Progress

This move has been relatively smooth for us.  Unpacking is going great, and I feel so much less stress just being here with Jim and knowing this is where we'll be for a while.  I LOVE our house and don't want to move again for a long time...it's too bad that we're only renting it.  (It is on the market though...hmmm.)  This house has lots of space for us, several awesome built in cupboard/ closet spaces (our bedroom has his and hers closets with built in dressers), a 2 car garage (we've never had a garage!), tons of storage, and a basement with endless possibilities.  The layout is awesome too.  Anyway, I have a few pictures.

Day 1 in our new house:

I found the dining room...

...and the living room.  I should take a new picture, though, because it looks a lot better than this now.  Notice the baking soda on the couch?  Yep...on our first day here Logan threw up all over me and the furniture.  Alex also had a fever which was the beginning of some very nasty colds.

Also on day 1, a purple crayon somehow made it into the dryer.  It was a nice full load of whites, and not one article escaped unscathed.  I still haven't figured out if I can get the stains out.

Day 2:
We put together beds, and arranged Alex's room. 

We have a HUGE basement, so I designated a third of it for a play area.  The kids can run wild down there and they love it.  I also love that the toys are down a full flight of stairs...the mess can just hide.

We assembled the bunkbed and arranged the kids' room.

Day 3:

I decided to tackle this.

About 1pm it looked like this and I was ready to quit.

Meanwhile the kids had a blast playing in the boxes and paper I'd emptied.

By 4pm I finished.  I LOVE this kitchen.  Did you see how many cupboards it has?  There's another row above the ones in this picture.  I love having a dishwasher and an oven!  And I have way more counter space than I've ever had!

On day 4 I did some major cleaning, day 5 I found my own bedrom and Jim washed our car (I really should have taken before and after pictures of that...amazing), and every day since I've been super sick!  Alex was miserable for over a week with this cold, and passed it on to the rest of us.  I'm on my 4th day with it.  I'm just glad that our house was arranged enough that I could get away with not unpacking anything else while I'm feeling so sick.

A couple of random pictures:  The kids had a fun bubble bath this morning.  The water in our tub faucet comes out super fast, and it resulted in twice the normal amount of bubbles!

Ski Picture

This is a great picture from our ski trip. 
Dave, Juan, Mariah, Danielle, Sarah, Dad, Bryce, Josh, Aubrey

Moved!

Well, we've officially moved.  We had a wonderful trip in the mountains with my entire family and several family friends, and then drove all day yesterday to get here.  Considering we had three kids and a golden retriever in the backseat of our small car, it went very well.  Here are some pictures from last week:

The kids had some time with their Aunt Elisa before we left.

In the mountains, there was a sledding hill right next to the house we stayed in.  Here is Alex ready to go.

After everyone came back from skiing that same day (we skiied the next) we did some more sledding.  Bryce couldn't get enough of that hill...it had a wonderful jump that he flew over every time.

It was getting dark...

The hot tub was right next to the sledding hill.  We had some very hilarious moments where someone would hop out of the hot tub, run up the hill, sled down, and hop back in.  In all, five people did it.

Aubrey was the first one to do it.

Mariah was the second.  I have a video of her doing it...maybe I can figure out how to post it.

We were so busy having fun, that these were all of the pictures I took.  It was a great visit and so much fun to be all together with Danielle and her kids since they were in town.

On Our Way

We are officially between homes; we left yesterday and are in the mountains for a little vacation before we start the long drive.  I've been psyching myself up for this drive for weeks!  Three kids and a dog in the backseat...it's going to be interesting!  Jim took a week off of work to help us move.  It's been SO good having him here.  Poor Logan is struggling the most with everything, and it breaks my heart to see how he's been clinging to Jim.  Logan has been acting out a lot, and he won't give anyone hugs goodbye.  Yesterday, he told Jim's mom, "I can't hug you because I will miss you!"  He's been telling us that we just need to go to Iowa; I think he knows he'll feel better once we are settled.  Annie gets really sad when we talk about not seeing family and friends anymore, but otherwise she is handling things well and is excited about everything.  Alex is still the sweetest baby around.  He has been such a blessing during this stressful time.  Heavenly Father knew what he was doing when he sent us this little guy.  Alex has actually started to crawl during the last week!  He isn't proficient yet, so he still gets a bit frustrated, but he's getting happier and happier with his progress.  I always love it when my babies crawl!