Spokane, our new hometown!

We made it to Spokane this week! We were busy getting things ready to go last weekend and saying our goodbyes. We really appreciate all of the help we received from family and friends!
Last Sunday, we had a little birthday party for Grammie/going away party at my parents with my family. That was great to see everyone again. Grammie was up here visiting my Aunt Suz and Uncle Dave the week before, and went with them to see the places we were looking at renting. She recommended the one we're in now, and we're glad for her insight! Later that night, we went and met Dennis & Calena and their kids for one last time for a while. They got a cake that said "We Miss You Already" on it, which was so cute of them, and we had cake and cold milk, and let the kids play at the park together.
Monday, we just packed the final things up and put everything in the Budget moving truck. The kids thought the ramp and the moving truck was pretty cool! During the afternoon, my mom took the kids over to Aunt Shirley and Uncle Jeff's place to go swimming, to take a break from all of the moving. They had a ball and learned some new swimming techniques from Grandma Di. All of the family came over that night and we had dinner and hung out for one last time. Stacy tried to prepare an FHE lesson, which was sweet, and the kids did an activity. It made me cry seeing the girls (Emma and Tayla) say goodbye. They've grown up together, and now won't see each other as much, but it will be good! They're going to be pen pals, so that's exciting! We gave cards to the ones we have been living with, to thank them for all they've done. We tried to get to bed early as Dave said we'd leave at 4 a.m. - ahh! But we didn't go to bed until about 11:30 p.m.

Here's the spider that built a web our moving truck over night, it was huge! Even more scary was the shadow it cast! That was even larger!

The alarm clock went off at 4 a.m. Tuesday. Early! But I never have a hard time waking up, so it was just fine. We got ready, then my Dad and Mom came over. Dave's parents woke up to say goodbye, and then we got in the cars/truck and waved goodbye right at 5 a.m. Dave led the caravan in the moving truck, then my mom drove with me and the kids, and my dad was behind us. I drove almost the whole way, except for about an hour an a half. I was glad I had some help, because there's no way I could've helped the kids and drive the whole way, yea for Mom! I had a fun time talking to my mom as well! She is so great! We kept the kids entertained with activities we found, movies and lots of snacks. And the kids drove with Dave for part of the way! They thought being in that big truck was the coolest thing ever!
We stayed in a motel the night we got up here, because the carpets weren't dry yet after cleaning. I'm actually glad that happened, because we were all so pooped, I don't think we could've moved very much.
Wednesday, the 10th, we woke up, and Dave an I wished each other a happy anniversary! We both agreed that moving was expensive, and we weren't going to buy anything for each other, but just celebrate by moving! (: We went to a "romantic" breakfast at the Rodeway Inn together before all of the kids woke up.

Then we checked out and went to sign the rest of the papers and get the keys for our duplex at Call Realty. Funny thing, everyone at Call Realty is LDS. We aren't in Utah anymore, Toto, so now we're the minority. It was fun to talk to them. We actually ended up being in my Uncle Dave & Aunt Suz's ward, which is funny, because we had no idea when we found this place. Suz told me she would try not to be too biased when she went around to see the places we'd found, but did say she'd love to have us in her ward. A few minutes after we got here, my Uncle showed up with Alex, Kyle and Morgan, my cousins. Then Dave asked for some help from the ward, so we had quite a few here helping us unload the truck. I stood by the truck and directed everyone where to put things. It was so nice to have the ward come out and help and get to know some people already! They were all way nice! Morgan and Kyle, the twins who just turned 8, were so much fun with Emma and Cal, they had a blast playing together. This made it nice so we could get things done. Suz brought over some lunch for everyone as well, so it was very sweet of her to do that! I didn't take many pictures, because things were so hectic, but I did take a couple of the kids later on in the day.

This is what we all felt like doing, but only Cal did. ZZZZZ, we were all wiped out!

Taking a break from all of her "hard work" dressing up and playing with the cousins to eat some dinner. The kids have liked Washington so far and I think they're excited to be here! Cal because he got his toy trucks back and there's a lot of room to run around; and Emma likes it because we live by Morgan and Kyle and she loves red apples and they're grown up here! (:

The place we ended up moving into we just love! This is a good thing, especially because we had a really hard time choosing, there were two places that were very comparable, that we kept going back and forth on. We prayed about it and felt that either choice would be fine so it was up to us, but a few days before, I just kept feeling over and over "Colton, Colton, Colton" (that's the street name this duplex is on). And Dave's really felt good about this one from the start so we went with this one. We've been looking at places (houses, duplexes and apartments) to live since about March. Dave's been like a shark and knows Spokane back and forth, thanks to Google Earth and Maps. This place came up for rent early summer, but then the owner decided to try to sell it. She put it back up on the market, but it didn't sell, so just a couple of weeks ago, it came back up for rent. We jumped on it and called and had our family go see it. And now we're here! The place is about 1700 square feet, so it's pretty big. There's lots of natural light (sky lights and big windows) in it, which I like. It's in the best school district for this area. The price is right and a lot cheaper than most right in this area. It's got a fun fenced-in backyard and porch. It's close to Dave and Suz. It's three bed, three bath, a family room and living room, 2 car garage, and a big kitchen with lots of counter space. It's close to lots of shopping, yet isolated, as there is a big empty lot right behind us. It's only 6 miles from school for Dave. The neighbors (that we've met so far at least) have all been really nice. I haven't taken any pictures of the inside yet, because it's not quite put together, but I took a few of the outside. I'll post some of the inside soon. Nothing fancy, but we like it and it suits us well. The yard needs some work for sure, it's been vacant for four months.
Thursday, we unpacked all day, and then went shopping at night to get some things we needed, plus Washington State University shirts for everyone! That was fun!
Spokane is beautiful! We've done lots of driving around, familiarizing ourselves with this place. We are really loving it!
On Friday, we did more unpacking and organizing drove to the Spokane temple and walked around the grounds, it's a nice temple. Emma said she liked this temple, but not as much as the Bountiful temple. Cal said "I like the Poskane (that's not misspelled, that's how he says it) temple!" Then we went to a park downtown and played. Then we went to "The Onion" for dinner. It was delicious!
Saturday, we did more putting life back together and are just living out of a few boxes now. Then we drove to Post Falls, ID (just about 30 minutes away from us), and went to see the falls and walk on the paths over there, play at the playground, visited Cabelas and got some fudge and walked around.
We got a couple of phone calls, and Dave has some job interviews this coming week, yah! Wish him luck! (:
This next week we still have to do a lot, register Emma for school, switch our insurance, get our car through safety and inspection, get new liscences, and stuff like that that comes when you move out of state!
But things are really working out, and we feel like this is where we need to be for now. I know we've received a lot of help from our Heavenly Father, as well as from our family and friends, and I'm so grateful for that!

"God does notice us, and he watches over us. But it usually through another person that he meets our needs."

-Spencer W. Kimball

I'm thankful for those of you who have helped meet our needs! Thank you, thank you! Love from Spokane! Until next time...