So, Friday, Tom and I worked furiously to get everything done. Packing, errands, cleaning, etc. We had hoped to be done, at least with the packing, that night, and leave in the morning. Hahahaha. So Friday evening comes, and little cleaning has been done, and the packing has a long way to go. You know all that random stuff you're just not sure what to do with? Add to that - this all needed to fit in or on top of our car. I should have taken a picture of what it looked like when we were all done, but you'll just have to believe me that the car was FULL. By the time we got that and minimal cleaning done, it was 2pm. UGH.
Oh - a step back. Friday night, we stopped for a few minutes and let the kids play outside the garage. Jacob had his "light saber" (you know - the ones that collapse into the handle). At some point, he decided that he needed to kill a spider with the hilt. He swung it high over his head - and hit David who was standing behind him. He got a nice deep gash on his forehead. Thankfully, the bleeding stopped quickly. A neighbor brought over some of her first aid supplies for us to use. We decided that he would be ok without an ER visit, since it wasn't long.
Back to Saturday. I should say that we had wonderful neighbors (that we knew before we moved in) that helped. Watching kids, helping to clean, etc. And they fed us lunch too. So, we are finally on the road by 2 or 2:30. The actual trip went smoothly. No major delays, kids did fine. And since we were so late, we missed ALL the traffic in LA. Arrived in Pheonix about 2:30am. Of course, Anna and Zeke wake up and won't go back down. Tom was a trooper, and took them out to the car. I did my best to sleep.
Sunday, we go to church. Tom's brothers are all at his dad's. After church, we try to get some naps in. Then we celebrate Tom's birthday (and they sang to everyone with a summer birthday - but it was Tom's actual b-day).
So, Monday Brenda has her Kindergartner play hooky (year-round school) to come play with the boys. We watch Journey to the Center of the Earth in 3D (better than expected), and eat at a local Guatemalan restaurant. Tuesday, Tom and I take some time out to go to the temple. We had been planning on going to Tucson that night, but decided to wait until the next morning after hearing that some of them had been sick (they had gone home sun night). Got to check email.
Wednesday we head down to Tucson. Forgot our bottle and formula. Sigh. Mostly just hang out & talk.
Thursday we drive out to El Paso. Go to a place called Incredible Pizza with my cousin, and let the kids run around and have fun.
Friday we drive to Arlington to stay at Alden's home. Got there 7 or 8pm.
Saturday, went to a park. Kids played while the men played "HORSE" (do you remember that one?). Then went back to the friend's house for barbeque. Left not too long after, so we could get to Gilmer before dark.
Arrived in Gilmer. Sunday we go to church, and just have a lazy day. All of us are tired by this point, and are still trying to adjust to the time zone difference. Monday is another lazy day. The kids did get to meet their horses when they were being fed. None are rideable right now. The one that used to be had gotten sick and had too much of a break. The other 2 they are trying to get healthy & trained.
Tuesday Tom and I went out to celebrate our anniversary early. Played some mini-golf, ate at Red Lobster (yum!), and watched Hancock (too much cussing!).
Wednesday we went to visit Steve's brother's dairy farm. We help bottle-feed the calves. None of them are brave enough to let them suck on their fingers, as much as grandma tried to show them it was ok.
Thursday, Zeke had diarrhea. Sigh. Did laundry and tried to get packed to leave the next day.
Friday, drove up to Norman. Signed papers & got into the apartment, did a tiny bit of basic shopping, and made some phone calls to figure out what happened to our shipping box.
Apparently the guy that took my order never wrote the delivery date I wanted anywhere. I can't say for sure we had an exact address that we gave them or not, all I know is that he didn't take the order correctly. We managed to get a drop-off scheduled for Saturday, but had to call the help we had arranged to reschedule the time. We finally have our box at 4:30, and get it unloaded into the apartment. We rearranged just enough so we could sleep, and then do just that.
The apartment is not exactly what I had hoped for. It's ok, but the grounds are not taken care of as nice as I like. And some things in the apartment were repaired by amateurs. We have new carpet, new blinds, and the light fixtures are new, but I don't know that I would call it "newly updated." Both bathtubs have the finish cracking. One toilet is cracked. Oh, and the fun thing: they didn't put Zeke on our lease agreement. Yep, even though we said we would have 7 people, their policy is to only allow 6 (I thought that was strange, since it's almost 1300 sq ft). So, we're planning on moving out when our lease is up.
Despite the apartments, the neighbors are nice, and the complex is pretty quiet. The walk to school isn't too long, and we don't have to cross ANY streets.
