Huge Catch Up Part 2

Caution!!! Picture Overload!

But I guess that's what happens when you slack on blogging.

GNO: July 16, 2009

I forgot to put this picture in my last posting, so I'm doing it now. This is a great group of friends. This use to be part of the Hillcrest 1st Ward Young Women's Presidency (wow try and say that 10 times fast). We're missing two friends Teri and Kim but this is who still lived in Utah at the time. This has been a tradition we've been doing for 6 or 7 years now. We use to have our "meetings" over dessert and had such a fun time that we kept doing it. We usually only get together 2 or 3 times a year, but it is still fun to get together and find out how things are going. Thanks for a great night Becky, Alicia and Heather!

Going Away Party: July 27, 2009

We wanted to have a chance to say goodbye to all of our friends before we left, so we decided to have a party instead of trying to find time to meet up with everyone individually. Thanks everyone who came, it was great to see you!

Mike and Ryker Schow with Jax. Poor Ryker got stung by a bee while he was playing. Sorry again Shantel.

We had a ton of food as you can see. I hope that chip was good Jordan.

Even though we had 2 Barbecues', it still took forever getting everyones food cooked.

My Uncle Robert, Aunt Carol and Cousin Kim were leaving on a mission to New York just a few weeks later, so it was a great chance to say goodbye to them as well.

Are great friends Nick and Tamsin North.

More family.

And more.

The Jensens', Us, and the Barnes.

Picture with Clint's sister's family

A left over bowl and spoon. This bowl and spoon need a home. If you by chance left it at my moms, could you let me know so she can give it to you? Thanks

The party just happened to be on my Brother Craig's Birthday, so I had a cake for him, but he ended up not being there when we sung, so we just sang to everyone who's birthday was in the next little while.

Going Away Party for me at Work: July 28, 2009

Kathy (above) and Norma were nice enough to throw me a going away party on my last day of work. I sure do miss working there. Everyone was so nice and it was really fun working for my dad and uncle.

Some of the shop workers. They were all so fun!

Norma. She was so great, I'm really going to miss her.

The guys: Davin, Shane and Phil. I am now realizing that I didn't get a picture of my dad and John. Oh well.

Jax Finally Meets His Girls: July 29, 2009

We finally made it to Jax's girlfriends house to meet his offspring. They were so cute and reminded me so much of Jax when he was little like them. They had 3 in the litter, but unfortunately the boy had a clef pallet and didn't make it. How sad.

This isn't the best video, but it gives you an idea that Jax knows exactly where he's at. He knows where to go. It's so cute to witness!

One girl. If I didn't know better, I would have thought this was a picture of Jax when he was a puppy.

Josie protecting the girls

The two girls

Trying to get a family picture. Didn't go so well :)

Jax could care less about the girls. He just wanted to "play" with Josie the whole time.

Moving Day: August 1, 2009

So we ended up packing up the van on Saturday August 1st. It was so nice to have all my family there to help us load up the van. I'm so thankful that the big truck was less expensive than the smaller truck, because we sure did need the big truck! I can't believe how much junk we had! But thanks to my engineer brothers, they fit it all in. Thanks again everyone who helped us! We couldn't have done it with out you. (I only wish you would have been here to help us unpack, it took forever and we were dead by the end!)

Taking a little break for some food.

Clint, Nick, Doug and Alex loading up.

Stockton Zach and Libby with only a portion of our junk.

Dad was nice enough to come from his scout meeting to help us.

These next few pictures are my favorite. Apparently a little one got a hold of my camera and wanted to make sure I remembered what my carpet and tile looked like. I think it was Afton, thanks Afton.

Tile

Looking out to the back yard.

Taking a break after everything was out of the house. I can't believe how big our family room felt once everything was gone.

Zach and Stockton made sure the chairs were nice and greased by spinning around in them.

You couldn't ask for better help. Zach and Stockton dusting the blinds. Who needs a stool when you have some ones back?

Our last family picture in our Spanish Fork Town Home.

