The Move

The day after Christmas, we continued to pack and clean and get laundry done. Friday evening, Dave and Heather threw us a going away "New Mexican Fiesta." It was so much fun. We invited our family and a few close friends. Heather made some great food and brought some awesome mustaches for us to sport. It was complete with a pinata and everything! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pics, but Heather did, so when I get them from her, I'll post them here. Thanks again Dave and Heather!!!

Cierra and Drew

Heather, Drew, Isaac, and Caden

Saturday morning, Erick and Bruce got up bright and early to go and pick up the U-haul. Quite a few people from our church came and helped us load the moving van. By noon we had the van loaded and were just finishing up the last few boxes and the last couple loads of laundry. Saturday evening, we went over to my Mom's house for dinner and to say goodbye. It was not an easy goodbye and I am tearing up just writing about it. I am very close to my family and have never been very far from them before. We got home and tried to feed Caden before we put him to bed because he hadn't eaten at my Mom's and he promptly threw up. We got him all cleaned up and put him to bed. Erick and I slept in a spare bed and the kids all slept on the floor. Caden threw up again during the night and had diarrhea, but by morning, he seemed okay to travel.

Sunday morning we got up early and got ready to leave. We had a tearful goodbye with Vivienne before she had to leave for choir, she tried to rush it along and be tough so that no one would cry, but it didn't work. We headed out around 7:30 with Erick, the kids, and I in our van and Bruce driving the U-Haul. We stopped at McDonald's for breakfast. Because McDonald's was our first stop, Caden was convinced that it was our new house. Everyone kept breakfast down okay, so we thought we were done with the vomiting, since all three of the kids had thrown up at some point during the last few days. We stopped in Price for gas and then again in Moab for lunch. From Moab to Cortez, it was slow going. The weather was not the best and the roads were icy. But we got through it okay. We finally made it into Albuquerque late in the evening and set out to pick up Erick's car. He had parked it at Bruce's cousin's house when he flew home. Erick thought he knew exactly how to get there, but he didn't, so it took us over an hour to find the house and get his car and head to the hotel for the night. By then, we were all exhausted and ready to get out of the car and go to sleep. But, we couldn't find the hotel either and it took us another hour to locate it and get settled in our rooms. We ordered dinner at the hotel because we were all too exhausted to go anywhere. We had driven for 14.5 hours. We all passed out sometime around 11pm. I was in no rush to leave early in the morning because of how long we had been driving, so I set the alarm for 8am and planned on leaving around 9:30am.

Monday morning, I was woken up by Kenzie because she was throwing up, again. I could not believe that we were still dealing with this virus. I got up and helped her into the shower and then she went back to sleep. Then I hopped in the shower while Erick, Bruce, Cierra, and Caden headed down to the lobby to eat breakfast. I hadn't been in the shower for more than 5 minutes when Erick came back up to the room carrying Caden, who had thrown-up all over when they sat down to eat. I hurried and finished and then we put Caden in the tub to get him cleaned up. Bruce and Erick went to go by some Pepto because the kids were having bathroom issues as well. After a couple of doses of Pepto, several more clothing changes and some naps, we decided that it was time to brave the car, so that we could make it to Roswell before dark. I think we ended up leaving around noon. I was on my own with the kids in the van because Erick had his car and Bruce had the U-haul. It took us close to 4 hours to get to Roswell, but thankfully, the ride there was uneventful. No one threw-up or had to make an emergency bathroom stop. We had people waiting to help us move in, but the kids were still feeling awful. So, the kids and I checked into a hotel in Roswell and Bruce and Erick went to go unload the moving van. Michelle had planned a big dinner for everyone that night (Jared and Karen and their boys had come up from Carlsbad to help us, too), but because of the virus, she brought us some of the dinner at the hotel and everyone else went to her house to eat after the U-Haul was unloaded and the beds were put together. Bruce and Justin returned the U-Haul, but there was a miscommunication and the keys were locked in the U-Haul, instead of being dropped in the night box. Justin called them in the morning and took care of it, so there was no harm done thankfully.

After we ate, I went to the grocery store while Erick stayed with the kids at the hotel and then we headed over to our new place. Cierra was the only one who was excited at this point. We were all just exhausted and sad to be away from home. Bruce and Justin came over to pick something up and we all said to goodbye to Bruce (aka Bubba) because he was flying back to Utah the next day. We all crashed and slept really good. No one threw-up or was sick again. Erick had to go to work the next day, so I was on my own with the kids and the unpacking. Luckily, he had the next few days off after that and we got most of the unpacking done. So, that is our moving story. It was crazy and hectic and I never want to do it again. I'll be writing more about our new town, new school and posting pictures of our new place soon. Thank you so much to everyone who helped us pack, clean, load, drive, unload, unpack, made us dinners, etc. We appreciate it so much and couldn't have done it without all of you.