The Cook's Recipe for Life: Our last week in Provo and The Move

This week was absolutely insane. Packing an entire house in one week might not seem like a big task, especially if one hasn't had to move a lot. This is our 4th move in the past 5 years, and I absolutely HATE moving. Having only 1 week to have EVERYTHING ready to go out the door was no easy task. This is the first move we've had where absolutely everything had to go and the place completely cleaned and then everything unloaded again all in one day. I kid you not we had at least 100 boxes big and small. At least 30 came just from our food storage which Ty kindly helped me pack up (Aside from the electronics and disassembling a few pieces of furniture its about all the help I got from him. haha. At least he was there to help watch the kids!). This one year food storage idea is awesome in theory but totally sucks when it comes time to pack it up and move it. We've moved it 4 times now, and people give us a hard time about it every time we move. I really really really hope we don't have to move it again for a long long while. I also had at least that many more boxes while packing the kitchen. We own too many appliances! LOL!

Even though it was extremely stressful for me, the kids were having the time of their lives! There were empty boxes for them to play in at every corner! Even Jay took part in the box playing fun. Jay was a little out of sorts with this whole moving thing. He knew something was up but he wasn't sure what it was or if he was going to like it or not.

In the mist of packing, we still found time to stop and enjoy some of the perks of Provo one last time. We went to the archery range; the girls finished up their last week of swimming lessons; I took the kids to the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point; and we enjoyed spending time with some of our really good friends who we are going to miss dearly.

Saturday morning came quickly and I was a nervous wreck. I was so anxious I felt like I was having a panic attack several times as the day went on. My parents and brother came from Idaho Falls to help us move. I'm SO thankful for their help. We would have been in sad shape had they not driven so far to come help us. Only one person from our ward in Provo showed up to help (HUGE thank you to him and his wife who watched Jay while we loaded the truck and cleaned the apartment). Some friends also came to help. We filled a 20 ft trailer, my dad's truck, both our cars, and most of Ty's grandpa's truck (also a huge thank you to him for driving our stuff clear to Idaho Falls for us. They live in Spanish Fork). Two wonderful ladies from our ward came to help with last minute cleaning. They saved me hours of work. We were able to start our long trek to Idaho Falls so much earlier because of them!

After check out my dad took the VERY FULL Uhaul, Ty's grandpa was long gone with the not quite full truck and I, my little brother, and Ty were getting in our vehicles (my brother was taking my dad's truck) to leave. My brother decided to take one more look around the apartment before we left (totally strange because we had just checked out and done a walk thru with the manager) and he found about 15 kitchen boxes in the coat closet that we had missed!!!!!! I had a mini panic attack. The truck that wasn't full was a good hour into its trip to IF and the Uhaul and truck were completely full! We had some space in our cars but I just didn't think it was enough for all those boxes! It was half my kitchen! My dishes... everything! Tyler (my brother) and Ty set to work finding places for boxes. There were boxes in my front seat and boxes at the kids feet but we managed to fit it all in! It was a miracle!

After a short stop at Applebee's for lunch we were on our way home!!! Finally after 4, almost 5 years, and 2 children later, we were heading back to our house in Idaho Falls. Something I had decided was never going to happen! (As I write this, it's been 3 weeks and I still can't believe it!)

When we got to Idaho Falls, we were all completely exhausted. Ty has a ton of family here but they were ALL gone to a reunion in Priest Lake and no one from our ward here came to help (granted they had very short notice. lol. That was poor planning on our part). One of Ty's really good friends showed up to help. And a while later Ty's dad came (with a dolly thank goodness). He had an uncle and cousin come to help for a bit too. Ty and my poor dad unloaded and loaded most of that truck in one day. I was so exhausted I didn't think I could lift another box, so I can only imagine how tired they must have been! All in all it was a very long day, but with a ton of support from family and friends we were able to get it done!

We spent some time at Ty's parent's house that night and the kids enjoyed petting the cows. We stayed the next 2 or 3 nights at my parents house because we just didn't have the energy or space to put up beds. lol. Sunday we had dinner at the Cook's with friends and Ty's grandparents. We are going to miss a lot of family, friends, and activities that Provo had to offer us, but it is so good to be home. I can't seem to put to words how good it feels!