and then...we Moved...

It was such a bittersweet time for us to leave our much loved home and neighborhood in Vancouver and head back to South Eastern Idaho.  After the fact I always realize that I should have taken many more pictures then I did. 

After lots of help from the ward getting the Truck and trailer loaded on Wednesday night, we headed out on Thursday afternoon, October 29th, for Boise.  My much loved and so Awesome visiting teacher Linda Elms and her husband Larry volunteered to help us drive.  It was so nice of them and we were so happy to have their company and help.  Larry drove LeGrand's car, LeGrand and Laex drove the big truck & trailer and Linda road with the three other kids and I in the Van.  I had lots of feelings driving away from everything we really got attached to in the last 10 months but was also full of excitement and anticipation of arriving in Grace. 

One last drive over the bridge into Portland as residents of Washington - a view I never grew tired of and will forever have imprinted on my mind. The drive along the Columbia that is SO beautiful...and on into Idaho. 

Our drive to Boise took about 8 hours with the stops we made, us ladies and kids left the other two in the dust and unfortunately they had a bit of a set back when one of the tires on the trailer blew.  I was so grateful Larry had stayed back to follow LeGrand.  That took them an extra hour and a half so they were super late getting into Boise.

Friday morning we had breakfast and continued our journey to Grace arriving around 2:30.  We had a wonderful welcoming with lots of help from the ward - it was cold and rainy but that didn't stop people from showing up to help unload and bring food.  We are living in the ONLY thing we could find, a small two bedroom apartment --it's definitely not ideal but we are making it work temporarily with the hope that it won't be long that we are here.  Bishop Stoddard helped us tirelessly look for a place, we thought of purchasing and fixing up something, but that just didn't work out.  My parents even drove up to Grace to look at all of the homes on the market to see if there was something we could make work but nothing seemed right.  With everything else falling into place so perfectly I just know this is the one challenge I had to face and that something will come along - even if it isn't as soon as I'd like :)

Mom and Linda helped out getting some main Kitchen items unpacked and beds made for us, it was so nice to have all of the help.

Saturday morning I took Linda and Larry on a little tour of the town then Larry drove in the big truck and followed Linda and I to Preston where we dropped it off then I drove them on to SLC where they were staying for a few days to spend time with family. 

As Larry was pulling the big truck and trailer out of the parking lot onto the highway he was watching to miss a black trash can and wasn't thinking and got the truck high centered, so funny!

I sure love those Elms, such good people and so much help to us!  Then I headed back home and arrived just in time to get ready for Halloween festivities!

One last Portland Adventure

On LeGrands last day off we took one more trip into Portland for two of our favorite things: Food Carts and Salt & Straw Ice Cream.

The food was delicious as always!  Sushi, Thai Massaman Curry, Lamb Shawarma & Street Tacos.

And the Ice Cream was too :)!!

As we drove through Portland my heart was heavy (in fact, I was taking so many pictures LeGrand said, 'What are you, a Tourist' - to which I replied, 'I feel like one today'), it's sad to think we won't be driving these streets again (at least not for a long time). I don't think I would ever tire of looking down the river as we cross over the bridge into Portland, it's so beautiful to see the bridges, boats and greenery.  I can say, I'm pretty sure I won't miss the never ending Portland traffic!

Linq at 3 months!

We really love this little guy.  He is the BEST baby!  I always say I think Heavenly Father knew that by number four he had to send me the best and he sure did - people always make comments about what a good easy-going baby he is.  On the Sunday's LeGrand is working I have lots of people offer to help me out at church, he can go to anyone and never make a peep.  Things have been crazy busy trying to get our house sold and packed up and often times I'll lay him on the bed and run around doing things and come back in and find him fast asleep.

He's growing too fast. Wears 3-6 month clothes, loves to eat and has recently found his hands.  I love watching him just examine them.  His other favorite thing is to blow spit bubbles. He's rolled over a couple of times from his tummy to his back.  He loves to 'talk' to us and gives us lots of big smiles --we've even gotten him to giggle a couple of times.  He doesn't like his but to be dirty - that's one of the only times his gets fussy, when his diaper is full, or if he's hungry & sometimes when he's tired.

The kids just love him to death - Laexin has become a great helper with him.  Now that he's a bit bigger Laex is really good at helping me feed him or hold him if he's fussy.  Loa likes to play with him and Lytzi just smothers the crap out of him.

A final trip to the Coast

Once we learned we'd only have about a month before we left Washington we thought it only fitting that we take one final trip to the coast - we will sure miss having the ocean so close.  So we took the kids out of school and headed off to the coast over conference weekend.

We went first to Cannon Beach, the tide was low so we had a fun time checking out tide pools and all the little creatures.

The kids couldn't contain themselves and were playing in the water when the next thing you know they're getting knocked down by waves and are soaking wet and freezing - it wouldn't be a beach trip for us if this didn't happen on the very first stop :)

There was a bunch of college students having a sandcastle contest - Halloween themed- there were some fun sculptures.

After Cannon we headed up to seaside with high hopes of finding some Sand Dollars to take home - we found tons of Sand Dollar pieces but had no luck finding a whole one.

We had fish and chips for lunch and continued north through Astoria to our final destination Long Beach WA.

We found our little rental, cleaned up the sandy wet clothes at a laundromat & grabbed some tacos & thai food for dinner (quite the combo, huh?!)

On Saturday we got breakfast to go & ate it in our little 'house',  watched the first session of conference then checked out the Cranberry farm, they sell all of their cranberries to Ocean spray - it was fun to see the fields of cranberries.

 How many people can you fit in a Double bed?? :)

We grabbed a 'devil dog' from the bakery on main street then went to Marshes Museum & LeGrand was a sport and took the kids to the Fun Zone.

Then we watched the second session of conference and the older two and I headed off to the beach while LeGrand stayed with the sleeping little ones.  After a while they joined us - it was a bit cool and extra windy but the kids could've cared less as they played in the sand and water.

Then we grabbed Pizza for dinner and the kids had ice cream & watched a movie before bed (as if we hadn't had enough TV for the weekend!)

Sunday we watched the First session of conference then headed for home - it's such a beautiful drive from the coast to Vancouver, I'm going to miss it terribly!!

We got back home just in time to catch the last session of conference - what a great weekend!