Back in the Northwest

I've lived in the Northwest US for 2/3 of my life. I don't know if anywhere else in the world will ever feel like home the way the northwest does. Nothing says home to me like driving down the street and seeing this:



This is seriously what I see when I turn the corner to drive almost anywhere. And when I'm not looking at that amazing mountain (Mt. Hood), I see this:



I know, not quite as beautiful, but that's what happens when you lose part of your beauty in a volcanic explosion. Yes, that's Mt. St. Helens. I did not realize how amazingly lucky I had been my entire life to be able to see such beauty every time I walked out my door, but having it all back has made me grateful.

Aside from my mountains, I also have my gorgeous Evergreen trees, my amazing family, fabulous friends, and a lot less stress. With school starting next week, I know that things will get a little crazy. We've got to find a soccer team for Soren, get him a piano teacher, Scouts will start again, but for the first time in 2+ years, I get to enjoy his schedule instead of trying to work around it and make sure that someone is here for him! Hooray!

Do I miss Virginia? Of course I do! I wish I could scoop up all the things I love about Virginia (including the people!) and move them here with me. But, truthfully, I think this area will always be home for me.

Our pod is here and we are heading over either tomorrow or Thursday to get our bed (OH PLEASE, BED, I NEED YOU SO MUCH!) and a few other things to help us feel more at home while we live with my parents. I'm excited to get my bed (CAN YOU TELL?!?!) . The bed we are in is too small for the two of us. Or rather two and 2/3 of us. Little Bean has already begun complaining about things. She woke up way too early this morning (I know, this is just the beginning!) and would not stop poking and prodding me! She calmed down a little after Daddy came and talked to her, but then he had to go to work and she ignored all of my requests. I can't complain, though. I'm grateful she is active and let's me know she is there. Frequently. Haha! I know the days of getting a full nights sleep are behind me and will be for a while. But it's worth it.

In my sleep - deprived delerium, I think the point of this post is - we are here. We made it. And hopefully by the end of the week we will be settled here at my parents house. Then we just wait for Bean to make her appearance while we decide where we want to live and when we want to move there. We are keeping busy, but I feel like my life is much more relaxed than it has been so saying yes to a musical number at church and babysitting a friend's kids? No prob! Helping out with the music for the kids at church? Bah, I've been doing that for years - no big!

Biggest concern for the week? Getting Soren's school clothes and supplies. He's all registered and ready to go otherwise.

I think I'm going to go take a nap now!

The world is round and the place which may seem like the end may also be the beginning.

So.

This is it.

My last night in Virginia.

Almost all of my errands have been run. I said goodbye to people from my old job. It was so nice to visit with them! I said goodbye to my wonderful ob/gyn and his assistant (whom I love to bits!) and got my records. I ran to the store to pick up a few last minute things. I dropped off my mail key and the last few things to finish up checking out of our townhouse. And I made a few phone calls as well. So a lot got done today! I still need to do another load of laundry in the morning and do the final packing job. I will also need to ship myself a package or two to accommodate all of the adorable things Little Bean received at the baby shower that was given to me by my sweet friends Jen and Alison. It was so nice to sit and visit with friends and to be able to say goodbye. Or rather, "see you later." Cuz, let's face it, saying goodbye sucks.

I'm sad to leave so many good friends who have been there for me in so many different ways. But the good thing is that I know many of them are forever friends, not just right now friends. One in particular I know will be there for me for the rest of my life - and beyond as well. And that is a good feeling. Except it makes the leaving that much more difficult. Ugh!

Instead of focusing on that (I'm not in the mood to cry right now!), I will focus on the friends and family I am going back to! I am so excited to be close to my brothers again. I love them and their families so much! I'm also glad to be close to my parents (very close for a while!). I worried about them both a lot and when they were both very sick a couple of years ago I was a mess not being able to be there to help them. Of course I hope that doesn't happen again, but if it does, I want to be there. Then there are the many wonderful friends that we get to go back to! I can't wait to get hugs from them, play games, and go on outings together again. Trust me when I say, I've had to focus on all of these things to keep myself from crying for the past 2-3 weeks.

