Moving Out

Moves are always crazy, and this was no exception. Despite the fact that someone else packed up our stuff, loaded the truck with it, and is driving it all out here, things were not less stressful than previous moves where we did it all ourselves. Well, at least not for me. Maybe it was for Chad, but it wasn't for me. I think it mostly had to do with the fact that I've never done it this way before. I learned a lot of things about what does and doesn't work.
Thursday last week, the packers came by to box up all of our stuff. That meant that anything I didn't want in a box needed to be pulled out and packed in our suitcases. Since Chad still worked Wednesday afternoon, it was somewhat of a struggle to figure out what to pack, how much we could pack, and then get it all packed before the packers came. We were still putting things in the suitcase while our other things were being boxed up. It is difficult to know what to pack when you don't know exactly how long you'll be without your stuff. Around 10 days isn't as helpful an estimate as Chad thinks. It took from 9am-4pm to get all our belongings in boxes (minus anything even sort-of liquid-like or batteries). Chad's mom flew in at about 4. Graduation dinner was at 6:30, and we made the last-minute decision to get a babysitter for the kids. The next morning we I made a sweep around the apartment to see what the packers forgot, like the figurines on top of the bookshelves, or the shower caddies in the bathrooms, among other things. The movers came and it took from about 9-3 for them to pad and load everything in the truck. Oh yeah - graduation was at noon. Good thing the movers seemed like solid guys cuz we left them there to keep working while we were gone. After graduation, we loaded our bags in the car and Chad dropped us off at the hotel and went back to clean, now that the movers and all our stuff was gone. Clearance was at 4. Haha. I'm pretty sure we'll be getting a cleaning bill from Canterbury Woods in the mail. At any rate, we gave back the keys and left.
Then came our night at the hotel. They had our rooms wrong, but figured it out fairly quickly. Seems silly to mention such a small detail? It will be important later. One last dinner with Chad's graduating class at 6:30 - which lasted til 10 because it was fondue! Wow, that took forever! Our flight is scheduled for 6am the next morning, so we get to bed as fast as possible with 2 kids and a dog in a hotel room. At 1 am, Mary (my mother-in-law) gets a call that our flight is cancelled. (We were booked on the same first leg out of Wilmington, set to part ways in Atlanta.) It takes a couple hours, but we finally get things settled for all of us to be on a flight to Atlanta by 2pm the next day.... out of Jacksonville, NC! Didn't even know they had an airport, and they are an hour north of Wilmington. Delta promises us a voucher for a cab ride up. We figure - "Fine! At least we can sleep in." But at 3:30, now that all is quiet and we are falling back asleep, a drunk idiot mistakes our rooms for his. Guess he didn't get the memo that our rooms were changed, cuz he kept rattling the handle and throwing himself at the door, trying to get in. Chad cracks the door and tells the guy he's got the wrong room, but the guy persists in trying to come in. Chad has to ram the door against the guy to keep him out. Chad calls the front desk to call the cops, but the guy was gone 30 seconds later.
Fast forward to checkout time, and we go to the airport to pick up our vouchers and our cab to Jacksonville. We get a nice driver, and despite driving through smoking sections of the neighboring county, we make it to the tiny, 3-gate airport and go to check in. "I'm sorry," they inform us "we have you flying out of Myrtle Beach, SC." ?!?!?! Chad lost it. And after talking on the phone to multiple people, he finally got us on the flight out of Jacksonville. Which was delayed. Mary missed her connecting flight, and we made ours only because we ran. 4 hours later we finally made it to Utah. Thank goodness the kids were good (as good as kids on long flights can be) for the long flight.
And that is how we got from Wilmington, NC to American Fork, UT. Of course, we haven't gotten any of our things here yet, which is why this post is titled "Moving Out." "Moving In" still has yet to happen.