Driving......and driving.......and, you guessed it DRIVING!

We left our home sweet home of grantsville utah on Tues. night at about 10:30! It took us FOREVER to get on the road. After some tears, lots of hugs, several goodbyes, and packing the car with ever little thing we could imagine we hit the road for our 33 hour ROADTRIP! Our first night was pretty long and by the time the sun came up we were only in Cheyenne Wyoming! We laughed and joked about getting a hotel room and camping out one state away! We also wanted to make a little pit stop at a walmart to see if we could get another cord to our DVD player. We have one installed in the car but the kids were the proud occupants of that one the WHOLE trip, and Josh and I also wanted a little entertainment. (Dont panick, the driver kept their eyes on the road!) We also got some kids dramamin (which was 1 of many life savers) to take care of the throwing up Hope! you know my little Hope, it wouldn't be right if she didn't throw up! So after getting 2 very bad, and very different sets of instructions we finally found the walmart which was way off the freeway! about 2 hours later we were back on the road! Take my advice, DONT STOP AT THE WALMART IN CHEYENNE! Towns people claim its not that far, they lie!

I know this is an awful picture, but give us a break we were driving and I think this is the morning of day 3!
We continued driving all day Wednesday. Nebraska is the biggest state ever, and also the most boring! It was full of corn fields. We got so sick of looking at all the corn that we had to stop. We took a little pit stop in a town called Aurora and had a picnic. The girls played at the park, we ate healthy Micky D's, and I almost accidentally stole some gas! I had a little trouble with the pump and so the attendant came to help me apparently resetting the pump that I had already swiped my card at. So I filled up and went on my merry way. Next thing I know there is a trucker honking at me giving me dirty looks, and pointing backwards. The gas attendant was chasing after me to come pay for my gas. I thought it was funny that I asked for help and then took off without paying! They knew I didn't mean too.

The DVD players were a life saver, and we could never have made the trip without them. We drove Wed. until we couldn't stand it anymore because we were sooooooo tired! Then we got a hotel room about 2 hours away from Nashville. It was the best $60 spent. We all slept so good and it was FANTASTIC to get cleaned up and showered! I don't know what it is about driving that makes you feel so yucky! We then continued on the NASHVILLE where Josh served his mission. We spent the day Thursday there visiting some of his old friends and seeing the area. It was really fun for me to see.This is Terry and Eddie Diaz. They were Joshs Mom and Dad on his mission. It was so much fun to meet them, and the girls loved them. Terry gave them little CPK fairy babies, and called them the traveling fairies. Those dolls will forever remind me of Terry and Eddie and our drive across country.

We left about 8:30 Thurs. night and drove through the night again. We pulled into Virginia Beach and about 10:00 am on Friday morning. We were thrilled to see the moving truck there waiting for us. If they would have left we wouldn't have been able to get our stuff until Monday (which was when Josh started school) because they don't deliver on sat., and sun.! So we couldn't have timed it more perfectly. We got out of the car and opened the truck and started carrying in boxes. After about an hour we had barely made a dent, we were starving, and I was very frustrated wondering how in the world we were going to get all our stuff in the house. We went and ate, and when we got back we had reinforcments. Our new friend Katrina had called the missionaries and a family in the ward to come and help and I almost started crying when I saw all the help we had. The truck was unloaded within 2 hours and we have been unpacking boxes ever since!

When Brie walked in she said "It stinks, I want to go home!" It broke our hearts! Then we met our neighbors that we share a patio with, and they have 2 little girls ages 3 and 1. They were fast friends and she hasn't complained since.

So far we love the area! Josh loves the school! I have already made some great friends, and it is such a fun neighborhood. We spent most the weekend buying storage things because there is just no cupboard space, or storage space anywhere. We joke around that our house is like TETRIS! Everything has to be put in its space exactly right or it won't fit. We've had to add shelves into the utility room to make a pantry and buy cupboards for the bathroom. Josh, of course wants to replace all the flooring, which is against the rules! I am happy to report that I have not been homesick yet! that is a big thing for me!