We arrived in to Salt Lake City late at night and utterly exhausted. I was so relieved to be home. And by home I mean my childhood home. Almost--my parents are remodeling and so out of their home but in a neighbor's home while they serve a mission. Lots of moving bits to keep track of. Anyway, home is where the people are and I was so happy to be where my people are. We spent a couple days relaxing and being with family--the Dollahites and also the Lambournes who were in the area. We played with aunts and uncles and cousins, helped my mom with stuff for her house, took walks and talks in the morning, went for lunches and frozen yogurt. We stayed extremely busy and yet it was relaxing in its way.
Night games at the park. Those mountains!! Sunset over those mountains!!!
Cousins and too much sun. Ha!
Grandma sent Eliza her birthday card to Utah with instructions to find something that would make Eliza smile. Liza chose sparkly, heel shoes that indeed made her smile. We helped with yard work (I mean, a bit).
BYU and more frozen yogurt. It feels strange to go back to a place that once seemed so huge and all-life-encompassing. Things seem smaller after you've grown and changed.
Then Collin and I left the children with my family and went to try and sort things out in California. We stayed with my sister and our friend and I'm so glad we had so much help this move! It made things go ever so much more smoothly than they could have/have in previous moves. For example, did you know that California requires you to get a CA state driver's license within 10 days of residence? Which involves taking the written test again?!?!? I didn't, until Camilla and Becky told us as we were sitting on their living room floor. I mean, what? I was super stressed out about it, taking practice tests so I could ace it the first time. Anything to not deal with the DMV more than one must. So we added the DMV to our list of must dos before we returned to UT to collect the children, the things my mom was giving us from her house purge, the things from my grandparents' estate, etc. That list of to dos was crazy. Getting a car, finding and signing a house, the drivers test, as many times at In-N-Out as we could stomach. The list went on. Couch, dining table, chairs, linens, stuff stuff stuff.
We had decided which towns we wanted to focus our search and we began setting up appointments. We had tried to do as much as we could before, but really people just wanted us in person and so we made ourselves in person. We went to a few open houses, a few realtor places, a few landlord appointments. We found a car (a white van, so adventurous) and we found a couple places we were interested in. It was really down to two or three, with one being the favorite if we could swing it. What a relief when the landlord did choose us after all, so we signed and then we could do the next step and the next after that. We chose a house close to a park and elementary school, a nice common area, a huge master bedroom (that wasn't on our must have list, but I'll tell you--getting off our own sides of the bed for almost the first time in our marriage has been huge.), and most importantly MORE THAN ONE TOILET. This is the biggest deal ever. I can never go back to one facility!
Besides the pull-your-hair-out frustrating moments, I enjoyed peeking inside lots of different houses and neighborhoods. California is different than London and it was fun to see it with fresh eyes.
We got our new licenses early one morning (we both passed first try, phew) and drove to Utah the rest of that day with no stops besides gas. We collected our children and the things in Utah (including bed frames, bookshelves, etc. etc.) and drove back toward Northern California. We returned in two days, Collin driving a moving truck and me and the kids in the car. With the kids and the truck we did take few more stops, including the salt flats. Such a cool place. So bright, even overcast! It's good to stretch every few hours. I like going kid speed as much as I appreciate going adult speed. Both have their benefits!
And then we arrived to our new home. An empty home is full of fun and possibilities. I still remember when my family moved from North Carolina to Utah when I was eight and the feeling of that empty house.
(I think this was the last time Collin enjoyed the minimalism of bare walls and floors. I filled them up in no time.)
As quick as we could we filled it. We put big things in their places, found a couch and a piano while we still had the truck. I'm tired just remembering all that we did those few first days in California.
We had some fun, too. Collin's dad and brother and sister came up to help us move in! That was so nice, so helpful. We enjoyed the pool at the hotel and eating out. I can very quickly get used the idea--and reality!--of family close enough to be able to help.
I saddled myself with several projects--some quite large, actually. I was proud of myself for seeing them through. Mostly because Collin was there all day every day to keep me honest. And do a lot of the work himself besides. Ha! We painted a shelf for the kids' play room, stripped and refinished a Mid-century dresser my mom loaned us, reupholstered a couple chairs and bench, etc. I have pictures of some of the before and after/in the middle that maybe someday I'll post to stroke our DIY egos.
We got a Costco membership and were there every other day stocking up. The kids got bikes from hand-me-downs and Craigslist and we got them riding asap. Another post someday on that, maybe???
A half dozen trips to the home improvement store later and we were mostly set up with all the random things. Luckily the store is right next to an In-n-Out so they were happy errands!
What an adventure moving house is! Even moving across the street is a big deal. We moved ourselves from across the country and world. It was huge. I'm writing this five months later and I still feel like I'm coming down from the adrenaline rush of moving. The kids were troopers. Collin and I made a good team, doing the parts of the job that we like/are best at. I'm so grateful we are doing life together. And have so many people helping in so many ways.
