Moving Day

Moving is so exhausting! Every time I turned around I had more things I needed to pack. I was trying to get packed as much as possible before the truck loaders came but I didn't get as much as I wanted done. We were afraid that we wouldn't have room for the kid's mattresses in the truck and since they were all old anyway, we decided to throw them out and buy new ones when we get there. The kids slept on the floor (or blankets) for one night while we still had our mattress on the floor. 

Never ending boxing!

The night before loading the truck. The next morning Curtis took the mattresses to the dump.

With my laundry basket out of the way in my closet, Sage found a nice cozy spot.

I was so glad that Mom and Dad stopped by a few days before the move to wish me happy birthday. They gave me a beautiful necklace and bracelet set. It came with earrings as well, but I don't wear earrings, so not sure what to do with them at the moment. I was sad that I wouldn't be in Nampa for my birthday so this definitely helped me feel better about that!

I was so grateful that my in laws came to help with things on Friday. Curtis's dad helped him pick up the truck and trailer while his mom helped me with packing. We're also so thankful that Curtis's work is paying for moving expenses and that we were able to hire a couple of guys to load the truck. It was so worth it! They did awesome and we had room to spare, loading it in about 3 hours I think. We had scheduled them for 4 hours. I guess we could have kept those mattresses after all. Oh well, I still wanted new ones anyway.  After school was out and the truck was packed, we had some friends stop by to see us that had forgotten about the open house. We're excited because these friends might follow us to Kennewick some day since the husband is from Kennewick and wants to get back there. They have been thinking about it longer than we have. He's just waiting for the right position to open up for coaching and teaching at the high school. They told us that they visit Kennewick every summer, so they will definitely come to see us. His friend who was at the Harry Potter party that they always visit, lives very close to us, so it will be easy. Can't wait to have visitors!

Matt and Chrystal Hayes - friends from 37th ward. They're currently in my sister Melissa's ward.

Charlotte, Elie, Titus, Alice

We went out to dinner at Smoky Mountain Pizza using the gift card we received for Christmas from my parents. Right after we got back, some more friends came to see us. The Wallace family who were one of our old neighbors. I'm so glad we got to see both of these friends before we left!

Back Row: Luke, Jim, Ashlie, Lilly, Tyler, Jack, me, Curtis, Garrett
Front row: Alice, Sydney, Charlotte

Jack's friend Porter happened to be there so I had him take our picture. 

We visited with the Wallace's for awhile but Curtis dropped Garrett off at a farewell party that the Priest quorum threw for him. I thought that was so nice of them to do that. We're so grateful for good friends and hope to find good friends in Kennewick as well!

Cocoa found a bed in our closet the night before moving. So cute!

Moving day has finally arrived! (Saturday, January 14th)

Goodbye Idaho 😢

Saying good bye to my in laws. We wanted to leave at 7am but didn't make it out until 8am. Gaya made us some sandwiches for the road. With Curtis driving the moving truck, that left me to drive his truck and pull the van. I was a bit nervous but it turned out fine. It got a little wobbly at times on the freeway and scared me but I learned to control the moving and make it smoother.

Boys rode in the moving van. Garrett, Jack, Curtis

The girls and cats rode in the truck with me. The cats meowed sometimes but handled it pretty well.

Proof that I'm driving the truck!

Halfway on our trip we had a pit stop and let the cats roam in the truck out of their carriers. That made them much less scared.

Back in their carriers and ready to ride! However, Charlotte let Sage out of her carrier for the last hour or so of the ride and Sage did just fine. She would sit on the girls laps and sleep. More importantly, she stayed in the back. I was worried about cats coming up front where I was driving. I didn't trust Cocoa though.

We made it to Kennewick a little after noon. The weather couldn't have been much better. For months I had been praying that we would have good weather for our move because we're moving in the middle of winter and will be going over some mountains. Our prayers were definitely answered! The roads were a little wet first thing in the morning but soon dried up. We had a little fog in a couple of places but other than that, no rain or snow to worry about and clear roads. It was smooth sailing. If we had gone a week later (like I had wanted) it would have been a different story. I heard that Nampa got several inches of snow. Who knows what it would have been like on the mountains. We certainly left when we were supposed to. 

