Sacramento at last...

Monday afternoon we finally made it to Sacramento!!! All I have to say about traveling with a 4 month old is... it's way easier than traveling with a 2 month old!!! What a difference that small amount of time made to our sweet little baby! She's able to play with toys and hold things now and she's on more of a schedule so I was able to time things better. So much better than last time!!!

We were all soooo excited to see Matt! It's only been a month since he visited Clovis, but that's too long to miss eachother! Yesterday we woke up early to meet with a realtor who showed us homes in Grass Valley, Rough and Ready (weird name, huh?!), and... one other place I don't remember. It's really overwhelming, there's just so much to look at! And we're still not 100% on buying versus renting, but we have faith that the Lord will lead us to where we need to be.

Sooo, here are a few pictures from our super busy week. First, some of the house during the packing stage. Moving is hard enough with people packing and loading for you, I can't imagine ever going back and having to do it myself! Yuck! Add to that difficulty a four month old and.... headache! Thank goodness that we had some of the most wonderful neighbors ever! They watched Addie, fed us, and provided us with lodging so we didn't have to sleep in an empty house on air mattresses! Thanks Holly and Stacy!!!





And then the loading stage... Our other awesome neighbors, the Rays (yup, right next door, same last name) let us block their driveway ALL day Friday with this huge truck.



We were able to visit with our best friends before we left. Stacey and Remy on Tuesday night for a spirited debate party, then Stacey again on Wednesday. Kirsten and Jaron came over and hung out in our empty chaotic house on Friday. And we got to hang out with the neighbors Holly and Stacy and their families on Friday and Saturday. The kiddos got to spend Friday night with their friends and were really feeling good about leaving. They are doing so much better than I remember doing as we moved around when I was younger and moving around. Anyways, we didn't really get any pictures with our friends that last week because I was in serious cleaning and organizing mode, and when your that serious, there's just no time to do your hair or fix yourself up. So I was looking pretty scary. No need to document that, just trust me.

And then the leaving phase. Our loaders didn't finish till after 8:30 Friday night so after I put Addie to sleep at Holly's, I came back and cleaned till after midnight. Just those things I didn't dare do until after the moving team was done traipsing through the house with their dirty feet. So Saturday morning I still had to load the truck, get rid of the garage un-packables (thanks Stacy!) and vacuum our room and the garage. Then there were the goodbyes, and we didn't leave Clovis till 10:45. Good thing my wonderful husband convinced me to not overdo the driving (he knows me so well!) and break up the 20 hour drive into three days. So that first day we only had 7 hours to go. We still didn't get there until after 9:00, and we were all exhausted, so that worked out.

Anyways, some pictures. First the girls in the empty living room. Empty houses can be so sad!



Then some pics of the trip.









The first night we stayed in Winslow, Az. Matt and I have driven through there many times and we have always talked about stopping to get a picture of us standing on a corner there, but we never have! You know the song "Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona, such a fine sight to see." Anyways, I was really excited that we were gonna be staying there so I could finally get my picture standing on the corner. So of course I forgot and didn't remember until we were about an hour away. When I lamented to the kids they had no sympathy for me. I thought about stopping when I remembered and just pretending it was Winslow, but it just wouldn't be the same. Sigh.

I couldn't get the heater worked out at that first hotel, so we had kind of a cold restless night. Good, but restless. The next day we got to Bakersfield. Very nice hotel, good stay. And then that left us 5 hours till Sacramento. Actually to Marysville, where we're staying. And there you have it. Our trip in a nutshell.

Now I'm trying to balance finding a place to live with making sure the children aren't rotting in the hotel room. We've got some fun field trips planned, I'm trying to keep some semblance of school for this crazy time while we're in limbo! So far we've planning visits to the Jelly Belly factory, state capital building, gold mines, San Francisco, and the beach. Doesn't matter what beach, just the nearest one. And then we'll do little units of study around each of those visits. I think it should be fun. Busy, but fun.