The Big Move

Moving is so much work! Hence blogging about July in September. But we survived, and we're mostly settled in our new house!

Our last few weeks in Kentucky were a whirl of packing, checking off our last bucket list items, and of course visiting all our friends.

Amelia and Nori Flindt with Lenora

We enjoyed the bike parade at our Ward 4th of July breakfast. Orson got second place!

A last visit to Boonesborough and the Kentucky River

Tessa and Lenora - BFFs

Last Activity Days in Kentucky

Angel was in Louisville again for work! She was sweet enough to drive down for a visit and to see our house before we moved.

The Berea ward has a tradition of having a "Pie and Bye" for families that move out. We've eaten a LOT of pie this summer because several families have moved. We will miss so many wonderful people from the Berea ward!

The Parsons

Robyn Nutter and Eliza

Justin and Angela Fenton

Peyton with Orson (Peyton was Orson's motorcycle riding idol. He LOVES Peyton so much!)

There are so many more we didn't get pictures with. I was in tears on our last morning in Kentucky thinking about so many of the amazing sisters. As RS president, I got to know them so well. I saw them serve, love, sacrifice, forgive, encourage, struggle, fall down, get back up, pray, cry, and more. I feel blessed to have known so many wonderful women! They taught me so much. I hope in my life I can cultivate some of the wonderful qualities they exemplified. I hope to someday listen like Jenny, create beauty like Liz, have faith like Lisa, serve like Louan, see others like Chris, share like Jolene, persevere like Katylin, encourage like Lynn, care like Lisa, compliment like Terrie, love like Jerri, minister like Amber, be there like Kumi, and reach out like Carol. This list could go on and on, but truly they have touched my life and I will be forever thankful to these women. They cared for me deeply when I arrived hugely pregnant, watched over me after Conrad's birth, served along side me in RS, and encouraged, loved, and laughed with me. On our last day in Kentucky, they came and had my house spotlessly clean and beautiful in record time. They are an amazing group of women. I love you ladies!

There were all the last minute preparations: climbing a tree to take down our swing, a bonfire just because we can, packing, packing, and more packing. 

Soon our cavalry of help arrived. My dad, Michael's dad, and TJ all came out to help us pack up and make the long drive. 

We also had tons of people come help load up our truck. I'm always humbled every time we move by the number of people who sacrifice time, effort,etc to make our moves possible. 

We hoped to pack up the truck Wednesday evening, clean and finish up Thursday, and head out early Friday morning. Even with allowing extra time we didn't leave until about noon on Friday. Such is life when moving haha! 

Once we finally got on the road, the trip was really hot, but thankfully uneventful. The AC in the truck was terrible and poor Michael and TJ roasted. Tony drove one car with Lenora and Orson and my Dad drove the van with Hazel, Eliza, Conrad, Haley, and I.

Because of our late start Friday we only made it to the middle of Missouri the first day. The second day we drove hard so we could make it to Denver that night. I really wanted to take my kids to visit my grandpa while we were there.

We had a wonderful visit with Grandpa! He shared his wisdom and stories and passed on priceless books and music to us. I'm so, so thankful we were able to see him because he passed away the end of August. More about him another post, but needless to say this washed out picture is by far my favorite from the trip.

After countless hours of packing, cleaning, the help of SO many, and three long days of driving we made it! 

I wish we could say we got right to work getting settled, but we couldn't close on our house until the middle of August. So we got to load everything into storage for a month. We stayed with my parents for a few nights then moved in with Alicia for 4 weeks. She was so sweet to open her home to all our chaos! By the end of the month we were all ready to stop living in limbo and settle in to our new home.  For our move in to the new house we once again had an army of help that got our storage unit unloaded and everything loaded in to the house in 2 hours! Amazing!

I'm exhausted just thinking about this move. Yet, I'm also so grateful. We had so much help and the undeniable hand of our Heavenly Father was felt throughout the entire process. I have no doubt that He helped the pieces of this move fall in to place and strengthened us to complete it. We're excited for this next chapter and can't wait to see what it holds!