home.

after six months of being homeless we have settled in to our new home.

it's better and different than we ever imagined as we packed up our valuables in january. we imagined a small apartment in texas.

instead we have built a beautiful home filled much more space than our cute little condo and enough room to grow into the family we hope to have one day.

nic flew down to las vegas on wednesday july 23 to close. but waited for over three days to still not sign the documents. it was a little stressful for him and i. we were frustrated with the lender and the home builder for not defending us. but nic flew home friday evening without having signed anything. the flight was delayed and we got home around two in the morning. we were miserably tired and nervous for what the next week would bring.

we loaded the uhaul with the huge help of mitch, creed and cache. we were loaded to the brim. it was probably three before we were finished. i was exhausted emotionally and physically and i didn't really move much. i'm grateful that dommy lent us her storage unit. not only did it save us money but it saved us time. such a little blessing in our life.

we packed up and headed to nic's office to get his computer. i was tired, stinky and ready to give up and just move back into our condo. i cried for the whole two hours we were gone. saying goodbye to cary and jude was probably the hardest part of it all. that combined with a little note from kaitlynn tatton and an abrupt ending to a phone call with ricy made me mess.

my parents had a little bbq for us. tami, mitch, danielle and katy came over. it was special to have our family together and our sweet kara and rhett came to visit too. i knew we were going to be missed and i was ready to go. we cleaned the bedrooms and bathrooms and woke up at about six to head out. we were so excited to get to las vegas. my mom could barely get out of bed she was so sad. she just wanted one more minute, sweet thing. it was tender to leave my gracious parents and my kids are the luckiest in the world.

the drive was long and uneventful. except i drove nics work truck with fitz. ruby drove the uhaul with dad and we made it in under seven hours, including stops!

we ended up being in hte hotel for two days longer than we expected. we closed on monday afternoon, i was beyond frustrated.

tuesday we swam most the day then nic came and got us. we were debating on if we should make the run to costco and pleading with heavenly father (ruby reminded us to pray for what we wanted!) that we'd get the keys at least by that night. well... we decided to drive out to the costco and knew once we did they'd call. sure enough we were parking and my phone rang. which was weird since i'm not even on the home loan. so i answer and of course they say... it's time! your keys are ready.

so we speed through the costco and $800 dollars later (we missed our scoob!) we were headed home. so excited, so relieved, and so ready for the big day!

we got home and it felt scary and real and exciting. i think i was a little sad to kiss my hotels away. is that weird that i love hotels so much. but seriously, what can beat a maid, not cooking, and a swimming pool! guess i need to move in with the fresh prince.

we moved the beds inside and ended up going to bed pretty early.

the next morning the moving truck and movers arrived. they were a funny crew. we had previously talked to a guy from nic's mba class who owns a large moving company in the area. but, it turns out the last weekend in july is crazy busy for movers. so we were fitted with two older guys who were so funny. they were very strong, but just a little bit older. they were a little reluctant to move the boxes to the third floor. and they took a lot of breaks. but, they were kind and so helpful and got the job done very very quickly.