moving: the process (aka, we made a giant mess)

As of tomorrow, we moved exactly one month ago! This has possibly been the busiest month of our lives, but we are getting settled in and really enjoying having our own home!

Of course, I couldn’t let such a monumental event happen without sharing photos of the biggest mess we’ve ever made. Packing and unpacking seem to turn everything into a disaster zone…

… and you also find some pretty funny things in the process, like this Halloween wig!_MG_1736 We didn’t get serious about packing up until about a week before the move, mostly because we were just going a short distance. The den became the official “box storage room”…IMG_20160502_001525 … but soon enough, the whole apartment looked like this! Like I said, it was the biggest humble jumble of our things I’ve ever seen._MG_1740 We rented a U-haul truck to make this a one-trip, easy process. I think our truck was 24 feet long… and I was shocked when we filled every inch of it. I thought for sure we’d have extra space!_MG_1743 The girls loved climbing up in the cab with Daddy once he got it home and parked!_MG_1749My mom-in-law came up for most of the week and helped with everything: packing, cleaning, moving furniture, unpacking, entertaining kids… you name it, she did it. I am so grateful for her help and how willing she always is to serve others._MG_1755We loaded up the truck right around 5 pm on a Tuesday, and so many people from church showed up to help us! We had somewhere around 30 people who came, so we had the truck filled, driven over to the new house, and unloaded all in under two hours. Everyone enjoyed some pizza afterward, and I was thankful that the process went so quickly!_MG_1757My mom-in-law helped a ton with unpacking at the new house. Kaelyn wanted to be a big helper, too, so she started putting things in the pantry!_MG_1762 _MG_1759 Mom Irwin and I cleaned up the old apartment on the following Thursday morning. Together, it took us about 3 hours to vacuum, shampoo carpets, and scrub everything down. Once again, I was so glad to have help- it would have taken me at least twice as much time had I done it alone. My girls were angels, just playing with a random bouncy ball that was left behind, as well as reading a couple of books.IMG_20160514_153112Of course, I’m grateful that we could move on to somewhere bigger and better, but looking at these pictures of our empty apartment still tugs at my heart a little. That tiny kitchen where I made so many meals for our family, perfected my baking skills, and bonded with the people who helped me create those things will always hold special memories for me.
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When we first moved in to our apartment 5 years ago, it seemed enormous. And it was- it was just the two of us, and we didn’t have much furniture to fill it. We grew our family there. It’s where we brought two sweet babies home, and watched them grow, explore, and learn so much.IMG_20160514_153117

Here’s to another chapter and making new memories in our new place!

we’ve moved!

Well, if you’ve been wondering about the recent stretch of radio silence happening over here, now you know why…

We moved!_MG_1754

We closed on our very first home at the end of April, and scheduled our move for last Tuesday. We’ve been busy packing, unpacking, and adjusting to life in a new neighborhood.

If you ever thought I couldn’t go a whole week without blogging… Well, I just proved you wrong, but only because we didn’t have any internet, so it’s not like I had much of a choice. Haha.

It’s a crazy feeling to be in our own home. We’ve anticipated this day for several years now, and it almost seems unreal. I keep feeling like I’m just on some weird trip, staying temporarily in someone else’s place. Hopefully that feeling dissipates after we start decorating and truly making this place our own.

I have a whole lot of catching up to do here on the blog, so expect a lot of posts to come your way here in the next couple of weeks! I’ve really missed having my “hobby” so easily accessible.