When we got there, we unloaded some stuff and made room in the back of the moving van for our new refrigerator and dishwasher. The unloaders were scheduled to come at 2pm to unload the moving van. We drove over to Lowe's to pick up the appliances, even called them on the way, but it took about 45 minutes to get our stuff outside. We didn't get back until about 2:10pm and the movers were already there waiting. They did a great job also. They even helped put couches together after moving them inside. The biggest pain was getting the refrigerator moved inside. We couldn't take it through the front door because the rocks from the chimney were sticking out too far. We took it up the back deck and through a sliding door but Curtis had to take the doors off of the fridge first for it to fit. He had to cut the water hose line to the fridge and later buy some parts to connect it again. What a headache but we got it in! It also started to rain right as we were finishing unloading the truck. Perfect timing!

There's lots of work to be done on this house before we can fully move in but we made it and I love the view!

Home sweet home.

The view out the back yard through the kitchen window. I love it!

This is basically the front view and you can see the school Jack will be attending. Lots of space for parking for visitors!

The view out the kitchen window at night. We get to see city lights! Again, I love it!

Farewell Open Houses

 I knew for months that I wanted to have some sort of party so that I could see as many as we could before we move. Last weekend was all about open houses for that very reason. On Saturday we did one for friends, most of which were from our old ward. Curtis counted it up later and says we had 41 people come to that one. It made me so happy to see so many come! We served cheeses, meats, crackers, apples, oranges, meatballs, a veggie tray, homemade guacamole with chips and smoked ham. (I told you Curtis is addicted to smoking 😂). I had decided that we didn't need any dessert items after all the sweet stuff we had for the holidays. I was able to get a picture with most of our friends that came but not all. 

Alice with her friend Layla.

Charlotte with her friends Alice, Brooklyn and Bryston. (Brooklyn and Bryston were our old neighbors)

Kathy Tuck, me, Georgia Turner, and Brother Tuck - from 37th ward

Sharlene Nickell with her two boys, Rhett and Jens. I don't know why I wasn't thinking, Jack should have been up close in this picture, not in the background! Rhett and Jack are friends. (From 37th ward)

Matt and Cindy Barrus with their kids. Charlotte was friends with their son, Tyson. (From 37th ward)

Mark and Joan Hamilton from 37th ward.

David and Donna Fitzen. One of the few remaining long time 37th/7th ward members.  We moved in after they did and lived in the same neighborhood. Nikki is friends with their son, Logan.

Vicki and Whitney Johnson (mother and daughter - friends since I was little)

Kay Haney - another long time 37th/7th ward member friend who also lived in the same neighborhood. I served as her 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency right before we moved.

Julie and Scott Gibbons - a friend from Curtis's childhood. (I had a crush on his younger brother, David, in middle school 😆)

Trey Bledsoe - a friend of Garrett's from 30th ward (our current ward). He is also in band with Garrett and was a drum major in marching band.

Bryan and Laura Rovig with their kids - Jenna, Ari and Kai. Also friends from 37th ward.

Rick Tuha - our friend from 37th ward but he's in the new Tonga branch they started last spring. One of the nicest guys you'll meet.

Romar and Sarah Karl - friends from 37th ward.

Jack with his best friend Porter Ballantyne.

Heather and Tracy Ballantyne - friends from 37th ward. They came late and played a new game called "Throw Throw Burrito" with us. Curtis is holding one of the burritos. It's a fun game that mixes "Spoons" and "Dodge Ball" together. Tracy is the one who went to Washington with Curtis New Year's weekend.

Right after church on Sunday from 2:30-5:30 we had an open house next door at my in-laws with the Butterfield family where they had a nacho bar. Shauna and John were over there before we got there. Our niece Sarah came and then Jeanie and Glen. Wendy and Steve showed up with their two youngest boys, Ethan and Wyatt. I expected more but that was all that were able to come. I only got a few shots of the boys playing "Throw Throw Burrito". That's Jack's new favorite game, that he gave to Garrett for Christmas.

Ethan, Garrett, Curtis, John, Jack and Wyatt.

Later, Charlotte joined the boys.

John and Curtis having a burrito duel. Walk three paces, turn and throw the burrito to see who gets hit first.

Garrett and Wyatt having a burrito duel.

They had a lot of fun playing the game and I'm glad Jack got them to play it. Nowadays, we just sit and visit at Butterfield family gatherings, so it was nice to see them play a game together, especially the boys.

