Wednesday, July 23, 2008

One year ago today...

We arrived here. Our new home. After a long preparation and journey.

Whew!

You must click on the above photo! Our dear friends the Watts, the only people we knew up here in Washington, made this awesome banner and had it waiting to greet us when we pulled up to our new home. Yes, I got weepy. It was the sweetest welcome, along with two pots full of flowers on the porch and some UW goodies for Danny and the kids. It was a little bit overcast and actually started misting after we all got out of the car. And strangely enough, after stunningly beautiful, sunny weather lately, today is the exact same as it was a year ago (though it hasn't misted yet today!)

So, how did we get here? Well, first off all, a few days earlier we waved "goodbye" to all of our belongings as the moving truck drove away down Quigley Ave. in SoCal. That was a really strange feeling. I remember saying a little prayer that Jim and Winona, our movers, would have a safe trip up to Washington.

Here is Dano in front of our little Quigley house. This house has so many memories for us. Danny's first home purchase (and the only house he'd ever lived in besides his parents house.) Our first home as married folks. We brought our new babies home to this house and this is where they grew up. A lot of renovation, expansion, work and love went into making this little house a home. But anyone that knows our story also knows that it was time for us to take a deep breath, spread our wings and move on.

We left early the morning of the 22nd of July, 2007, towing our trailer behind us. For long trips, we usually fold down the middle seat of the car so all four kids (two human, two furry) can be comfy. The final Harry Potter hit the shelves the day before we left, so Hayley took full advantage of the time to read. Brian also read, along with keeping occupied with the Gameboy, plus we had the DVD player going. We made it to Redding, California early the first evening. We stopped at a nice little motel and stretched our legs, swam a little and got a good night's sleep.

The furry kids, Molly and Abby, were absolute troopers and did so well on the trip.

Sorry...we now pause for the gratuitous "Dog's-Head-Out-the-Window" shot.

Uhhhh...hold on a minute! Are we going in the right direction? Didn't we just leave Long Beach? Heh.

I really can't remember what time on the 23rd we arrived in Marysville. It was just so nice to know that we were HOME!

We had to wait a few days for Jim to deliver our belongings, so THIS was a really beautiful sight! For the record, our "stuff" took up 3/4 of that van. And I say "stuff" because there was not room for one more item inside the van. Ask Mover Jim...he'll tell ya!

And in the blink of an eye, it has been a full year. By the way, I'm off to pick berries now...they're calling to me!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

2 comments:

Laura and Corey said...

wow...a whole year. hard to believe. what a year it has been. happy 1 year anniversary!

Durante said...

Excellent post, it's really amazing to see how time flies when we're having fun. You have a lovely house, that's an amazing picture. I came up to the North West not too much over a year ago and it's amazing how different it is from everywhere else I've ever lived.

Happy Anniversary. It sounds like you'd do it again.