I'm Back...

I know I've fallen off the face of the blogging world but I'm finally getting around to catching up. Our move has totally turned things upside down and 5 weeks later I'm finally recovering. I have to express my gratitude for all the help and support we got from family, friends and ward members... it wouldn't have happened with out you. This post may be a little boring as it is more of a journal purpose of our never ending drive.

All of our belongings and treasured things packed and ready!

So we left on Sunday the 13Th of July to head east for San Antonio and as usual we were running late. Our plan was to leave at noon and we finally pulled out at 4pm. We made a quick stop in Wilcox to see Maren and Mathew (Kev's sister) and the cousins, grabbed a bite to eat and were on the road again. We hit the hardest rain I've ever seen just outside of Wilcox, and it kept on and off until we were well past El Paso. Who knew it could rain that hard in the desert. It was so bad at times that I couldn't even see the front end of the Suburban.

Kevin and his dad started out in the U-haul and Marti was with me, the three kids and the dog in the Suburban. We switched it up in Wilcox and Kev rode with me in the Burb and Ralph and Marti were amazing and drove the U-haul the whole way. I drove from Marana to Van Horn, TX which is where Ralph and Marti stopped to stay the night (we should have done the same), we pulled in at 1am AZ time 3am TX time. I was a little tired, to say the least, and so Kev took over the driving.

We originally had planned on driving 9 hours and stopping for the night and then finishing off the 4 hours the next morning. Map Quest said it was only a 12 hour drive. Four hours behind schedule and stops that weren't anticipated we where strapped for time. We had to be to San Antonio to sign for our house by Monday at 1pm. We also lost two hours coming into Texas and so when we figured out how much time we had to sleep in a hotel and it was only 3 hours. At this point all three kids were asleep and our luck, had we stopped, they wouldn't have gone back down in the hotel room. So we made the retarded decision to just drive straight through. It seemed like every time we stopped and asked how much further we had it was four more hours, even after we drove the four more hours. Kevin and I were holding up pretty good until the sun came up and then the exhaustion hit us. We had to switch out almost every hour because we were falling asleep with our eyes open and in the middle of sentences. I would recommended to anyone that when it gets this bad just pull over and SLEEP! We pulled onto base at 11:30am Texas time and we were wasted. The kids did amazing for being in the car for 17 hours straight, and Tilly by far was the best! The portable DVD player was our saving grace and surprisingly the kids slept pretty well. Hind sight though, we would have just stopped in El Paso and taken our time and hoped that everything worked out with the house (meaning that we didn't get it, but that is for another post). Kev's parents were a good 7 hours behind us so we went to Wal-mart and bought an air mattress, since all of our stuff was in the moving truck, and came back and crashed.

This was how Ben & Olvia looked when we pulled in, Ryley of course was awake and ready to go.

The house has all wood floors and tile so we needed the mattress to sleep. Luckily, I had kept the pack n' play with us and so Olivia went down for a much needed rest (After we let her out from the long drive she protested when we tried to strap her back into her car seat, which I couldn't blame her). Kevin was at the point of hallucinations so I let him go off to sleep and I stayed down stairs with Ryley and Ben, who were well rested and ready to go. I put up the portable DVD player and gave them all the travel snacks while I curled up on the hard wood floor and a package of diapers (as my pillow) and fell fast asleep.

A couple hours later we all woke up and went to dinner with Ralph and Marti and then returned back to the house to unpack the moving truck. All I have to say about that is that the humidity sucks when doing any physical work.

We got some what settled the next day and then played while Grandpa and Grandma were still here. We took the kids to Sea World on Wednesday and had a great time. Ralph and Marti flew out early Thursday morning and we were extremely sad. The kids sure enjoyed spending time with them and we wouldn't have made the trip with out their help.

I didn't get many but here are a few pictures...

After we saw Shamu and got soaked

This was the only ride that all three kids could go on and they loved it!

After a very long and hot day at Sea World