As of today, I am no longer a Utahn.
This has been a strange process because so much is out of my hands. I like to plan details and confirm things and haven’t been able to do that at all in any part of this process. This weekend has been exhausting and so packed, I have been looking forward to the drive to be able to rest a little. Here is a recap of what we have been up to.
Luckily on Thursday, we sold my car. It was a relief to have that taken care of and know that we can drive together. Friday our containers were dropped off from UPack who works with ABF. We decided to use them because their price was lower than other similar container shipping places and the delivery time was amazing, almost the same time it would take us to get there ourselves. I reached out to a girl I went to high school with, who recently made a similar big move. She used ABF as well but rented part of a trailer and the remainder is sold for commercial use so essentially you share the cost of transportation. That would have saved us close to $1,000 but we are in an HOA and don’t have wide roads or space to let a 28′ trailer sit and unfortunately they can’t do same day pick up and drop off but this option still worked well, especially since we didn’t want to drive our stuff ourselves. The guy had great customer service and got the containers off and into our driveway in like 5 minutes! I was a little worried they wouldn’t be able to load them because everything said we must have a level surface and our driveway has a slight incline, but it all worked out well.
Friday was also our last day at work. It was a crazy week with everything professionally and personally going on! When we got home, we got some things packed that we had been using and tried to get some rest.
Saturday started out very early, packing up all the final things and wrapping our TV and furniture to hopefully protect it during our travels. My awesome dad drove down on his birthday for a farewell and to help load our stuff. He brought with him the rest of the Child clan. My mom came out too, as well as our good friends Brent and Heatherlee. Between all the guys, the work went so fast. We had loaded most everything in the garage in the last week or so, it was just the big furniture we kept in the house. My dad packed everything so well, it was like a puzzle that I wouldn’t have been able to solve as well. We were very grateful for the help and the chance to see our friends one more time before heading out. Afterwords we attempted to do a few family photos with both my mom’s side and my dad’s side, but it was windy and Reece was getting a little fussy. I haven’t even looked at them yet to know if any turned out. My grandma on my Dad’s side met us at the park, it was great to see her as well. Then we went to dinner with my dad as a farewell and to celebrate all the birthdays, we have a string of birthdays that start with my dad. It was great to see them all. My little family then went to my grandma’s on my Mom’s side and visited with them and said goodbyes to her side of the family and my brothers. It was a long day but full of some visiting and hard work. That night was rough, I was emotionally and physically exhausted. We pulled our top mattress into the living room to have somewhere to sleep for two nights and the dogs didn’t adjust well to being in the living room and Reece was up most of the night. It was pretty awful.
Sunday we got up and met my dad, step mom, brother and sister for breakfast. Then we said more goodbyes. Then off for a few last minute shopping things. Followed by lots and lots of cleaning. It was a lot of work, especially with a toddler. My house looks fantastic.
Monday (today) we got up early to pack the mattress in the container and a few last items so it would be ready to be picked up. Stephen then ran a large car load to the dump to help with the garbage situation, then a donation car load to the DI. We had packed some left over cleaning supplies and essentials we couldn’t put in the container, for my brother Jake in his new apartment with a kitchen where he can use some of that stuff. We then picked up Jake and headed out for breakfast at The Original Pancake House, one of our favorites. It is Jake’s birthday (see birthday string I mentioned earlier 🙂 ) so it was great to spend some time with him. On the way home we confirmed with our realtor we wouldn’t be able to close on our house today or tomorrow so we decided it was time to leave, we would need a hotel tonight anyway, we might as well be on the road. We thought it would take an hour to get out of the house but it turned into more like 2.5 or so after wrapping up last errands. I was spent and to be honest a little snappy at the end, I was just tired and ready to get out!!
We finally pulled out of the driveway around 2:30 and drove straight through to Grand Junction, CO. Reece did so well in the car. I kept a bag of toys and lots of books in my reach and kept handing him new items whenever he got a little fussy, that seemed to work well. It was about 4 hours or so. The poor dogs were really good in the car but were freaking out before leaving and very anxious.
It was really great to get settled into the hotel and have a place to sit and a bed off the floor, I hope we get some good sleep tonight.
Everything was going great until Reece and I were playing and chasing each other in the room, when he lost his balance and fell flat on his face. His nose was bleeding so bad and he was screaming. Stephen had just left the room to walk the dogs and of course left his phone to charge. I was freaking out a little. I couldn’t tell if the blood was just from his nose or if maybe he lost a tooth because it was pooling in his mouth. Luckily, it all turned out fine and he recovered quite quickly after the bleeding stopped. He took a quick bath and is now playing and  cuddling with daddy on the bed.
These boys have my heart!
I haven’t had too much time to think in this process. Everything has been planning and packing. It has been nice to take a breath and realize how much the family I have made means to me. Of course I know that but there are moments that take my breath away and make me realize how they are the number one thing for me. I will miss my friends and family in Utah for sure but I am so excited for this adventure. Being closer to Stephen’s family will be nice, as his mom said, it’s her turn. I don’t know what the future holds but for now this is a great journey I am happy to be on!
Now hopefully off to a restful evening and then our longest driving day tomorrow!
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