All of the family left around 5:00 but then another family from church came and brought us cookies. She knew we'd be next door since I talked to her at church. It was Ruth Hansen (the primary president) and most of her kids, Brendan, Calvin, Logan, Hailey and Kyran. Garrett is friends with Calvin and Logan and went on his first date with Hailey. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture taken with them. I was lazy about it on Sunday. Jack got 4 of them to play "Throw Throw Burrito" again with him and Garrett. I think Hailey beat all the boys. Ha ha

After the game was over, we went back to our house to refill our supply of veggies. We took our leftover guacamole and chips and the veggie tray to our in-law's and then to Grandma Norton's house for our 3rd and final open house, this time with my family. Grandma made some brownies and Dad brought cookies, hot chocolate drink mixes and pop. By this time, Jack was ready to work on a puzzle. Grandma has been doing puzzles lately and Jack likes to work on them with her. They got out a puzzle of downtown Salt Lake with the temple. When we got over there, Debra Norton (Jack's wife) and Aunt Joyce were over visiting with Grandma. I hadn't seen Deb in years. Her husband, Jack, passed away last spring but she is now living in Nampa. I wasn't able to attend the funeral. She left after we showed up but Joyce hung around. Tamara's family, Melissa's family and Scott's family all came over. The younger kids played downstairs while everyone else visited or worked on the puzzle. Thank goodness Laverne insisted on getting pictures or I might not have done it here either.

Us with Aunt Debra

Livvie, Melissa and me

Visiting

Tamara had a mouth full of apples. That was her dessert since she can't have gluten or dairy. You can see the guys working on the puzzle in the background.

Curtis and Chris

Me relaxing and visiting.

More visiting.

Livvie, Melissa, Nathan, me, Curtis, Scott, Hawkins, Jill, and Scotlyn.

Butterfields and Floyds

Us with Laverne (Mom), Grandma Norton, Aunt Joyce and Dad.

One more so Charlotte can be silly with her sweatshirt.

It was a great weekend visiting and seeing so many friends and family, all loved ones! I consider it an early birthday gift to me since we're leaving right before my birthday. I had hoped to be here in Idaho on my birthday but because Curtis has a work meeting up in Washington next Thursday, it just made more sense to move the weekend before so he wouldn't have to do so much traveling. It's not how I imagined my 40th birthday would be but then again, I didn't plan on moving out last summer right around our 20th anniversary either! Talk about timing. Oh well, it is what it is. We are now getting serious about packing more things up and getting ready to move this weekend. We'll pick up the U-Haul truck Friday morning and then a couple of guys from a moving company we hired will be helping us load the truck while the kids are in school. We'll load everything except mattresses, bedding and suitcases (so we can sleep on them one last time). Then we'll head out Saturday morning to Kennewick, Washington. Scary and exciting but on to our new adventure! 

New Year's and After

Curtis was anxious to take a load over to the new house and I finally told him he could go New Year's weekend. He took both boys with him and our friends, Tracy and Porter Ballantyne. Porter is Jack's best friend and we happen to be really good friends with his parents. It was a guy's weekend for them! We were very appreciative of Tracy going because he was able to drive Curtis's work car over for him and leave it at the house. Curtis had been worrying about how we were going to get all of our vehicles over there so this helped relieve some of that stress. We also went ahead and paid Tracy some money for helping. The boys did do some work while they were there but they also brought a TV and video games so they could play or watch a movie. Curtis had found that the basement had flooded due to some blocked drains and gutters. They got those cleaned up so hopefully that won't happen again. We were planning on tearing out all of the carpet anyway, so the boys removed all the carpet and took it to the dump. We also learned that the previous owner never used the community mailbox so there was no key to check the mail. They always went to the post office to pick up the mail. I'm going to have to go down to the post office after we move to get the key and any mail that might be accumulating already.

This is our friend Tracy. He helped Curtis install the new microwave and oven. Then he tested it out for us by cooking some steak on the stovetop. Tracy is actually distantly related to us through Ada Ballantyne. 

While the boys had their weekend in Washington, I stayed behind with Alice and Charlotte. Nikki had flown back to Tacoma on the 29th. Tamara invited us over for New Year's Eve and it was a lot of fun! We brought over stuff to make pizza rolls and homemade guacamole, plus some cheese balls and chocolate covered pretzels. Tamara provided pop, chips and a new type of pig in a blanket. We played some games, did some dancing and watched Encanto. Right before midnight, Grandma and Jess and Diane showed up to ring in the new year with us. Tamara bought horn blowers and confetti. We also had sparkling cider.

