The Trek

Well hello there, stranger!

Things got a little intense and crazy around here for a while. That tends to happen, when one moves.

The day before we loaded up we took a break, and ran away from the cardboard swamp to go a-visitn'.

Feel free to be impressed by these five generations of lovely women. From youngest to oldest: Genevieve, Brooke, Kendra, Judy and Edna.

Then my grandma was so kind as to take a photo of us with the gentlemen. My husband Carl and my little men, Gregory and William.

We were only able to hang out for a little while before rushing back to our house of chaos.

Where I packed. And packed. And packed. Seriously, I thought I was done packing, and then there was more.

And more.

I started to fantasize...

But I prevailed! Genevieve's room, remember how full of boxes it was in the last entry? I wanted to take a picture to show you how full it ended up being, but I couldn't. Because I literally couldn't get into the room. There were boxes all the way to the door!

We spent the next day loading a truck. Then cleaning. Thrilling.


We decided to turn Genevieve forward facing and rearrange the seats before we hit the road.

Because of this....

"Look! I have a foot!"

"HIYAH!!"

(The cage you see in the back is the one we purchased for the cats to ride in on our trip. It's actually a puppy training kennel! These pictures were taken when we took the cats for a test drive, about a week prior.)


On Friday, February 7th, we left on what we thought would be an 11 hour drive. We planned to space it out over a day and a half, in order to make things more comfortable for the kids and cats. (OK, and adults.) My Mom and Curtis were driving the U-Haul for us, so I was looking forward to a fun family road trip.

Thanks to the worst ice storm in the area in nearly two decades, we made it in 23 hours of driving over 2.5 days!! It was brutal, but the kids were amazingly well behaved. Aside from burning through two sets of chains for the moving truck, getting stuck once, and having to crash in motels for two nights, we made it relatively unscathed and with our relationships mostly intact.

This was at the top of "Cabbage Hill." 

Let's just say that while nothing major happened, 

I'm sure we'll all be glad to never drive through there in the winter again.

Watching the poor guys take chains on... or... off?

This is as interesting as the scenery ever got. 

At least Oregon has trees. Idaho was the most boring landscape EVER. 

At least my kids know how to keep stuff interesting!

Genevieve LOVES being big and having her seat forward facing.

*sniff* My kids are growing up!

At least the kids didn't mind eating at McDonald's constantly...

OK, I take it back. These ice formations were pretty cool!

Colombia River Gorge

We were so close at this point, you could practically taste it!

When we finally made it to our new home I felt a bit tricked. There was snow and ice everywhere. I was pretty sure I'd been promised lots and lots of green stuff and rain, but hardly ever any snow. (It all melted overnight a couple days later, so I guess I forgive you, Washington.) ;)

The view from our back deck. This is as I was unpacking boxes in the kitchen the night we moved in. That pile of boxes grew to take over that whole area of the deck, and seems to have permanently set up house there. Oh boxes, go away!

I had every intention of taking photographs and sharing every detail of my new home with ya'll.

Then this happened.

The kitchen.

The office.

Master bedroom.

This is Genevieve's room, where the kids were hanging out while we unloaded the truck.

The playroom.

One exhausted Daddy and Little Miss.

I promise to write again much sooner next time.

XOXO,
Brooke

Living in a Sea of Cardboard.

Life is just swimming along here!

You see what I did there? Sea? Swimming?

Today we were lucky enough to receive two visits from grandparents!

First Grandma and Grandpa Douglas came over for a quick hello. They brought along an early birthday present for Will, since his birthday lands a couple weeks after we move to Washington.

He's pretty thrilled about it!

Then Grandma Young was a Hero and brought us dinner, complete with giant chocolate chip cookies for desert.

I'd share a picture, only, we ate it all much too quickly.

I have no regrets.


I keep feeling like I'm so far behind, that I must hurry and Pack All the Things!

I think this stems from the many moves we've had over the years. (This will be our EIGHTH move in just over eight years!) Usually they happen last minute, so this whole thing where I have plenty of time, it's like swimming in foreign waters. (Swimming? Get it?? HA!)

Here was our office and Genevieve's room, before the packing started...

(I wish I could say they're always that tidy and lovely. Let's just pretend, for my pride. OK?)

And here they are now.

Please, refrain from calling Hoarders. I'll get it under control, I promise!

Just give me about 12 days...


XOXO,
Brooke

It's the Final Countdown!

*cue epic music intro*

In two weeks, we leave for Washington. Actually, by the time I post this it will likely be after midnight.

In thirteen days, we leave for Washington.


Though we've known that we're making this trek since FOREVER (or, at least, officially, since November); I feel vastly unprepared for what's to come.

But what kind of adventure would it be if there wasn't a little mystery?

For example, here are the photos I have of the interior of our future soon-to-be home.

Pretty gorgeous, right?? 

Aren't you SO EXCITED to see more??

Yeah. Me too.

Leap of faith, ya'll. Leap of faith.


To be fair, I do have a layout of the house with room dimensions. This soothes the rabid planner in me.


In the meantime, we're all hard at work packing, organizing, and getting things ready for our big trek...

Well, SOME of us are hard at work.

That hammock is the greatest thing we've ever bought. I think we'll all actually be sad when it's warm enough for it to go outside.


XOXO,
Brooke