Moving Time!

After a busy and hectic month, moving day came quickly.  It came on a beautiful, clear Monday, January 26th. 

The moving trucks showed up around 9:00 a.m.  

This first one held all the packing and loading supplies.

The bigger one, where 90% of our stuff was loaded into, stayed on the street the whole first day.

Day 1 was packing.  I had 4 strange men in my home, packing up every single thing I owned.  It was very strange to go from basically living normally the day before, to having my entire house packed up in about 10 hours.  I'm not going to lie- it was fabulous not having to worry about packing anything and sitting and watching other people do it for me.

Their moving boxes had this on it.  We knew we were in good hands!  If it's good enough for the Seahawks, it is good enough for us.

The 3 little girls were loving all the commotion and wanted to be right in the thick of all the packing.

They also wanted to play and run all around while the men were packing.  When I say it was nice to "sit and watch" I actually didn't do a lot of sitting.  Keeping Olivia out of everyone's way was a full time job.  Luckily, Leah and Lexi were great entertainment for her and a huge help.  During Livy's nap time, we all were able to relax a bit.

My packed up kitchen!

With all of our cooking/baking supplies and most of our food packed up, we had to eat out for dinner that night.  I had kept some paper plates, bowls, cups and silverware out and had milk and cereal for breakfast in the mornings.  I had the big kids take hot lunch at school (a very rare treat), so we didn't have to worry about packing lunches.

Day two, Tuesday, was loading day.

This was a tricky day for us.  The twins were at school all day (their last day of school here) and that left just me and Olivia at home.  Without any big sisters to entertain her, she was extra busy.  And since it was loading day, the movers had the front door wide open all day and as soon as Livy found this out, she tried to make an escape for the front door every 3 minutes.

Escaped!

And climbing on anything she could!

The movers, for the most part, just labeled things pretty generically.  "Master bedroom, living room, family", etc.  The extra bedrooms were just labeled "bedroom."  But Chloe's room must have had enough pictures and signs up that they knew her name and labeled all of her boxes with her name on it.  It bought it was cute.

I was glad to see how much precaution and prep work went into the whole process, including padding the banister and the front door, and laying down sticky paper to help save the carpet from stains.

I needed a break from chasing this sweet girl, so I put her up on some boxes and she was too afraid to get down.  It gave me a few minutes of peace.  She did not love it.

The kitchen table got taken apart and loaded this day, so the twins had to have their after school snack on the floor.  Their "snack" was leftover cake that Ben brought home from another party at work, celebrating his last day at Boeing.

With no furniture and no toys, the kids were left to their own devices to play.  An empty box helped for a little bit.

My visiting teacher's brought over a super yummy dinner, which we were so grateful for (we had nothing to cook with, and it was nice not to have to go out again).  We all ate on the floor, minus Livy.

Cynde stopped by after dinner for one last "see you later" farewell.  Man, we are going to miss this sweet lady.  Watching her leave that night was really hard.  We love you Cynde!

One last snuggle with Olivia!

The movers had a long day that day.  They didn't have everything loaded until about 9:00 p.m.  With no beds or furniture, we set up an air mattress and had reserved blankets and pillows for sleeping with.  We also had no internet and felt a little lost without that.  :)  Luckily we were exhausted and went right to bed.

Wednesday was a busy, busy day for us.  I had my last OB appointment at the doctor in the morning, and then we had some last minute errands to run.  Back to the house to pack up our remaining stuff.  For as amazing as it was to have packers pack, load and move us (it really was amazing), they sure left a lot of random stuff laying around the house.  They wouldn't move anything liquid, so we had numerous large boxes filled with Costco sized shampoo bottles, soaps, etc.  And then one bathroom they didn't even pack.  The shower curtain was still up, the towels, all the bath toys and accessories.  Lots of random odds and ends were left in the kitchen, probably because they weren't sure if we would need them left out.  I had to load up all of our kitchen fridge and freezer food and we double and triple checked every closet, cupboard, drawer, etc to make sure we had everything.  Chloe and Mitch were just getting home from their last day of Auburn school when we were running around like crazy people, trying to get everything loaded so we could start for Tri-Cities at a semi-decent time.

The cleaning company I hired showed up right as we were loading up to leave.  Hiring someone to clean my house to get it ready to sell was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  It was one less thing I had to worry about and to get it sparkling clean, enough to sell for top dollar, would have taken us hours and hours (it ended up taking 4 or 5 professionals hours and hours and hours).

Ben snapped one last picture of our house, with me on the from porch.

