Driving Across The Country

Jess and I set out on yet another driving adventure! She can officially be called my co-pilot!

Day 1: Sunday

We started out in Baltimore (naturally) and drove a good 6-7 hrs and made it to Columbus Ohio! We stopped at a few places along the way, got some Subway, took a few pics and got several postcards!

We found a Red Roof Inn to crash for the night. As we pulled into the back parking lot, we realized it didn't wrap around to the front of the building leaving us a bit stuck! We had to do an 18 point turn and Jess had to get out and direct me. It was intense! If you reverse the truck to the left the trailer will reverse to the right. It took some time to figure it out, but we did!

Day 2: Monday

Even though we got to bed after 1am, I still was wide awake by 9am. We got on the road with the goal to hit Oklahoma City by night. We listened to our Dixie Chicks, Lisa Lobe, Michelle Branch. Beatles, Lee Ann Womack and sang our hearts out! We also listened to an awful Nicholas Sparks book, The Choice. The characters were just kind of annoying! But it kept me awake non the less.

We stopped in St. Louis. We went to a mall, did some shopping and ate at Cheesecake Factory. St. Louis was so cute! Just had a good community feel, nice houses, pretty trees, cute little towns and we loved seeing the arch!!

On Expedia, I was searching for motels in Kansas City, MO which is where we wanted to get to that night. I found a room for $44/night at Harrah's hotel and casino. haha. It was one of th

e cheapest places to stay in the area, so we booked it! It was big and glittery with lots of signs and big lights. We checked in and put on something nicer and walked around the casino for a little bit. It was pretty shocking how many people were gambling on a Monday night in Kansas City!

We ordered some late night cheesy fries, which were pretty gross and then turned in for the night.

In the morning we hit the buffet! I'm pretty sure a buffet is a necessary staple at any casino. We got there as breakfast was turning in the lunch, so I basically

had a fresh out of the oven otis spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookie for breakfast that morning. It was so worth it!

Day 3: Tuesday

We spent most of the day driving through Kansas. Wow..... there is nothing in Kansas. The land was so flat. I could just imagine big tornado's ripping through there. I was pretty glad it was cold enough to not even have to think about that.

We finally got into Colorado towards the end of the day and stopped in Frederick CO to stay with Ashley Cox (my college bestie!) It was great chatting and catching up with her. She is having a baby girl in April and just sold her house. It is so crazy to how time changes things. I am so thrilled she is so happy!

Day 4: Wednesday

We decided to not take i-70 the rest of the way and went up to i-80 instead to save an extra hour. I was worried about the truck and the big mountains through Colorado too. Well....Wyoming turned out to be pretty scary driving as well! Jess was driving while I napped. When I opened my eyes, I couldn't see anything out of the windows....just white! It wasn't a blizzard....just fierce winds blowing the snow on the mountains around making it so impossible to see. We just kept a slow speed and were super careful. We slid a few times but Jess handled it like a champ!!

We made it through the bad parts in about an hour. There is nothing in Wyoming either! We stopped at a gas station to fill up and had pleasure meeting Less!! We walked in the small little shack of a service station and were confronted with Elk heads that scared the crap out of us. Less was there to explain it to us though! Good times!

It only took another few hours to get to Utah. We stopped at Little America on the way of course, because the signs said we HAD to. We had lunch, and off we went for the last stretch to Jake's parents!

It was so crazy to be pulling in to this state knowing it's my new home! I had a great house welcoming! Jake brought Bry and Luciano home with him and we had a great night playing games and being a family! I was so happy to have my kids and hubby again too! doing fun stuff!

Ahhhh. What a great trip!!!! Thanks Jess for coming with me!!!!

Moving Day

I was pretty nervous about moving everything out of the house without Jake. But, with the help of my dad who is a super packer and some guys from church, everything went perfectly!

Dad came in on Thursday and we spent the day organizing and packing up what we could. Friday morning we picked up the rental truck. Wow. I was pretty intimidated. The truck was 22' plus the trailer was an extra 15' behind that. How in the world was I supposed to maneuvre this things across the country?!

I got some practice driving and was relieved it was easier than I thought. I think dad was relieved too that I could handle the big bad truck!

We had people come and help fri night and sat afternoon and dad and I did the rest.

I stayed pretty strong throughout the whole process until I started moping the sun room. I lost it for a bit while I moped. Dad helped me take down the owl bell chime that was there when we bought the house. I just remember that owl hanging there when we first looked at the house. We were so excited to have our own home. I will be taking that owl to every house we ever own!

On Sunday Jess, Charly and mom came down. I got the phone call that our agent had placed someone in our home starting in March for the Rent-to-Own property. Perfect timing. I had been feeling so stressed about leaving our home unsold and rented. I know we were blessed with this news because we had the leap of faith to move to Utah.

My heart was really full walking through the empty house. I kept myself busy enough to keep the tears at bay most of the day. The tears still came as I locked the front door and walked down the steps for the last time. Of course someone was honking their horn at me to drive faster so I didn't even have time to look back. Darn Baltimore!

Well....I was really excited to spend a few days with Jess on our trip across the country. More pics to come on that!

Bye Bye Baltimore

Tomorrow I will head off to Utah to start a new phase for the Nelson Family. It has been surreal packing up all of our stuff and seeing the rooms empty as people from the w
ard have helped move everything into the moving truck.

This is where we really got started. This is where two crazy kids in love turned into a family. This is the place we came to when we first got our keys and were so excited and ordered chinese and ate it and watched TV it in the basement and I almost threw up cause I was pregnant with Zoey. This is the place we brought our newborn babies home to. This is the place where Linkin could run free in his yard, chasing the squirrels. This is the place Jake and I set up tents in our back yard just cause we felt like camping! This is the place Zoey climbed ont

o the roof when we weren't looking. This is the place Logan started walking at 9 months. This is the place we brought ALL of our IKEA furniture after a good Wednesday "as is" sale. This is the place we made AMAZING bbq ribs in our crockpot, and even better grilled pineapple on the grill. This is the place Jake and I watched our endless hours of redbox movies. This is the place I was so angry I threw a cupcake at the wall (of course I don't remember why I was angry). This is the place we piled the kids in the red wagon and Linkin on his leash and walked to the park and around the neighborhood. This is place we listened to our ice cream truck drive down the street every Sunday playing "Jingle Bells and "Deck

the Halls". This is the place that Jake's approval for graduation was sent. This is the place Jake and I spent many moments laughing at the cuteness of our kids, and the silliness of ourselves. This is the place that I will never want to forget a second of.

We love this house. We loved the lives we had here. We know it's time to move on and know lot's of good things come our way.

We are so grateful to my parents and Jake's parents for being so supportive in this big move. My parents came down so many weekends to help me

pack and keep me company. Jake's parent's are letting us into their homes and have done such a good job loving my kids while I was apart from them. We are so blessed to have them in our lives.

So... See ya Maryland. We will miss so much about this place.

signing papers to buy the house!

Zoey's First Halloween - 2 weeks

Logan 6 months

Jake and the kids

Zoey and Logan's Nursery

Our Home - 909 Olmstead Rd