(and more) notes from the road

Day four we drove from Farmington, New Mexico, to Lubbock, Texas. The first part of the drive was beautiful, similar in some ways to Southern Utah. Pretty red rocks, but then these mesa things that were really cool, too. Parts of it actually reminded me of Central Oregon. And they had some mountains. The further south we went, though, the flatter it became. The hardest part of the drive altogether were Idaho and Southern New Mexico because they were just flat, straight, and boring (which makes a driver sleepy at times). We saw LOTS of big semi trucks and not a lot of other people on the road. 

We were pleasantly surprised when we got into Texas that things actually got more green. Really? Yes, really. And there were some rolling hills - maybe not mountains, but certainly rolling hills (bigger than I thought there would be). We stayed in the cute city of Lubbock. We arrived on a Wednesday, early evening - and in time to finally take a dip in the pool!

Hazel was napping when we went swimming (we just let her nap in her carseat while we took a dip!) but later when the kids were in bed, she woke up and so I gave her some of her own water time - her favorite, tubby time! 

There's nothing I love more than a sweet, clean, wet baby fresh from tubby time. I usually put some baby lotion on her and give her a little massage and then get her pjs on and then cuddle up and just smell her and kiss her cheeks the rest of the night :)

I laugh often thinking about how when a baby is getting rather chubby, and losing their hair - we think they are delectable and cute as can be. Not so as we get older! Enjoy it, Hazel! 

It was our best hotel yet. (I couldn't believe it was only $10 more than the nasty super 9 the night before!) We noticed right away - everyone in Texas was so nice and friendly. We got there on a Wednesday night and everyone asked if we were there for the game. (Texas Tech is in Lubbock). We also noticed right away how much everyone loves their football. Jacob and I don't pay attention to football at all, so in that way, I'm not sure how we'll fit in. But, in a strange way, once we crossed the border into Texas I felt like we were finally going home. 

The last day was just under 7 hours. Again, I was surprised that the land was green and the drive was rather beautiful. Lots of farm land and oil drills. But pretty. We stopped at this tiny little town to get gas and found about the only place in town to eat lunch. It was a pharmacy/drugstore/soda fountain combined. It was easy to see it was the most happening place in town. It was old-fashioned-down-home and it both warmed my heart, welcomed me, and made us both feel like we were in some sort of movie (Steel Magnolias came to mind). They greeted us with southern drawls and I couldn't count how many times I heard "y'all". Instead of looking at us like we were crazy to have 3 little kids, they all ooohed and ahhhed about our lovely family. We had burgers, shakes, 'tots (yes, they served tater tots), and I had a cherry coke float. It was good, fatty, food! And hung all over around the place were signs about how they support their local football team (high school team). As I looked around and thought about it, it dawned on me that that's about the most exciting thing that would happen in a tiny town like that, so no wonder! They had "friday night lights" painted on the door, and specials for those who came in after a game. I don't think I could ever live in a little town like that, but it was kind of heartwarming and refreshing to know that they still exist.

The last hour of our trip was probably the hardest. We knew we were close - and it was the first time the kids started saying they were sick of being in the car. The "are we there yet" moment. And of course Hazel hit her limit. So we pulled over on the 2-lane highway and I got Hazel out to nurse her and the heat just hit me. It was around 100 degrees. But it felt good. It felt so good that suddenly I wanted to be there NOW as well. And jump into the pool! And see if our stuff made it okay! And see where we would live, as Jacob had seen it before and signed the lease but I had no idea what it looked like yet. I was at my ropes end, too. But we had to hold it together. So we played more look-out-the-window-and-what-do-you-see games until we FINALLY made it to our gated apartment community in Austin, Texas.

Whew.

We made it!

We made a big deal and all shouted HOORAY!

Our stuff hadn't been dropped off yet (they give a window of all day long). It was 4pm and a bunch of guys from our new church congregation (ward) were coming to help unload at 6:30pm. The driver ended up being stuck in traffic so he got there about an hour late - BUT we had time to get refreshments for our helpers, and to get to know them a bit. Our friend, Kelsey, stopped by with her 3 kids and brought us DINNER! What a sweetheart! She knew. She knew that we drove 5 days and about 50 hours with 3 kids in the back of our Honda Civic and that when we arrived we'd have no plates, no food, no nothing. And that we'd be so tired from our journey, and trying to coordinate with our helpers, that we wouldn't have time to eat. Maybe she didn't know that she saved me from a migraine by bringing food and water. But she did. She saved us! And that was just the first time! 

