It was emotionally draining leading up to the move and thinking of leaving a place and friends that we loved. (I want to cry right now thinking about it but I am in the coffee shop writing this so people will probably think I am a nutcase). Right before the packers came we found out our Pilot had hail damage from when it was transported to Texas to be shipped but we didn't know how bad it was. I was thinking, great this move is going well and boy did it get worse!
The packers were awesome and I am grateful for that because they helped to make the week as smooth as they possibly could. I don't remember what day of the pack-out it was but we discovered Leo had Hand Foot and Mouth and the next day DAVE got it! This is something that adults don't usually get but when they do it is so bad. Needless to say the next few days were awful. Dave felt so bad but I could not do it by myself so he was forced to do so many things with huge blisters all over (later his finger and toe nails pretty much fell off!-another thing that happens when adults get it). Also the day we were supposed to hit the road for our cross country drive the home owners of the house we were renting showed up 15 minutes after the moving truck pulled out of our driveway. Who does that?! It was super frustrating because we still had a week in the house and Dave was coming back with our house cleaner after he got back to Utah to clean and get the house ready. With them showing up it also put us way behind on our scheduled departure time from Utah which made us only get 2.5 hours into our 7 hour drive before we stopped for the night at the Little America in the middle of nowhere Wyoming.
This sweet girl turned 7 months old in the middle of all the chaos. I can't believe how little she was! This seems like forever ago.
Every night after the movers left it was a mad rush to try and get the room ready that they would be in the next day. I made them do our bedroom last and I swear things just got thrown in bags and boxes because I was so unorganized. I hate moving and I am going to really try to make our next move better. It is so stressful and hard to figure out what you may want/need for the next 8 weeks until you see your things again. This was a giant pile of clothes that I kept out to bring to Ohio, I think I should have packed less.
The day we left Quinn had her preschool graduation. It was super cute and we were sad to be leaving her school. We absolutely loved it and she learned so much. She still talks about her "school in Utah" all the time.
Leo had hand-foot-mouth and handled it like a champ. Dave had it a little more rough. He still says I didn't cut him any slack but really, there were no options at that time! This was the kids and I camping out in the living room because Dave was upstairs in our bedroom sick and all the other rooms in the house were full of boxes.
This was at some point during the week when Quinn was losing her mind in the backseat of the car outside of Petsmart. I think it was how we were all feeling that week but it isn't really appropriate for me to act like that- at least not in public. :)
We ate out a lot that week because I did not have the metal capacity to cook food. This was Finely's first time sitting in a highchair out at a restaurant. And this picture is really making me want some Cracker Barrel. I think the thing I will be the most excited about when we go back to the states will be eating so much American food!
Leo was not letting go of his baby doll because he didn't want it to end up in boxes. Moving with kids is funny and watching them try and figure out what in the heck is going on.
We spent much of the week like this, looking like garbage and carrying Fin around while we tried to get things done. But man how cute is she?! I can't believe how big she is already.
The process of piling all of our crap into a giant truck and those mountain views!!!
At some point this is how Leo fell asleep. On the floor of the kitchen throwing a fit over a banana. The packers just walked around him because we were all so tired that I didn't move him. Moving with 3 kids under the age of 4 is rough!
We said "see you later" to great friends! I don't have pictures of all our goodbyes but I swear we met the best people ever in Utah. We met many friends that will be life long friends and feel so blessed to have been surrounded by such great people during those 4 years.
Oh the "good-bye" to this house was a rough one. I cried like a baby. 3407 W 1050 N was a great house!!! I have SO SO many great memories from that house and it is the home in which our family grew so much. It was so emotional to leave behind.
I didn't get a long time to cry because Dave realized he left the lights on in the Jetta while we were packing the cars and we had to jump the battery. About 10:30 we started the drive in which we were supposed to get to Denver that night. I cried so hard the whole time we left Utah. I still cry thinking about Utah, I would go back in a heartbeat. The drive was awful, everybody was exhausted and we only made it about 2.5 hours before stopping for the night. We were in 2 cars, the Jetta (which I had to sell once we got to Ohio and that was hard too!) and a rental car since the Pilot had already been shipped. I drove with the 3 kids and Sammy and Dave (and all his blisters) drove with Charlie. Being in 2 cars made the drive much more challenging. However, our kids were champs. I still can not believe how well they did (for the most part) on this incredibly long drive that we packed into less than 3 days. We spent about 15 hours in the car both full days of driving.
On the second day of our drive we got up early and left Little America and drove the 6 hours to Denver to see Dave's sisters which was supposed to be our first nights destination. We were already so far behind our schedule. We stopped for brunch, a quick nap and to spend time with family before leaving.
As we were leaving Colorado, which was very hard to say "see you later" to Dave's sisters, I was a hot mess and we drove right under this rainbow. It was HUGE the picture does not do it justice. It was a little sign that even though the drive (and the move) was going to be hard it would be ok. It is funny how life keeps giving you these little "reminders" along the way. And let me tell you the drive that evening was HARD. At one point in the middle of nowhere Kansas Quinn had a MELTDOWN... I am talking hyperventilating in the back seat and yelling that her leg hurt. We had been in the car for a very long time and she we were all over it. I pulled into a gas station because (this will come as a shocker to all of you..) I am a little paranoid, I was thinking maybe she had a blood clot. We let her out of the car and as soon as she was offered a candy bar she walked right into that gas station and was fine. We decided to just get a hotel there (a very classy Motel 6 in the middle of Kansas) and skipped our reservation which was still about 3 hours away. That is a whole other story trying to get that manger of the hotel to give us a refund but grateful for American Express and they just took the charge off because he was less than helpful/understanding. We checked into the hotel and after changing rooms (because the first one smelled so bad like smoke) with 3 kids, 2 dogs and a poor husband with blisters all over his hands and feet we settled into our room for the night. Dave and I were laughing about how horrible this PCS was and how it could not get worse. Well, little did we know, that it could and it would!
We got up in Kansas, ate breakfast and hit the road for what had to be our last day. Dave had to get back to work in Utah and already had a flight out of Cincinnati very early Monday morning. We drove ALL day Sunday and FINALLY made it at 3:45 AM on Monday morning to my parents house. Poor Dave had to shower and leave for the airport at 4:30 AM. He is such a trooper and we love him very much!
Our time in Ohio was amazing and I am going to try and do a blog about that also. We had another large hiccup in our PCS with Miss Finley and after a very stressful few weeks we were all set to go to Italy. This PCS was one for the books but it already seems so long ago. They were some very stressful times but ones we will look back on and laugh and have some great stories to tell.
Having the first part of the PCS over is good and life is (still) good!
Oh my gosh, I have been so horrible at keeping up with my own blog and as I sat down, just now, to make a post I decided I would do something I NEVER do...read someone else's blog! Boy am I glad I did! This post gave me a very sad but good laugh! I can't believe Dave got hand, foot and mouth!!! And during your move of all times! Utah was so good to us too. I miss it still and just like you, would go back in a heartbeat. Miss you all and look forward to a reunion someday.
ReplyDelete