Roadtrip and Moving

June 11, 2013 was Vivi's last day of school.  I dropped her off, then headed back to Janet and Steve's to get all of our things packed up because June 11, 2013 was also the day we left to move to Georgia.  Oh it was a hard day!  While Vivi was at school, the other kids and I finished packing up the car, said a very teary goodbye to Janet, then we went back to the school to get Viv.  The second I walked in to her classroom, the tears I had just gotten under control from saying goodbye to my mother-in-law started up again because as soon as Vivi saw me, she started bawling.  Which of course set off a round of fresh tears for me.  Out of all the kids, Vivi was probably the most upset about moving.  After seeing her teary face, I was such a mess I totally forgot to get an end of year picture of Vivi with our most favorite teacher ever, Mr. Kennedy.  I have never missed getting an end of year picture of my kids with their teachers!  I still, a year later, could kick myself.

Here is the only picture I have of these two, taken at the CU game in Nov, 2012.

After picking up Viv, the kids and I drove over to my mom's to pick her up.  She was so nice to volunteer to go on a road trip with us.  To make the move more exciting for the kids, we stopped and did a lot of un things on the way.

Day 1

Not on the first day though.  This pretty much sums up our first day of driving.  Just blue skies and wide open spaces.  We stopped that night in Kansas City, KS.

Day 2

We got ready the next morning and headed straight over to Liberty Jail.  The kids and I had never been to any historic church sights before, so thought we better take advantage of the ones that were right along our route.  There was a sister missionary their (wish I could remember her name) that was the most gifted story teller.  And she had some of the coolest analogies that helped so much for my kids (especially the younger ones) to be able to understand better the things she was teaching.  I wish I could remember those too!  That's it.  It's about time I start a journal.

 Some pictures of what the inside of Liberty Jail looked like at the time the prophet Joseph Smith was there.

 Look at the thickness of these walls!  No breaking in or out of this place.  They are 4 feet thick.

 The view from up above.  There was only one door to the building.  This was built only a few feet from where the building was originally.

 I still can't believe all the prophet Joseph Smith went through and endured in the months he was in Liberty Jail.  What an amazing and faithful man.

 While driving through Missouri, we saw a sign for a little historical museum off one of the exits, so we decided to go check it out.  We never found the museum, but we did find this beautiful park!  It was a great place to get out and let the kids run and stretch their legs for a few minutes.  Plus there were bathrooms there.  Double bonus!

 Sometimes I forget that this little one used to have a binky.  She was so happy and content when she was sucking on that thing that I often wonder why I ever stopped giving it to her.

 Group hug!

 The cool thing about moving was seeing my kids bond together.  All they really had was each other that first little while after we moved.  The coolest though was watching how Trenton matured through the whole thing.  He was like a rock for the rest of us, always staying so positive about it all.  Our last Sunday at church in CO, the other kids and I were a mess.  We cried the whole way there, I cried during (good thing I was in the nursery with the babies!), and we cried on the way home.  Trenton was amazing though.  He kept telling us all of the positive things about the move and that we were going to get to have a new adventure!  I am so grateful for his strength during that time.  He was the one I worried about the most when we found out we were going to move.  In the past, he had really struggled when there was any kind of big change going on.  It usually took him a while to adjust to not only big changes, but sometimes small simple changes too.  I felt like with the stage of life he was in, just going in to high school and everything,  that it would be a really hard adjustment for him.  I need not have feared though.  He was a champ through the whole thing!  And like I said, a rock for the rest of us.

That night we stayed in St. Louis, MO.  My original plan had been to take the kids to check out the Arch while we were there, but after talking to a friend who used to live there, we decided we needed to go to the City Museum.

Day 3

This place is seriously A-MAZING!  It is worth taking a trip to St. Louis just to go there!  My kids were in complete heaven!

Not only was this place as fun as could be, but it was amazing to see as well!  I have never seen any other place like it.  My kids climbed and ran and slid and explored for 4 hours straight.  They were so busy and having so much fun, the only thing they ever asked me for was a drink of water occasionally.

 P-Diddy, at the bottom of the two story slide.

 Look at these mosaics.  And they were everywhere!  There were so many different textures and so much detail, it was amazing.  Have I mentioned it was amazing?

 Everything was very industrial, such as this ladder.

 The big boys were so nice to take Jilly exploring with the.

 I have since decided that I need one of these giant hamster wheels in my house.  Endless amounts of fun and entertainment!  Especially for me as the observer.

 Hall of mirrors.

More mosaics.

There was also a giant turtle tank, which Jilly thought was beyond fascinating.

Everyone's happy!  There is also a ten story corkscrew slide, which we made ourselves sick on by going down it several times.  This was the absolute best place to take the kids after having been in the car so much the two days prior.  Not only did they have a blast, but they were completely worn out by the time we left.

