Moving Day

We moved on September 27th on it was a full day indeed.  We couldn't have done it without all the wonderful help from family and friends!

We woke up bright and early that Saturday morning and I headed to Stan's for two dozen donuts while Aaron started carrying down boxes.  The donut line was long because Stan's is just that good.

My dad and brother Blair drove down to help and then the Beans, the Cases and the missionaries were all troopers and helped as well.

No matter how prepared you think you are it is still such a crazy event.  We thought we had gotten an even bigger truck than necessary but in the end the Uhaul truck was a total tetris game trying to get everything to fit.  We also filled our two cars and my parents' car.  We could not have fit one more thing in!  Good thing we sold off our dining room table and chairs before we left!

And as is the custom with our previous moves, we took a picture with our filled Uhaul.  We have come along way since that first small trailer we filled up just after we were married! I don't know if that's a good thing or not.  Every move just leaves me wanting to purge everything and get back to the basics.

And here is the wonderful group that helped us load up.  We were feeling so grateful for these good, good people.

And here we are with the Case family.  Four years ago this fall I had just gotten home from my mission and randomly roomed with Jarelle at the Enclave.  Who would've thought that four years later we would both be in the Bay Area, helping each other move (they had just moved in the week prior) with little 6 and 8 month old baby girls!

Dad, Blair and the Beans stuck around to help us finish cleaning our place and we were out of there by 1 pm!

Another tradition we have before moving is taking a family picture in our empty apartment (see previous moves here and here).  So here it is!

And I couldn't help but take a photo of Eleanor's nursery. We first took a photo in Eleanor's nursery when we got the keys.  I was 22 weeks along and so excited to finally be able to picture where Eleanor would one day sleep and play:

And here it is on our last day in our apartment, holding an 8 month old Eleanor in place of my pregnant belly:

Aaron drove the Uhaul with our Sentra hitched on the back and I drove our Saturn Vue.  I stopped on the way at a Bed Bath and Beyond to buy new sheets and a pillow and felt quite bad about Eleanor being in just a onesie and looking so exhausted.  Moving is crazy!

^^About to take off for the drive to Fresno! I couldn't even see Eleanor with all the stuff in the way.  She fell asleep instantly (thank goodness!) and I just prayed that her silence meant she was just asleep and not that she had stopped breathing (yes, I still check on her breathing at 8 months!).

We pulled up to our new house in Fresno to find 5 people from our new ward (our friend Steve Marcum included) and Aaron's dad there to help us move in.  The members of our church are amazing--willing to give up time on their Saturday evening to total strangers to help them move in!  Our landlady stopped by with the keys and was floored that here we were moving to a new town and we had so much help from the get go!

I was grateful that Aaron's dad captured the following move-in pictures:

^^Our new cute little rental home! Still needs grass in front but we love it!

That great group got our stuff unloaded quickly and in to the designated rooms.  By this point we were starving (still just going off the donuts we had had for breakfast that morning--not good for a nursing mom!) so we dropped everything and headed to find food to bring home and eat.

^^Poor thing was exhausted!

Then we set up a pack n play for Eleanor and put her to bed far past her bed time.

We were so grateful for Aaron's dad who stayed with us that night and helped us put together the essentials (Eleanor's crib, our bed, a table, etc.).  He drove home the next day and we headed to church to be greeted by more really kind people.

Everything went really well, but even still it was a crazy, exhausting experience.  We were just so glad to crash that first night in our bed (with new sheets!) and finally be on to starting our next adventure.

Thank you to everyone who helped us move!  It sure takes a village to make it all happen!