Everyone has given us such a warm welcome. Texans really are that nice, and sincere, and genuinely friendly. It's refreshing. Maybe it has something to do with the weather? Not sure. But we made it and we were sure glad to finally be HOME.

We are now officially Texans!

And my kidlets are now waking from their naps so I am going to call this blog journey good and take them to the pool on this 104 degree day, y'all!

(even more) notes from the road

Day three of our journey started out with a delicious homemade breakfast by Grandma Carter - french toast and fresh fruit smoothie. (thanks!) It was way better than all the continental breakfasts, combined! Our goal was to head out by 9, knowing that with two kids, a nursing baby, and visiting with family, it would likely be 10. It was 10:15. BUT, just a bit after we started driving, Jacob's mom called (and our ringer was off, it was SO lucky I looked at the phone and saw several missed calls...all from her...I knew we must have forgot something). We forgot the diaper bag, which had my wallet in it. So, we turned around - she drove a little to meet us (thanks again!) and then we were really off, closer to 11...again.

So, I will freely admit that I don't think Utah is very beautiful. At least driving through the parts I am used to (Salt Lake/Provo etc.) I think the mountains are pretty when they're covered with snow...but otherwise it's just all brown to me. (Which is one reason I didn't stay there long at BYU - I missed the lush green and water of the PNW) Anyway...I had always heard Southern Utah is beautiful - and I'm happy to agree with the consensus: Southern Utah is GORGEOUS! Of course, I wouldn't want to live there. But camp there? Bike there? Oh YEAH! We drove through Moab, Arches, and edged by some other parks. As we drove around the corner and saw a place to pull over, I asked Jacob to pull over, quick! Sawyer and Hazel were asleep, and my sudden excitement woke Aspen up - so I asked her if she wanted to come on a little walk with me. So Jacob stayed with the other kids in the air conditioned car and Aspen and I took the camera and went for a little walk. I just had to!

"Look, Mommy! There's a hole in the rock!"

It was one of our longest driving days, almost 9 hours (plus stops). It was also the prettiest and most scenic day driving as we went through Southern Utah, a corner of Colorado (near Durango) - which was honestly my ultimate favorite part of our drive. Jacob and I made a mental note to come back and rent a cabin sometime in Colorado (we are already learning that just about everyone in Austin takes vacation - sometimes month-long vacation - in August when it's scorching here and pleasant elsewhere). We drove into New Mexico into a small town called Farmington that night...very late...again. It just happened to be the worst hotel of the trip, too. I booked them all fairly frugally - not the cheapest but pretty close. So each hotel (minus our elegant hotel in Lynnwood - you can't get a decent hotel for under $100/night in Seattle) was in the $85/range. But the super 8...got zero stars. The others were surprisingly nice for the price. Anyway, after checking into that hotel and being too late to swim (even though I don't think I would have wanted to swim in that pool!) I told Jacob we just had to get up early and go. So, the next morning we woke up at 6 and just schlepped the kids and our stuff to the car. We skipped the continental breakfast - the kids went back to sleep until almost 10, when we stopped near Albequerque for some breakfast burritos. The Northern part of New Mexico was also really pretty to drive through. Besides being tired of sitting in the car all day long, the road trip was rather fun. I love seeing new places and so much go by outside the window. It's kind of magical to see the sun come up and then watch it go down while on the road for so long. By this point I was still amazed at how well the kids were doing. I think they were doing almost better than I was!

(more) notes from the road

We slept quite well.

And because we were so tired, and got in so late, and there was an hour difference in time...we all slept in.

We woke to the sun around 9am (though Jacob, awesome guy that he is, got up two hours earlier and started some laundry for us). The kids of course were pretty excited about (another) continental breakfast. 

Sleepyheads!

This day was our shortest drive, just under 7 hours to Jacob's parent's home in Erda, Utah. The drive went by pretty fast, actually. It wasn't a very scenic drive, if you ask me. BUT, we did stop for lunch at Cafe Rio - which is one of my favorite things about Utah (but now it's in several other states, including Idaho, where we stopped). That was De-lish! 

We made it to Grandpa and Grandma Carter's house in time for dinner. It was great to see them! The kids were beyond excited to be out of the car and play with all the old toys in their basement, and run around outside for a bit. They were crazy hooligans, that's for sure. Who can blame them? Sitting all day long in a car can be pretty boring...don't you agree?

Notes from the Road

I tried to document a little bit of our time on the road, though most of it won't be very interesting to you readers. It will, however, be a fond memory to recall as our little family made our own sort of pioneer trek from the Pacific Northwest all the way down South to Texas. 