 After leaving the museum, we decided we couldn't leave St. Louis without at least stopping to walk around the outside the Arch.

 The kids were starving at this point, so it was kind of torture for them to have to get out in the heat and walk around some more, but they were really good sports about it.

 If I lived in St. Louis, I think I would have to take a stroll through this park every day.  So beautiful!

Walking through the park, we saw a cute little pup.  Trenton sat down to pet it, and it jumped right up in his lap!  It didn't want much to do with anyone else, but it sure liked Trenton!

 I honestly couldn't believe how big this thing was in real life!

 Exhausted and tired at the bottom of the Arch.

 If you are standing (or lying) at the bottom of the Arch and look up, it looks like it will tip right over on you!

I think we wore these kids out!

After checking out the Arch, we went in search of a place to eat.  We went across the bridge to the other side of town and quickly realized that was a big mistake!  That side of town looked a little shady.  We crossed back over the bridge and found a place that looked kid friendly.  After parking, paying the meter, then walking to this place, we realized it was closed.  So we went to the place next door, (a Peruvian restaurant) which was definitely not kid friendly, but we were desperate for food so decided we would make it work.

And this is what a day at City museum and walking around St. Louis will do to your kids.  Success!

We drove through four states on this day.  I'd say we packed a lot in!

Driving through Illinois.  Much more greenery than there was through KS.

Once we entered the South, my mom got a hankering for fried pickles.  We stopped at a diner in Kentucky, and what do you know, they had fried pickles!

 And we finally made it to Tennessee!  We stopped for the night in Nashville, and boy were we tired by the time we got there!

Day 4

We got up the next morning and drove on to Chattanooga, where we visited the Incline railway.  We were going to try and find some caves we had heard about, but when we realized the only shoes my mom and I had were flip flops, we opted to not go hiking in a cave.  We also drove all around up by Lookout mountain, which was beautiful!  There is actually quite a bit to do in Chattanooga.  Lots to see and explore.  We have been up there several times since moving to GA and find something new to do every time.

 Frosty's at the end of the day made for a yummy, cool treat.

And we finally made it!  It was a fun four days, but by the time we made it to our destination, we didn't want much to do with the car for a while.  At least not for any extended period of time!  We are so grateful for my sweet mom for taking this trip with us.  She was an enormous amount of help through it all!

The End of Something Wonderful

While living in CO amongst our family, we had more family get togethers and BBQs than I can count.  They were regular events!  These photos are from the last family get together we had, with all of us there, before the move.

Trent left just a few days after this to stay in Atlanta permanently, and the kids and I left about a week and a half after he did.

This is Mike.  My kids adore him and his lovely wife, Jan.  They have been there for many of our family gatherings whether it was a holiday, birthday, or just a family dinner.  We always loved when they would come and join in the fun.

If I had a dollar for every picture I have of Steve and the fat tongue...

We called this our last hurrah.  While we know it's not the last, we sure do miss the regularity with which we used to all get together.  One of the woes of moving across the country.  We sure love and miss the grandparents and uncles and look forward to those times we do get to be together again.

Round 4 of House Hunting

The week after Spring Break found Trent and I back in Atlanta for another round of house hunting.  And this time, we had a little traveling buddy with us! 

Don't let her cuteness fool you.  She was a little a little she-devil on the plane ride over.  She was throwing temper tantrums left and right!  I packed an entire backpack full of stuff for her to do on the plane ride.  She blew through all of it within the first hour.  I had a whole bunch of movies downloaded onto my iPad, and I thought surely that would keep her occupied.  Well, she wasn't interested.  I should have listened to my husband's sage advice and spent the twenty bucks to download "Shaun the Sheep", which is her all-time favorite show in the whole universe.  I was feeling a little cheap though.  Let me tell you, one of the first things I did the next day was cough up the twenty dollars to download "Shaun the Sheep" on the iPad.  It was worth every penny.  And we have definitely gotten our moneys worth.

Funny story about the hotel.  Our plane got in at about 10:30 that night.  After picking up the rental car, we got Jillian a fresh, clean diaper, and put her pajamas on.  I didn't want to have to wake her up to change her once we got to the hotel.  By the time we got the car, changed Jilly, and drove to the hotel, it was after midnight, and Trent and I were completely exhausted.  There was a ton of traffic (yes, at 12:00 at night) because the Final Four was going on the weekend we flew into Atlanta.  We couldn't wait to rest our weary bodies on a nice soft Marriott mattress.  (They have the best beds!)  We pulled up to the hotel and Trent went inside to check us in while I waited in the car with Jillian.  About ten minutes later he came back out to the car to let me know that there was no reservation for us.  Anyway, being that it was the Final Four that weekend, there were exactly zero rooms available.  So Trent pulled out his handy dandy iPad and found another Marriott close by and booked a room.  We got to that hotel, Trent went inside to check us in, and they have no reservation for him.  He booked it for the next day!  Argh!  Well, it just so happens that this hotel had only one room available right then.  The lady at the front desk told Trent that she had had a feeling she needed to keep one room available in case of an emergency.  Well, it turns out we were the emergency!  It's amazing how the Lord took care of us in our hour of need.  Talk about tender mercies.  Because I was not looking forward to living out of our rental car for any period of time.  Especially with a toddler in tow.

