I was informed while sitting in my new huge bubble bath last night that today is the day my family moved to Utah one year ago. We had found a home for our two dogs, sold our beloved hot tub, packed up our house in two and a half U-Haul trucks and with a newly rented home, left Arizona where we had lived for 12 years. A year previous to that we had visited Utah and knew we were supposed to do all we could to move to Utah. We just knew. So, after saving all year we ventured out on July 1, 2010 with high hopes. After a few months of adjustment, interviewing and the vicious job hunt, both Doug and I were able to begin wonderful jobs that we love and that can provide for our needs.
Now, a year later looking back I can't believe I'm sitting in my new house, with the five kids sleeping in everyday and eating way too many popsicles this summer, and wondering each day what we should do for fun. We survived the past year of transition. We were given a special gift named Wyatt. Lots of stress, lots of worry and all totally worth it.
This most recent move was crazier than usual. Is any move easy? I think not. But soon after moving in to our new house which is in the process of closing, we had a few hiccups. Having sold most of our mattresses, I had bought a few new beds which took five separate deliveries to get everything in correctly. How hard is it to deliver a twin frame after four tries? Because of their mess ups, we got two free mattress pads and because of the purchase, a free new BBQ.
I had also purchased new appliances which were delivered and installed over the course of a few days. Washers arrived without drain pipes, extensions were bought after realizing my laundry room was built backwards with the washer on the right, and then after it was set up, the washing machine didn't work so it was then picked up a few days later and new ones brought in. Due to that mess up, we got two free pedestals which will help my aching back from all the laundry that has built up with no washer/dryer for two weeks.
The day I went to buy appliances, I walked in and said, "I'm in a hurry and I'm going to be your best customer today." and then continued to buy one of everything, it seemed. In that rush, I had chosen an over the range microwave instead of a table top one that sits above the stove with vents on the sides. That mistake had to be fixed by driving back to the store to choose my second microwave and schedule the first wrong one to be picked up.
During this same time, I was cleaning out the old house, keeping five kids busy and happy, unpacking what I could so we could function each day. (It took up three days to find hair brushes and we borrowed bandaids three times from our new neighbors.) We also had lots of visitors to the new house to deliver keys, show us the sprinkler system, bring us more keys, neighbors saying hello, and a few kind relatives to help us unload and unpack.
Last week surprised us with a half basement full of water. I placed a frantic call to Doug to get home now. I had four delivery men in the house at the time. For the first time in our marriage he told me to "Calm down."
More visitors arrived. The air conditioner man said it wasn't that, but fixed one of our units while he was here. The plumbing man said it wasn't the water heater but set up my new washing machine while he was here. The plumbing camera man finally diagnosed that it was a leaking/broken sewer pike from the house to the road which need to be fixed immediately so the sewer backing up would stop backing up into our basement. The previous owner came by to help give insights and the current owner came to help mop up the floor since we hadn't unpacked enough to even find our mop and bucket. The plumber camera man showed me the general location of the broken pipe nine feet underground. The city utility man came and spray painted the yard with where all the power/gas/sprinkler lines are. The excavating man with his semi and giant backhoe and parked it on my front lawn. He spent a few days digging a deep ten foot hole in the front yard. He fixed the leaking pipe while avoiding the gas line that sat above it. He cut the sprinkler line then fixed it. His semi truck starter died and his truck and backhoe sat in the front driveway for a few days till it got fixed. The grass got put back on and compacted but then sank a bit, so more dirt is to be added soon. The cement sits untouched. Sigh.
Did I mention this is all in the course of seven days?
So, I sit here two weeks having lived in our new house and one year after moving here and in the chaos of the week and the chaos of the year, I am still happy. Happy with our decision to move, happy that we get to live near the mountains, happy to feel the breeze each night come through the windows, happy that I ate fry sauce yesterday for lunch, happy for a house that fits us, happy for these house issues happening so we know more about the house's "guts" more than we did before, and happy for a long holiday weekend followed by a trip to Disneyland next week so I can see and smell the ocean, ride some rides, and "Calm down."
