Moving to Wyoming

As we were packing the house and getting things ready to move, I asked Emma to make a list of things we needed to get done. She came up with quite a list. 

 We packed the moving truck and cleaned the house Wednesday November 7. The missionaries in our ward asked us if they could help with out move and as the time came closer we realized that moving on a Wednesday, we were not going to have much help. We called the Elders and they sure got some help. We had a few guys from the singles ward that showed up, a few high priest's from our ward, and 8 Elders. I don't think I've ever seen the house get emptied so quickly. They were a lot of help. I don't want to think about where we would be with out them. 

We pulled out of Tangent around 8:30 am on Thursday, November 8, only for me to have to turn back and retrieve Carter's blanket out of his room. Lucky for us, Shawn left the back door unlocked and I was able to get in, a tender mercy of the Lord.  We got back together around Troutdale, Oregon and decided we'd stop for lunch at Multnomah Falls. It was an over clouded, humid, drizzling day and there were hardly any people there. It make for good parking and even better sight seeing.  Emma found some of the biggest leafs we've ever seen. We wish we would have pressed it in a book cause the car dried it out and it wilted as it dried.

The Salmon in the stream we huge and we talked about how awesome it would be to catch something that big on a fishing trip on the Columbia River. 

Everything we own we fit into a 26' UHaul ,a 8'x10' utility trailer and our Expedition. Something about packing ones belongings into truck, trailer, and car made me grateful that the most precious things I owned we surrounding me and we're not just packed into a box in a truck.

 We got to Nampa, Idaho and stayed there from Nov. 9- Nov. 11. We were able to go to the Boise Idaho LDS Temple open house on Friday November 9 with our family, my Grandparents, parents and Jodi, who had come home from her mission the day before. It was special to share the temple with our children, and to be with my grandparents for their first time in the temple. 

After the open house we went to Lunch with everyone. My grandparents have their walkers and my kids love to sit on the seat and ride around. Great Grandpa and Grandma love doing it too.

 Emma was next to Grandma's side most of the time. She adores her and I know that Great Grandma loves her attention and love also. They are so cute together.

 Sunday morning, November 11 we loaded up again and headed out to Evanston, Wyoming were we would stay that night. Just outside of Boise, we pulled over to a weigh station and weighed the truck. The truck weighted 16,240 and the trailer alone weighted 2400. 

 When we got to Evanston, the wind was blowing and it was SO cold. We got settled into our rooms, ate dinner and packed the kids up to go play in the pool. We all slept good and we're so thankful for warm showers, cozy beds and a warm breakfast the next morning. 

As we started out on the 12th for our final leg of the move, It was 17* outside. The wind, thankfully, was not blowing. 

 The kids we're all bundled into the car and had their moving playing. This would be the shortest drive our whole move, but we had to cross the whole state of Wyoming.

 When Shawn first graduated Vet School in 2009, he interviewed at a clinic in Evanston and the Dr. who he interviewed with took him to Bear River State park where they have a buffalo herd and a small elk herd.  We decided to drop in for a short drive thru visit. After all, the temperature was reading 14* at the park. The kids were thrilled at seeing the buffalo and the elk, and the snow on the ground made me feel like it was almost Christmastime. 

 When we got to Laramie, we drove to the house that we thought we were going to rent. After walking through the house, we realized that it wasn't the house for us. It was dirty, and a lot of things were either broken or missing, ie: light fixtures, vents, trim. There were really big stains in the carpet and it just didn't have a homey feeling to it. Shawn and I knelt in prayer in the master bedroom and I just knew we were not suppose to be there. We walked through another townhouse that evening that the same landlord had, but I just wanted to look a little more. So we moved into Hotel AmericInn and stayed 2 nights before we had keys to a house and were moving in on Wednesday, November 14. Our stay in hotel was nice and all but we were so thankful to be moving into a house. 

I hope this is our last really big move and that our next move will be to our forever home that we are not just renting. We are so thankful to the guidance of the spirit and both of us have gain stronger testimonies of following ones impressions and trusting in the Lord.