Ben took a few of the kids in the truck and the rest with me in the van.  I took this pic on my phone as we pulled out onto the main road behind our house.  It was as if this beautiful sunset was just for us.  I was in tears before we even left our driveway.  I recorded my feelings on Instagram as this "An emotional departure as we bid farewell to the only area our family has called home.  A new adventure awaits us, but the beautiful city we love and the many wonderful friends and loved ones we leave behind will not soon be forgotten.  We left a piece of our hearts in Seattle tonight."

We arrived in Tri-Cities around 9:00 p.m. or so.  The kids were tired and so were the drivers, but we had great traveling weather and a smooth trip.  We stayed with Ben's parents, as we were homeless and supply-less.  :)

Mitch's Auburn classmates sent him home with this sweet note, saying goodbye and signed by everyone.  Chloe had something similar.  Mitch's teacher even sent him home with a new book.  All 4 of the school kids came home with all of their supplies and current projects and we had an overwhelming amount of "stuff."

Thursday, I went and registered Chloe and Mitchell for school first thing.  They told me they could start the very next day!  Our rental house was available, but the moving company wouldn't be bringing our stuff by until the next day.  We stopped by the house, as it was my first time seeing it in person.  An empty, clean house sure is a pretty sight!  It wouldn't be empty for long...

Friday, the kids started their first day of school in Pasco School District.  It was also the last Blue Friday of the year, and you better believe they had brought their Seahawk gear.  We are glad to still be in Washington State and rooting for our home team!

In front of their new school.  These two were such troopers and so positive about starting school in a new city.  They have done amazingly well and we are so proud of them.

Ben's parents watched the little girls all day while Ben and I hung out at the new house.  It was moving day- AGAIN!

The movers showed up around 9:00 a.m.

98% of our possessions, inside that truck.

My job was to do inventory.  Every single item or box had a number on it and as the movers brought it into the house or garage, they would yell off the number and I would find it on one of these 14 papers and mark it off. 

Ben's job was to direct them to where to put stuff and he maned the garage to neatly stack and organize everything.  We knew that we wouldn't be unpacking a great deal of our stuff until we moved into a permanent house, but still wanted it all accessible and neatly organized so we could still get around out there.  He did a great job.

I could barely watch as they brought in my piano!

Our backyard has a fun fire pit

And the best thing of all- a play structure!  We have never had our own play structure and the kids were beyond ecstatic about it.  The thrill still hasn't worn off, even 2.5 months later.  The first few weeks, the kids would sneak outside any spare minute they had, including before school and as soon as they got home from school.  We love this rental!

Livy (and the twins) had a fabulous day with Nana and Papa and I don't think even missed us at all.

By the end of the day, my house looked like this in every room- boxes stacked everywhere!!

My poor, poor kitchen was beyond messy.  I HATE a cluttered kitchen, so it nearly drove me crazy.

We left behind clear, sunny skies and 50 degree weather in Seattle and were welcomed with clouds, rain and 30 degree weather.  

Our first Sunday there was Superbowl Sunday with our Hawks playing the Patriots.  We were so excited to watch the game (although kind of sad not to be in Seattle during this back-to-back Superbowl appearance year).  Just watching the game on TV in the Seattle area is so fun.  Most people here are big fans too, but we were sad to miss out back home.  The Seahawks lost, but it was a great game and we are still green and blue strong!

The next week, the kitchen was my top priority in organizing.  Whew- I could finally sleep at night!

Livy was my big helper in unpacking the next week.  She found all sorts of things to climb into and tear apart.

It was all fun and games until she got her leg stuck in the banister.

After just a week or so, we had made a huge dent in unpacking.  All of the main stuff was unpacked and we had gone through practically everything we owned, deciding what should be unpacked and what should stay boxed up.  I threw lots of stuff away and we made many large boxes full of stuff to take to Goodwill.  Over the next few weeks, at a slower rate, we finished up all the organizing and unpacking.  I am glad to be done unpacking and have been enjoying a few months of calm and peace.  Ben's parents and siblings were fabulous with helping us.  People watched kids whenever we needed it, his mom and sister helped me unpack multiple times and his two other sisters brought over dinner on 2 consecutive nights right after we moved in.  We have the best family!

January 2015

After accepting the job offer on New Year's Eve, we had just one month left in Auburn and it was a very surreal feeling.  And very sad.  Reality kicked in and although we were excited about our new adventure, it was very sad thinking about leaving all of the wonderful friends and loved ones we had come to know over the past 11 1/2 years here.  And the thought of leaving our new house that we had only lived in for 2 years (and that we loved) was also very hard.  Leaving behind the only area that we've ever lived as a family, with all of the wonderful things that this area has to offer was very, very hard for us.  Change can be great, but it can also be hard.

I was right about 25 weeks at the beginning of January.  I was feeling pretty good, pregnancy wise, until a very brutal head cold hit right at the new year and lasted the entire month.  It really took it out of me and I had a hard time recovering.  It turned into a sinus infection and after battling it for weeks, I finally got on an antibiotic that helped, but it took a few weeks after that to start feeling myself again.  Pregnancy and sickness do not compliment each other.

