We did it.

So, I'm in Utah now.  We made the move.  For journaling purposes, allow me to describe the last few days in Ohio:


Wednesday, Nov. 16:  Bart's last day of school.  SO exciting!  Congrats, Bart.  You did it!  I am so proud of you!


Friday, Nov. 18:  Finished boxing our belongings.  Heather watched Whitney all week so I could pack up our stuff.  THANK YOU!  I couldn't have done it without you.  Bart picked up the 26 foot penske and friends came to help us load the truck.  THANK YOU to all of you who helped.  We ate dinner that night at Panera.  One of my favorite Columbus places.  Good lighting.  Aaron (Bart's brother) flew in that evening to an "empty" house.  (Still a lot of junk, even though the truck was packed.  Uhm, how does that even happen?)

Saturday, Nov. 19:  Clean, clean, clean. Thank you to those girls who came over to help me get my kitchen and house cleaned up!  Get the rest of that "junk" to be in a spot. Bart and Aaron went to the OSU vs. Penn State football game Saturday afternoon while I wrestled the kids in an empty house.  That night we ate our last Ohio meal from City BBQ and finished all those odds-and-ends.

Sunday, Nov. 20:  6:30 am.  The boys woke up and got the truck ready to go.  Packed anything else in the truck and said a tearful goodbye to my sweet hubby.  They left at 7:15 am in the Penske moving truck with our Accord on a car-carrier.
7:30 am:  My time to leave.  Hurry and got the kids ready.  Heather came over to help me pack things in her car.  I was STRESSED.  That kind of anxiousness where if you eat breakfast, you want to puke.  I had too much stuff for my airplane ride.  Just one bag to check, but my carry-on was about 50 pounds.  I'm not exaggerating.  Heather drove me and the kiddos to the airport and we said goodbye.

The two plane rides went okay.  Whitney was a DOLL.  When she got tired on the second flight (Chicago Midway to SLC) she just laid down on her gorilla stuffed-animal and closed her eyes.  She did puzzles, worked on her workbooks, colored, and read books.  Wow.  I love this girl!!!  She enjoyed her complimentary Sprite and was such a happy girl on both flights.

MacKay loved to suck on the airplane seats, jump on my lap, try to dive onto other passengers and rub the tatoos on the man's arm, who was sitting next to us.  He slept for a total of about 24 minutes.  Needless to say, he didn't get over that ear infection.

I will never forget that sweet lady who helped me carry the kids and my bags all over that Midway airport. She was so kind.  She even helped me in the bathroom when I had to change MacKay's poopy diaper and use the restroom myself.  There are just so many kind people in the world.  She really was an answer to my prayers.  Literally.  Then there was a nice guy on my next flight who carried that 50 pound bag on and off the plane for me.  Thank you to him.

We arrived in SLC at 1:50 pm.  That's about 4 pm Columbus time. It took us a while to get from the airplane to baggage claim because we had "Clean up on isle Whitney June." Change of clothes, change of diapers and then we were done.

Whitney literally ran into the arms of Grandma Marsha when she saw her.  MacKay took a great late nap and Whitney was so happy to be playing with her cousins.

Bart and Aaron drove all day and almost all night.  They made it back to Bountiful, Utah around 8 pm on Monday night.  I can't describe the relief I have knowing that that part is over.  We are so thankful for good weather and that they were safe.  It was very stressful for me to know that almost everything we owned along with my hubby was in a truck, driving across the US.  Very scary.  But we were so blessed to have everything work out okay and have good weather.

On Tuesday morning, we drove to Lehi to our new little town house.  It's cute and cozy.  Much more room than we've ever had.  It's a great transitional spot for our little family while we look for a permanent home with a mortgage.

The most important aspect of our Lehi home is that there are 3 bedrooms. Whitney is back in her regular big-girl bed without sleeping on our floor.  Although we had to take MacKay to the urgent care (ear infection) on Wednesday, things are going okay.

