Holladay Happenin's: Week ending 1-3-16

Monday: Moving Day!!

At church the day before a sweet friend asked what I needed help with and I told her I was so worn out from Saturday that I might just hire someone to clean. She offered to come help and then posted on the RS facebook page and the next day my house was flooded with sweet relief society sisters ready and eager to clean. I was overwhelmed!

Alicia Young cleaning my bathroom.

Kylie and Spencer cleaning the living room.

Megan Pyrah and her daughter Molly doing the dining room blinds.

Elizabeth Whitley vacuuming the stairs. She has taught almost all of my children in primary so far.

Jenny Sparrow who stayed all day helping and whose husband helped load the Penske truck.

Jamie Whittier who is ~25 weeks pregnant and was the one who organized this whole cleaning party.

I had bought 2 meat and cheese party trays, water bottles, and apples for my cleaning crew and was sooo please with how everything turned out. I couldn't have been more blessed.

Me cleaning the water bed liner.

The view from the top of the stairs.

Nathan, on the other hand, had a lot of troubles. That morning his dad had flown in and helped Nathan and Brother Sparrow move all the stuff that had been loaded in the 16' Penske into a 22' Penske. Then they loaded the rest of the stuff in the living room. Madalyn baby-sat Thomas, Makenna, and Samuel all day at the Timothy's house, which helped me immensely. She made chicken crescent rolls and I brought everyone over to our house for a quick dinner and then they were off. Or so I thought. I left with my flying crew: Alexis, Kaitlyn, Samuel, and Anderson. We went out for dinner because I had a birthday gift card that was only for this local restaurant so this was my last night to use it. It wouldn't have been my first choice to take these 4 kids, but it turned out perfect. Alexis and Kaitlyn were really excited as they've never been to a Mexican restaurant before and the little boys were really good. Meanwhile Nathan's dad driving the Penske had trouble with the lights on the trailer pulling the Hyundai so they didn't get off until 9pm. I'm glad I didn't know that while I was enjoying my night with my flying crew.

We worked all morning to pack and clean the Timothy's house and run last minute errands. Then Jenny Sparrow picked us up at 11:30am and drove us to the Greenville Airport. Finally we're on our way to our new home in Utah! With as many times as Nathan has changed his mind about this new job, and all the work it took to plan the move, I never thought this day would come.

Here Kaitlyn gets a window seat by a nice lady.

Alexis gets a window seat by a nice guy.

Samuel gets a window seat by his nice mother.

Getting off the plane in Charlotte.

Hanging out during our 4+hour layover. Anderson fell asleep right before we boarded for SLC.

Wednesday night Alexis and Kaitlyn spent the night at Nathan's brother's house while I took Samuel and Anderson to my brother's house. He was out of town so I had the house to myself. It was super fun letting each boy have their own bedroom. Samuel happily slept in Shane's toddler bed and Anderson slept in Paige's crib. We ate a little bit of our stocking candy and got to bed at a decent time. With all the chaos of moving and Christmas I was thrilled to have a little time to myself to email, update my blog, and write in my journal. It was just what I needed before the big move in day. Meanwhile, Nathan, his dad, and the other kids had stayed at my cousin's house in Missouri Tuesday night and in Laramie, WY Wednesday night.

I loved that Brady's house was so kid friendly. Samuel happily entertained himself the whole time we were there. I guess he's missed having toys and playtime for the past week or two.

Anderson happy on the couch.

Thursday: New Year's Eve Day.

Anderson took a long morning nap so we continued to hang out at Brady's. Samuel loved parking this chair in front of the Christmas tree and saying, "I like a tree, Mommy."

In the afternoon we went to Nathan's brother Seth's house. At 5:30 Nathan and the kids pulled up from their cross country trip. We had a delicious dinner with Nathan's siblings and family. Then the kids watched Penguins of Madagascar or something.

The dads watching a football game.

Happy New Year (at 7pm before the little kids went to bed.)

The cousins hanging out and eating brownies before the little ones went to bed. I took my younger 4 to Brady's around 8:20

Friday: Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the move in. I think the camera had been left at Seth's. But it went perfectly. I couldn't have been more blessed. I'm so grateful for all of Nathan's family helping us. Madalyn again baby-sat the little kids at Brady's while we moved in, which helped tremendously. We unloaded the truck from 10:30-12 then ate pizza and Oreos. Then the guys went and got us a couch set off ksl while the girls unpacked boxes. Then at 3:30 we went back to Seth's for New Year's Day dinner.

Saturday: figuring out where we want everything and unpacking.

Here Kylie works on the school room.

Kaitlyn and Makenna get busy playing with their dolls we unpacked on Friday. We surprised them with the play room all ready to go and they were thrilled.

Trying to figure out how to arrange the front room. When we went to get Kylie and Madalyn a bed the people threw in 4 lamps, a book case, a huge picture, bathroom rugs, a fake tree and more.