Catch up

Today has been an awful day. Emotionally and mentally I'm drained. Maybe the stress of this whole messy move is finally catching up to me, but I think I need to think about what I am grateful for. I'll do a recap of the things I thought about while I was without Internet.  Here goes:

November 14:  We FINALLY got keys to a house. It's a 4 bed, 1 1/2 bath with a little cubby for my craft room. I don't think a bed would fit in that room...actually maybe. It is about the of little room I lived in for a time at my parents house before it was tuned into the laundry room...not kidding. We had help moving in from a few men in our new ward. They even helped put the beds, the table and the dressers together. It was so nice to sleep in our own beds again.  The kids think the house is amazing. There is a crawl space under the house that you can access from a closet in the hall.  Shawn opened it up to check out the water heater and furnace and the kids all think that this house is the coolest we've lived in yet. The house was built in 1975 and the rooms are bigger than any house we've lived in, but the kitchen is about as small as our trailer kitchen was in Pullman. It will take some adjustment on my part. When I take some time to take pictures, I'll post some. I think I'll wait till all the boxes are gone...almost.

November 15: I am thankful that my Dad is here to help me. Shawn is out with the current owner of the Clinic meeting the clients of the Buffalo herd he will be working with. My dad has helped me unpack and move boxes. I don't know how I would get anything done with out his help.

November 16: I am thankful that both Mason and Emma started back and school today and so far I am in love with the school. It was the most pleasant experience registering them yesterday as I met most everyone I needed to and I went home with who their teachers were and what they needed to bring to school the next day. Thinks are looking up for their education.
I am also thankful for a chiropractor who helped me start moving again. Paige slept in our bed night before last and since I've been having troubles breathing and moving certain ways kills me. I'm pretty sure I had a rib out and after adjusting me and getting me back to normal, I feel I can start functioning like a human again. Sad my Dad flew home today, but glad he made it safe. The Laramie Airport is teeny tiny!

November 17: I'm thankful we took a break from the unpacking today and got out. We went to Cheyenne and did some shopping and comparisons. Cheyenne is smaller than Nampa is population wise and has just about everything they have in Nampa. It's a nice little town.  It was so good to get out.

November 18: I am grateful I attended church. After being gone from regular church meetings for 3 weeks due to having Stake Conference before we moved, it was good to be in our regular meetings again.  The Bishop and one of his councilors came to visit and we enjoyed getting to know them. Shawn said he feels old in this ward as there are a lot of students and the Elders all talk about class schedules and school. There are a few good families who are here for jobs and we hope to get to know everyone soon.

November 19: I am grateful for the kids' school councilor. She has everything in place for Mason's testing that needs done and has already scheduled his IEP meeting. She is on top of things and I know that nothing is being swept under the rug cause they don't want to deal with it.  I am also grateful I had Shawn with me for the morning to help with the grocery shopping and to get things ready for Thanksgiving dinner.  Much better to shop with a friend than by yourself.

November 20: I got the kitchen unpacked and started working on the office.  I put our desk and computer together again by my self.  I did that when we moved to Oregon.  I am glad I won't have to do it again for a while.  I love that the hall from the family room to the kitchen is finally box free.  

November 21: I am thankful that the pumpkin pie I made looks like it will work. I didn't adjust the recipe at all for the elevation change, and had to adjust the cooking time after I cooked it for the time the recipe called for and it was obviously not done. I'm going to have to do some research and learn the high elevation cooking tricks.  That was probably the only good thing that happened today....like I said, it's been a hard day.  Oh, and I'm grateful we finally have Internet again. and a home phone and TV...the last one though, it's a big deal to me.  Shawn will get to watch what ever is left of the Boise State football season though and that makes me happy cause he's happy.

Day 13: A warm place to sleep

It may not be ideal, but I have to look for something that I'm grateful for. Even though we're in a hotel with adjoining rooms, I am grateful that I have a bed and that my kids do also.  I hope we find a house soon.

We walked thought a nice big house that we could have made work, IF, it wasn't Shawn's competitor renting it out and he also live next door. Not sure we should rent from Shawn's main competitor in town.  That would be interesting.  We also walked through a complete dump, and I felt bad for the land lords. They have a lot of work to do before they will be able to rent it again.  They also wanted WAY too  much for it. I sure hope that Heavenly Father knows what he's doing and we'll find something clean on family friendly soon.

Day 12: A new Chapter

Today we start a new chapter in our life, a new adventure in a place we've never been, or known.  We never saw our family moving to Laramie, Wyoming. We never pictured living that far from our extended families, but here we are and it's going to be a fun adventure. I am grateful that I have a husband who wants life to we awesome for us, and wants to provide for us in a way he nor I have ever known.  I am grateful that we have the support of the Lord in this and because of that I know it's going to be awesome and fun. I also know that we will have the bumps and mountains along the way like everyone does, but today, I am thankful to start that new chapter and start fresh.

