We made it to Utah!

The trip out took 3 days.  Usually we do it in 2, but we thought we would go a little slower and hopefully make it to the hotels in time to relax, eat dinner, and play with the kids, just to give everyone a break from the van.  It was actually  pretty nice, and I was much more patient with the kids this time. :)

When we got here we spent the first night at my mom's.  After church we went down to Derrick's parents'.  As soon as we pulled in the driveway, Hayden woke up and said, "Is this the grandpa with the tractors?"  And a tractor ride was the first thing he did.  I don't have any pictures from our time down there unfortunately.

Derrick had to leave that night because he started work the next morning!  The kids and I stayed the night at grandma and grandpa's to give them some more time together.  We left the next day to go see our new house and sign all the papers.  I was so excited for them to see it!  We had been telling them all about how they had a big back yard to play in now, and everyone was just excited.  I was also a little nervous that maybe Derrick wouldn't like it, or something would be wrong with it.  Derrick and I always make big decisions together, but I had just picked our house for the next few years by myself.  

Luckily, he liked it.  And I still love it.  And our back yard is THE BEST THING EVER.

We spend the next week apart.  Awful.  Derrick stayed with his cousin (thanks Clint! Even though I'm sure you will never read this and probably have no idea we have a blog. ha) and the kids and I stayed with my mom and step dad. (Thanks mom! I'm sure you will be the first to read this. ha.)  We are so lucky to be back home and have our families to help us out. But I'm not going to lie, it was HARD to be away from each other, to not have breaks from the kids like I am used to (Hey, Derrick pampers me ok.) and to not have any of our stuff.  Transitions are hard anyway, and it was hard on the kids not to have their daddy or their usual toys.  Still we had fun with the grandparents and cousins while we could.

We went to stay in our new house at the end of that week.  The movers would be coming early the next morning, so we borrowed some air mattresses from my brother and his wife (Thanks guys!) and slept on the floor.  Yes, I woke up pretty much sunk to the floor, but that's ok! We were a family again.

 The kids in the morning.

Now, the whole moving company experience is a whole post itself. I won't into it now, but I will just say if you ever need advice on moving companies, I can tell you which company NOT to use.  We were lied to, and they didn't deliver on the day they had promised. It makes a person really nervous when you have every possession they own on a truck 1500 miles away, and you are lying to them. The moving truck finally got there on Saturday with our stuff.  I don't have any pictures of unloading! How silly of me. Guess I was busy. :)

We weren't able to do an Easter celebration because of the move, so we did one the next morning.  (also mother's day)  This is the kids' reactions when we told them that they had some baskets hidden that they could go look for.

 I thought that a little box of sugary cereal would be a fun treat.  It was a bad idea.  Hayden threw up!  I didn't know if it was just the sugar, or if it was a bug, so I took Halle to church myself while Derrick and Hayden stayed home.  Kind of sad to go to our new ward missing half the family!

But when I got home I had a surprise!  Do you like the posters on the wall?  They are made from packing paper! And Derrick had finished cleaning up the kitchen and made lunch for us.  How sweet!

We have an island in our new kitchen and I love it! The kids always sit there for breakfast and lunch, and it's so nice to have plenty of counter space.  I decided to make freezer jam one day, and I had the kids help me.    They just cut up the strawberries for me.  Perfect kid activity, because I didn't care how they looked since I was mashing them up anyway.