As also seen in the above picture, we had just one month to do any projects we wanted/needed to before we sold the house.  The master bathroom needed some touch up painting when we moved in, 2 years ago, but we never got around to it.  Ben spent an afternoon painting it and knocked that project out pretty quickly.

Luckily, most of the projects were fairly minor.  Ben scraped some excess glue off our glass door in the kitchen.

Our back deck needed replaced badly.  The previous owners had 2 dogs that tore the deck apart.  Of course, we had every intention of replacing it as soon as we moved in, but best intentions are just that- intentions! :)

Ben's parents came up one week to help us with a few of the projects.  With Ben's dad's help, the deck wasn't too hard or long of a project.

The boards were warped, chewed on and had nails sticking up all over the place.  The spaces in between the planks were plugged with dog hair, which didn't allow for the water to properly flow through, so most of the boards were rotting as well.

I took pictures of the finished project, but somehow lost them all on my camera card (so sad!)  It looked great when it was all done!

Ben and his dad also power washed the front porch and most of the siding on the house.  Ben's mom helped me wash interior walls.  It was a very productive week.

Livy enjoyed every second that Papa wasn't working.  Papa was one of her new and favorite words of the month.

One of my biggest stresses in moving was not knowing where we would be living in Tri-Cities.  We would have loved to have found a house we LOVED to buy right away, but we knew with just a month to look (online) that finding our forever home would not likely be possible in that short amount of time.  Ben's new company would pay for temporary housing for us, either a motel or some "housing" they had, but we weren't sure what that entailed and I was pretty sure it would be a small apartment or something similar.  The thought of having soon-to-be six kids in a 2 or 3 bedroom apartment made me want to cry.  The options of renting a decent, affordable house in Tri-Cities were very slim pickings, only because there just wasn't much available.  We got lucky though and the middle of January we came across a house for rent online that was affordable and a great size.  The pictures of it looked nice, and even more lucky for us, Ben's sister had been in the house before when a friend lived there and could vouch that it was a very nice house to rent.  Our last hurdle to overcome was to try and talk the landlord in to doing a flexible lease, as we didn't want to be tied to a year or two lease, when we were hoping to find or build something before a year's time.  We lucked out again and was able to talk the landlord into a 6 month lease, going month-to-month after that.  Securing a great place to live (and bring a new baby home to) was such a huge relief for me.   

The rental has 4 bedrooms in it, all upstairs, and after hearing this, Chloe drew up a room arrangement chart with all of the different possibilities for sleeping buddies she could think of.  Luckily, Ben and I were always room partners.  :)  It was very cute.

One afternoon, the little girls and I met Ben for lunch at our favorite Chinese restaurant in the area; King Wha's.  One last time here for probably a long while.

It was fabulous, as always.  We will surely miss frequenting you, King Wha.

One of our fortunes was very interesting... 

We got our 12th Man on on the 18th to watch the Seahawks play the Green Bay Packers in a playoff game to determine who would be going to the Super Bowl.  We had some wonderful friends from the ward over to watch the game.  And boy what a game it was!  It was the best NFL game I have ever seen.  The Seahawks had a rough game, with their QB Russell Wilson struggling for most of the game.  By the end of the 3rd quarter, we were pretty sure the Packers had us beat and we were all super bummed.  Seattle was down the entire game, but with just a few minutes left in the 4th quarter, they came alive unlike anything I've ever watched.  They tied the game up with some incredible "you have to see it to believe it" plays and sent the game into OT.  Their 16 point comeback was the largest ever in a conference title game.  The Hawks won with a 35 yard touchdown in OT to win 28-22.  There was so much shouting/screaming/yelling going on in the house.  It was so awesome!

Two #1's and a #3 (for Russell Wilson).

The kids were off school one Monday for Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.  Cynde also had the day off and asked if she could take the kids out to breakfast.  The kids could not have been more excited!

They went to IHop and each got to order whatever they wanted.

Everyone was in heaven!

 

Cynde reported that Mitchell ate 2 or 3 times as much as anyone else and that she was amazed at how much food could be consumed by one 7 year old.  Our grocery bill is already dreading feeding Mitch as a teenager!

The kids had a great time and it was so sad to think that we weren't going to get to see Cynde as much as we wanted in the very near future.

