From Maryland to Texas

This picture seems like so long ago, but it's been less than a month since I took it. Looking at it simultaneously stresses me out and floods me with good memories. This was our "do not pack" room. It was the room that we did not want the movers to touch because everything in it we were bringing with us in our car and trailer on our drive to Texas. Sometimes the shipment of your stuff can take awhile to get to you, so we filled a small trailer with things we might need while waiting for our household goods to arrive. When the movers start at your house you kind of have to live out of your "do not pack" room. The packers came on a Wednesday and actually finished in one day instead of the two days they estimated they would need.

This is what our room looked like after everything (except beds and big furniture) was packed up.

Our sweet neighbors Joan and Don offered to have us over for lunch a couple times while we were in the middle of packing. They are retired military, so she has moved many, many times and knew how helpful it would be for us to not have to worry about those meals. 

On Friday the "movers" came...only instead of arriving at 8 am or so like they were supposed to they didn't get to our home till 4 pm. It made for a very stressful afternoon, and they didn't leave our house until midnight. That night the kids all slept in the same room on a big piece of cardboard with a bunch of blankets on top of that for some padding. (They chose the hardwood floor over carpet because they wanted to be upstairs). Nate and I had an air mattress. This was still when Leah was sleeping with me in the recliner half the night, but since the recliner was packed up on a truck, I was nursing her in a camping chair and then spent half the night asleep in the camp chair holding her. I didn't sleep well. 

Most of us are smiling in this picture, but boy was Saturday a stressful day. Because the movers were so late on Friday, we were very behind on cleaning the house and being ready to turn it over to the landlord Saturday morning. It was an incredibly hectic, crazy, stressful morning of cleaning, baby soothing, trips to the recycling center/dump, etc. Somehow we eventually got on the road, packed to the gills and heading to Tennessee that night.

Emmy fell asleep not too far into the drive. She has been getting a lot less sleep than she needs lately, but I guess that happens when you have more kids and life gets busier.

We stopped in Roanoke, VA for a much needed rest and dinner with BYU friends. The Halls were so kind to have us on pretty short notice, and the kids loved playing together. The drive from Roanoke to Johnson City, TN was an eventful one and very miserable. I had felt a headache coming on, and I didn't catch it soon enough and it turned into a migraine. I felt so terrible. Add a crying baby on top of that and I pretty much was in my own little personal hell, pardon my language. I was nursing Leah at one point while we were driving (don't judge me - this baby literally cried for hours in the car and sometimes you do what you gotta do) and the nausea got really bad and I threw up in a plastic grocery bag while feeding her. The ibuprofen was packed away somewhere, so we stopped to dispose of my bag of fun and get some Advil. That was such a hard day from beginning to end.

We spent the night in TN and besides getting in really late, things went ok. I was so worried about night time crying spells with Leah at the hotels, but she was always so tired from screaming all day that after she would wake and eat in the night she was pretty good about going back to sleep. It was such a blessing. We had left in such a rush on Saturday that our car was a disaster and the trailer needed to be rearranged. We unloaded everything in the hotel parking lot and started over. We threw away bags of trash that we had had to pack with us (seems weird I know but we couldn't leave them at the house and we were nowhere near a dumpster) and decided to chuck our vacuum as well. The kids played with toys in the parking lot. It was classy.

Sunday we drove to Birmingham, AL. We loved the Embassy Suites we stayed at. It had an indoor pool, we had a huge room, and warm breakfast in the morning. 

Out destination on Monday was Keesler AFB in Mississipi. Leah was always Nate's little gas up buddy. He would pull her out and give her a little break from the car seat every time we stopped to fuel up. 

Here's where we stayed at Keesler. I like to take pictures of random things like this because it really jogs my memory. 

We had a little bit of time to play at the beach that evening and even got lucky with this beautiful rainbow in the background.

A tuckered out Leah: 

There was this really pretty and crazy rainbow cloud in the sky. Nate and I had never seen anything like it.

From Mississippi we drove to Louisiana. Emmy needed an emergency bathroom break, so we stopped at this little place in what seemed like the middle of nowhere. We didn't want to just use their bathroom and leave, so we got some of their famous (disgusting) fried food. 

That afternoon we arrived at the Nelson's house in Houston. It was so wonderful to see them again and to stay in their home. The kids didn't want to leave. I'm so mad I never got a picture of me and Becca.

Wednesday we arrived in San Antonio! We had to go to the airport and pick up Nate's car that he had parked there long term when he was there a week earlier. It was so great to be finally be in San Antonio.

We spent the night in some lodging at Lackland AFB. 

The next morning we closed on our house and got the keys. 

We were so very lucky and our household goods actually came the next day. Moving is SO MUCH WORK. Even when you have packers. I didn't think I would ever get all this stuff put away, but I knew it would just take time. I wanted to just snap my fingers and be done though.

The sunset from our backyard:

It has been many, many days of rooms that look like this, but we are getting there. Slowly.

So much more has happened, and I have so many more pictures, but we still don't have internet and my little finger just can't tap out letters any more from my phone. So we are here. And I don't want to move again for a very long time. 

A Few Maryland Friends

This post has just a few of the faces of people we love and will miss in Maryland. 

April was so helpful with Leah on Sundays. I loved serving with her and Diana and Holly in the Primary presidency.

Bryce was the only other boy Jansen's age in the ward. I remember our first Sunday there April told me we were an answer to prayers since we had a boy her son's age. Bryce and Jansen were fast friends and had fun in and out of church.

