moving across the country

so tyrell found out he got the job in june and we moved the middle of july. it was short notice but everything worked out really well.

this is (well i guess i should say WAS) our adorable michigan house. we moved to michigan without a place to live and were so blessed to find this cute house. it was a great place to live and in a great neighborhood. we had a great landlord/neighbor, it was in a great ward, and it was 3 miles from work and stores. we enjoyed it. but all good things must come to an end.

this move was very similar to the last. we rented a penske truck. packed all our things in boxes. and had tons of help from the ward. thanks to everyone who helped us move we really appreciated it!!!


as moving day grew closer i got more and more sad to leave michigan. i just kept thinking of all the things i liked about it (the spring flowers, the green trees, the changing colors in the fall, our back yard, the squirrels, our friends etc.). we were just getting settled and comfortable, you know? and i was especially sad to leave our adolescent garden. it was just starting to develop and there were lots of small fruits and vegetables. too bad we would never get to harvest them. but our neighbor told me he would take care of it and enjoy it. i hope he did.

so this was our rig and it was pretty huge. tyrell did a great job driving us across the country and in traffic. it was a little stressful for him but we made it safely.

we all rode in the truck together which was nice. i think carter liked it because he could see us the whole time and we could play with him. the diesel was really loud (which made it necessary to turn the volume way up, so we could listen to our books on tape) and a really rough ride. so i was worried that perhaps between the two, carter might have a little hearing damage and shaking baby syndrome. luckily, he has not shown signs of either. he did really well and i am grateful that he is such a great traveler.

we drove the distance in two days. we stayed the first night in omaha nebraska and the next (thursday) at the beardsleys in pueblo co. it was nice to move where we knew people and it was great to have a place to stay. we house hunted the next day and found a place friday night. it was the last place of the day. we moved in the following monday and we were so grateful to again have help from our new ward. i was surprised but we had 8 men out to help at 8 on monday morning. it only took an hour to unload the truck. and unfortunatly our belongings looked a little weary from the journey. moving is not good for your furniture.

i am so grateful that we have been so blessed to find places to live so quickly. so we only have to be homeless for a few days. the only mishap was that my cell phone got left at the hotel in omaha; but don't worry, they mailed it to us.

ithaca, palmyra and kirtland

so much has happened since the last post. i will catch you up in chunks at a time, starting with our last weekend in michigan.

the last weekend we were in michigan, we decided to take our chances with the weekend trip again, and visit palmyra and kirtland. we also decided to visit ithaca ny (the place where i had lived in the summer of 2002) while we were in the vacinity (a 1,000 mile trip in two days). so we drove to ithaca first thing saturday morning and for a few hours, enjoyed the beautiful scenery. i also enjoyed reminiscing and seeing places i remembered. the fingerlake region is soooo beautiful. i can't imagine how sad the saints were to leave such a pretty place.

that afternoon we headed to palmyra for the hill cumorah pageant. it was great and tyrell enjoyed it, but it was cut short by a rain storm. it had been raining most of the day but it had cleared up and the show started. about half way through, the clouds were rolling in and the lightening started. ty suggested that we head to the car before the rain fell. which was a great idea because we were only about 50 feet from our car when the down pour started, people started running for their cars and the pageant paused. so we rushed to get the baby and our stuff in the car. carter and i dived in the front while tyrell handled the stroller. and judging by all the screaming from the back, this was no simple task (because our trunk was really full). so we sat there and waited with everyone else to see if the rain would subside. when it didn't, they canceled the pageant and we headed to our camping site at the fairgrounds (as un-enchanting as it sounds but it was close and cheap so we didn't really care). we got there and figured out how to set up our new tent, and thankfully the rain had stopped. as i was looking around i realized that i didn't know where our suite case was. so i asked tyrell if he had put it somewhere and when it was no where to be found, i thought of a possible location.

MISHAP #1. "tyrell, when you were loading the stroller into the trunk as we were frantically trying to get out of the rain, did you take out the suitcase?" he gave me a look and said "i'll be right back." so after we had a good laugh, he headed out to the pageant parking lot (which was actually a grass field) to look for our suitcase. he had taken it out to put the stroller in and in his haste had forgotten to put the suit case back in. so i sat imagining the site of an empty field with a lone red suitcase in the middle, and mourning over it's poor soaked contents. luckily for us, someone had spotted this unlikely item and taken it to security, so it was easily found and luckily the clothes inside were not wet!!!

the next morning we went to church then to the smith farm and the sacred grove. carter was having a hard time because he was not sleeping very well so because i had been there before, ty went and saw the sites and i stayed in the car with sleeping carter.

we then headed home by way of kirtland ohio. we were able to do the tour of the kirtland temple and we enjoyed learning both about the history of the temple and a little about the church of christ (who own the temple). we were only there an hour or so until we needed to head home. all in all it was a great trip, but a bit rushed. we were glad we did it and took advantage of the relative nearness of the church sites before we moved back west.

next post.... the move