Just a Few Minutes

Since Zoe decided to take an early nap, I decided to sit down and update as much as I can while she is down. Even though our apartment looks like this...

There are a ton of things I should be doing, but I have put this off for so long that I am neglecting everything else and writing as much as I can. Here is a day by day account and pictures from our move. (Feel free to skip this enormous and boring post!)

Thursday, October 30, 2008

We took Maggie to school and then went to pick up our moving truck. We were lucky enough that Glenn's company paid for us to have a Penske instead of Ryder or Uhaul. We have heard many nightmare experiences involving Uhaul trucks. After we got the truck taken care of Glenn, Zoe and I went to have breakfast at Taco Cabana. Glenn wanted one last meal from Taco Cabana and who am I to argue with that?

We got the truck home and immediately started hauling boxes and furniture out of the house. We had some men from our ward come over and help as well as the missionaries. We appreciate all the help we received and are grateful for the time we have spent in the Mission Bend ward getting to know the members there. We will miss many of you, but will keep your good examples and many acts of service close to our hearts.

Kristie and Hannah also came to help out. I really appreciate your help and support Kristie. I know you were a little sad and disappointed to see us go, but we love you and your family and you are always in our hearts and prayers. Especially at this time while Brent is away.

Unfortunately we did not get everything packed in the truck so we ended up with our van completely packed as well. I was hoping to have only our suitcases, blankets and pillows with us in the van. Oh well, at least we got everything done.

Friday, October 31, 2008

6:00am Bob and Sharon head out in our Penske truck.

8:00am Take Maggie to her last day at Arizona Fleming Elementary School. After dropping Maggie off we spent some time cleaning and getting last minute items into our van. We ran some errands as well. I went over to the school around 2:30 so I could get some pictures of Maggie with her class and teacher. I left just before they were dismissed because Maggie still wanted to be a "back walker" with Madison one last time. I met her at our usual spot by the telephone pole. As they were walking toward me I could see that Madison was having a very hard time. She cried everyday in Kindergarten and Mrs. Cain said she was still crying everyday this year. Then it got even worse when Maggie announced that she would be moving. It was much harder on Madison to say goodbye than it was on Maggie. Merari was not at school so we didn't get any last day pictures with her. These that we do have are from the day that Maggie played at her house while we did our garage sale.

5:00pm Fall Festival at the school. I got the girls dressed up in their Dorothy and Glinda costumes and Glenn took them down to the school to the Festival. While they were gone I did more cleaning and some loads of laundry. They weren't gone very long before I heard them coming down the sidewalk. Glenn said it was pretty pathetic and not much to do so they came home.

Randy, Natalie and Austin Brooks (Randy is Glenn's cousin) came to say goodbye and give us a Halloween treat. It was the first time that a trick-or-treater gave us the treat. Thanks guys. We are going to miss you. We wish you the best of luck in everything you do!

Today is Devon's birthday. We are sorry that we were not able to celebrate with him. He probably didn't even notice since he was having his gaming party. I was a little jealous that I couldn't have been there instead of packing boxes!

Saturday, November 1, 2008

7:00am I could no longer sleep so I got up and started cleaning bathrooms and baseboards.

8:00am Glenn and Zoe came upstairs to find me. Maggie was still asleep so we tried to work quietly until she was up.

10:00am Our van was completely packed and we were headed out of the driveway!

Just before we reached the Oklahoma border Glenn passed a diesel truck and started laughing. He was pointing to the trailer and I look over and this is what I saw...

He didn't have the signs warning us of his over sized load!

4:46 Enter Oklahoma! We can officially say "to hell with Texas"! (that quote comes from another story for another day) We drove to Perry, Oklahoma where we decided to stay for the night.

This is the Oklahoma sunset we saw on our way to the hotel

Sunday, November 2, 2008

7:00am We are on the road again. A whole lot earlier than we realized. Glenn was up really early due to the time change that we both forgot about. Oh well, at least we have an early start which means we can get more miles under us!

At some point we entered Kansas. I didn't get a picture of the Kansas sign since it was so small and we blew right past it. I tried to get Glenn to stop on the other end, but again, it was so small we barely saw it. Kansas is a pretty flat dry boring state. During the winter anyway. What exactly to they grow in Kansas? This is what we found...

Wind Generators

Wheat

Oil Pumpers

Corn

The back seat was very quiet and I turned around to find this...

