44 Hours of Driving

All right, well I promised a blog update so here it is. Unfortunately I have not taken any pics of our house or anything like that, so all FL pics will be in the next post. This is our trip across the U.S. in pictures. It took 6 days (we stopped in AZ for a few days to visit family) 44 hours of driving, soooo much junk food that I am still working it off and counting calories like a crazy person, and about 10 stops total counting over nighters. But we made it. Here are the pics I took with my phone as we drove along.

First, we had to pack up the house. That isn't nearly everything but some.

Then we were off! Within a couple hours of leaving Provo Sophie fell sound asleep. She didn't really sleep the rest of the trip. booo.

Our last pics of UT ( I think, I don't think we had hit AZ yet but maybe) While in UT we reached nearly 8,000 ft elev. & several feet of snow.

Then came down to this. Ugh. How ugly. Sorry AZ. You aren't so pretty.

Some bridge and muddy water. It looked cool. probably because it was the only water we had seen in hours.

Then we came across the cactuses which were very cool. My kids went crazy about those things. They thought it was so cool how old those things are. We got up close to one and we all decided it would not be awesome to run into one of those things. By the way, is there anything in AZ that doesn't have prickly something on it?

YAY! I am with my best friends. My brother's James & Jay. Obviously they had been in sunny AZ, and I had been in cold wintery UT. I think I could be a vampire I am so pale in that pic. Wehad so much fun visiting them. I was SO glad we went to Tucson to see them before we headed out. James & Em, you guys are seriously the funnest people to visit, thanks for all the great food and entertainment, we love you!!!

Harrison & James were pretty excited to have some toys to play with after being cooped up in a car for 12 hrs. Harrison is a knight here. He and James love their cousin Wes & Henry and had the greatest time playing with them.

Um, yeah, we are weird. But you know that already.

After a few days in AZ we were back in the car for the lang haul. Harrison decided a green tongue was much cooler than a real one.

James went for blue. They've just got airheads in their mouths, it entertained them for about 10 minutes.

This is what we stared at for that whole day. Nothing. absolutely nothing.

except these trees every now and then. wow, I am boring even myself.

As we drove through El Paso I was looking out my window and thought "holy crap what a crappy city!" THen I realized I was looking right into Mexico. Then I was very very sad for those people. How would it be to have the USA just a few feet from you and you couldn't get in?

I have to say, the second half of TX was beautiful. I loved the green hills and farms spread out everywhere. I couldn't get enough of all the green simply gorgeous. I am total sucker for beautiful green country.

We spent our first night in Ft. Stockton, then stayed the next night with my Aunt just outside Houston, TX. She was so great! Thank you Aunt Glenine for letting my boys destroy your house and run around! Thanks for the great dinner and bfast, it was so much fun to see you and your home. Thank You!

Oh, & here is Houston and we drove through it.

We Left my Aunt's home very early, before then sun was up. And here is the sun as it came up that morning.

We started to head into the swamps of the south. So cool and mysterious.

Then all the great rivers.

And Sophie had her way with a marker, a couple times actually.

I actually have no idea what city this is. I was driving at the time and all I was thinking was "faster faster faster, just get there!!!"

But there was this cool Navy ship just outside the city. So I told Ben to take a pic.

Okay I was driving at this point too, so I told Ben to take another pic for me. This is Northeren Fl and is gorgeous. It was by far the prettiest country we had seen. Green green green with fields and blossoms great trees everywhere you looked. I seriously loved it.

We were just about to Tallahassee, that was where we were supposed to stop, but I wanted to just get there and be done with it all. So we kept going.

another 4 hrs and we were in ORLANDO! We drove 16 hrs that day, it was awful, but we made it!!! It was too dark for pics, but the next day we drove to our new home and knew we had found the right place because we found this street not too far from our house.

"Sophie"

Yep, this is the place!

Yeah Right, Like We Would Move to Florida....

That's what I said when Ben called to tell me a company in Orlando, Fl had contacted him & was interested in interviewing him. It was MGM Studios in Disney World that originally called. I'm not going to lie, it sounded a little bit excited and it definitely had my interest. But, it was in FL. We weren't going to pack up and move across the country just for a different job. Ben had a good job already. But here I am. Sitting at my computer. The last thing left to pack. Every little thing in my house is boxed up, labeled & taped shut. Pictures have been taken down from every wall. Paint patched. Suitcases packed. Goodbyes said.

I guess it all started & ended with the new house. We had found our dream home last fall. And when I say dream home, I mean dream home. It was perfect. It was exactly what we had both wanted and had been looking for. We immediately signed the papers, paid the first deposit to secure the lot for us and put our house up for sale.

2 months went by. with not one showing. we kept dropping the price, still no shows. With the possibility of not selling our house we started to look for other ways to buy the house. We looked into other loans and got approved for both homes, but our new home was $10k off the approved price. We didn't know what to do. Whether to just lose a ton of money on our current home, get a cheaper home somewhere else that we could get approved for, or just stay where we were. We were really confused and didn't know what to do.