We mapped out our travel plans and travel time for each of our five days of driving averaged about 8 hours (a couple of days a bit less, and a couple days a bit more). That means, 8 hours if you didn't stop at all. 8 hours a day with a 4, 2 and 2 month old meant more like 11 hours a day, as we had to stop for lunch, dinner, potty breaks, and nursing breaks. And every now and then Jacob and I did a Chinese fire drill to switch drivers. We were in a hurry, but we tried to enjoy and make the most of the times we stopped to stretch our legs. I have to say I was shocked and amazed at how well all three kiddos did considering it sucks to be stuck in a car for that long...for five days in a row. They were rockstar road trippers, for sure!

I am going to backtrack a moment. So, we packed everything up and cleaned our townhouse and were out by Friday evening. We met up with some friends for Menchies Frozen Yogurt in Lynnwood (a suburb just north of Seattle) and checked into our hotel that evening. The next day, I hopped on the ferry and went to spend the day on Whidbey Island, where I photographed a gorgeous wedding. It was a perfect day - until I suddenly got sick! Luckily, the ceremony was over, but right when they were reading speeches and toasting at dinner, I got sick, like stomach sick UGH!  I ran off and tossed some "cookies" in the outhouse of the private beach (and it was hot that day, so it was a bad combo). I went back and caught them doing the cake (well, actually, they did pie, but you know what I mean) and I got sick AGAIN! This time, I ran off and tossed some more cookies - behind someone's horse trailer. YUCK. It was the worst! And I felt so bad - bad because I felt so sick and bad for getting sick during their wedding as the photographer! I had to leave early. Luckily, they are way awesome and were totally understanding and really, we got most the pics we needed by then anyway, but still! So I booked it back to the ferry - and tossed even more cookies at a stop sign along the way (who knew I had so many cookies in me?) It was horrible! I got back to our hotel about 10pm and told Jacob I was sick so the next day, though we planned to get an early start, I told him to just let me rest until I felt better to travel. Luckily, I did feel better after a good night's rest and we headed out about 11am. Destination: Idaho

We drove through Washington, Oregon, and then into Idaho. When we finally were hungry for dinner, we found this tiny little cafe in the middle of NO-WHERE. You know, where maybe a trucker stops by - it looks something like the photo below?

Aren't those the BEST places? I just love the down-home food and how everyone knows each other (I guess when there aren't many people around it's easy to learn everyone's name). Anyway, the kids were ecstatic to get out of the car and we were all hungry. I let them play around in the parking lot for a bit (since there was only our car and one big semi truck :) No toys needed: isn't it amazing the little things that can entertain kids? They had a blast just tossing rocks around and running around being silly until we went in to get some grub.

I had to laugh when Aspen kind of got all giddy and started pointing to an old picture of John Wayne and said "look! there's Grandpa!" I think she was remembering when she saw my dad in his pioneer trek outfit and Indiana Jones hat. Silly girly!

The kids had the biggest pancakes of their life (and they were SO good I had to try some, too!)

Hazel was such a trooper, as well, considering she was stuck in the middle of her two crazy siblings in the back of a very small Honda Civic the entire way. We are blessed with great little travelers and didn't have to go to great lengths to entertain them (although I am definitely going to admit that the iPad came in very handy on occasion). 

We stayed in a hotel just north of Boise that night, a town called Meridian. It was a nice little hotel and the kids were really excited about all of our hotels. We got in around midnight (we lost an hour so it was 11pm our time) The staff was so nice they offered to keep the pool open later for us if we wanted to take a little swim. I really wanted to! It was so nice of them! But, to be responsible parents we decided we should just get everyone into bed. It's surprising how tired you can feel after a day of sitting down in a car for so long, isn't it?

We slept like logs.

Oregon

A couple of weeks ago the kids and I went down to spend about 10 days visiting our family in Oregon. I wanted to get a visit in before we become Texans and don't make it up this way as often, and the timing was just right because I also wanted to get out of the house while the open house happened etc. Of course, who knew that the day after our arrival someone was already writing up an offer! Everything has worked out so well and we've been incredibly blessed - even though everything has been somewhat of a whirlwind. And really, I should be getting some sleep or packing another box tonight, but I just wanted to slip in a post, because it's something I enjoy - and I hate getting too far behind! So, Oregon...

