Thursday, March 27, 2014

Changes (it's a blur)

A lot happened around here in 3 weeks. I'm still recovering. 

In December our landlords told us they wanted to sell the house. We knew it was a long shot for us to buy it but we tried anyway. Didn't work out. Second week of February we found out for sure. Although our lease wasn't up until June, our landlords wanted us out sooner, if possible. We decided that keeping the kids in the same schools would be the best possible scenario so we were willing to move sooner than June to make that happen. 

February 18th -- a house came up on the rental listings in a cul-de-sac right across the street from the elementary school. 

February 19th -- we walked through the house, right before I left for a writing conference in Arizona. While at the conference Eric applied for the rental house and before I got home we were approved to rent it and made the decision to move. 


Just sharing this fun picture -- at the conference there was a Protagonist Gala. Since my favorite YA book of late is Shadow and Bone I dressed up like the main character, Alina. (My costume is made of a graduation gown we got from the thrift store for Halloween last year, the ribbon I yanked off some Christmas garland but the had is the real deal. It's Eric's shapka from when he was a missionary in Russia.)
So on the drive home through the red rocks of Arizona I contemplated our move. I did my best not to cry. We didn't tell the kids for a few more days, until we had paid our deposit and had the keys in hand. 

February 27th: We gathered our family together and said, "We have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is we have to move. The good news is we're going to Disneyland." Poor kids. They didn't know how to feel. We all loved living in that house.

February 29th: I worked all day at the Gap. Eric packed up the car and picked me up and we began our drive to California. We stayed the night at my aunt's house in St. George then made it to Claremont by the next afternoon. Kent and Nellie were great sports about letting us "hotel" there for a few days.

Monday, March 3rd: Disneyland! 

We got there first thing in the morning. It wasn't too crowded all day. 
Meeting Tigger. 
Space Mountain -- ran through the line 2x in a row. The kids loved it. They loved Star Tours too. Massimo was just an inch too short for a lot of rides but he didn't mind. 
We had an awesome Jungle Cruise tour guide. I laughed the whole time. That was one of my favorite rides of the day even though we waited 30 minutes in line.

March 4th: California Adventure
Again, not too crowded. Nellie kept Massimo home with her in the morning so we could do some big kid rides all together. Sommer was too short for California Screamin' so we went on the carousel 3 times in a row while waiting for Eric and the kids to go twice on the roller coaster. Then I went with Cannon and was sick in the head for the next two hours. (I guess I'm too old for roller coasters.) 
We waited almost an hour for the Cars ride. It was worth it. I'm not sure why, it just was. The best moment of the day was when we got off the ride and Massimo was there waiting with Nellie and her boys. He said to me, "Mom! We're here!" I replied, "you're right, we're at Disneyland again." And he said, "No. We're in Radiator Springs." It was one of those magical Disney moments. 

The Pixar parade at the end of the day fabulous for Massimo, almost worth the price of his ticket. He loved seeing all of his favorite characters ride by. I loved watching him. 


So for a couple of days we escaped from our life. 

March 5th: Long drive home. 

In between this time I cried a lot.

March 8th: We moved. 

Our new place is just a couple of blocks away from our old place but since we're in Utah that means we're in a different ward and stake. But this is Kaysville, Utah's hometown, and people are very kind and welcoming. The kids recognized friends from school in their church classes and there is always a group of boys playing basketball in one of several driveways after school, ours included. They seem to be settling into life here just fine. 

I'm sure I will too. I miss our old backyard and how much light flooded into the house. I'm less resilient to change than I was before and I'm weird now when I have to walk into a crowd of new people and talk to them about myself. I feel kind of trapped and frozen and I know I'm being weird but I can't help it. I need to adopt an alter ego, like Beyonce, who is good at being the life of the party. I know, these are first world problems. We are very blessed to have a home and to be healthy, the things that matter. 











4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Paige- moving kids is so hard. But I know you will bless all the lives you touch in your new area. Who wouldn't want to know you? You are amazing!

Shannon said...

No wonder you have been missing from blogland! Change is very hard, especially when it is unplanned. It leaves a person feeling raw and fragile. I am sorry.

Ron and Shanon Sommer said...

You made good lemonade out of lemons! The pictures of Disneyland are magical, love the one of Mossi smiling and pointing at the parade. There was hardly time to get used to the idea of moving before you actually moved, very hard. Does it help to say that you look fabulous in that Russian hat?

kelly said...

love you paige!