Fast Sunday in Feb came and we both fasted and prayed to know where we should go. What we should do. Where our family was meant to be. I honestly prayed that the answer would be so obvious we couldn't mistake it.

Two days later, our dream home fell through, the builders refused to budge on the price. 5 minutes later Ben got the call from Orlando. A job at MGM studios. That sounds like fun, go ahead and interview, but just for the free trip to Orlando. We're not moving that far away.

Oh wait, another job in Orlando? it pays more, and is permanent? (the MGM one turned out to be a short term thing) Eh, go ahead and interview there as well. It doesn't hurt, and once again you might as well get a free trip to Orlando, but we aren't really moving there.

First interview. Went really well. Ben says it seems like a good company. Second interview comes around. Very very long. Hours. By the end, they were extremely impressed with Ben. They were going to fly him out for another interview.

I think I will forever remember that night. I had secretly planned a date for Ben. We went to SLC and ate at the Roof Restaurant. I have this image forever stuck in my head. As I looked out over SLC I remember just knowing that our time in UT was done. That whatever we were supposed to gain here and learn, had been done. That it was truly time for us to move on. So I told Ben. He was thinking the exact same thing. It was at that point we both knew we were leaving UT.

Ben hadn't gotten an actual offer yet. But let me tell you this. He has been offered every job he has ever interviewed for. I knew he would get the job. And I knew we would be moving to FL sometime very soon.

This all happened within one week. It was so fast.

That weekend was very emotional for me. I hadn't really told anyone we were actually moving to FL. I knew it was right and I knew it was the answer we had been looking for. That same week our old Bishop, Bishop Edwards, passed away. The funeral was Sat, Ben was leaving Mon and I knew he would come back with a job offer. As I worked with the people/sisters in my ward to prepare for the funeral and was surrounded by so many people I love so much, I couldn't help but just cry. The tears just wouldn't stop. How could i leave? How could I leave my family, my friends, my neighborhood & everything I had known and loved so much for the past 30 yrs? We knew NO ONE in Orlando. Not one person. I couldn't do it. But I knew it was what I supposed to do. I knew that it was right for our family. But still, could I actually leave?

The next day, Sunday, there were talks given about the Lord's hand guiding their family at times and how it was hard but how it had blessed their family so much. Then in RS the lesson was on Sacrifice. Women spoke of how when you sacrifice something, at the time it seems unbearable, but if you could look back and see the big picture and the blessings that come from that sacrifice you would do it in a heartbeat. And how at times they have had to sacrifice things and really wondered if they could do it, but then did it, and in the end wondered why they ever questioned in the beginning.

I am so grateful for the strong testimonies I heard from people that day. They all gave me my answer and they all gave me strength. As I left RS I KNEW we were meant to go to FL. I KNEW that it would be okay. I KNEW that the Lord was truly guiding our family and taking care of us. The sadness went away, and I was 100% confident in our decision to move to FL.

Ben went to FL, loved it. Loved the company. Loved the area. Felt confident. He was given an offer and we took it. We needed to be moved out in 2 weeks to make it to FL in time for him to start his new job.

I am not going to go into all the details of everything we have done and gotten together in the past 10 days. But we have found another town home in a great neighborhood in East Orlando. WE are just renting for the first 6 months and then hopefully buy before the next school year. The schools the kids will be attending are great. (Only 12 kids per teacher). We have listed our home for rent and have been getting regular calls on it, I am sure it will rent before next week. We have hired our neighbors to manage the rental while we are gone. I have had sooo many nights out with friends and family to say our good byes, and have enjoyed every one of them.

And now, the house is packed. THe movers are coming to put everything on the truck and drive it all out to Orlando. The company is paying for all relocation costs, so no worries there. We are spending our last nights at Grandma's while we get the house cleaned and ready to rent out before we leave. Harrison already had his last day of school, James' is Friday.

At this point I am just excited. I am excited for this new adventure our family taking. I am excited to live in a new place and see new things and meet new people. I can't wait to attend our ward and meet the other members there. I can't wait for James and Harrison's first day of school and hear about their new school. I can't wait to get to our new home and get all moved in.

I'm not dumb, I know there will be hiccups along the way. I know it is going to be hard. I know there are bugs and I know that I hate bugs. That is why there is such thing as pest control dear friends. I know it is going to take time to make friends and make a new life out there. But I also know that this is where our family is meant to be, whether for 2 yrs, 10 yrs, or forever.

So dear UT, your winters are terrible, I hate the cold. The snow is wet and makes a terrible mess. But it is so beautiful on that first snowfall. And there is nothing like seeing the bright red leaves in the autumn, hearing the roars of an evening thunderstorm, seeing all the beautiful tulips & blossoms in the spring, and enjoying the hot summer days barefoot in the soft grass.

I'll definitely miss you. But it is time to say good bye, I'm off to spend some serious time on a warm sandy beach. Doesn't that sound nice?