Our Crazy Move

Warning: This is a journal entry, so enter at your own risk... it's l o n g!

Alright... in a smallish nutshell- THE MOVE!

We went to get the Uhaul on Monday, August 4th. Levi got the trailer all hitched up and started the car... and it wouldn't go into gear. It wasn't the transmission (sigh of relief!), but the linkage, which wasn't too big of a deal to fix. We are so grateful that it happened in Provo rather than somewhere in the middle of Iowa... can you imagine?!?

We got the car back on Thursday, hitched up the trailer and packed it to the very very top. It's no small feat getting everything you want to move across the country in the 5x8 trailer. I so wish we had pictures of our trailer, but we were pretty much in chaos mode, so this is a stock photo.

Levi and his Mom, DiAnne, took off Friday morning for the 2,000 mile journey and the kids and I spent priceless time with Grandpa Longmore in Utah. I am so thankful for that time because we won't be able to visit very often and we pretty much had him to ourselves for a couple of days! He was just getting ready to start his last week of teaching after (yikes, I don't know... sorry Dad!) about 40 years of teaching, and shared alot of important stories and information with me while I was there... I loved it! **side note** He has touched so many lives and taken care of his family in so many amazing ways during that time... we are SO proud of him!

Gideon helping Grandpa mow the lawn... he was out there for a couple of hours, and he loved every minute of it!

So, Monday morning (after seeing her brand new grand baby for only about an hour) my Mom took the shuttle from Idaho to help us get packed. We were up until the wee hours of the morning (thanks, Mom!) getting 6 suitcases of stuff packed and ready to go in the morning. In the course of the day, I realized I didn't have Gideon's birth certificate... yikes!

So we left way earlier than we needed to go to the Office of Vital Records in SLC on the way to the airport (by the way, the airline didn't even ask for it... grrr!).

You should have seen us with 6 suitcases, a double stroller, 2 car seats, 3 carry-ons and 2 kids trying to get through security. I really wish I had pictures! I was pushing the cart of suitcases and Gideon's car seat (yes, all on one...) into the airport with my stroller and the whole cart fell over. It had to have been the funniest thing ever. When we were going through the metal detectors, the car seat got stuck in the stroller and Gideon was out of the stroller (because he's a huge terrorist threat and had to go through security all by himself!) running around and I was trying to get the car seat out of the stroller (while holding Joseph because he started crying)... it's a good thing they let my Dad through security to help, because even with all three of us it was borderline disaster the whole time! :) The flight was late, which was wonderful because we made it... and we even had time for my Dad to run ALL the way back to the main terminal to get us some food.

We were able to get seats almost together and my Mom spent most of the time entertaining Gideon so I could keep Joseph happy. Gideon did remarkably well... especially since he had been in chaos for at least a week and hadn't been sleeping well. He actually fell asleep as we were landing for the layover, yep, as we were landing... so we had to wake him up to get off the plane, double grrr!

My Mom and I had to get all the suitcases and car seats and stroller by ourselves in Philly, which we did to our amazement... and then off we went to an Extended Stay America for the night.

The next morning we tested out an apartment we thought we wanted, but decided after a day of me having mini-panic attacks, that it probably wasn't the one for us. Really weird, since I have never had that happen before... ?!? We had just signed the lease a couple of hours before we decided to leave, so we were able to get out of it (for a smallish fee) and find a hotel. It was especially crazy, because the 5 of us (Mom, Levi, G and J) barely (and I mean barely) fit in the van with the 6 suitcases... but leaving the apartment, we had all the stuff that had been in the van for the move out here and his Mom as well. It was insane trying to get us all out of there by the time they had to show it to someone else! Once again, the Lord blessed us and we made it in two CRAZY trips.

So, off we went to the Days Inn Horsham where we lived for the next 6 days. Yep, 6 days in a hotel with 2 kids. If you are going to live in a hotel for a week, I highly recommend this one... they had a nice breakfast, free Internet downstairs, washers and dryers (wish we would have used those, since we didn't get our own for a week after we moved into our apartment!), and a fridge and microwave in every room. The only thing that would have made it fun instead of liveable, is a pool for Gideon.

Home away from home...
I actually watched Michael Phelps break a gold medal record from one of those leather chairs...
Imagine this room with 3 adults, 2 kids, 6 large suitcases, a pack n play, and a swing!

We had a few disappointments while looking for apartments, but Thursday night I saw one on the Internet that looked promising and it was the place! We looked at it on Friday, but they wouldn't let us move in until Monday... while we were looking at it, I wasn't really even paying attention because I just wanted to get back downstairs to ask the guy if it was really the price they had listed because it was SO much nicer than anything we had seen!

So, here we are. We love our apartment and hope we can stay here all four years!

We are so grateful for the way the Lord has blessed us during this move. He has guided our footsteps and thoughts, protected us and shown us His love... it has been truly amazing. Someday I will post all the miracles, big and small, we have experienced during this trip.

We owe especially big thank yous to:
Levi's parents for the van... it has been such a huge blessing moving furniture (and us) :)...

DiAnne for helping so much in Provo and for taking such a long trip so Levi wasn't alone...

Deana, for stopping on her way home from a really long trip with all of her kids to help pack our house- I really couldn't have done it without you, really...

Our Suncrest Neighbors for the help packing and moving (and the love and support you have always shown us!)

Danny and Keri for helping us sell things and move, getting Gideon to sleep the night before we left (miracle!) and detailing my car... I still get choked up when I think about how much time you spent doing that when you were trying to move your own family!

Slate Canyon 4th ward Relief Society for cleaning my apartment...

Cheri for watching Gideon and being such a huge support for me...

My Dad and Mom for helping us move, sell, pack, clean, send, and organize our stuff, and for helping so much with the kids, always... We will be forever grateful for your love and support...

And especially we are grateful for the Lord's blessings and peace... even when I didn't know how to feel peace because I was in such chaos, it was always there. He is patient and kind.