Making the pizza rolls.

The new type of pigs in a blanket. They turned out so cute!

Charlotte busting a move on the dance floor.

Cartwheel time with Tony!

Since Jess, Diane and Grandma came late, we visited longer than we planned. I didn't end up getting in bed until 1:30am that night! I was SO tired at church the next day because it was also Fast Sunday. Thankfully, our ward meets at 12:00 noon now so it allowed us to sleep in. And even at noon, the girls and I were late! It's so not worth it to stay up that late. The boys came back Sunday evening and they were very tired as well. 

We were finally able to get Garrett in to his orthodontists appointments on the 3rd and 4th after having missed it in November and then cancelling the week of Christmas because he was sick. He hasn't been good about wearing his rubber bands on his braces but now that we are going to be traveling back and forth to finish us his appointments, I'm going to be on his case to make sure he wears them! I feel like he could have had his braces off early had he been good about it. The doctor said his case will be another 4 to 6 months. Honestly though, I like having an excuse to come back for a visit! It's just tricky planning his appointments so that he won't miss any school. The next appointment will either be on March 13th or 24th. Those are no school days for Kennewick School District. Well, the 13th we're not totally sure if it will be no school because it's a snow day make up day. That's why I made two appointments, just in case. 

The kids break ended and went back to school on Wednesday the 4th. That morning I called the kids' schools to let them know their last day will be the 13th but I didn't call Jack's school early enough. His new school in Kennewick already requested his records and so the secretary withdrew him from the Nampa School district, thinking we had already moved. They of course, had to put him back in but there was a school program he couldn't get into until two days later because of that. It was a little frustrating but oh well. One more week to go.

Here's a couple of fun pictures of kids doing different things during the week after Christmas.

Garrett and Curtis were learning how to use one of his gifts. They were learning how to program and Garrett loves it! They programmed lights to go on and off at certain times.

Charlotte colored a page from her big coloring book. She says she's going to give this one to a friend at school.

Garrett did this 750 piece puzzle. He wanted to challenge himself and see if he could do it by himself so I wasn't allowed to help. That was hard for me to do! Although, I think Jack snuck in a few pieces. 

Oh, I forgot to mention the trouble we had with Charlotte's new mini sewing machine she got for Christmas. I spent half a day trying to figure it out because it was not stitching properly and the thread was way too tight. After trying to get help from my Aunt Karen on the phone and my mother in law coming over (both are very good at sewing) I finally made the decision to send it back to Amazon. We haven't quite figured out what we're going to do to replace it yet but I'm thinking about just letting her use my sewing machine and buying her own little sewing box and filling it with sewing supplies. Maybe I will give her my old one and get myself a new one. Right now, she's happy using her other Christmas gifts and we're just focused on moving now.

Also, the day before the kids went back to school (the 3rd) I brushed the girls hair in the morning and decided it was time for a hair cut. I didn't want to mess with trying to schedule with either Melissa, Jeanie or my friend Amanda so I just did it myself! I figured it couldn't be that hard if all I needed to do was part their hair down the middle and try to cut a straight line around the bottom. It was a little more difficult than I thought because their hair curls or waves but I think I did pretty good for a beginner on girl's hair.

Before

Before

After

After

Before

Before

After

After

Both Alice and I weren't sure we liked how short I cut her hair. I didn't mean to cut it that short but it happened. I'm sad that her curls are gone also but it was getting so difficult to brush through the knots. I was just wanted to trim it.  Alice did say at one point that she wanted her hair like Charlotte's, so that's what she got. It is growing on both of us though. Charlotte, however, loves her new hair cut and so do I! Short hair looks really good on her but of course I think they are both so cute in their new hair cuts! New year, new do!

I almost forgot to add, that on Monday the 2nd, we finally sold our red van that we've had for 16.5 years! I wasn't sure we could get much for it so I was thinking to list it for $1000. Curtis was thinking $2000. After seeing what other people were selling their similar vans for, we found we could probably get more. We listed it for $3,250.00. We got 3 appointments set up after an hour of posting it on Facebook Marketplace! The first couple who looked at it wanted to buy it though so we cancelled the other two appointments. They came back the next day with the money and just like that it was gone. One less thing we need to worry about before our move! Bitter sweet because I loved that van but it was just time to upgrade.