Moving is intense, stressful and really hard.  There's little glits of sunshine through that stress.  One thing I'm grateful for with this change is that I know this feeling of anxiety and stress won't last forever.  Soon, things will start to feel "normal."  We will make new friends and this place will feel more like home.  But in that mean time, it's hard.

Here are a few pics from that experience.  I didn't take many, but that's okay.

Whitney's first sightings of the truck.  She and Jadyn played in it for quite some time:

That's her Rapunzel hair attached to her pony:

Whitney showing Aaron her book right when she woke up on Saturday morning. (Love that bed-head.)

Here's the kids playing in our rooms with no furniture:

This was taken with my phone.  Here's what Bart looked like when he was done with school (forever!).  I picked him up because he had all his dental "stuff" with him.  

I love this one.  Here's Whitney during our lay-over in Chicago.  Yes, this about sums it up:

And yes, it was my only picture from that whole day.

Aaron and Bart at the OSU game.  Go Bucks... but they lost.  Too bad.

Also taken with my phone on that evening I picked up Bart from school.  Just seeing this picture brings so many emotions.  Goodbye Ohio...

Goodbye Ohio

These last few weeks have been everything from joyful, exciting, happy to stressful, anxious, worry-some and troubling.  Packing a house is NOT fun.  Whoever tells you different is crazy.  I'm sure everyone can relate.  This is our biggest move thus far in our lives.

Bart has his final check-out on Wednesday, November 16.  The kids and I fly out on November 20 and Bart will drive a moving truck, with his brother, to Utah.

I have been nostalgic these last weeks.  I can't help but remember what it felt like when we moved out here.  I was literally in tears for the first hour of the drive.  When we arrived in Columbus, it was August something.  Hot, humid, sticky.  Our apartment wouldn't be ready for two weeks.  We lived with the Watkins.  Slept in their basement.

I started working at the most disgusting, nastiest, grossest, worst school in America.  (Wait, Shawna... I think your school in Philly had mine beat.)  Literally, there were mice droppings on my papers, leaky ceilings, moldy EVERYTHING and stinky hallways.  (And that was the good part.)  I did love those kids- but that was just about where it ended.  Ms. Dee... ugh.  How do I describe a woman so manipulative and lazy?  Adrienne, do you remember when she had you hold up magazines in her office as she would tell you what pile to put them in?  And Ms. Joy.  I took my iPod there and recorded her verbally abusing children.  I will never forget that morning when your eyebrow pencil ran out and I jokingly told you to use a crayola brown magic marker instead.  You did.  You were literally crazy.  But that's what drugs do to a person.  What a horrific place.  I can't believe it's still running.

But I learned a lot that first year of Bart's dental school.  We rarely turned on the heat, insulated our own windows with plastic and fleece blankets.  Shawna & Brett came to visit for the first Thanksgiving.  We found out we were pregnant with Whitney that December.  We were SO excited!  It took us almost a year and a half to get pregnant with her.  Just being able to be pregnant helped me get through that school year.

Bart studied so hard.  I almost can't even remember what I did during those nights he would study down in the basement.  We made friends, got more involved in our ward, decorated our house and got ready to be parents.

Sometimes it feels like forever ago when we were staring out here in Columbus.  Yet, it went by so quickly.  It is so bitter-sweet to see it ending.

We're excited about this next BIG adventure.  Scared to leave what we've been doing since we were five-years-old:  going to school.  Many of you have been out there (in the 'real-world') for years now.  We're hoping it's going to be just as great as our lives as students.  I sort of feel like I'm standing on the edge of the diving board just waiting to jump in.  Please tell me the water is warm and I'm going to love it.

What will I miss most about this place?