The twins and I had haircut appointments later that afternoon with a dear friend of mine in the ward, Paula.  The kids and I have been getting our hair cut from her for years, and I have been her visiting teacher for at least 6 or 7 years.  She is fabulous and we are going to miss her (and her haircuts) so much.  After cutting their hair, she asked the girls if they wanted some colored hairspray in their hair.  She and her family are HUGE Seahawk fans, so of course she had blue and green hairspray.  Leah was all over it and instantly agreed to green.  And lucky enough, she even wore her Seahawk shirt again and it matched perfectly!  Paula sprayed just one piece, which made kid and mom happy.  After Lexi got her hair cut, she reluctantly agreed to blue.  She was a bit nervous about it, but loved her little sprayed strand once she saw it.

The Friday before we moved, Ben rented a Uhaul trailer after work and packed it full of lots of heavy things from our basement: our two chest freezers and lots of our food storage.  Earlier in the week we had a lady from the moving company come out to access all of our stuff and make an estimate on how many pounds the moving company would be hauling.  Based on their estimate, we would be over the weight limit paid by Ben's company and we would have to pay for any overage.  We were estimated to be over by quite a bit and based on the rate that they would charge it, it would be cheaper for us to rent a trailer and haul some of the heavy stuff over beforehand.  It took quite awhile for him to load that trailer by himself (his pregnant wife wasn't much help with super heavy things), so he didn't pull out of town until after 7:00 pm.  With a loaded down trailer, he wasn't able to go very fast and didn't get to Tri-Cities until almost midnight.  His family helped him quickly unload the next morning at the new rental house, and he (and Mitch, his buddy for the trip) were able to start back home by 8:30 a.m.  It was quite the whirlwind 12 hours for them and they were exhausted, but it was a very helpful trip for us.

Back in September, long before we knew we would be moving, we signed Mitch up for his first year of city basketball.  He has been looking forward to being old enough to play on a team for a few years, so when we found out we would be moving, and he would only have 3 weeks to play, I was so bummed for him.  

He got to go to a number of practices, which he loved.

He only got to go to one game.  In practice, he was aggressive and and a go getter.  In his one and only game, he suddenly became timid and was very reluctant to shoot and would immediately pass the ball off as soon as he got it.  I'm sure he would have warmed up as the season went on, but sadly we had no more chances for that this season.

 Ben's co-workers threw him a small going away party the week before we moved.  Everyone signed this poster, and another poster with a Boeing plane on it.  This picture of the weird fish is funny for anyone who knows the Simpson's well and who is a nerd/engineer.  Ben thought it was very funny.

Some of our dear, life long Auburn friends invited us over for dinner one Saturday night.  They were in our Auburn ward for many years before they moved to a nearby city.  We still get together with them as often as we can.  We have children almost all the same ages and getting together with the Fletcher's is always one of our most favorite things.  When we first met 10 years ago, there was only 3 of these kids born- now there is 10!  As Fletcher's said, this wasn't a goodbye- it was a "See you later." 

The month was full of so many sad goodbyes (or see you later's).  One sweet friend stopped by after church one Sunday to bring me a gift and say a formal goodbye.  She and I were both crying within a few minutes, which then set 3 of my big kids off as well.  We all had a good cry inside about how we were going to miss so many wonderful people.  I also received so many sweet texts from friends, wishing us a great move and a goodbye.  My visiting teachers brought by dinner while we were packing and so many wonderful friends had my kids over for playdates "one last time."  I had so many offers of people willing to help us clean or pack or do whatever else we needed.  Luckily, we were getting professionally packed and moved (best thing ever), but all of the offers were so sweet and touching.  I was so overwhelmed with everyone's kindness and generosity.

The young women I work with made me this cute card on our last Sunday in our ward.

Each of them and the other leaders signed it and wrote a message.  I could barely squeak out a "thank you" and a few more words before I felt the tears coming on and had to sit down.  I look at this card whenever I feel sad and am missing everyone!

I stayed busy throughout the month finding a new OB doctor in Tri Cities, finding out information on the kids' new school, letting each of the big kids' teachers and schools know here that we were moving and when, getting all of the utilities set up at our rental house, canceling future doctor appointments we had set up and transferring doctor records, going to last and final doctor/dentist appointments and so on.  Ben and I also had to find a realtor to help sell our house, and fast!  We found one that we thought was a good fit and put all of our trust in her to try and sell the house for top dollar.  We decided with her that it was best to just wait and list the house after we had moved, because by the time we got a list price settled on and all the paper work done, it was only a week or two before we moved.  It would be so much easier to show the house once we were moved out and had it cleaned than it would be to try and show it while we were packing and sorting and with 5 kids running around, and 2 weeks wasn't really that long of a time.  That was a huge relief for me.  I had a cleaning lady come over one day to give us a quote on having the house professionally cleaned.  We set up an appointment for the cleaners to come the day we moved out, right as we were leaving town, to an empty house.  The realtor scheduled the house to be photographed for listing purposes after the cleaning was done.  It was all coming together, but so much to do and so little time.