As many of you may know, we picked up and moved quite suddenly to Utah at the end of February.  There were many reasons why we moved and why we didn't tell anybody our plans until 2 weeks before, but our friends know our reasons.  Suffice it to say that even though moving was what we felt to be the right decision, it has been very difficult for me, and our whole family in general.  

The move itself with 2 children was as stressful as expected.  The day of the big pack it rained and rained all day.  Of course we didn't have everything as ready as I would have liked, but we had a good ward who really helped, the Elders Quorum men who packed and packed and packed and my friends Cindy and Dodie.  Cindy took Milo and Millie for a few hours so that I could concentrate on directing the whole thing, and Dodie came after the big pack to help clean and get all of the little stuff packed up while Ben drove me and the kids to the airport.  Thanks girls!!!  I flew out with both kids by myself and stayed with my wonderful in-laws while waiting for Ben to arrive.  Ben's brother Aaron flew out South to help with the move and drive the Volvo while Ben drove the van and towed the Hyundai.  Ben and Aaron drove out the next day and a huge freak snowstorm hit the south east which made the drive especially treacherous.  It also added on time to the already long drive.

The Tuesday after I had arrived in Utah, my Uncle Jim passed away which made me very sad.  He had been my music teacher in High School and a big musical influence in my life.  He had been sick for awhile, but not deathly so, so when he passed it felt very sudden.  His funeral was held the next Friday, so not soon after we had arrived, we packed up again for a trip to Colorado.

We didn't have our apartment secured when we moved, but felt that we were going to get in OK, and we did.  However the living space was A LOT smaller than our old space,  we can't even fit both of our couches in our living room!  The garage that I was so excited about is filled with boxes of things we can't fit into our rooms.  But it doesn't really matter because the garage door doesn't work, and we are still waiting for it to be fixed.  That's what you get when you move into cheapy cheapo housing.  

The Sunday after we moved in (but before we went to Colorado) Ben decided to put the TV mount on the wall.  He got his stud finder out and found several studs to drill into and proceeded to drill right into a water pipe!  It began to gush water everywhere.  Ben went right away to find the shut off valve, but there wasn't one for the particular pipe he hit (of course!), so he called for me (I had been napping) and I came down to the sight of water spraying onto my piano!!!!  We ran around looking for the shut off valve and then when we couldn't find one anywhere we called 911.  They gave me the number to the water company, but it still took them 30 minutes to come.  The biggest save came after I had prayed for help and got an idea (imagine that! ;} ) to put a hose of some kind up to the hole and direct the water out the window.  Our neighbors happened to have a garden hose and were able to direct the water out, so that we were saved about 15-20 minutes of gushing pouring water inside the house.  When the water company came they realized that they would have to shut off the water main, so the WHOLE apt. complex's water was shut off while we got things fixed.  After the water was turned off, it was a pretty quick fix of the pipe and we were left with an enormous mess.

We were still unpacked with boxes everywhere, and had to cram everything into our tiny dining area and kitchen, while we proceeded to use a steam vac and shop vac to pull water out of the carpet.  My in-laws brought those two vacuums and took my son to my sisters house for an impromptu sleep-over, and I finally sat down and cried.  I called my friend Tina and she let me freak out on her until I felt a little better.  We learned an invaluable lesson that day, before drilling holes into drywall, hammer a nail in, and if you hear a "ting-ting" DO NOT DRILL!

So for the next week we ate frozen dinners on our bed upstairs because I couldn't really use our kitchen or dining room.

After we got back from the Colorado trip the carpet was dry enough to move everything back, so we were able to get some living space.  But Ben had to start working right away, so we still have boxes to unpack and pictures to hang etc.

I have much more to write and new pictures to post, but I can't find the cable to download the pictures onto the computer.  So that will have to wait.  Sooner or later I will find it and we will be back in business.