The Big Move

As I am still trying to catch up I thought I would write about our Big Move from our old house into our rental home. As I was still having stress about moving (I don't do very well with change) I was having a hard time packing. Aaron, the awesome guy he is, did the majority of the packing while I stood by and silently wept and took care of the kids. Thanks to Aaron we were all packed up and ready to move on moving day. When the moving weekend came upon us we were extremely busy! Friday night Aaron went and picked up the biggest moving truck they had available and brought it home. Thankfully, G&G T took all the kids for the weekend so we wouldn't have any little kids underfoot while we were trying to move and unpack in the rental home. Aaron and I worked late into Friday night making sure everything was packed in boxes and taped shut. We got to bed about 1 am only to wake up again at 5:50am to finish everything up. The moving party didn't officially start until 8 am, but we had some early birds come and start to help load up the truck which was nice!! We had a ton of help from friends, neighbors and ward members which made things so much easier! I didn't realize how much stuff we had. We filled up the entire truck and another trailer attached to a truck. Plus we had to come back and pick up all the straggler boxes that we didn't get the first time around. We have really accumulated a ton of crap in the last 8 years--that's for sure!! It only took about three hours to move all the boxes from start to finish. However, unpacking and cleaning up the old house took a lot longer. Thankfully, Johanna, my sister came to help me clean up the old house. After everything got moved out you see how dirty everything is!! Wow, I try to be a good housekeeper, but it was sure dirty!! I was thankful for the help! It took Aaron and I the rest of the weekend to unpack and try to fit a 2300 square foot home into a small 1400 square foot rental home with half the basement unfinished. Luckily it does have a huge garage so most of our stuff fit in the garage even if we have no room to park any of our cars in there. Who even wants to park in a garage anyway ;)?! In living here we have discovered some of our essential living items have been packed away. In looking at the garage and facing the prospect of going spelunking trying to find something, we have to decide how essential that particular item is. Most the time we decide that essential item is not so essential anymore. And if it still remains essential most of the time it is easier to buy a duplicate than to try searching through all the boxes to find the original!!

In the house we have one small living/family room. It fits one couch, the piano, the TV and a few toys and that's with no space to spare!

It only has two bathrooms so one is the kids bathroom and one is the adult bathroom. It also only has three bedrooms, too. All this extreme family togetherness has taken some getting used to. I have a whole new appreciation for the pioneers and cramming those huge families into one room homes! It is hard enough cramming us into this little home. I don't think my children would survive if we all had to live in a one room home!! It is hard for me at night because I have insomnia and when I can't sleep I either watch some TV or read a book. Unfortunately, the other morning I got up at 3 am to watch some TV only to wake everyone else up with me. It is such close quarters that everyone can hear and see what goes on since we are so close together. Good thing school started and for most of the day I only have two kids at home with me. However, one nice thing about living in a small home it doesn't take long to clean! I just have to remember it is temporary (hopefully only for about 4-5 months) until our real home is built. I keep telling myself I can do this, I can do this, I can do this....and also I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids....only four more months, only four more months...