On Friday the 27th, the movers came to start
packing us up. I think anyone who saw me
the days prior to that would say I was feeling STRESSED! That day they packed up 70% of our
house. During the morning Mom and Dad
and Kim & her kids arrived. They
were life savers. Mom and Dad
immediately went to work on our yard – I wanted it to look nice before the
renters got there on Wednesday. Mom is
AMAZING, she took her lunch outside so she wouldn’t have to stop working. Friday evening we went to dinner and then
headed over to the baptism. Things
started to get pretty crazy, no chaotic!
Trav’s parents called, they weren’t going to be able to come to the
baptism because they were taking my father-in-law into the hospital, he had
been having a lot of pain. Spence and
Heather got caught in the traffic from hell and weren’t able to make it. I kept on thinking that Satan is working so
hard to keep this from being a really spiritual experience for Lauren. We started the baptism. Allison gave a talk on baptism that I felt
really brought in the spirit. The
baptism itself was flawless. I loved seeing
the smile on Lauren’s face as she came out of the water. She later asked me, “Mom, is it possible to
have one perfect day?” I told her today
was as good as any! Mom gave a great
talk on the Holy Ghost. Although it was
a very noisy baptism (due to the 15 or so kids there), I think it was a very
positive experience for Lauren.
Monday, the movers came and finished packing boxes. That night we went to a going away party at a
friend’s house. Trav was sly and turned
it into a birthday party as well. Tuesday they came to load the truck. At 3 some of my friends came over and helped
me clean. We were done by 5 and I was
happy to be done with the house. I was
exhausted that night!!! A friend pointed
out to me, imagine if I had been pregnant.
Oh, man, I would have been beat and in a LOT of pain!
I was glad that we made it so we weren’t leaving until Friday. It made it so that we had time to spend with
friends (leisurely) before we had to take off.
Friday we left Puyallup at 9:30 am.
The drive was pretty uneventful.
We made it to our hotel in Reddding at 8:45. After driving in the car all day, we told the
girls they could go swimming, it was 90 degrees at 9 pm.
We got up early on Saturday and headed out. We made just quick stops and pulled into Ft.
Irwin at 4:15. We drove a little bit
through Barstow before we drove into Irwin.
Barstow looks to be a pretty desolate and run down city. I don’t think we’ll be spending much time
there.
When we made our hotel reservation, Trav reserved a “suite.” All that meant was that there was a bedroom
and then a “living room” that had a pull out couch. When we arrived they tried to put us in a
room with 2 queen beds. Trav worked his
magic and got us the room that we had reserved.
We have a mini fridge, mini microwave and a sink. We brought our crock pot, but we thought
there would be a cook top. We later went
to the PX and bought an electric skillet.
We have to grocery shop everyday because our fridge doesn’t hold that
much. Meals will be an interesting
experience.
On Sunday church started at noon. We got there and there are about 15 families
in the branch. There are 3 new families
this week. There is a young woman (maybe
14) playing the piano. The opening song
starts and Trav and I start singing. I
think we are all you can here – everyone else is singing very quietly. Lauren told me after the opening hymn, “Mom,
all I could hear were you and dad. You
were really loud.” I asked Trav if I was
singing loudly, he said just normal.
In primary they have 3 classes: Sunbeams, Jr. primary, and
Sr. primary. They do class the first
hour and have singing and sharing time the last hour. The Primary president says that she has 1
counselor and no singing time person.
They switch off who does music and who does sharing time. Honestly primary music would be a blast!!!
In Sunday school the teacher points out that if all the new
people weren’t there, there would be 3 people in the classroom. It was the same in Relief society, there were
4 ladies other than the R.S. presidency.
On Monday we went into the housing office and got a list of
the houses available. There were 3, we
went to check them out. We aren’t
allowed to walk through them because people are still living there, so we just
check out the locations. The one we
chose has a park right in front of the house, its in a cul-de-sac and it is a
block and a half from Lauren’s school.
We won’t be able to move in until Sept. 6th. That means we will be in this tiny hotel room
until then!
Since then we have been filling the day with going to the
pool and different places around post. I
can’t get over the heat. The school
website says that it is suppose to be 110 all this week. UGH!!! My friend, Elizabeth, said it best. She said, "Don't you wish it was a dessert instead of a desert." Oh, yes I do! School started today and I’m so excited to
hear how it went for both of the girls.
What am I going to do with myself with only 1 child 6 hours of the
day! PAR-TAY!
