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...