There is light at the end of the tunnel in our moving process! Although we have a VERY long list of things that have gone wrong with our move, making this BY FAR the hardest and most stressful move we've ever done, we have also been very blessed! So, rather than ramble on about all the yucky stuff that's happened the last few weeks, I'll dwell on the positive! From the beginning, I'm very thankful for friends who called and offered to take the kids (really just Darren) overnight, so Matt and I could pull an allnighter cleaning for our housing inspection (long story as to why the all nighter was necessary). And I'm thankful for another friend who took time out of her busy day to come over and help us clean. By a great miracle from a loving Heavenly Father, we somehow passed our cleaning inspection- ALL of the floors were still gross, and we still had a bunch of crap in the garage. Then, we were very blessed that the ferry was equipped with a vehicle battery charger since jumper cables wouldn't have worked with the location/position of our vehicle (the joys of a door not getting shut all the way!).
Once we reached Oregon, we were very fortunate that we were staying with my Dad and stepmom during the first of their many ice/snow storms. Though that storm did delay us a day, and played a part in our change of plans, it was one more day to spend with family! So at this point, we felt like we needed to change our plans and head straight to Texas rather than stop in Utah to spend Christmas with our families (both of our moms, Matt's Dad, and all of our siblings). Matt and I were both very sad about that, since that was the highlight of our move/vacation, but we thought it was more important that we follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
En route to Texas, we got stuck in another snow storm outside of Los Angeles, CA, that closed ALL roads to/from the town we were passing through. But, I am very thankful for a tech savvy brother who basically became a GPS system for us since we couldn't read street signs and we had no clue where we were going anyway. He also called around, and after several attempts, found a vacancy at a hotel and reserved a room for us. By the time we got to the hotel, the line in the lobby was so long, they weren't accepting anymore reservations, and all the hotels were filling up VERY quickly, or were already full. THANK YOU, Leonard!! The roads opened up the next day, and we were able to make it to Texas without further incident.
Now that we're here, we are starting to see little by little why we needed to just come straight here. One of the biggest reasons I think, is so we could get into the best house for us at this time. Somewhere between California and here I had a dream where I saw the house for us. I remember HATING the color schemes, but LOVING the backyard for Darren, and that it was very clean with some nice modern updates. Anyway, the last house we looked at, totally fit everything in my dream. It was awesome! Unfortunately, there was someone else ahead of us that wanted the house, so we had to wait to see if it was going to go through. Fortunately, she changed her mind, and we got the call on Christmas eve that the house was ours!! Merry Christmas to us!! The colors inside this house are amazing..... I don't think there's another word that would quite do it justice, and the landlord does not want us to repaint. The kitchen, dining, living rooms, and hallway are all a really bright tangerine orange! Our bedroom and the main bathroom are a very bright fuscia/pink - disgusting! Joseph's room is the brightest yellow I have ever seen, and Darren's is a bright blue. Darren's room isn't too bad. Everything else about the house is great though, and fairly modern, so I can't complain - especially since we'll only be there for 6 months. When we get the key I'll take pictures, and post them! Anyway, we don't have a move-in date yet, but I'm sure I'll let everyone know when that happens! Since we first looked at the house, a couple other people have already contacted the owners and want the house. So, had we gone with our original plan, we would not have gotten this house. I believe it's meant to be! There is a light at the end of the tunnel of this moving process! Hooray!
Since we live in a modern world, we couldn't live without the computer (internet), so Matt put his creativity and resourcefulness to good use, and came up with this! He's calling it desperation! Either way, when he finished, we took a step back to look at it, and thought one word: GHETTO! It is SUPER UGLY, with nowhere (really) to organize anything, which ended up making it look WORSE! It drove me CRAZY!!!!! Do you like the packing tape holding it together/stabilizing it?!
After lots of research and looking (there are actually shopping choices here!), we chose an armoire that we like better than our old desk. The store didn't have it in stock, so we had to order it online, which was fine, because shipping was FREE, and it was cheaper online! Anyway, when it got here, Matt refused it, because the box had been opened and it appeared to have damaged pieces. Just our luck! So, we called customer service, and explained what had happened, and wanted another one sent in it's place. Unfortunately, in the 3 days from when we originally ordered it, 'til we tried to reorder it, it became discontinued, and was no longer in stock anywhere! We kept bugging them over a couple of days, and finally a customer service rep called US to let us know they were going to refund our money, and I asked one more time if they had any in stock to resend, and this person actually seemed to know what she was doing. She looked on her computer, and said "oh yes, we have two in stock right here!" So, she reordered it for us, and we got it 2 days later, everything fully intact! FINALLY!!! Of course, that night, matt started the assembly process, and Darren thought he should help too! It was so cute, I had to take a couple of pictures!
Here it is - closed! SO MUCH BETTER than our make-shift ghetto, temporary desk! 
THE END!
