adventures in moving

well, we are here! in our own little apartment in sunny phoenix. i can't tell you how surreal it has been to just be "us" in, well...since honestly may of '07. that is the last time we lived as just the three of us. oh my it is quiet. the run down:

• may '07: lived with ben's twin sis & her family from may-july
• july '07-july '08: lived in the insanity that was the group home
• july '08: spent nights with (in order): the thompsons, ben's family in indiana, my mom's house, a getaway in park city, my MIL's house, my dad's house, and then with the goldings in AZ

we have had so many fun memories while being generously allowed to sleep on floors, in basements, on childrens' beds, and in teenager's bedrooms. i am pretty sure though that we have exhausted all of our resources until probably the year 2020. thanks again for everything friends & family, we will try not to bother you for a while. :)

so now, it is our turn again. we arrived here on saturday, but not without a few adventures along the way.

1. our moving company told us they were going to charge us an extra $150 to bring us our stuff on saturday. for pete's sake. so we decided to go anyway, knowing ben was pushing his 5th week of stay with the goldings & me my 4th. so here we are, with just some clothing & an air mattress.
2. as we were driving, and almost to the complex, two girls at a stoplight motion to me that our trunk is slightly open and we have been dropping things out of the back for a little while now. so, with a lot of backtracking & running out into the middle of intersections, and questioning some questionable characters at bus stops, we recovered none of it. now as we unpack, if we can't find something, we figure it must have been one of the "street treasures" that someone will uncover soon. i know if i came across an unopened box of nutri-grain bars, i would think it was christmas day.
3. starting over. because we were so gosh darn poor when we moved to NC, we decided to sell just about everything. (i am thinking we assumed that we would be in a different financial state once we emerged) but here we are, more destitute than when we started, and about $100,000 in debt (thank you graduate school!). so we took a little trip to target and had to buy the "basics" such as; trash cans, plates, cups, silverware, cleaning supplies, a vacuum, canned goods, you get the idea. almost $500 later, we put it all away and wondered where it had disappeared to. we were still in an empty apartment.

so just a couple of bumps in the road and we (hopefully) will be moving in the rest of our things today. the good news is this:

• so far, our apartment is fantastic. we have a beautiful complex, gated, and overlooks a golf course & million dollar homes. it is small and fits just what we need. we have heard very, very small peeps from the upstairs which is a fantastic sign.
• no sign of scorpions yet!
• 3 beautiful, sparkling pools that are hardly used. and yes, the water IS as blue as it looks in the ad! (i had to see it to believe it)
• our apartment has shade & is very nice & cool. we don't have to do much with the a/c to keep the temperature nice.
• ben started school last week. i think it has the potential to kick his rear, but more importantly, i think he is really, really going to like it. not only that but be fantastic at it.
• our ward seems great. small, and a mix of old, young, families & singles. met some very nice people yesterday & am hopeful. why do i have to be so shy though?

so we had two nice, quiet days with no t.v. and borrowing internet from someone in the complex...thank you wireless! it is really fantastic to be in control of my own environment again. it's so peaceful that i'm tempted to start a little argument with ben just to spice things up. :) i think after living in the group home, it brought to the surface an interesting side of myself. more about that later, this one is long enough. multiple bulleting? yikes.

home sweet home.