The Journey

Our move to Iowa was...well, lets just say memorable. There were so many elements to our move its hard to document them all, but bare with me, I want to remember it. You can skip this post and wait for the next one, which should include pictures. I won't be offended. That being said, we were definitely watched out for on our move.

We left Alaska at the end of July and flew down to Utah, while our car was being shipped. There was no way I was doing that drive with two young kids, its 48 hours from Anchorage to Salt Lake. Our flight was at 7, but we got to the airport early that morning because we had nine boxes- yes I said nine- that we were taking with us. Luckily, the luggage guys were hard at work that early and brought all our stuff in and waited in line with us. Eric and I had spent the majority of that week packing/weighing/then repacking those boxes because we knew we had to fit as much stuff as we could in them, it was more cost effective than shipping our stuff, if we stayed under the 50 lb limit. We were nervous because the scale we were using to weigh them was pretty unreliable, but we said a prayer on the way there that they would all be ok. After a long wait in line and already having to bust out treats for the kids, the first box was set on the scale. 50.0 lbs. The second box, 50.0. Third one was 48.9, and it went like that through all 9. There was one that was 50.4 but the lady checking us in didn't even look twice at it. Wow.

After waiting a while for our flight, we boarded, only to be delayed and told our plane was having mechanical issues and we would have to switch planes. While waiting in the terminal for the other plane, they called us up to the podium, and told us they put us through on the Delta direct flight to Salt Lake! Before our itinerary had us stopping in Portland, and I was way excited because Chase wasn't so happy about being woken up that early anyway. We had been able to check in our luggage through a cheaper airline- Alaska- and fly on the only direct flight to Salt Lake- Delta.

The flight went great (Chase actually slept!), our car got to Utah on time, we were able to pack everything up and replace some of the furniture we sold before leaving, and then we got ready for the 16 hour road trip to Iowa. We made it in 2 days without much incident except for a grumpy 1 year old. The DVD player did stop working at one point, but after a quick prayer by my mom it started up again. Did I mention she flew out to help us with the drive? Thanks again Mom!!

We got to Iowa Saturday afternoon, and not 3 minutes after walking into our apartment for the first time, there were 2 guys from the Elders Quorum over here helping us move. Pretty soon the number was up to 10 and within 15 minutes our truck was unloaded and dinner for the next day was taken care of. Gotta love the Church.

Our apartment is great, its big and has 3 bedrooms and theres lots of storage. My 2 biggest complaints- no bathroom on the main floor, and no light fixtures in the living room or the bedrooms. NO Joke! I thought maybe the people before us had taken them out or something, but after talking to other residents I found out they all come like that. ???? We bought some lamps as a temporary solution, we'll see how they work out. We'll post pictures of the apartment soon.

I know we were watched over on our way here, which gives me confidence that this is where we are supposed to be. We love it so far, we are getting settled into our home, school (for Eric), and our student branch where we feel welcomed and supported already- and I just got called to serve in one of the 4 nurseries. Now we're just waiting for people to come visit! Iowa, anyone?