Ok, so it took me like two weeks to get this written and posted but here it is!!!!
Sorry that it is kinda a novel!
Some of you may have already heard about our week or atleast parts of it, but we have had quite a week full of wonderfully crazy events. I will do my best to give you the low down- here we go!
(P.S. as you read this keep in mind that I was also 19 weeks pregnant )
Sunday Aug. 28, 2011
We taught our last primary class for the summer and then got on the road to Salt Lake to come spend a couple of days with family, we had monday-wednesday off from Playmill and my sister Robyn and her family were also in town from Wisconsin visiting so we wanted to make sure that we got to see them. After sitting for three hours at church and then sitting for 5 hours in the car I quickly realized that sitting for extended periods of time while pregnant is not so fun. But i got to see my family which was great =)
Monday Aug. 29, 2011
Joe was waiting to hear back from a high school in Idaho Falls about a phone interview he had the previous week and he felt strongly that he needed to go in and introduce himself to the principal so that they had a face to put with the name so he got up way early and followed the prompting by driving up to Idaho Falls only to find out that that was not the job for him so back down to Utah he came. We were bummed out of course but this was job number 5 that didn't work out and while we have been heart broken and frustrated and confused we have tried our best to just follow what we feel prompted to do and just trust that the Lord has a plan for us. While Joe was driving back I did sneak in some little shopping/ browsing with my mommy and sister which was fun. When Joe got back I had found another job opening that was just posted and so he sent in an e-mail application with all of his information. Then we enjoyed the rest of the day with my family.
Tuesday Aug. 30, 2011
My mom, sister and I got up and went and got manicures and pedicures (we all miss asia....) and while I was there Joe sent me a message saying that he had gotten a call asking him to do a phone interview about 45 min. later and of course he said yes! So he spent that time quickly reviewing all those terms educators like to hear and looking up some stuff on IB since this school focuses on that. When we got back he said that he felt like it went really well and they had said they would either call back later that day or the next. The rest of the day we spent adventuring with my family. My mom had found that they were doing free tours of the Governor's Mansion and that was the last day for the season so we went and saw it. It was really cool, if i remember correctly it was built in the late 1800's and it has a lot of fun quirky history. We weren't alowed to take pictures inside but here we are outside.
Then we went to Gardner Village, Robyn had never been and I think it is just a fun place to go and walk around even if you don't buy anything.
hmmm.... i'll have to try and figure out who had those pictures..... Robyn? Mommy?
Wednesday Aug. 31, 2011
Well, the school didn't call back on Tuesday but then this morning the vice principal called back, and what did she say? Oh you know just what I have known all along, that Joe had all of the qualities that they were looking for and that he should expect another call later today either with a few more questions or to extend a job offer.... the next two hours were very tense and in the mean time I am thinking " We have to get Robyn's family ready and out the door so that they don't miss their flight. If Joe gets this job we are going to drive straight to Boise to try and find a place to live because we have to be back in west tomorrow and then Joe would start on monday... etc. etc." Well at about 10 am they called back and finally someone got smart and offered him the job!!!!!!!!
*Insert happy dance here =)
By 11 am we were in the car and on the road to Boise to try and find a place to live since Joe had to start work on Monday morning at 9 am. We got to Boise a little after 4 and went to find the school to at least glance at it and then use that location as a starting point for finding a place to live not too far away. So funny story (well it was to us but maybe you had to be there... I'll let you decide). We were sitting at the intersection and the gps on my phone (because i am directionally challenged, and it has come in handy alot lately) tells us that the school is ahead and to the left. So we look up and to the left and see a school with a big old cross on top and the fence in front has a sign for North Star Charter School on it. It was a really long light. We started laughing and talking about how it had never occured to us that it might be a religous school but that it didn't really make a difference, I mean I went to Catholic school for a while. Then the light changed and we went through the intersection only to realize that there was another sign on the building that we just couldn't say that stated that that building was actually a Lutheran Pre-school. I guess that North Star just uses their fence for advertising! So then we drove ahead a little bit and found the school which seemed really nice from the outside. We managed to go see a couple apartments that evening before offices closed and then we went to dinner and got a hotel for the night.
Thursday, Sept. 1, 2011
We got up bright and early and saw a couple of places then ended up applying at a place that we had actually seen the day before. We got on the road and then got a call from the complex saying that we had been approved and could move in on Sunday (thank goodness!). We drove like crazy (so sick of driving at this point) and managed to get to West Yellowstone by 5pm because we had two closing shows of Joseph to do that night! It was quite the whirlwind but we did it!
As if we haven't had enough things going on I also felt the baby for the first time tonight. I was sitting there during the show, it was the reprise of the song of the king (the Elvis one) and the music swelled and got really loud and then I felt the baby. The best way that I can think to describe it is that when swimmers get to the end of the pool and they do the somersault thing to turn around. It felt like that was happening inside of me only on a tiny scale of course.