Emmy just loved her Sunbeam teacher Sis. Irvine. Sis. Irvine stopped by our house the Saturday morning we were moving to see if she could help clean or anything. It was very kind of her. She always told me she couldn't say no to Emmy's big brown eyes.

Sis. McAllister was so friendly and sweet to my kids from day one. Our first week in MD she told me a sad story of losing a specific sort of stuffed monkey she used when she substitute taught. I found the exact kind she had lost on eBay and we got it and shipped it to her. It's a fun memory for me.

The Matsens were SO kind and hosted a little going away get together for us at their house.

Daniel and Jansen talked Minecraft nonstop when they were together. 

Cynthia and I visit taught Dao. All 3 of us had baby girls this year. We had lunch together at Cafe Rio the week before I left.

Holly brought donuts and Danishes to us one morning when the movers were coming. Anna has been my partner in DC adventures from the beginning. My kids love her kids, and they spent a lot of time together. 

Don and Joan lived across the street and were so kind to us. She would bring us jam or peaches and even watched Natalie for me one morning when I was in a pinch. They were like our substitute grandparents.

And the missionaries. We will sure miss them. The kids just loved the Elders and there were many games of tag and soccer played in our yard with them. They were always begging Elder Brimhall for candy and liked to call Elder Crandall Elder Cranberry.

I wish I had more pictures of the people who touched our life while we were there.

There were so many. It's amazing the great friendships you can make in just a year.

Wrapping Things Up

We are wrapping things up here in Maryland. I remember so well a year ago when we arrived and had to find a babysitter after having only lived here a week. We needed to attend a banquet to say goodbye to the fellows finishing up their year and to welcome the new ones. Luckily we found one of the young women at church and continued to use her throughout our year here. I remember it was raining SO hard that evening, and I was nervous to leave the kids, especially in a crazy rain storm.

Here we are a year later, and now we are the ones leaving. The banquet was at Maggiano's again, and this time we had a baby in tow. Nate was so good about helping out with her while we were there. She behaved pretty well for the first half of it, and was naughty for the last half.

These are the fellows from this year. 

In some ways this is the "end" of Nate's training and schooling that has gone on for 12 years post high school. It has been hard. He has been very busy every one of those years. And yet life has been so so good every one of those years! And it's a good thing I have seen that we can be happy under those circumstances because I have a feeling his career will never be one that consists of 40 hour work weeks. Probably far from it. He has some big responsibilities and expectations awaiting him in San Antonio, but I know he will excel there. 

Jansen attended Cub scout day camp last week. He came home the first day and had NOTHING good to say about it. He even described it as "pure torture" at one point. I think he was hungry and tired. We convinced him (surprisingly) to keep going, and he had a great week, although he still didn't love it. He's such a funny kid. 

I was so worried about going through a pregnancy and delivery in Maryland. I was anxious about finding babysitters when I had appointments and wait times in the office and the driving, etc. All of those things ended up not being an issue and I had the best care I've had so far during pregnancy. Dr. Stephens was an incredible doctor, and he had a way of making me feel like he cared and was listening at every appointment. This was at Leah's 2 month check up. She is in the 97th percentile for weight! 

I am getting all our dentist appointments out of the way before we move. This was Emmy's first time, and the dentist said her teeth were "absolutely beautiful."

We went blueberry picking with friends last week and had a great time. Fresh blueberries are so delicious!

We had our family pictures taken last week. It is so painful to pick out clothes for everyone, get them ready, and convince them to smile, but we really wanted some family pictures in Maryland.

Saturday night we met up with the McCoys and Eric (friends from Nellis Family Med residency) at the National Arboretum. It was hot, but we had a lot of fun. We had dinner together at Olive Garden that night and I was reminded just how much I love breadsticks and pasta.

I will sure miss this beautiful temple! It is such a breathtaking sight from the freeway.

We blessed Leah this past Sunday. She was crying at the beginning, but then she was quiet for the rest of the blessing. Nate did a wonderful job.

Ever so slowly we are seeing improvements in Leah, but she is still really challenging us. We just keep taking it a day at a time. Nate often takes her on walks in the evening to calm her down and help her fall asleep. 

We are really busy tying up loose ends and preparing for the move. There are always so many things to do. We just keep trying to check things off our list and hopefully it all gets done before it's time to leave. 

4th of July

These three were soooo not happy about coming in the backyard and snapping a few pictures on the 4th of July. I mean, like, you'd think I'd asked them to gnaw their own arms off. We got a few that will have to do. If I'm going to go so far as to buy the girls 4th of July flip flops, gosh dang it we are going to take pictures.

Emmy was particularly ornery. :)

I love Jansen's hand on Leah's head and one holding her hand. See that little bit of hair that's longer than the rest at Jansen's forehead? It's just kind of how his hair sometimes lays if it's not brushed a little, but I don't like it and for some reason he feels very strongly about that little bit of longer looking hair. He does NOT want me to fix it. Our funny little compromise is that I get to snip one little bit of it every day. But I only get one snip. I'm slowly chipping away at it. 

I don't think Nate ever imagined he'd have three little girls. 

We had a very laid back but very fun holiday. Nate's cousin Marcie and her family came over and we had a little BBQ and watched the World Cup. Our families had never met, so it was great to get to know them. We wish we could have spent more time with them while we were in Maryland. Believe it or not, this is the best picture we could get of all us. I kind of like Jansen's finger in the photo (he was taking the picture). Gives it some personality, and makes him part of it! :)