Both girls asleep. What a very rare, but very sweet moment!

Since both the girls were asleep and I had taken some cold medicine that was making me drowsy, I decided to sleep as well. I woke up later to this...

Glenn on the phone with Russell. One of his co-workers that was very instrumental in getting him the IT position in Houston. They have become good friends and Russell was a bit upset that Glenn accepted the job in Evanston. He is also mad at me that I am extremely happy that Glenn accepted the job. Yes, I'm still smiling Russell!

4:40pm We entered Colorado. I'm sure in the Spring, Summer and Fall that Colorado really is colorful, but right now it is very uncolorful. That's probably not a word, but it was drab and kind of ugly.

But then in the distance...

Are those mountains I see? It was difficult to tell with the clouds and the sunsetting, but there they are. Waiting for us! We drove as far as Denver where we decided to stop to have dinner. We found an Olive Garden which was a very welcome break from McDonald's. While we were there we looked at hotels along the way and decided to go as far as Vail. We made arrangements at a hotel online and headed out. Thank Heaven for laptops and air cards!

It was dark by the time we got to Vail and just before our exit it started to rain and Zoe started to cry. It was a little nerve racking for Glenn to be driving in unfamiliar territory in the dark, at times pouring rain and with a crying baby in the car, but we made it. Our hotel was awesome! We found it through AAA so we got a little bit of a discount for that and then they were also doing some remodeling so they were even cheaper. We got a really nice fancy room at a resort for really cheap! How lucky is that? Our hotel the night before was a step above a roach motel so we were very pleasantly surprised to walk into this...

They gave us these cute hard hat chocolates to apologize for the construction. Apology accepted! They were yummy!! You can apologize to me with chocolate anytime.

Monday, November 3, 2008

This is the view from our hotel balcony

Who wouldn't love to wake to up to this every morning? It was beautiful!

8:00am On the road again! Driving through McDonald's...AGAIN! They messed up our order so badly. We ended up with three orders of pancakes. Not cool! My order wasn't even there. Whatever! I just ate the pancakes and we drove on. We drove for just a little while to a town called Eagle where we stopped to gas up. I was helping Zoe get cleaned up when I started smelling a hot radiator smell. We had just spent a lot of money in Houston to get out radiator fixed so I was not happy to smell that. Glenn thought it was another car, but when he walked around to my side he saw fluid running to the ground. NOT GOOD! We called AAA to find a shop in the area, but there were none so we drove to Grand Junction to a shop there. On our drive to Grand Junction Zoe kept saying "Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom", so I finally turned around to see this...

BOO!

Maggie had found hats behind her and handed one to Zoe and kept one for herself. Zoe put hers over her face, but could still see out of the holes. She waved to me when I looked back. She was very proud of herself. Too funny!

I was so happy to see some color. Something other than brown so I had to take a picture of this tree. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It was a really vibrant yellow.

These mountains were somewhere between Grand Junction and Provo. I just thought it was very interesting how they had layers. It's hard to see them in the picture, but it looked like someone had stacked a bunch of Lego's together and made a mountain.

We got to the shop around noon and they checked it out and sent for the part. We asked if there was anything close that we could walk to for lunch while we waited. The guy told us that there was a Wal-Mart with McDonald's in it just around the corner. He told Glenn to go right when he left the gate and it was right there. So we did. And we walked, and walked, and walked. Maggie was starting to complain about her legs hurting and wanting Glenn to carry her. I finally said we need to stop and ask someone where it is because the farther we go the farther we have to walk back with tired kids. We went into another business and they said go here and here and blah blah blah and there it is. We walked probably another two or three blocks back in the direction we came from on the street behind the shop and there it was. We had to walk out the gate, turn to the right, walk a few feet to the next street and turn right and there it was. I really do not know how neither of us saw it. If we had just turned our heads we would have seen it. We're dorks! It turned out to be a good thing anyway. Instead of McDonald's we found a Carl's Jr. for lunch. I was hoping they would have a playland, but no such luck. When we finished our lunch we set out for our long walk back to the shop. They were just finishing up when we go back so we were back on the road at 3:00pm.

When we were getting ready to leave the shop I told Maggie that we would be staying the night at Grandma and Grandpa Brown's. She asked how long it would take to get there and I told her a few hours, but if you just relax and close your eyes for a while it will go by alot faster.

5:22 pm We entered Utah!!

