for a few days. His friend Jude, was moving up here too, but was going to be going over to the middle east somewhere pretty soon after he arrived and didn't want to find a place to rent just to leave for 4 months. So we had a room mate for about 3 1/2 weeks. It turned out to be great. We now have a wonderful new friend. The kids fell in love with him, and I must admit it was so nice having him around.

The Monday after we arrived, I also started to watch my friends little girl. I thought it was going to be great for Mia to have someone to play with, and the extra money would have been nice. Mia has decided that she loves to have all my attention, so the babysitting only lasted a month. I just hope the little girl is not still having nightmares about Mia. Lets just say, Mia was not the nicest child.

So between unpacking, watching extra kids, having an extra house guest and all the other daily stuff going on I just haven't had much time to blog. Things I thought were settling down, but Scott and I finally found someone willing to give us a dog. After being turned down 4 times, and thinking we were never going to get one, Maya has found a place in our home.

Sorry for the long post hopefully it didn't bore you too much.