The Big Move

I know that I have touched on the subject of Hubs and I moving our family.  Here are some details :) 

When M & G were two months old (May) Hubs and I visited his home town in MN.  We visited 1 to 2 times a year since we were married.  We visited every other Christmas for sure and sometimes we were able to fit in another visit.  When we got married Hubs had always said that he wanted to move back.  I had always told him NO WAY, at least not until our kids were at the youngest in middle school.  Anyway, back to our visit when the Bigs were 2 months old.  The first day we were there I said to Hubs, "ok, I'm ready."  He was blown away.  He hadn't thought about moving back for a long time since he knew I didn't want to.  

When we got back home we talked about the possibility of moving.  When we discussed it we decided that we weren't going to move until my younger brothers graduated high school.  I didn't want to leave them.  They had another two years in school.  We figured we would start the process.  When my brothers got home from summer camp (July) they decided that they wanted to go to Hillcrest (a Christian boarding school in Hubs home town).  Hubs and I were blown away.  Not only of the amazing young men they were becoming, but with the fact that they were leaving us when we had just said we wouldn't leave them.  Haha.  

At the end of that summer I decided to go back to work.  We decided that we would put our house on the market and Hubs would look for a job in MN.  After working that school year we decided that I wouldn't go back to work.  Our house was still on the market and Hubs was still looking for a job.  

Two years after the boys being 2 months (May) we had a knew little man.  L was born May 1st and we still hadn't sold our house and Hubs still hadn't gotten a job.  When we were in the hospital we were talking about the possibility of moving again.  Hubs mentioned that we should just do it before his little brother got married in the end of July.  In my opinion he was all talk.  I didn't really think much of it.

Towards the end of the month Hubs told me he was serious.  So we decided to just do it.  We decided to go on blind faith.  We were going with no place to live, no job, and still having a house that wasn't selling.  We figured out that the best time to do it would be the beginning of July.  That way we wouldn't be arriving during the busy time of the wedding, and we knew that we didn't want to go out there for the wedding and then come back home just to move out there later in the summer.  

 I packed up the house during the month of June.  The boys were really great about it.  I was so surprised that they didn't mind too much.  They were actually so excited.  The whole month we asked them, "Where are we moving?".  The way they say MN is just too cute.

L gave me a run for my money during the packing time.  Some days he let me do a bunch, other days he didn't let me do anything.  Some how it all got done.  My mom was amazing!  She came over almost every day for a little bit to take the Bigs outside so I could get work done or just snuggle L in some quiet.  I also had a few friends that came over.  Some of them came over and helped pack and others came over just to hold L for me.  We are so blessed to have had these friends in our lives!  Hubs helped some too :)  at night and on weekends.  He didn't actually help much with the packing.  He helped by holding L or rearranging heavy boxes for me.

He would have his turn with moving responsibilities soon enough!!  :)

Hubs invited a bunch of his youth group kids and some of our friends to help him load the truck and have a farewell bbq.  We are so thankful for these people!!

The day he packed the truck was the hottest day of the summer.  103 degrees... what a sweaty mess!

One of our friends that came to help us has 3 gorgeous girls.  The boys and the girls wore themselves out running around the empty house and playing in the sprinkler outside that when they came inside they just about passed out on the floor in the empty living room while watching a little show.

My older brother stayed late that night.  He and the boys had a load of fun falling on the air mattress.

After Daddy's long day of loading the truck he, M, and G got to have a camp out on the living room floor.  Mommy was super jealous.  I was packing bags for the long drive that was coming up in the morning and getting together all of the last minute stuff that was still hanging around the house.  I do have to say that while Hubs was loading the truck I got to stay in the cool house most of the time.  For the most part I was still packing or telling people what went where, but there were times that I got to just snuggle L.

We have so much junk!  We had two U-Hauls.  The smaller one was only partially packed and then we strapped Hubs motorcycle in the back half.  We pulled Hubs Scout behind the larger one and his car behind the smaller one..

Here we all are ready for our 24hour trip.  

 As we were getting the boys in the van we had a farewell parade.

This line of motorcycles took close to 5 minutes to drive by.  It was so much fun.  Since we were standing right on the edge of the road they were slowing down even more than I think they would have and were waving to us.

Finally we were off.  Hubs was driving the big truck (first one) and my stepdad was driving the smaller one (2nd truck).  When my stepdad heard (the weekend before our move) about how we were planning on getting to MN (Hubs parents were flying out; his mom, myself, and the 3 boys would be driving the van; his dad one of the trucks, and him the other truck) he said he was going to check his work schedule and see if he could drive out with us.  I was beyond relieved when he called me on Monday saying that if we could get him to the airport for a 6am flight Tuesday morning he would be able to drive with us.

Hubs parents flew in Sunday morning.  We caravanned to the airport to pick them up.

Once we picked them up we were off.  My stepdad and Hubs mom hopped in my car and Hubs dad and Hubs hopped into the trucks.

Oh I'm going to miss mountains!

The boys did great!

We drove straight through the night.  The sunrise was beautiful.  My dad said you can't stay up all night and not take a picture of the sunrise.  So true!

We had to take lots of stops.  L is only 2 months old and still has to eat every three hours.  I didn't wake him, but he was pretty much on schedule.  When we stopped this time I nursed L in the car while I watched the Bigs play with their Grandma and Grandpa.  We were at such a great corner.  There were semis and dump trucks passing non stop.  The boys were trying to get the trucks to honk at them.

When I was all done feeding L, Grandpa said he would stay with him for a bit so I could go with M and G.  They just looked like they were having so much fun I felt left out.

They were so cute honking their imaginary air horn. 

Waiting patiently for another truck to pass. 

I think they could have stayed out there for hours.

When we got back in the car everyone was ready for a nap.

All of the boys did really well.  The first day of course was better than the second.  What do you expect?  :)

We left on Sunday around 1 and got to the hotel that my dad booked by Monday around 11.  The Bigs sprinted up and down the hotel hall with me and then went swimming with their Grandpa and Grandma.  The Little enjoyed some stretch time on a cozy comfy bed and a quiet feeding all by himself with his mama.  It was a nice almost ending to our trip.  We still had 2 and a half more hours to go.

We were so lucky that Hubs parents and my dad took the time out of their schedules to help us with the drive.  There would have been no way we could have done it by ourselves.  I am so happy that my dad decided to take the drive with us last minute.  He was amazing.  He did almost ALL of the driving.  My  mil drove for about an hour and then she drove the three hours it took to get from the airport hotel where we dropped my dad off to home.  What did I do the entire drive?  I contorted myself in many different precarious ways in order to keep my 3 loves comfortable and as happy as could be.

When we got to her house Hubs and his dad were already unloading the necessities from the truck.  They did amazing as well.  We basically played leap frog with them.  They met us at a couple of our stops.  They finally did pull over and "sleep" for 2 hours Monday morning.  While we were playing at the hotel they continued to drive.  Our 3 hours plus of playtime made it possible for them to pass us and get to the house a half hour before us.

We are still getting settled.  Hubs parents were gracious enough to allow us to live in their basement (for hopefully not long).  Hubs is still looking for work.  We are praying about a Youth Director position that he applied for and had a Skype interview for right before we left.  He has a follow up face to face interview later this week.  It was crazy that this popped up the week we decided to just move on faith.  God is amazing.  We are anxiously awaiting for that 2nd interview.