Friday, Sept. 2, 2011
We got up really early (not something I do well or often if you know me...) because we had to be in Rexburg by 9am for my last doctors appointment before moving (thankfully we knew that we would be moving one way or another at the end of the season so we had scheduled on last appointment right before we would have to move to give me a little time to find a new doctor wherever we ended up). This was a 19 week appointment instead of the typical 20 week but they still did the ultrasound and all that. It was fun. I love looking at my baby and hearing the heartbeat =) We got to find out the gender right away because the baby was being very cooperative for that but then refused to give a profile picture for the rest of the appointment. Anybody curious what we're having? Chances are that you have already heard one way or another since I am slow about getting this post up. But drum roll please......
We are having a little GIRL!!!!!!!!! She was not being very modest and the very first thing that came up on the screen the moment that they put the ultrasound on me was that she is most definitely a girl! She also gave us a high five and thumbs up it was cute =) They said that everything is looking great (and they really did check everything trying to get her to turn to get a pretty profile but she wouldn't let them, the best shot they got she had the umbilical cord right in front of her face). Right now she is measuring in the 32nd percentile (but all of the girls in our family are small so I wasn't surprised) and weighs about half a pound. =) Our little girl =) One funny thing I have to share is that when we were leaving the doctors office Joe made me promise to not go to crazy, hee hee hee. He knows that I like dressing little girls up.... but I will be good.
Then we picked up our moving truck and got on the road and then had to stop because the truck was so bad and then John (Joe's dad) switched us and vehicles and he took the truck back for us and got a better one while we went ahead and got on the road to West Yellowstone so that I could get packing (since we had done exactly none at this point). I had Joe's help for a bit then John got there with the truck and we recruited the Playmill boys to come help us move the furniture and stuff we had packed at the point into the truck. Joe told them they had to help or else we wouldn't tell them what we were having- it worked really well! After Joe went to work (thankfully it was my night off!) Trudy came over and helped me for a while and with the help of those people I had packed the entire apartment in 6 hours flat. That's right, I'm a stinkin amazing packer. That night was the Playmill dinner after the shows and so we shared our news about our little girl with everyone at that point. Everyone was excited for us but I will admit that about 2/3rds of them thought that it was going to be a boy.
Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011
Joe got up really early (I had had such a week, keep in mind I'm pregnant and had this week, that my body finally said "I'm done" and I could hardly move) and went over to the apartment (we stayed at John and Trudy's since our place was packed up) and got all of the rest of the stuff packed into the truck and then cleaned up the apartment to move out standards. The nice thing was that we had cleaned so much when we moved in that we knew even if all we had done was wipe everything down it would be better than when we moved in. Then there was a matinee of Dirty Rotten (my off show) so I did the laundry and then came over to the theatre for our last two shows of the season which was High School Musical. Then after the show we had to clean and strike all of our equipment. Thankfully between last summer and this summer I had developed a much more organized system so this went relatively fast. Then home we went and crashed into bed... we were probably asleep within about two minutes.... I kid you not.
Sunday, Sept. 4, 2011
Well, our plan was to be on the road by 9... the thing is I always tell myself with loose timelines that if we leave within an hour of that time we are doing great. And so when we got on the road around 9:30 I felt like we were doing just fine. It had been such a long week and I was so exhausted that I wasn't too sure about me driving for 6 hrs + by myself and so John and Trudy were nice enough to come along to help us as drivers which was great. We got to our apartment complex just after 4pm then signed a never ending lease. Joe has a couple of cousins in the Boise area that came and helped us unpack the truck in literally 45 min. It was amazing and we were so grateful for their help because there would have been no way we could have done it by ourselves- especially since I am pregnant. Once we got the truck unpacked Laura and Kevin (Kevin is Joe's cousin) even had us over for dinner so that we didn't have to worry about it. So sweet!
Monday, September 5, 2011
Joe's first day of work as a teacher!
So pretty much that is the sum of the crazy journey that has led us to now living in Boise, ID! I know that that was a lot to read but that is what happened! Joe did the math and for all the big trips that we did in that week it added up to 2057 miles that we put on our car. Thank goodness we have a reliable car! It was quite the whirilwind but we feel very blessed to have this opportunity and to have things work out so smoothly (for the most part). Joe is really loving his school and is working really hard and long hours but I think he is doing great. The school is a public charter school which he really likes because the students care more and parents are more involved but you don't get the snobbiness that sometimes comes with a private school. I'm adjusting slowly (I'm not the biggest fan of change in general) but figuring things out. We really like our apartment and ward so that helps too. We still have to figure out insurance and doctors which is never fun but we'll figure it out!
