So here I am in my new house in Pennsylvania. Which house I love. A lot.
We've been here about two weeks and are feeling better settled in except for not having beds and not having been to school yet. The kids were supposed to start school on Thursday, but then it was cancelled on Thurs and Fri for 'extreme cold temps.' And the first week we didn't go because I couldn't get to the school to turn in our papers and get registered because I didn't have a car that week. Then on Saturday Brett and I drove to Ohio and got a car for him (a Chevy Cruze). So then I did go to the schools- Jethro at the Jr. High, and Hazel, Ethne, and Talmage at the elementary school- with the kids and they got signed up and the little kids took a tour around. But then it was cancelled on Thurs, and I took them to the doctor's office and the little kids all got their second chicken pox vaccine which is required, and Jethro got caught up on some other vaccines he didn't have yet.
I should really back up and go in order. (I just started writing all about flying out to Pittsburgh, but really I need to go back a little farther than that even.) A week before our flight to Pittsburgh, Brett flew to SLC Friday night. I picked him up there in our Suburban, pulling Megan's horse trailer full of all of our stuff that had been in Logan (well, not completely full, just halfway). Then Brett drove us through blizzardy white-out conditions to Vernal. We got there about 11:30, and Brett looked in the back and realized that all of our boxes were wet and muddy from the road slush being churned up into the back. Megan's trailer is almost completely enclosed, but in the back there is a small section between the door and roof that is open. And I failed to cover everything with tarps. So, we went inside and brushed our teeth and got into bed, but then Brett said, "I can't just leave the boxes like that," so we went back out and pulled them all out of the trailer into the garage and Brett lit a fire in the stove and I opened up the boxes and pulled some of our stuff out, but was actually quite surprised at how well the boxes did at saving the stuff on the inside from the water. From looking at the outside I thought everything would be soaked, but it was still mostly dry.
The next day Brett and I and Brett's dad loaded up the u-pack ABF truck. After hauling box after box of books into the truck, Brett's dad said, "Well if the power ever goes out you can burn your books and stay warm." Ha ha.
So after it was all packed, Brett and I took off to Kris and Mason's house. They let us stay so that I could drop Brett off in the morning early. They are very kind :). So I drove Brett to the airport at some obscenely early hour in the morning, and kissed him goodbye again -but only for one last week- and then I drove to Megan's house. She had been watching them for me on Friday night and Saturday. No one was awake when I got there, so I found myself a blanket and went to sleep on the couch. When I woke up a couple hours later, kids were awake but still in pajamas (her church isn't until 1:00) and Brett called and said his flight had been cancelled and to come pick him up. So I went right back to the airport and got him. He was flying through Phoenix, and with the Super Bowl being there that day as well as some weather issue, there was no way he was getting there that day. So he came home to Megan's house and all the kids got to see him. They were super excited for that. We went to church and after church we had a Megan's Birthday/Farewell Bells/Superbowl party. It was really fun--all the Utah people were there, Barneys, Youngs, Wyatt Rasmussens, Ethan and Kourtney, Bells, and Mom and Dad. At the very beginning, Mom and Dad hadn't arrived yet and I said, "It's kind of weird to all be together but not have Mom and Dad here," and Wyatt said, "Get used to it--that's what it'll be like when they die." Which sounds a bit mean when you type it out, but was actually hilarious. (Incidentally, Brett didn't make it home the next day either. He caught a ride to the airport with Jared, who works there as an air traffic controller, and then as he was going through security realized he had the keys to the Suburban in his pocket, so he left them at the lost and found and Jared picked them up when his shift was over and brought them home to me. The older kids who had school had gone home with Grandma and Grandpa the night before, instead of sleeping over at Megan's house with me, so they got to school just fine, but I just chilled out at Megan's house that day since I couldn't go home. ANYWAY, Brett got to Las Vegas, and then they sent him to Houston, but couldn't get him to Pittsburgh, but I told him we could call Kami and she went and picked him up and gave him a place to sleep and packed him a lunch the next day and dropped him off at the airport again, so that was nice.)
