Ella, Milee, Cienne, Haven, & Hazel: September 2008

Well, we have made it to Utah. What a trip that was. After a morning of chaos (Jared picked up the first rental truck and brought it home, it only had 2 seats, where or where to put the baby? I called the people we rented the truck from and told them our dilemma and they tracked down a 2008 3 seater for us. Then when Jared and his dad were bringing it back to the apartment (at this point Ella and I was at work) they noticed a disclaimer that said DO NOT PUT AN INFANT SEAT ON THIS SEAT on the middle seat of the truck. Once again, where or where do we put the baby? I then called the company and they said I would have to upgrade to a bigger truck. I then asked her to make sure that a baby seat could be put in a bigger truck, she then told me that they do not allow infant seats in their moving trucks. What crud!!!! Let me tell you, I was stressed beyond capacity, more tired than ever and I still had to clean the entire apartment after work!) we checked out of our apartment around 7:00 pm on the 19th and then met Grandma and Grandpa Smith and Auntie Danielle at Dairy Queen where we each had a nice treat and visit (Jared accidentally scraped the truck on some trees and was upset about this, and I was still stressed from earlier, but the visit was indeed nice).

After that we said our "see ya laters" and drove to Grammy and Grandpa Winston's where we would stay the night and then leave early in the morning. The older Winston family enjoyed their short visit and we got some rest before our big drive.

At around 9:00 am on the 20th we left for Utah. Our plan was to drive as far as Rexburg, ID where we would stay with Uncle Bryan and Aunt Rachel. After weaving through construction and driving up and down large hills, we made it to Rexburg safely. Ella was so good! She slept until a little bit before Deer Lodge, MT. When she awoke she was mighty hungry (no food for 5 hours). I ended up having to pump using my neat car adapter because she wasn't yet awake. I fed her while we were driving and burped her when we gassed up in Deer Lodge. It cost a whopping $114.25 to fill up that gas guzzler! We got just over 10 miles per gallon! We arrived in Rexburg at around 8:00 pm on the 20th. Aunt Rachel had made a nice funeral potatoes and we watched a movie with some of their friends. Ella had a bath before dinner and both of us ended up falling asleep during the movie. On Sunday the 21st we went to sacrament with Uncle Bryan and Aunt Rachel and then went back to their apartment and had a nice spaghetti dinner before we continued on our journey.

At around 3:00 pm we left Rexburg in route to Sandy Utah where we would be staying for a month. About an hour and a half after we left Rexburg, after gassing up in Idaho Falls ($90 something dollars), Jared was looking in his side mirror at the driver side trailer wheel and noticed it continually getting flatter and flatter. Luckily we were just at the exit to Pocatello, ID and were able to pull over into an Exxon where we would sit and wait for Emergency Road Side Assistance to come and rescue us. Jared called the moving truck company, Budget, and told them our dilemma and they said they would contact someone and let us known the ETA, estimated time of arrival, for the people that would fix our flat. We were then told it would be 60-90 minutes. Of course, I complained and immediately thought hmmm...better get something to eat while we wait, lol. Ella was getting hungry too so I fed her and then we decided that I would walk with her to the grocery store that was not too far away. Still we had yet to hear from Budget OR Les Schwab. I got back from the grocery store with our goodies and asked Jared if they had called Budget and he said he was waiting to give them their full 90 minutes. Finally, we called and they said to give them some more time. We called again and they said that Les Schwab had called and to give them more time. At this point Jared told them that he had a 3 month old daughter and a wife and that we really needed to get back on the road (good job hunny!) and asked for the number to Les Schwab so that we didn't have to keep going through Budget. She reluctantly gave it to him and we gave them a call. Les Schwab proceeded to tell us that right after Budget called them, they had a computer glitch and that they lost all of our information. They said they called Budget back and that they hadn't returned their call. In short, we were waiting there for help that would have never come. At around 8:00 pm they finally arrived, fixed the flat and we were on our way.

We arrived in Sandy, UT at around 12:30 am (Salt Lake City time). Pat, a family friend, greeted us, showed us our rooms and the bathroom and we went to bed. Trust me, after that day, we were ready for some sleep!

Monday, Sept. 22 we unloaded the moving truck into Pat's garage and decided that we would start looking for a place to live. Pat drove us around and showed us a little bit of Murray. We found the apartments we were originally going to move into, but decided they might not be in the best location (and the management stinks major time! They have NEVER called us back and are JUST PLAIN RUDE!).

Tues, Sept. 23 Ella is sick! Ella has caught the cold that Jared and I had and she ended up sleeping pretty much the whole day. I stayed in with her and tried my best to make my sick child comfortable. Poor thing.

Wed, Sept. 24 Jared went to the hospital and filled out the new job paperwork and we continued our apartment search. Still unsure of things, the fact that the new apartments are NEW is still really getting to us.

Thurs, Sept. 25 We went apartment searching again and are pretty sure that we found the one that we will be moving into. Parkgate Apartments which are managed by the same company as Frontgate Apartments and are exactly the same, just 3 years older but in a much better location near shopping and such.

Overall, this has been a huge change for our family. Ella has been crying WAY MORE than ever and the stress level has been high. But we are grateful for a place to stay and for a new job. We are just praying all works out, Ella gets better, and that we someday feel like this is home. Jared and I decided that I will always be a Washingtonian at heart and he will always be a "German" at heart, lol!

Here is a picture of Ella helping us move! What a cutie!

Jared just found out he got a job in Murray, Utah as an x-ray tech. Yay and boo hoo! It is a bitter-sweet adventure we are about to embark on but I am so excited for and proud of him. I get to fulfill my dream of being a stay at home mom! Yay for me and yay for Ella! I will let Jared tell the details of the job on his blog, just wanted everyone to know how proud of him I am.

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 8, 2008

We found an excellent home for Rocky and Telli and they are doing wonderfully. What is nice is that the lady is willing to correspond with me and even send me pictures. I am so grateful for that.

We found an apartment. I am SOOOO excited! It is in Murray less than a mile from Jared's work, the church, and the trax system. It will be great for us. What I am mostly excited about is that it is BRAND NEW! It isn't even finished being built yet and won't be until the end of this month. It is a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom unit and because Jared is working at the new hospital there, they will give it to us for the same price as a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom. Very exciting! It has all new appliances including a WASHER AND DRYER! We are so excited! We are going to stay with a friend of Jared's family, Pat until it is finished. It is nice to have people nearby that are willing to help. We are moving on September 19, so just 11 days from now! Packing here we go!