It was a crazy busy week of packing from sunup to past sundown. Every night I felt like the Nephites in battle where they fought all day and slept on their swords and got up and fought all day again. Every day was one day down just to get up and keep working the next day. But it's all done and we're off to Virginia!!
Monday: Four little kids were so sweet sleeping and snoring.
Spencer and Alexis played in the orchestra for concerto night. The next night they played for convocation. Then Alexis had to return her oboe. She's retiring it and starting a new hobby of farm animals when we move. I love the oboe and so glad she got to do it the past 4 years.
Tuesday: Spencer got rear ended. Just what we needed the week we moved! The next day the bumper fell off and the muffler sounded bad. I was worried about squeezing in a car repair when we only have 1 car and need it to run errands and are so busy, but luckily we fixed it ourselves.
The view over the wall. The youth had a bbq going away party for Spencer, Alexis, and Thomas. I packed a whole bunch and looked for my little kids to put them to bed and they were all over there playing tag games.
Kaitlyn waving.
Wednesday: Kaitlyn taking out a mattress. We took apart the bunk beds in her room and the kids slept on the floor for a couple of nights.
My clothes all packed! Winter in the left tub, spring plus my purse, jewelry organizer, Julianne's hand molds in the right box.
Brooke came over and helped so much! I loved seeing her play with the little kids and interact with them.
Tilly and Ruth playing.
The kitchen boxes stumped me and I felt done packing so luckily Alexis tackled them and got them packed in no time.
Tilly and Ruth played in an empty bedroom for hours.
Thursday: Cleaning my shower before I let them go to the last day of school party at the Nelson's.
We love the last day of school parties in our neighborhood. We've really had the American dream in our rental house: great neighbors, ward, kids running between yards till 9pm, everyone being so generous, kids having lots of friends. But the rent is going up to $3200 a month which I can't afford and I've always had a dream to have a farm. Living in the Blue Ridge Mountains is a dream come true for me. I love the South and the rain and the beauty and ruralness. I can't wait!
The last 2 boxes!
What our garage looked like Thursday night. Ready to load!
Spencer packing.
Washing windows inside and out.
The piano ready to be loaded first in the morning.
Alexis took her bed to the garage and is sleeping on the floor our last night in our house.
Bad picture but 4 little kids sleeping on the floor here.
And one (Andy) in this room.
My room is ready to go. Just deflate the air mattress and take my exercise bike out.
When we pulled up with the moving truck a crew was already here ready to load the piano.
Madalyn drove it from the lot to our house and said it was just as easy as the big van. They're both Fords so they're similar.
The piano movers were just going to do the piano and then we'd finish packing and more movers would come at 11 and 12 but the guys wanted to get started on it since everything was in the garage and see how much they could get done.
Meanwhile the kids played in the cab. Nathan's mom stopped by with 2 cousins from Florida we rarely see.
They emptied it out pretty quick.
Alexis, Makenna, Kaitlyn, Cousin Jackson and Grace, Samuel standing up.
They were all done in 30-40 minutes. Plenty of room left in a 20' truck.
Lunch break!
Last meal in our old house.
Cleaning begins! Ian was a good helper.
Madalyn played with the kids a lot which was a big help. Then she did a lot of homework. :)
At 6:30 we went to our neighborhood going away party.
We have the best neighbors and I'm beyond grateful God blessed us to live in this neighborhood, renting site unseen, and being able to stay for 5.5 years.
The view from the Hales to our house.
After adding a few more things.
Tucking Tilly in at the Tarbets house.
Saying goodbye to my first friend, Kristin.
Sleeping at the Tarbets.
Saturday: Minivan all packed.
Saying good-bye to Kristin again.
Ready to go! I took Samuel and Makenna in the truck with me and we had a great trip, 7 hours to Worland, Wyoming to my brother's house. The minivan had some incidents and took 10 hours. :(
Kristin gave Makenna this blank book she turned into a trip journal.
A bleak looking lake in Wyoming. We're going to compare it to lakes in the South.
At Ben's he gave the 5 little kids a ride on the tractor.