Day 7,8,9

Day 7:  I'm thankful it's moving day. Most thankful that it is FINALLY here and then it's not just talk again.  I am also thankful for Holly R. for taking Paige and Carter for the day so I could pack and focus on getting things taken care of.  Feeling pretty lucky to have great friends every where we go. Today I'm also thankful for the missionaries. Our missionaries in our ward saved the day today. Elders Bagley and Smith arranged for them, three other companionship and 2 members of the singles ward to come and help load the moving truck today. In record time the house was empty and them missionaries we're helping Shawn load. I was so thankful for him and me that we had all that help. Without them, it would not have been possible to leave on time and when we did.

Day 8: I'm grateful that we are together as a family. I'm thankful that we had good roads on the way to Idaho. I'm grateful for my Aunt Ellen and Uncle Don for welcoming us their home for dinner as we traveled to Nampa.  By the end of our 12 hour trek I was most grateful for a bed to sleep in. I was so tired.

Day 9: We got to go as a family to the Boise Idaho LDS Temple open house. We got to go with my Grandparents and it was their first time in a LDS temple and it was such a neat experience for me to watch them take it it. We then got to spend some time with them at lunch.  I am so thankful that the temple is a peace of heaven on earth and that I could share with my children the special feelings you have while there. It is so beautiful and holy. 

To Oregon or Bust

I've always said that moving can be an adventure. Living in one place then going to another. Sounds like an adventure to me, but not this time. EVERYTHING about moving really wasn't an adventure this time around. Maybe something about having a newborn and not sleeping much made the difference.

We had a lot of help (thank you) and a lot for family help and yet, when it came time, I just wasn't ready. I knew this was going to be hard, but I didn't know how hard it was till I was in the thick of it. We got the biggest you drive truck there is and started in the early afternoon on February 15. We finished packing the truck with help from the ward by that evening. Not every thing fit, so we planned to pick up a trailer in the morning. The young women and a few neighbors came over to help me clean.

The next morning, I took the kids to Suzi's and Shawn and my Dad went to get the trailer from u-haul. They then attempted to load it, but it was too small also. Back to u-haul to get a bigger trailer. By this point, I had been in tears over the empty house, the emotional good bye and just everything in general. We were suppose to be on the road to Idaho by then and it wasn't going they way it should have. Both kids could have good to school another day. They would have liked that. We finally pulled out of Payson around 3:15 pm. It was so hard to say good bye to our home, maybe because I knew we were not going to be living there, but renting it and not knowing how they would take care of it.

Emma rode in the truck with Grandpa Clausen who drove to Nampa the first night. It was a long ride. At least the weather was nice to us.

Grandpa wanted to see how much the truck, trailer and all our belongings weighed. He stopped at the weigh scale in Utah on our way out of the Salt Lake Valley. There it is, 30,680 lbs.

The Brigham City Temple was off in the distance. It looked near completion from where we were... but I'm sure they still have a ways to go. I'm sure the members there are so excited.

We got to Nampa around midnight I think...may be a little sooner, but not much. I don't remember now.

The next morning we traded truck riders and put Mason in the truck, and Shawn drove. My Dad was so happy to finally be home after helping us in Utah for 2 1/2 weeks.

Emma, Paige and Carter rode with my in the Van to Oregon. They had the DVD player going the whole time.

I took some pictures along the route. We took this exit and took hwy 20/26 instead of staying on I84.

And this is what it looked like.

Shawn and I played cat and mouse the whole way. I would drive as far ahead of him as I could before I'd have to stop and nurse. While nursing, he'd pass me, then once we got back on the road I'd catch back up to him. I handed out lunch in Burns and we got back on our way.

The weather was good till be got to the West side of Sisters, Oregon. Then it rained the rest of the evening.

This picture was driving through the Cascade's between Sisters and Sweet Home.

Shawn and I caught back up to each other in Lebanon and he followed me the rest of the way to our new neighborhood. When we got there we had many waiting for us as we were about 15 minutes later then we told them, which was really an hour and 15 minutes. I did a walk through of the house with the land lord while things were being moved in and it just pure hectic. We were so happy to finally be here.