The next day Brett and I and Brett's dad loaded up the u-pack ABF truck. After hauling box after box of books into the truck, Brett's dad said, "Well if the power ever goes out you can burn your books and stay warm." Ha ha.
So after it was all packed, Brett and I took off to Kris and Mason's house. They let us stay so that I could drop Brett off in the morning early. They are very kind :). So I drove Brett to the airport at some obscenely early hour in the morning, and kissed him goodbye again -but only for one last week- and then I drove to Megan's house. She had been watching them for me on Friday night and Saturday. No one was awake when I got there, so I found myself a blanket and went to sleep on the couch. When I woke up a couple hours later, kids were awake but still in pajamas (her church isn't until 1:00) and Brett called and said his flight had been cancelled and to come pick him up. So I went right back to the airport and got him. He was flying through Phoenix, and with the Super Bowl being there that day as well as some weather issue, there was no way he was getting there that day. So he came home to Megan's house and all the kids got to see him. They were super excited for that. We went to church and after church we had a Megan's Birthday/Farewell Bells/Superbowl party. It was really fun--all the Utah people were there, Barneys, Youngs, Wyatt Rasmussens, Ethan and Kourtney, Bells, and Mom and Dad. At the very beginning, Mom and Dad hadn't arrived yet and I said, "It's kind of weird to all be together but not have Mom and Dad here," and Wyatt said, "Get used to it--that's what it'll be like when they die." Which sounds a bit mean when you type it out, but was actually hilarious. (Incidentally, Brett didn't make it home the next day either. He caught a ride to the airport with Jared, who works there as an air traffic controller, and then as he was going through security realized he had the keys to the Suburban in his pocket, so he left them at the lost and found and Jared picked them up when his shift was over and brought them home to me. The older kids who had school had gone home with Grandma and Grandpa the night before, instead of sleeping over at Megan's house with me, so they got to school just fine, but I just chilled out at Megan's house that day since I couldn't go home. ANYWAY, Brett got to Las Vegas, and then they sent him to Houston, but couldn't get him to Pittsburgh, but I told him we could call Kami and she went and picked him up and gave him a place to sleep and packed him a lunch the next day and dropped him off at the airport again, so that was nice.)
So then a week later, the 6th of this month to be precise, my mom drove with us to Kris and Mason's house where we slept over so that we only had a half hour to drive to the airport in the morning and not an hour and a half. They were so nice to let us stay. In the wee hours of the morning, something like five, we got up and went to the airport. My mom came in and got an escort pass and walked us to our gate. Actually, we ran a portion of the way, and got right on the plane, making our goodbyes very abrupt. My kids were so sad to say goodbye to Grandma. So so sad. It nearly broke Hazel and Ethne's heart... Ethne had gotten so much more in the habit of saying Grandma than Mom, that she usually started out by calling me Grandma. :)
We had a short flight to Denver, a few hour layover, and then a four and a half hour flight to Pittsburgh. It felt really really short. It really did--Hazel had packed her backpack with all kinds of things to do and only did one of them (coloring, I'll have to scan in some of her pictures -they're beautiful). Then we walked through the airport, got to see the dinosaur bones as I promised, and found Brett waiting for us!!!! Hooray--we were a family again finally!
We got our luggage, threw it in the back of the van (a Toyota Sienna that Brett bought a week or so before), and we drove to the Kimber's house. We wouldn't close on our house until Monday, so they so generously let us stay with them until then. The kids got along pretty great, and we went to church with them. On Sunday afternoon we drove to Mars Hill that overlooks the Pittsburgh skyline.
We got our luggage, threw it in the back of the van (a Toyota Sienna that Brett bought a week or so before), and we drove to the Kimber's house. We wouldn't close on our house until Monday, so they so generously let us stay with them until then. The kids got along pretty great, and we went to church with them. On Sunday afternoon we drove to Mars Hill that overlooks the Pittsburgh skyline.
AND, I think I'll call that good for today.
