Our old home

     We've been here a little over 4 weeks now, and I still have no idea where to start. The past few months have been a roller coaster of emotions, events, and craziness. I haven't had a clue how to sum it all up in a tidy little post. But I want to write about it so I don't forget the tender mercies that were shown to us through it all...if you're brave and/or bored, read on!

     I thought I had a pretty good handle on getting things ready for the move, but the week of the big day, I realized I was far from ready. Joel and I worked furiously to finish up loose end repairs on the house, including painting and woodworking. All the while juggling the *2 month old* and kids, packing, lease agreements over the internet/phone, and showing the house to renters while Joel started and was busy at the new job for 1 week in SLC. Thankfully, many dear sweet people recognized that I was overwhelmed, and came to my aid in a tremendous way. Specifically, Angela Muir and Aimee Thompson. I truly owe those ladies my sanity, and regret now that I didn't spend more time with them while I was there. Angela offered up her time day after day to hold the baby, pack boxes, and keep the mood light when I was drowning in the tasks at hand. Aimee always had a kind word, and the last two days, was monumental in getting to the nitty gritty of cleaning, packing, and hauling away my unwanted junk. :) The plan had been to pick up the moving truck Friday afternoon, get the heavy's loaded that night, finish loading Sat. morning, and get on the road by Sat. afternoon. The weather forecast for the weekend was grim, so we opted to pick up the truck a day early on Thursday. This was a blessing and a curse. I kind of went into a tailspin because I lost a day, but with the help many hands, we got a good chunk of the house packed Thursday, including every single bed in the house.

Thursday morning...we were all still smiling. 

We put the kids to bed in sleeping bags on the floor, and then cleaned/packed late into the wee morning hours Friday. The whole time we were doing this, 'Snowmageddon' literally dumped about a foot of heavy wet snow outside on us. At 2 in the morning, Joel and I stopped for the night, only to realize we had inadvertently packed all of our toiletries. We both wear contacts, so I got to venture to the local Smith's in the storm to get toothbrushes, eyecare, and misc. things we would need. (Gah!) After that adventure, we settled down for a few hours until it was time to send the kids off to school one last time in the morning.

Breakfast one last time in the (disaster) house...:)

 We had given them the option to stay home, since it was likely we would be leaving before school let out. But the three of them begged to go so they could say goodbye to their friends and teachers. So we sent them off, and madly set out to finish up the house. It amazed me that we had loaded what seemed like everything, and there was still so much work to do and things to load! Many dear friends showed up to clean and finish up packing with us, and we were overwhelmed with the love and generosity they showed. Unfortunately, the storm was getting worse rather than better like we had hoped, and it was setting us back. It was nearly 2pm when we realized we didn't have enough room for many last odds and ends, including dining room chairs and bikes among other things. The decision was made to leave them behind at our next door neighbor's house, and return for them at a later time. The time came to get the kids from school, and Joel went to pick up the trailer that would tow our extra car. The kids came home to a very empty house, which caught them off guard.

Sydney's face sums it up well. :'(

 Up until then, they had been really excited about the fun of a new adventure. Reality was sinking in. We said goodbye to our friends (sob) and spent about an hour waiting for Joel in the empty house. I thought to take video of the house, one last time, and had Paige lead the tour. She ended on the door that we had measured the kids' growth on, and all of us were in tears at the memories that those little tick marks symbolized. Right then Joel got back with the truck and car loaded trailer. Ellie asked if we could play one last round of hide and go seek, so I counted as everyone scrambled to hide in the empty cupboards and rooms. We quickly knelt for a family prayer afterwards in our empty family room where we had had years of holidays and family home evenings. Sobs abounded, but so did smiles as we talked about what lay in store for us in Boise. There was a crazy moment where we realized that we probably shouldn't leave with the storm raging the way it was. But every ounce of our belongings were packed on the truck that needed to be returned by the next evening, and Joel had to start his new job on Monday. The storm was crazy bad, and we were getting texts and voice mails left and right telling us how bad it was and that we should not leave that night. After weighing our options, it was decided that we would go as far as we could, and then stop at a hotel for the night. Then we loaded up into our two vehicles. Joel, Haddon, and the dog were in the moving truck, towing Joel's car behind. All 5 of the girls and I were in the van. We pulled out of the driveway at 5:05pm...about 4 hours later than we had anticipated. I literally had a meltdown 2 hours later when we stopped to grab dinner in Layton. The girls were super sad, the roads were like ice rinks, and I was already exhausted. Also, my phone had died at some point, and it was freaking me out to not be able to talk to Joel and make sure he was okay. So he ran over to Target and got me a car charger that would allow us to keep in touch during the drive.

 I snapped a picture of the moving truck, and was a bit shocked to see how much snow we were actually driving in...If you look closely, it's up to the top of the tires in this pic, and we were in a freshly plowed parking lot...ugh.  Joel offered for us to stop there, but after I got some food in me, I was a little more rational, and we decided to keep going at a snail's pace, and see how far we could get. (um...yeah) The SLC to Boise drive usually takes us just under 5 hours. We made it in 9 1/2 hours. We just kept plugging along. Remarkably though, we only saw 2 accidents along the way, even with white out conditions a lot of the time. Sometime in there, we stopped to refuel, and I snapped this picture. It was 2 degrees, snowing, and I had never seen icicles form on the car like that.

Joel and I used our phones on speaker to talk to and keep each other alert. That helped tremendously once all of the girls fell asleep, because I hate driving at night when it's quiet...makes for one sleepy driver in me, even in the best of conditions. I would literally fix my gaze at the taillights of Joel's truck in front of me, and wince every time I saw him fishtail on a particularly rough patch of ice. At one point around 1am, we pulled off on a deserted ranch exit, just so that we could park and sleep for a bit and relax our nerves. It's remarkable what a power nap can do! ;) We were able to drive the rest of the way, and we finally arrived at my parents' house in Boise at 2:30am. We literally just hugged my parents and then all collapsed into bed. We were there, safe, and out for the count, for a few hours at least! *more about the new house soon!