I'm not sure what time it was when we got to Mom and Dad's, but not too long after getting there Glenn and I went over to Mandi's to pick up Sadie. She came and had a sleepover with us since Mandi was not feeling well. (Check out her blog for details: justinandmandi.blogspot.com) When we got back to Mom and Dad's we walked into a dance party. Starr, Landon and Camille have a fun, really high energy CD that they put on for the kids. Zoe was shakin' her money maker when we walked in and Sadie quickly joined the fun. Both the girls started spankin' their booties and jumping all over the room. Way too much fun!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Glenn got up really early and headed out for Evanston. He wanted to go to his office and meet people and get a little bit familiar with the area before we go there. Since he couldn't meet with the apartment lady until 11:00 he had plenty of time. Mom and Dad brought me and the girl's up so we could be there close to 11:00. It took just a little bit longer than anticipated so we got there closer to 12:00. As soon as we got arrived we sent my parents, Glenn's parents and the girls to go get lunch while we did a quick walk through of the apartment. When they all got back we started unloading the truck. Unfortunately, we are on the third floor, and it was very cold, and snowed off and on all day. Sometime around 2:00 Bob and Sharon left for the airport to get Sharon on her flight back home. Bob went back to Burley after dropping her off. We called the missionaries in the area and they came over to help for a few hours. Mom and I went to the school to register Maggie and then to Wal-Mart to get a few items. Moving is not only a huge headache it is also a major expense. Re-stocking pantries, bathrooms, fridge, etc. costs a whole lot of money! We stopped unloading the truck around 4:30 so Mom and Dad wouldn't have to drive home in the dark. We got some dinner and by the time we were done it was just about dark. Sorry Mom and Dad! We are grateful for all your help and appreciate the time you put in. Mom called me when they got and home to let me know they made it safely. It turns out they had blizzard contidions for most of their drive home...in the dark. Again, I'm very sorry, but we are really glad you came up with us!

Thank you Bob and Sharon for helping with the packing, the driving and the unpacking!

Maggie will start school on Monday. I thought instead of starting at the end of the week we would take a few days to unpack, get settled and try to relax a little bit.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Glenn got up early and went in to work. The girl's and I woke up when he left and couldn't get back to sleep so we got up and started our day. I did a little bit around the house and unpacked a few boxes. Both the girls were still tired and fell asleep at 10:30. Glenn came home at noon and took us to lunch at McDonald's. We have had way too much McDonald's lately, but this place is really cool. In the playland they have little tables with saddles as chairs, and the play equipment kind of looks like a log cabin. Very rustic, very cowboy, very Wyoming! After Glenn got home we finished unloading the truck and got it dropped off. We are officially moved! We found the only Mexican restuarant in town and decided to try it. Don Pedro's is no Tex-Mex, but it'll do!

Thursday, November 6, 2008

After many hours of debate I decided that I would take the girls and go stay with Mom and Dad for the weekend. I loaded up our dirty laundry and suitcases and headed out. We met Glenn for lunch then dropped off Maggie's school papers and rescheduled to meet her teacher Monday morning. We were on the road shortly after noon and arrived at Mom and Dad's shortly after two. SWEET! Just under two hours. Much better than three days!

Mom had a project ready for me when I got there. I helped her put a quilt on. I'm afraid the real project is now hers. Unfortunately I'm still not close enough that I can drop in and quilt for the afternoon.

Lindy and Cooper came over for a while. She took the kids out to play and when we were done with the quilt I went out to rearrange and clean the van. It was pretty scary and took a while to get back to clean and presentable.

Mom made biscuits and gravy for dinner. YUM! I have missed far too many of Mom's yummy meals. Maggie got to have a sleepover with Grandma in the "big bed" and Zoe and I slept in the other room. We all love sleepovers at Grandma's. I bet Grandma likes them best of all. I know there isn't much sleeping going on with Maggie in the bed.

We had fun with everyone and were so happy to get to see baby Kinley. I can't wait to be able to hold her. I hate being sick, but it is especially yucky when it prevents you from holding a new baby.

I hope that Mandi is feeling better and will be able to join in all the fun next time we go down.

I love being so close to family. Thank you to all who offered prayers on our behalf for so long. They were all heard and we are so happy and blessed. Thank you also to those that made it possible for Glenn to get this job. I don't know that any of you would be reading this but thanks just the same. I don't know how to ever repay the favors. I'm still smiling, Russell!