Where do I begin?
FRIENDS... that's what I'll miss from here the most..  but coming in a second:
Zoombezi bay, Volunteer's of America Thrift store, City BBQ, Panera, Columbus Zoo, the parks, our ward, taking Whitney outside around Westborough and having her play with all of her friends, going on walks in the "Kenny" neighborhood, the Columbus Temple, the Autumn with the gorgeous leaves.  Halloween in Columbus--- it lasts a whole week long.  I'll never forget this past Christmas.  It was our first away from any of our family.  I was SUPER prego... yes, SUPER big.  We had dinner at a friend's house.  On our drive back, the streets of Upper Arlington were lined with beautiful candle lights in bags. The snow was falling.  It was perfect (minus the fact that I was SO swollen!).  We listened to Christmas music and took our little Whitney home.

I think the thing I'll be sad to leave is my house.  This is where I brought my babies "home" from the hospital.  This is where we celebrated Whitney's 1st, 2nd & 3rd birthday.  In this house is where I found out I was pregnant, where Bart and I had Thanksgiving and where we celebrated our first Christmas as a little family.  In this home Bart and I became P90X grads (ha!), listened to our neighbors fight and laughed so hard at night.

It's so cheesy, this post.  But it's how I feel.  I know it's time to leave...

So, this week we'll pack up our things, clean this house for the last time and start on our next big adventure.


Columbus, Ohio....
You'll always have a little piece of my heart.

Whitney 3.2

A new version of Whitney June came out in the past few weeks.  I love this new version.  She's funny, obedient, happy, kind, friendly, knows how to share and throws far fewer fits.  Truly, these are some classic things that come out of her mouth on a regular basis:

"I'm sorry Mommy!"

"It's okay!" 

"I love you!"  

"Okay Mommy!"

I would say time-outs have gone down to MAYBE one a day.  She's just been so good lately.  

I read this parenting book.  I didn't follow about 90% of what it said, but I did learn a few things.  I think that, combined with growing up, has this new version of Whitney so very lovely.  (Mostly her grown up, though, I think!)

This is Sunday just before church.  She held onto this sucker for over 3 hours (until the car ride home) so she could prove to be such a good girl during church.  Animal print... it's a new fave!

Yes, she wants to get her picture taken.  And no- that's not lipstick- it's chapstick.  Whitney keep up the good work!  We'll get through this big move together!  I love you.  

Trick-Or-Treat

 Wait, I forgot the rest of our Halloween festivities:

1.  Carving pumpkins.  We picked up the small one for $1.00 at the patch.
Here's little Dolly in her messy-face ready-to-scarf-some-candy mode:

Don't look too closely at mine.  I broke the knife when carving.  

Daddy/Daughter with the finished result:

Meanwhile Bubba's practicing the splits:

 Halloween night:  Missy got to choose her own costume for this night.  Princess (Christmas version) Belle.  With the make up and fancy dress, and pretty heeled shoes... I am having visions of prom night.

This is Bubba's only shot from the night.  He was too busy getting into things.

Amy & Nelson's for one last year...

Here's Belle & Cinderella.  These girls are really going to miss one another.

10 Month MacKay

Already?  That's exactly what I'm thinking.

At 10 Months, MacKay is:
- Wearing size 4 diapers (5 at night)
-Takes 2 naps (1.5-2.5 hours)
-Has a nasty cold from his big Sissy
-Army crawling and starting to "regular" crawl
-Pulling himself up on everything and cruising the furniture
-Crying in the crib as he pulls himself up to standing
-Falling and bonking his head, face and every other body part
-Waves "hi", claps, grabs with his pinchers
-Says, "Mama" when he wants to eat.
-Says "Dada" all the time
-Is fully formula fed (around 24 oz a day)
-Eats 3 meals a day
-Loves to feed himself fishy crackers, cheerios, and all small things lying around the house
-Is VERY busy... we had a good run of you being so chill- it looks like those days are over.
-Is so sweet and tender... we love you!

Pay no attention to the packages behind him.... we're in full-on moving mode around here.

And he's off:

Whitney's tricycle is his FAVORITE spot to play:

Just yesterday after Stake Conference at the Columbus Temple:

We love you, Bubba!