Now I just need to make it through a long evening of travel tomorrow before I can curl up (as best as I can with 6 months of baby inside of me! haha!) next to my sweetheart and sleep tomorrow night. That is unless Little Bean decides to wake me up in the middle of the night. Again. Twice. Haha! She's an active little one, but I'm ok with that . . . she's worth it. All this exhaustion (and the loads that is forthcoming) is all worth it.

So, Virginia.... it's been a great (mostly) 4 years. I'll hopefully be back in the spring to show off my little blessing . . . . anyone who wants to come visit the gorgeous Portland metro area, let me know! I love visitors! Just not during the first week or two in December. I'll be recuperating from giving birth! Ha!

Another Suitcase in Another Hall . . .

The house is packed.
The pod was picked up on Monday.
The house is clean.
The boys are currently in Nauvoo.
The house is empty.
The girls (hee hee) are staying with an awesome family that we all love.

So that's really the latest.

For the first night in I'm not sure how long I actually slept and slept hard. I didn't get out of bed until 9:30am! That is unheard of for me! I am usually up by 7:30 at the latest - regardless of what time I go to sleep. This was also the first morning in quite a while that I didn't have to get up at some ridiculous hour to send boys off, go to the airport, or stress because of how much packing/cleaning had to be done. I am so grateful to my brother in law who came all the way out here to help us. I am grateful to friends from the ward who helped us clean last week. I'm so grateful for good friends who helped us pack and clean. Basically, I'm just grateful for everything and everyone that has helped us get everything in order so we could move as quickly as we needed to. I'm aslo grateful for good friends who take care of my boys. It's always amazing to me how Heavenly Father watches over us when we are doing what He wants. How else would I have packed and cleaned my entire house in such a short amount of time? I really have no idea.

I leave Virginia on the 19th. I really can't believe that is less than a week away. I also am having trouble dealing with all the emotions that are coming along with this move. It's such a mixed bag of excitement and sadness that my brain is confused! Ugh! I'm sure pregnancy hormones aren't helping, either. Two weeks ago at church I couldn't stop crying all through the first portion of things. I'm hoping I can pull it together for my last Sunday, but I doubt it!

We are lucky to have been able to have fit everything in our pod. And by fit I mean just barely cram everything into every possible crevice in the entire thing. There is not a drop of extra room. And our car? It was so loaded down it was crazy. But it all fit. That's what is important. Except that I know my boys are less than comfortable driving across the country. I wish I could fix it for them. I tried my best (with the help of my friend Jen as well as Alan) to get everything in without squishing them, but I know they are not so comfy.

I am now staying with friends, helping with a new baby, and trying to tie up the loose ends of our life here on the east coast. What is left to do?

*Carpet Cleaning - they are coming today
*Final Inspection of the house - that's tomorrow
*Final Dr's appt - that's on Friday and I have to try not to cry - I am going to miss my doctor so much. I get so attached to doctors I actually like!
*Baby Shower/Goodbye Party - On Saturday from 2-4 pm - if you are local, email me for more info if you want to come! I would LOVE to see you!!!!
*Return last cable box - need to do this today if possible

So really, there isn't much. And I'm glad about that because the past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind.

Now I just need to go shower, throw some clothes on, and head over to the house to do some weeding while they clean the carpets. I also need to check to see how much of our trash they actually took yesterday. There was a LOT!! Haha!

I'll update when there is more to report. That's it for now!

Stuff, Stuff, and More Stuff!

