Gees. I can't believe it's already been a month!
The days go by soooooooooooo slow, but the weeks just fly by. So before I go any longer- I'm forcing myself to throw my usual perfectionism out the window, sit down, and just write out this botchy update post.
June 28th:
We drove down to Mesquite with everything we belonged packed up into the good ol' 26 footer. This hands down was the hardest move for me, packing/work wise. {Which I'll explain in more detail in my next post.} We spent the night in Mesquite, savoring time with family, because we knew the next day we'd have a long road ahead. So. very. literally.
June 29th:
Goodbyes to Family.. awful. But the road to California was paved with tender mercies from the Lord. Obviously when you decide to make a change as huge as this, doubts try to creep their nasty little selves into your head BUT Heavenly Father made it abundantly clear that we are on His path, and that He is going to take care of everything. Classic 1 Nephi 3:7.
My Expectation:
+We'd have the LONGEST car ride ever. Struggling with two kids and a dog who would need to stop and pee every two hours. {I seriously considered just putting diapers on all of them even though they're potty trained. Obviously you've got parent of the year right here😏}
+We would lose our tempers as the kids bickered endlessly in the backseat due to restlessness and boredom = lots of parent guilt
+We wouldn't even make it half way.
Heavenly Father's Reality:
+The car ride passed quickly- we LOVED looking out the window at the endless orchards and crop fields. The kids did NOT need to pee every two hours and neither did the dog. They'd made it to each rest stop goal without issues.
+The kids did not bicker. Not even once. No tantrums. Nothing. They'd sleep, watch movies, eat snacks, and they didn't mind the 12+ hour drive at all.
+Yup. 12+ hours. We made it more than halfway. We made it more than 2/3 of the way. The next day, we only had to drive an hour and a half to get to our new home!
I think the whole trip was made easier because my parents offered to come, drive the U-Haul for us, and help along the way. Which was a huge huge blessing and made all the difference in the world!
We made it!
We unpacked everything, returned the U-Haul, and ate KFC. Obviously it was harder than that but I don't really want to remind myself of it. lol
It was a long long day for sure. Filled with tender mercies, like I said, but still. A long day.
We had to say goodbye to my parents that weekend, which was 100% not fun. After that it was all just about getting settled and getting used to everything being so new.
Stores being different was a hard change to navigate. It took us a good week and many tries to find a grocery store we liked. Because plot twist... no Smiths. no Lins. no Harmons. no Albertsons. and WalMart's produce is at like 5% capacity which means they dont really have any. EXTRA plot twist- TARGET has full on produce and grocery here. So bizzare. lol
They're also big on plastic waste here.. so you pay 10¢ for every single plastic grocery bag... but they usually only give you like 4, even with a cart FULL of groceries. No lie- part of their training must be how to cram those things full.
I REALLY miss Chik-Fil-A and Swig... but they at least have In-N-Out, so maybe I'll live? 😜
Driving here is a nightmare and so dangerous.... Lanes just end.
Serious! No signs {although that seems to be a common thing around here. 96% of the time I have no clue what the speed limit is} No warnings, no arrows on the road... and the lane just ends. And this happens on the highway too!
After my first day of driving here I no longer wondered why on earth there were always so many accidents. It makes sense now.
Those are my negative differences... but there are a lot of good ones too!
We bought a Zoo membership and have been going almost every Saturday! It's probably my favorite Zoo I've ever been to, and I've been to many, including San Diego! 🙊
We have a huge park next to our house with a library in it! So we go there almost every day. The kids love it, especially Grant-- who went bananas after he found the kid non-fiction section. It's purely a cute coincidence that Jaron is going to Chiro school and Grant all of a sudden is obsessed with the human skeleton. Ask him where your femur is, he'll tell you!
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| Our First Time at the Oakland Zoo. We bought a year membership and went often! |
Jaron started Chiropractor School at Life Chiropractic College West!
I feel so cool to know him.
His passion for it makes him really good at learning all the information they're throwing at him. Right now he is very interested in specializing in pediatric chiropractic which is a very exciting thing! The world definitely needs to be re-educated on Chiropractic, and I'm sure I'll write a post about it eventually! But Jaron is doing very well in school! Very very well. 😊
I promise I'll get better at taking pictures to go with these posts, and I'll get better at posting itself. It's just been crazy CRAZY and I fell out of the habit of blogging so this all feels kind of awkward right now lol.
Anyway.
We love and miss you all back home!
-C