 The next day Trent, Jilly and I did some driving around to check out a few areas.  We were there at a time when everything was starting to bloom.  The dogwoods and azaleas were all out in full force.  Talk about beautiful!

I went out with our realtor three days in a row and looked at about 45 houses while I was there.  And Jilly was with me the whole time.  After the plane ride experience we had, I was really worried she was going to be a little turkey during our trip.  But she changed her tune.  She was a complete angel the whole time we were there.  Even with all of the getting in and out of the car constantly.  And we spent tons of time in the car.  She was such a trooper.

 We did take a break in-between looking at houses the second day and went back for a rest at the hotel, and Jillian watched a little bit of her favorite show.  I have to admit, I quite like "Shaun the Sheep" myself.

 On the third day of house hunting, we had another break between appointments, so Jilly and I took a little jaunt over to the temple.  

The flowers were in full bloom, and Jilly had to touch every one of them.  She was really good not to pick them though, which surprised me.

 A little cheese action.

 Not sure what this was all about, but every time we went inside the hotel, Jillian would hug all of the pillars and make this kind of kitten mewling sound.  It cracked me up!

Anyway, after looking at houses for three days straight, I narrowed the list down to five for Trent to come and look at with me.  And there was also a plot of land that we had gone and looked at and really liked.  After looking at the five houses together, we decided on one and put an offer in that night.  Well, so did four other people!  We were pretty confident with our offer, but as a back up, we went to meet with the builder who owned the lot that we really liked.  Well, turns out, the sellers of the home we put an offer on liked someone else's offer better, so we decided to sign a contract with David (the builder) and wait for our house to be built.

Which means that now we have to find a place to rent in the meantime.  I tell you what, I just can't wait to feel settled somewhere again.  I feel like we have been in limbo ever since we sold our house last year.  But, it could be so much worse.  So really, I can't complain.  We have a roof over our heads, we have food to eat, Trent has a job, I get to stay home with the kids, and all our needs are met.  So I guess there is nothing left to do except be grateful for our many blessings.  And that's just what I'm going to do.

While we were gone, the grandmas were so nice to take care of our four older kids.  Trenton and Colson stayed with Janet, and Vivi and Preston stayed with my mom.

 Vivi had some sewing lessons while at grandma's and made herself a new apron.  Didn't it turn out so cute?!

 Buds and Vivi had a little grandpa/grandma pants moment.  (That's what my kids call it when you pull your pants up past your belly button.  Something they learned from their grandpa Stock. Lol!)

 The day Jilly and I left to fly back home, we left for the airport at 5 in the morning.  I was a little nervous about our return flight home considering how she had been on the flight over, especially since I wouldn't have Trent's help this time.  He had to stay in Atlanta for a few more days of training.  I got Jilly and I all checked in and through security then found a place we could get some breakfast.  I grabbed us a fruit and yogurt parfait, and a cup of fruit from a snack stand, then we made our way to the gate.  After getting there, I broke open the food.  Jilly was about 10 bites in when she started choking.  The poor girl turned blue and went completely limp in my arms.  I screamed for help then started doing the Heimlich on her.  It took a few pounds on the back, but luckily it came up.  A blueberry was the culprit.  Any tiredness I had felt at that point from having to get up at four in the morning had completely vanished.  I was wide awake!  And had adrenaline coursing through every vein in my body.  That is the second time I have had to give Jillian the Heimlich, and I hope I never have to again.  Scared me to death!  And her too.  It sure made me grateful for the CPR classes I had taken, even if they were forever ago.  The rest of our airport/plane adventure went much smoother.  Jillian and I got settled on the plane and I turned "Shaun the Sheep" on for her.  And that was that.  She didn't make a peep the entire plane ride.  She even fell asleep for the last 45 minutes.  She didn't wake up until I went to put her in her stroller once we got out into the jetway.

Jilly was so happy to see her brothers and sister when they got home from school that day.

 And they were thrilled to see her!  It was an eventful trip, and we were all so glad to be back home together.

So, here is the lot we signed a contract on.  It is almost an acre and as you can see, there are a ton of trees!  And it is at the and of a cul-de-sac.  Can't wait until the house is done so we can move in!