Jax was having such a hard time once everything was out of the house. Our neighbor let him come over while we were moving things outside, so when he came home he was a little shocked that all of his things were gone. We were so busy cleaning that we didn't pay any attention to him. At one point I found him curled up on the tile next to my purse. I think he was afraid we were going to leave him. We would never do that!

Leaving Utah: August 2, 2009

What a sad day! We had gone to church at 1:00 and then had the family come over so they could say goodbye. My mom made dinner and my dad and brothers gave us blessings. I had done really good up to this point. Once everyone started crying, I lost it. I didn't think it would be so hard to leave, but after we turned the corner from my parents house, I lost it. It's a good thing it didn't last long because I was crying so hard I couldn't see the road too well. We have a great family and we're going to miss them so much, but thank goodness we'll see them at Christmas.

The family lined up to say goodbye.

And the Road Trip Begins:

Yes I was the only one in the car and yes I took pictures while I was driving, not the safest thing, but surprisingly enough, the pictures turned out pretty good, considering.

This is what I got to look at the whole way there. Clint's code name was Big Blue Thunder. Fitting.

Welcome to Wyoming! Sunday - State 1/6

Jax did so good on the trip. He slept most of the way. I had his kennel in the front seat and also had his bed in the back with a little bit of space. He would switch off between these two places. I was so happy that he did so well.

This was pretty much what kind of view we looked at. Some places were a lot better than others.

Welcome to Nebraska! Monday - State 2/6.

Now is where the fun begins. Our goal was to get to Ohio on Wednesday. Well that didn't happen. About the time we hit Nebraska we started having problems with the truck. It had no power. We were going about 40 miles an hour on the highway and even slower when we hit a hill. It was still running, but had no guts. We called Budget to see what to do, and all they could say was, try and make it to the next town, they'll have a place that can fix it for you.

So we made it to a small town called Potter. Well, they couldn't help us, but we didn't know they couldn't help us till 3 hours later. By this time we were about 5 hours off schedule. Since no one in Potter could help us, Budget told us to drive to the next town. As we were driving there, the truck started working just fine! Weird, but ok, it was working, so let's keep going. Our plan was to make it to Omaha that night, but seeing as it was 7 or 8 hours away and the current time was 6:00 pm, that wasn't going to happen. We made it as far as we could which ended up being Kearny Nebraska.

The next day we prayed that the truck would work for us so we could still make it to Ohio on time. It worked for about 30 minutes and then the air conditioning went out and the check engine light came on and of course, no power. So we ended up only making it to Omaha, 186 miles away! After WE located a shop that could fix the problem (no thanks to Budget) we found out the truck wasn't going to be done till 7:00pm. So we decided to just spend the night in Omaha.

So while we were there we went to Winter Quarters and took the tour and it was so amazing. We felt so much better about everything once we left there. Sadly the battery on my camera died so we didn't get very many pictures. But here is one of Clint and Jax in front of the visitor center.

We didn't stay very long because they wouldn't let Jax in the building. He had to stay in his kennel in the shade right out side the front doors. It was really hot that day, (luckily it was a lot cooler where he was) so we didn't want him to suffer too much so we left.

I didn't get a picture of the sign into Iowa, but here is the Missouri River that separates Nebraska and Iowa. Great Picture right :) Wednesday - State 3/6

The next river, The mighty Mississippi!

Welcome to Illinois! Wednesday - State 4/6. This state was pretty. The only bad thing was the max we could go in the truck was 55 mph. That kind of stunk, but the Jeep got great gas mileage!

Welcome to Indiana! Wednesday Sate 5/6. Almost there!

We didn't get to see much of this state (sorry Lori) because it was dark most of the time we drove through it.

Welcome OHIO! Thursday - State 6/6!

We made it to our apartment around 3:00 pm, moved a couple boxes up to the 3rd floor (ugh!) and then some guys from the Elder's Quorum showed up to help. I don't know what we would have done without them! It was such a blessing.

Well now my next update will have to be everything that's been going on since we've been here. It take a long time to add so much information! I need a break before I can do any more!