My mom has two horses - Angel and Piper. They are sister and brother. They are her pride and joy :) The kids are always really excited when they talk about the horses, but when they get very close to them, they are quiet and a little overwhelmed by their size. Our first evening there, the kids rode their bikes over to help Grammie feed the horses their "dinner". 

Sawyer actually did end up helping feed them some hay, and Aspen just watched with her wide eyes :) Maybe next time. It's funny how they talk about the horses - so exciting! Yet they're too scared to sit on them. 

It was nice to have nice warm weather and a cool breeze in the evening, just sitting in the yard and letting the kids run wild. Made me excited for when we have a big yard in Texas (you know, everything is bigger there, they just can't help it!) Part of me still can't believe we are going to be Texans! Who ever would've guessed!?! Our girls are going to grow up as Southern Belles instead of Granola Girls :)

Well, just as we were getting back to the house, Grandpa showed up. He had been gone several days on a "Pioneer Trek" with the youth from church. They pulled handcarts and walked and really got a feel for what some of their ancestors had gone through as they walked across the plains years ago. Grandpa sure looked the part! He's a regular Indiana Jones, too! The kids almost didn't know what to think - he was dirtier and more dusty than they were! 

One thing is for certain: we love our Grammie and Grandpa and we are going to miss them! Thanks so much for letting us come visit and spend some leisurely summer days with you! It is always a treat to visit, and our trips always feel short (although since I was flying solo on this trip, it didn't feel as short - we were all missing Daddy by the end!) I must give huge props, too, to my  three little kiddos - they were amazing travelers on our 6 hour drive (which of course was more like 8 because we had to stop and nurse the baby and eat lunch) They didn't have a DVD player, or the iPad, all they had was a little magnetic doodle pad and some little superhero figurines. Somehow that kept them busy for the lengthy drive. Hazel did great too, except for the last 2 hours on the way home when we got stuck in traffic and she was hungry. That wasn't fun for any of us! But overall, it gave me hope that our 5 days of driving 8 hours a day to Austin will be okay. And I caved and bought a DVD player for the long journey - and am going to download some games onto our iPad. One day traveling is one thing - but 5 long days in the car seems like it calls for more extreme measures :) 

On an unrelated note - we gave away our TV today (free items offered on Craigslist are HOT!) I'm glad it's going to a nice family. As Jacob helped the woman carry it down the stairs to her car, Sawyer suddenly looked at me and tried really hard to hold back a big sob and said "it's kind of sad that we won't have a tv in Austin". I told him it was okay to cry if he felt sad about it :( I told him that we can have family movie night and watch a movie on our computer (which is bigger than our tv was anyway!) and that perhaps one day we'll get a new tv, maybe even a BIG tv (because...you know the answer). He was still a little sad, so I let him test out the little travel sized dvd player. He felt a little better. And he didn't seem to mind at all when someone came for the rug under our feet :) Which is good. Things are so hectic, sometimes I forget that we are turning our kids world upside down just as much (probably more) than our own. Deep breath, take it slow.

I suppose this is my chance to say that things are pretty crazy busy in these whirlwind days of prepping to move across the country, wrap things up with the sale of our home, research and find all sorts of new insurance policies, research and find new physicians and dentists, pack things up, sell some stuff, say goodbye to friends, etc. Yes, crazy times. Oh, yeah, and shoot some senior pics and also a WEDDING, before we drive off into the sunset. Crazy times are good times and good memories, ya'll. So please excuse me if I'm absent for a bit. Or maybe I'll sneak in a few more posts - it's kind of a de-stresser for me. We'll see! Either way, though - we're ready to be Texans! 

Moving!

Oh, yes, we are!

Can anyone take a guess as to where? 

A few hints:

It's REALLY SUNNY

It's warm most of the year

HOT the rest of the year

There's LOTS of live music

There are also millions of BATS

Bluebonnets

etc. etc. etc.

Click HERE for the answer!

Yep, it's official.

Jacob got an amazing job offer in Austin, TX, that we're both really excited about. He signed the deal today, so now we're committed. Our house will officially hit the market on Monday. The idea is to be in Austin in September, which is right around the corner. We've been talking about and planning this move for a couple of years. Once we started the ball rolling, WOW, did it roll! Jacob got a job offer within about two weeks of sending out his portfolio. The plane ticket he bought to go out to interview has now turned into the time he will visit his new office and meet up with a realtor to find an apartment to live in until we get settled in and start the house hunt. The Lord is blessing us beyond measure, with more than we had even hoped for. We will of course be sad to leave a city and so many friends that we love, but...

We're totally stoked for our new adventure!