I am very grateful that 6 or so years ago I was introduced to Flylady. Seriously. This is our third move in the last 4 years. If I still had some of my old habits (aka "Keeping Everything Just In Case"), this move (and the 2 others we've made) would have been much worse. I'm guessing we are going to wind up having extra empty boxes because I've overestimated how many we actually need. Also, I'm very optimistic that we'll be able to fit everything into our pod. Had I still been in my other mindset, I'm not sure we'd have enough boxes and I'm positive a 16ft. pod would not be enough.

That being said, we are getting closer to completion. What is left?

*The game closet
*The 2 upstairs bathrooms
*Bits and bobs from the living room
*Bits and bobs from the kitchen
*40% of the master bedroom
*The back porch area
*Cleaning on the main floor and top floor

Today my goal is the game closet, the bits and bobs from the living room, and working some more on the master bedroom. Alan's last day of work is today, so he'll be home all day tomorrow to help. His brother is flying in tonight to help as well. Last night we had a friend from Alan's work come over and help, which was so wonderful, and he is coming back tonight as well! His wife will be joining him after that and we'll all have dinner in the mess and chaos. It should be fun, though!

We would like to have 95% of our belongings snugly inside the pod by tomorrow night. I need to cancel our second pod soon if we don't need it and that will leave me with plenty of time to clean. Woohoo! I do believe one of the last things to be packed will be our wireless router. We are such internet junkies!

Well that's all I have time for today. I must keep up with the packing. I also need to brush my teeth and freshen up for lunch with my friend Nancy. Yay!

My Baby is Double Digits

In the midst of all the packing, organizing, and other craziness, my baby turned 10 years old. TEN! Can you believe it? I can't. First off, I can't believe that I have a ten year old. Can I really be old enough for that to have happened? Secondly, I can't believe my baby is ... not a baby anymore.

I don't have many pictures on my computer right now and a lot are simply packed away, but here are a few of my angel:

Here he is at the ripe old age of two:



He's always been such a happy person - smiling so much all the time. He has his drama moments (don't we all), but overall he just is a joy to be around. One of the many reasons I love him.

And here he is again at age three:



This picture captures his personality so much. Cute, happy, fun, and a little mischievous to boot! But so freakin' adorable, no?

I can't be bothered to upload a recent one of him. Go back a few entries, you'll find one. I'm too tired and the camera is all the way downstairs. Rest assured, more will come. Especially after his little sister joins him. I can't even begin to tell you how sweet it is to see him so excited for her arrival. It literally brings me to tears when I think about it because he is just so thrilled for her to come. He can't wait to be able to feel her kick and actually was close to crying the other day because I could feel her and he could not. It is too precious for words, truly. He is going to be a phenomenal big brother, I can already tell.

Update on the packing front:

Basement is cleared out except laundry stuff.
Main floor continues in the same state - mostly packed (aside from the kitchen) with bits and bobs to shove in other locations.
The office is about 80% complete. Everything is out of my desk (finally) and out of the closet as well. I am estimating 3-4 more boxes to wrap it all up here.
The bedrooms are generally the same.

Our pod arrives on Monday. Then the real task begins - fitting everything in a 16ft. pod. I am hoping and praying that we can do it, as the cost will drop in half if we only have one pod. Right now I am optimistic. I just hope we can sell our entertainment center and desk prior to our move, as that will free up some space if we don't take those things.

We continued to be blessed and know that this is the right thing for our family to be doing. We were given another batch of boxes today from a friend at church - just the right type and sizes we needed. What an amazing blessing.

Soren also had a few friends over today for a pool party and cake and what not. Aside from the visit of thunder about halfway through our pool adventures, it was a good time. And now his birthday celebrations are officially over and we now shift our entire focus to finishing up with packing and beginning the cleaning process. We've already had help with the basement - so grateful for that - and have more help coming on Monday. There is still a bit more in the basement and then we have the main floor to tackle. That will be a little more tricky considering there are still boxes piled everywhere. Maybe by the time help shows up I will have the office emptied out. Here's hoping!

So that's the latest. And now I am exhausted, sore, and needing a long sleep.