We're home!

It's been a crazy couple of weeks but we're finally at our new house and have managed to get the house into a mostly livable state! Here's the update so far.

A couple of days before our movers were supposed to show up they called and asked if they could come a day early. After a quick phone call to my dad (who was flying in to help us drive cross country) and a survey of our mostly packed things, we decided that yes, we sure would be ready for them a day early! We finished packing on Sunday evening, the movers came Monday morning, and on Monday night we picked up my dad from the airport and got a few hours down the road.

Just one of the several piles of boxes waiting for the movers

Our first big stop was at my aunt and uncle's house in Glen Carbon, Illinois. They were so nice and let us crash there with our dog too. We got to see lots of family including a cousin I'd never met before. There's no doubt though, we're related! Meeting family is so awesome and I'm so glad it all worked out. My mom joined us and after a day of resting and catching up, we hit the road again.

Uncle Terry, Me, Dad, Cousin Tori.
Redheaded Family! 

The cross country drive was about as good as it could have been. It was uneventful and calm. Sadie did really well! We actually had a harder time with her during the few days preceding the move and while at my aunt & uncle's house. Now we know, right? She's a great traveler in the car though and mostly just slept.

Our last stop was in Reno where we gambled, met up with another cousin, and allowed ourselves to admit how tired we were. The drive from Reno to Lafayette is only about 3.5 hours so we slept in and then drove to our new house!

We didn't catch all of the state signs but we got most.
12 states in less than a week, not too shabby!

We had the hardwood floors refinished but they weren't quite done when we arrived. So after a quick tour through the house we headed back to a hotel to rest. The next morning, our movers arrived at 7:30am with all of our stuff, but since the hardwoods were just finished the night before we couldn't move any of our furniture into the house! We had the movers put the heavy big furniture in the kitchen on the tile and everything else went into the garage. This is also about the time that we realized how much dust and debris hardwood floor refinishing creates. Every single surface in the house needed to be cleaned. Separate from the hardwood dust, the house had been vacant for nearly a year and needed a good scrubbing anyways.

Yeah... we have a lot of work ahead of us

Needless to say the first two days were insanely busy with cleaning and repairs. Then I left Mark up to his own devices while I flew back to Blacksburg to get my kitties. Annie met me there and after a few delayed flights and a mad sprint through Atlanta, we managed to make it back to SFO on schedule.

I look so happy here because I haven't figured out that "a lot of work" means "A LOT OF WORK!!" 

The next few days were filled with a million projects, cleaning, shopping, cleaning, and projects. Stephanie was able to come and visit for a couple of days and we put her to work too! Coming soon will be some more details about a few really big projects, including (spoiler) the cattery Mark built, the brand new toilet Mark and Annie installed, and the insane amount of yard work we've done.

We're currently on a weekend trip to Santa Barbara, where our friends got married last night. When we get home, it's just going to be us and the furballs and the thousands of things left on our list to tackle. In fact, tomorrow construction starts on our backyard fence and dog run!