Home Sweet Home

It has been a wild and busy week.  One week ago tonight we were packing up the last of our stuff and getting ready for the big move!  Wednesday we picked up the U-Haul and worked more on getting the garage ready to go.  We had everything down from the top floor so our helpers would not die trying to help us load up!  Around 5PM some men from the ward came and started helping.  Tim was there too and was extremely helpful through the entire process.  I checked the kiddos into a hotel and left them with Adrienne. They were excited to get to swim all evening, but the pool was green and the hot tub was out of commission too!!  I do not recommend the Comfort Inn by the Hillsboro Airport.  It is non-smoking, but years of smoking has permeated the entire place and it doesn't smell so great!  Anyway, Adrienne had worked very hard all day and was pretty tired. She watched movies with the kids while I went back to help load up.  My friend Lisa came over with her husband to help.  She was great at getting the younger guys going on hauling stuff downstairs and I think having her there helped me keep it together emotionally.  But still, it was a crazy and chaotic evening.  The 26 foot truck was full, but there was still lots of stuff to load!  We debated about getting a storage unit and doing another trip, we debated leaving it all there(well, that was never an option for me), and we wondered if our huge truck could handle towing a trailer.  We packed the van up TIGHT and the next morning Richard went and got a 12 foot trailer.  Almost everything fit in.  There was no room to cram anything else and yet here were some things sitting in the garage that were so important to me.  Richard was tired and we were not communicating well.  I felt like crying.  So I did(just a little).  I was exhausted, hot, overwhelmed and emotional!   

Here we were getting ready to leave Oregon, my home that I have loved the majority of my life! I love the rain, I love the wind, I love the clouds, I love the greenery that is Oregon!  I would be leaving family and friends, my father who may or may not know who I am when I come back next.  My daughter Adrienne would be staying behind until November and Jacob would be staying a few extra weeks.  It did not feel right to be leaving them behind, even though I already knew this was the answer for us.  Megan came by to pick up Jacob, who had been helping us all morning and Adrienne arrived about the same time, having just finished up her classes for the term.  Between the two of them, they hauled the last of the things we wanted to keep with them, so we can get them when we are next in town.  The rest we left at the curb and called for a donation pick up.  I felt so much better.  I spent a lot of time thinking of the pioneers who had to leave entire houses full of furniture behind.  And many who left family behind not knowing if they would ever see them again.  I thought of what it would be like to walk the entire way to Rexburg.  I know that moving is not even comparable to what the early pioneers went through, but this experience gave me time to reflect on them and their many sacrifices.

Although we had planned to leave at noon, we did not finish up at the house until 3PM. I hugged Adrienne and Megan goodbye and tried so hard not to cry.  Annalina rode with me and she was very quiet as we left.  We hit really bad traffic leaving Portland. It took us about an hour to get 15 miles!!  The drive was fine until about 8:30 when a tire blew out on the U-Haul truck.  It made a huge bang and then bits were flying everywhere!  It was scary.  We followed Richard to the side of the freeway and he called for help.  It took three hours for someone to come and get the tire changed.  The kids watched Samurai Jack on my laptop in the front seat of the van.  They were so tired, but so good!  Finally at close to midnight we got back on the road.  I was sleepy and even though we had reservations in Meridian, I thought we should stop for the night.  Long drives make me sleepy, and in the dark after days of packing and prepping to move, I was soooo very sleepy!  But Richard wanted to push on.  We were back on the road for fifteen minutes when I noticed stuff bouncing off the hood of the van.  Shortly after that sparks were flying from the trailer and once I got Richard's attention, we both pulled over to find a tire on the trailer had blown.  Again we pulled off the freeway and called for help.  This time it took two hours for the same guy to come back and get the tire changed.  In the process he got his truck stuck, poor guy!   The kids were finally asleep, and my body and mind desperately wanted to be too.  I was not sure how I was going to make it for a few more hours, but on we went.  We pulled in to our hotel around 6am, 14 hours after leaving Beaverton!  They were just starting to serve breakfast, so we had some waffles and went to bed.  They offered us an extra hour before we had to check out and said they could not do anything more since they were booked up that night due to a baseball tournament going on in the area.  I don't know how he did it, but Richard talked to the manager and got us an extra night.  We went right to bed in our room. Joseph assured us he would not be able to sleep and yet we all slept until after 1pm.  We took it easy the rest of the day, swam in the pool, soaked in the hot tub and got another good night of sleep.  We left at 5am, thinking it would be an 8 hour drive.  I was still sleepy, but having the sun come up was very helpful. Annalina slept almost the whole ride.  She does not travel well and takes Dramamine. That and the long night before put her completely out!  I was amazed to see the sign that showed Pocatello only and hour and a half away!  We made wonderful time and arrived in Rexburg at about 10:30.  There was a free airshow going on, so we waited in a small bit of traffic.

We pulled up to the house and the kids were so excited to look around!  They had seen some pictures but did not know where anything was, and they did not want a tour, they wanted to explore!  So we opened up and let them in!  They ran from room to room and Joseph immediately declared that we needed to buy this house!  I had told myself that my memories were making the house seem bigger than it really was, but I was wrong, it was bigger than I remembered.  Huge wide hallways, large bedrooms and bathrooms, a fabulous kitchen and a BATHTUB for me!!  Yay!  We learned that the owners of this home had built it to sell, but the market fell and so they turned it into a rental.  Everything is top notch quality, not what you'd expect to see in a rental!

Neighbors started heading over around noon and we got the trailer and truck unloaded in just a couple of hours.  Such friendly people, many of the men brought sons with them!!  We found out that not only does the Bishop live next door, but the Elders Quorum President lives across the street and the Primary President lives behind us!  This is going to be an awesome neighborhood!


I miss my older kids so much!  Our family does not feel complete without them, but I know we will have everything in its place for when they arrive!  I feel so blessed to have had this path placed before me and my family.  I am so grateful that the Lord has provided for us through some very difficult times. Although I miss Oregon so much, I feel at home here and I see very good things for us in the future!

Sunrise, after a very, very, very long night of driving!

Glad we had a blanket crammed in the back of the van!  She needed it!