The Missing "Moving" Pictures

I mentioned that I didn't seem to have any photos of the actual moving process, but as I browsed the files I did find this compilation of iphone photos...

We made a special trip to IKEA in Texas to buy some goods for the new house in NC, we knew the IKEA here was 3 hours away and decided it would be easier to put the stuff we already wanted in a trailer and take it with us.


Final cleaning of the empty house, and we already had renters ready to move in, yay!


Heading out! I drove the car, Dave in the Trailblazer with the trailer, one kid in each vehicle to keep the peace. We also invested in two portable DVD players for the 3 day drive. They worked so well, it was so quiet in the car I got really bored with no one to talk to!

Pit stop! Finally made it out of Texas.


My lively passenger.


After 3 very long days, we finally, finally made it. We had our wonderful friends here ready with our guest beds. The kids literally stripped down and jumped in the pool with their friends within 5 minutes of pulling in the driveway. Freedom!


After a wonderful night's sleep in a real home we had to hurry and meet our movers the very next day! Did I mention we hadn't even closed on the house yet... oh and we hadn't even seen it in person either! We did go and peek from the outside the night we arrived, then had to get special permission to get the key before all the papers were signed. I stayed at the house with the movers, Dave went to sign the papers, then the realtor brought the papers to me to finish signing while many boxes had already been moved in.

This mess was courtesy of Diego... I had asked him to throw the two boxes out the door. He took some liberty and threw whatever else he felt like too.

Re-Cap: August 2010

To make up for my long hiatus I will do a quick photo recap of each month I missed out on.

AUGUST

Happy in her new room, although this was before it got painted seriously pink.


With the inside of the house mostly squared away, David could not wait to get started on this project! Just wait til you see how it turns out!!


While the big construction is under way, the kids have a brand new monkey bar/climbing dome to play on. We cashed in all our change jars before the move and splurged on this for our new back yard.


Cali's first day of school. Pre-K, 5 days a week, 6 hours a day. Also, here is your first peek at our new house... the front porch!


With Cali at school, Diego and I get to play. This is Allora, her big sister is also in school. These two are either playing really well together or fighting like an old married couple!


A first glance inside our new home. The windows are one of the top reasons we loved this house. Did I mention we never saw it in person before we bought it?! This picture makes me laugh because D was telling his Daddy "Be very patient... I'm going to jump on you!"

Re-Cap: July 2010

To make up for my long hiatus I will do a quick photo recap of each month I missed out on.

JULY

Apparently I did a really good job of hiding the camera from the movers, as I have not one picture of the actual moving process... Oh I remember now, we packed up a trailer, the car and the Trailblazer and stayed in a hotel (with a pool!) during the 3 days of packing so the camera was probably in one of those places.

Here we are playing Slip n' Slide out front one last time...


And here we are in North Carolina!


One reason we came to North Carolina was to be close to some of our dearest friends who moved here from TX a year before us. The kids didn't miss a beat and acted like they'd never been apart! Here's a new favorite walking trail we found here.

Another new place to explore. There were tiny camouflaged frogs all along this trail, fun!


The awesome Marbles children's museum in Raleigh. Hard to get them out of this place, there is so much to do!


Other than these fun photos, we must have been busy unpacking boxes!

Re-cap: June 2010

To make up for my long hiatus I will do a quick photo recap of each month I missed out on.

JUNE

Flew out to California to spend time with David's family and just have some California fun!


Had a blast at Legoland with Grandma Francine, Papa Juan, and Cousin Jacob.


Definitely loved the beaches!

David treated me to my first horseback ride as a birthday gift.


Spent my "real" birthday having fun with the family at Knott's Berry Farm

Re-Cap: May 2010

To make up for my long hiatus I will do a quick photo recap of each month I missed out on.

MAY

A visit from David's brother's family as they were moving from California to Missouri. This is our sweet nephew Brock with our big dog, Huey.


Mother's Day: not sure why but we ended up drawing on each other with eyeliner.


Sold our boat in prep for the move. David was either deployed or away at different schools for so many summers in a row, it hadn't been used since Cali was a baby.


The kids loving up on Daddy at the Austin Botanical Garden.

Our annual trip to Sea World (Military gets in free once per year!)


We spent the night in San Antonio and spent the 2nd day at the San An Zoo.


Enjoying one of our favorite hiking/cool-off spots in Texas.


Chillin' at the City water park.

Thirty (30)

David turned 30 this week! As usual, the Army had him away from home on the big day but we were able to celebrate 4 days early, and with the Army sometimes "close" is good enough.

I treated him to a few of his favorite meals over the weekend (homemade enchiladas and grilled steak) then everyone's favorite chicken tacos on Tuesday night followed by the birthday cake. He chose yellow cake with chocolate frosting (homemade of course!) and I surprised him with 3 layers of frosting inside.

His gift from me: A 1966 Charles Hubbell Lithograph "Whirlybird Delivery. Boeing Vertol CH-47A Helicopter." He now flies the CH-47F model and yes he loved it. I have since gotten it framed but I had to special order the acid free matting and it wasn't ready in time for this day.

Happy Birthday honey, we love you!!

What Happened to my Blog??

My friend and fellow blogger Beth pointed out on Facebook today that it seemed many of her friends had gotten slack in their blogging and some (myself included) had quit completely. Here are the top 3 reasons I stopped blogging:

1. My husband returned from his 2nd year-long deployment to Iraq and we've been enjoying and appreciating the time we have together before he has to go again.

2. When he returned he decided he wanted an iPhone, he said if I liked it he'd get me one too. Within the first day I said "Yes, I want one!" With the convenience of Facebook and email on my iPhone I rarely use the home desktop computer anymore and haven't found a convenient way to blog from my phone yet.

3. We moved across the country in July and that was quite stressful/busy/time-consuming.

That being said, I'm sure I could manage to find a few minutes of "free" time and return to the blogging world. Especially now that I know I've been missed (and not just by Beth).