Where to begin! It has been a very eventful past couple of weeks. We have visited five states, moved to a new apartment, changed time zones, had a family reunion, car troubles, apartment troubles, played in nature, and I am sure more things will come to me as I write.
So...two weeks ago we finished up packing. Poor Hyrum was feeling hunger pains. Well, not really. He was distraught because I had been working on using up all our food for the move. I am proud to say that there were just a few sauces and liquids I gave away.
A crew showed up on Wednesday to load the truck and were done in just over an hour. Hyrum spent most of the time traversing the continental U.S. from the front seat of the truck. He was in heaven. I was glad he was out of the way.
We said some good-byes, which was very sad. This is the family that babysat Hyrum for the first half of his life. Hyrum pretty much spent every Sunday afternoon at their house playing. I don't think he really understood that he wasn't going to be seeing them any more. Today he was asking when he was going to visit them and he was a little distraught when he couldn't. Tim was a little distraught as well because he didn't have anywhere to take Hyrum this afternoon. It required a lot more brain power on our part to keep him entertained.
Thursday morning we left for Oklahoma. We made great time despite a side of the road potty break, which Hyrum got shy and wouldn't potty, a snack clean up, and Hyrum and Lila screaming all the way through Dallas. After Dallas, both kids fell asleep for a couple of hours and I could relax a little behind the wheel.
We were able to spend some time with my family before heading to a Zimmerman reunion. I hadn't seen some of the family in several years and many hadn't met the kids. We had a great time getting reacquainted. Hyrum got to stay up super late every night, ate tons of treats, and had a blast running around with cousins. Lila had a blast too. She decided to party from 1-3 a.m. every morning. I'm not sure the rest of the family enjoyed her screaming...I know I sure didn't. The one bright side is that Hyrum slept through it all. I'm not sure how as we were sharing a room, but he didn't stir.
We had a day for beach and boating. Hyrum didn't want to ride in the boat, but Tim and I did. Tim enjoyed tubing and wake boarding. I stayed in the boat. Later, Uncle Matt, Aunt Marissa and cousin Ethan got him on a raft heading out to sea. I am not sure how they did it, but it was a proud mama moment to watch him, because he has never been adventurous in the water like that.
The next day we attended church. The ward was very nice and welcoming. We had a lovely family home evening that evening. On Monday, we took a trolley ride around Branson, watched a small water show, and ate at Andy's ice cream. It was a lot of fun, but very draining.
Tuesday morning we said our good-byes and headed to Knoxville, Tennessee. It was nice to not have to drive. Unfortunately, we met with some tire tread that broke our bumper. We had to stop several times to try to fit things back together. We finally stopped at a Dollar Store to get some twine to hold it together. Not cool!
We finally made it to Tim's brother's house. Hyrum played on the trampoline until it was time for bed. He got a little to hyper and didn't fall asleep until some time after we fell asleep. The last thing I remember was telling him to be quiet and then my alarm was going off.
We made good time to Chapel Hill, without further car trouble. A couple of men from our new ward came to help unload the truck. As for our new apartment...well, it has character. We discovered that the AC didn't work, we were given a couple of portable units to use until they finally got it fixed on Saturday. In the mean time, we kept tripping the power and we also discovered the dishwasher and garbage disposal didn't work, as well as a terrible musty smell that permeates the whole apartment. There is a whole list of other things that I won't go into. I wasn't expecting anything great, but I was a little disappointed and stressed that it wasn't at least a little smoother transition. Hopefully, next week we will get everything fixed and I will make progress on getting rid of the smell. On the bright side the appliances that work are all new, we have new carpet, fresh paint, and new faucets. We are a five minute walk from church and live right across from the playground. So, there a few nice things about our place.
By Saturday we had made three trips to Walmart and most things were organized. We went to a local park for lunch and exploring. Hyrum had a blast on the playground and walking on the rocks in the stream. The weather was perfect and the shade made it even better. The area is very pretty. I am having to get used to trees again. We have lived in the city for so long that I have forgotten what it is like to have green all around.
Our ward is a good size with very nice people. Everyone is very friendly. There are quite a few families moving out and I think we are among the first of the new wave to move in. As mentioned above the afternoon was difficult, because Hyrum didn't have the Davis family. We ended up taking a driving tour of UNC. The architecture is more colonial, which I love. The campus is very spread out and I am looking forward to walking around. We also went to a ward ice cream social at the bishop's house. We were able to meet a lot of new people.
I also snapped this picture. Lila is finally getting to the point where she doesn't try to put books in her mouth. Hyrum left one of her board books out and she went to it and started flipping pages. It was so reminiscent of Hyrum. It made me so happy!
Okay, I think that is all from us. Here's to new beginnings!
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