12 states & one L.O.N.G journey!

First there was a farewell lunch after church on Sunday. Here's just a few pics of the wonderful friends that came to be with us. Miss all of you!!





Avery loved Baby Porter!







Then after church we had one awesome truck loading crew! I actually had a great time laughing with friends while loading the truck & made some great memories...not all of which are pictured below. (K.T, I'll cherish the memory of you dropping the box in the mud forever!) :)


Love these gals!!

Trevor & his Noah!
Grandpa Jess being attacked by the giant U-Haul bird!
this was one ferocious bird!



We got up on Wednesday morning (the 6th) after not *quite* enough sleep the night before. We had everything done, packed & loaded with the exception of the mattresses we'd slept on the night before & suitcases. I had to do the last minute vacuuming & Chad needed to hook the U-Haul to the trailer & load the van onto it. I had been dreading this part for ...well since the beginning. Seeing my home for the last 6 years all empty & not 'home-like' anymore. Pulling out of the driveway & knowing that I would most likely never again return to that home again. I think the Lord gave me just what I needed at the time....snow, rain, wind, hail AND mud! We got everything loaded into the U-Haul & said goodbye to the house & closed it up. I loaded the kids into their car seats & tried to help Chad the best I could with the trailer & loading the van. It was freezing & windy & muddy. We were all hungry & grumpy from lack of sleep & the stress of packing & goodbyes for the last 2 weeks. Did I mention that Baby A was screaming & that Kaylee & Trevor were fighting...& that I was supposed to pull a huge trailer behind the truck & that I've never pulled a trailer before? Needless to say it was quite the morning! We finally got it all loaded up & ready to pull out of the yard by a little after 11. I had been determined to take a last picture of the moving line up with the house in the background...hmmm, on second thought...lets just get outta here! I didn't even shed a tear. I was frozen, hungry & grumpy & more than happy to leave 'the frozen tundra' behind. Thank you Lord for giving me just what I needed to make saying goodbye bearable!
Chad coached me through pulling the trailer to CoeurD'Alene & we all survived the first leg of our long journey. In CDA, the kids & I opted to hang out at Costco while Chad picked Lucas up from the airport. Boy, oh boy are we so thankful for Lucas (& his lovely wife that let him help us!) I don't think we could have done it without him! The guys met me & the kiddos, everyone got something to eat & off we went. We only made it to Missoula, MT the first night. We would go on through Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee & North Carolina before we got to our new home here in Hanahan, South Carolina. The trip was mostly uneventful (Praise the Lord!) with the exception of some (ok, a lot!) of trailer tire rotation & some really nasty hotel stays! We did make it the whole way without any breakdowns (of the vehicles..there were a few from us!) or flats. We finally pulled onto our new street on Monday afternoon.
We are so thankful for Lucas & his offer of flying out to drive 2,700 miles with our family, a heavily loaded moving truck pulling the van, & Big Blue pulling the trailer & Ranger! Thankful for his wife Becca & their baby girl Ava for letting him be gone for so long too!

We are LOVING the weather here.....missing our friends there.
More to come soon about life in the South!
Here's a few pictures from the trek across the U.S.


we had a couple of days of snow before hitting the good weather that carried us through the rest of the way.

not sure what this was, but it was cool.

a little entertainment at the gas station! we got a few odd looks, but after days on the road...we didn't really care!

after a few days we considered strapping the kids to the ranger for the remainder of the trip! ;)


what you can't quite see is that when we passed Lucas he was eating the last of the Subway cookies that we bought!



some fun in the parking lot while the guys rotated the trailer tires. again. Oh & this was the same stop where I let the kids play in the McDonald's play place with NO shoes or socks! Who says I'm not brave!? The kids really needed to run some energy off & I'm pretty sure it was cleaner than some of the hotels we stayed in!

looks like fun, huh?

our last stop before arriving 'home.' We ate at a Waffle House about 2 hours out.

**The gross hotel stays came from trying out the discounts that we got through U-Haul. We got 20% off at some select hotels & after realizing how much we were going to spend in gas alone, we decided to give them a try. YUCK-O! The last night we splurged & stayed in a nice CLEAN room!