Journey to our new home

The following days were extremely exciting and incredibly boring all at the same time. Our journey to Boise was uneventful, broken up by rest stops to go potty and change the DVD when the movie was over. Kaytie drove our new van with Ashleigh and Patrick in tow, and William and Spencer had the daunting task of making sure that all of our belongings made it safely to our new home.

Day 1: The first leg of the trip brought us to the home of uncle Roy and aunt Sierra. Kaytie and the two younger kids arrived at the house about an hour before William and Spencer made it. Mostly due to the limited speed of the burdened moving truck (we managed to squeeze our entire lives into a 16' box truck!) in addition to a few spontaneous father/son moments that they shared along the way. That evening the children played, Ashleigh renewed her bond with Sadie, and the adults got a hot meal, warm shower, and soft bed for the night.

Day 2: The following morning we left bright and early, and made the journey to the home of aunt Sierra's father, Papa Simpson, in Farmington, UT. Both families made the trip as uncle Roy and aunt Sierra had tickets to a play to attend with Papa Simpson. Kaytie and aunt Sierra drove the van with Owen and Patrick, William had Spencer in the truck, and uncle Roy drove Brayden, Ashleigh, and Gavin in their truck. It was one of the shorter days of driving and everyone made good time, except for William in the moving truck of course. William did make an unscheduled stop in Provo however, to visit with his dear brother John and to give him a few things to care for. Upon arrival, Kaytie stayed at the house to keep track of the collective brood, and William and Spencer arrived approximately 2 hours behind everyone else. The children had a blast playing ping pong, reading books, playing video games, and throwing a parachuted army man off the upstairs banister. Gavin only got lost a handful of times... Later that night Sierra and Roy brought home delicious dinner. We ate better than most medieval kings!

Day 3: The next day we bid Papa Simpson a fond farewell and retook our journey. Roy drove the van with Kaytie, Ashleigh and Patrick, and once again William and Spencer piloted the moving truck. We were looking down the barrel of a nearly 8 hour drive to the home of uncle Roy's in-laws in Farmington, NM. The first part of the drive was arguably longer due to winding roads, steep grades, and strong winds. We reached the mid point of our journey and stopped for lunch. From here on the drivers of each vehicle kept closer tabs on each other so that we could take our rest stops, gas ups, and other breaks together. The tempo of the journey accelerated, unfortunately the truck did not. With a top speed of 65 m.p.h. and highway speed limits in excess of 70 m.p.h. it became tedious. We arrived just in time for dinner! Roy's in-laws had prepared a lovely spread of enchiladas and rice, and we dove in with a vigor that would belie William's slight form... ok we ate like pigs! Happy now? We spent the evening playing games in the basement before bedding down for the night.

Day 4:We woke refreshed and invigorated. Then we remembered that we still had another 8 hour drive that day... But after a hearty breakfast and farewells laced with invitations to return on the way back, we hit the open road. Roy at the helm of the Van, and you can probably guess by this point who was driving that gorram truck. (That's not autocorrect, if you get the reference, here's a high five for you) This leg was pretty uneventful, and was broken up only by the need to refuel, both the vehicles and the humans, or to relieve ourselves. Our destination was Amarillo, TX, and as we traversed the states, a sense of impending change began to weigh upon the collective minds of both Kaytie and William. We had passed the mid point of the whole journey the previous day, and that knowledge settled uneasily as we continued further from home than either of us had ever been, and for longer than we ever have. This day also featured our first real big city experience. We drove through Albuquerque NM. While we didn't stop to see any sights in the city, the freeway system with it's soaring and complicated on ramp/off ramp system was dizzying. Our path lie on one of the highest ramps, and that served to be an incredibly nerve wracking experience for a certain moving truck driver. However we survived and put that mess behind us as quickly as we could. We made it to Amarillo and stayed in a hotel that night. All three children opted to sleep in uncle Roy's room on the spare bed.

Day 5: After a paltry "continental breakfast" at the hotel, we made preparations for the final leg of our journey. Upon fueling up the rigs we got underway. I am not even gonna tell you who drove what, I think you get the idea by now. The drive to Dallas went quicker than anticipated. Once we reached the city limits however, the stress level skyrocketed! We hit the town pre-rush hour and it was incredibly busy. The highways were 4+ lanes, but virtually bumper to bumper. Relying on GPS to navigate added to the stress as we were often advised to take this exit or that with little time to merge into the appropriate lane. After what felt like an interminable ordeal, we took the final off ramp onto blessed residential roads. Moments later we pulled up to the house that we would spend the next several years (hopefully) calling and making into home. The unload went surprisingly quick as the truck backed up virtually to the front porch. We built the bunk bed and dressed the mattresses for Ashleigh, Kaytie and William. Uncle Roy ordered pizza, and scheduled an Uber. Later we said a regretful and grateful farewell to uncle Roy, this journey would have been much more of a burden without him and Roy was an incredible blessing, Ashleigh and Patrick have such wonderful memories of their uncle now to look back on. From our family, thank you Roy.