Florida

So, we've been living here in Florida for over a month now...I guess I should update my blog!!

The Move:

We decided to move to Florida and closed on a house just a couple of days after Schuyler was born. I thought it would be a REALLY bad idea to move so soon after giving birth, so we took my 6 weeks postpartum and slowly got things packed and taken care of while I recovered. After my 6 week appt., we loaded up the U-haul and we were off.

Here's the kids saying goodbye to our neighbors across the street. Ashlyn and Drew really loved playing with the. Emma, the one with Drew, would come over and ask "can Drew play?" We miss them!!

My sister, Adriana, flew out from WV to help me drive the van. I wouldn't have been able to drive across the country with 3 little ones by myself! She was a HUGE help. Andy was the lucky one who got to drive the U-haul. We left Wed. April 29th and we arrived in Florida on sat. morning at 4:30 am. It was a LONG drive. The first night, we drove straight through and only stopped for about 2 hours at a rest stop to sleep. The next night, we had to take a break and we got a hotel in Kentucky. We finally got a good rest (like 6 hours!) and a good breakfast, and best of all, SHOWERS!! We stopped in Chattanooga, TN to see Ruby Falls. There's a cave that you can take an elevator down into, and it has a huge waterfall inside the cave. It was cool, but after being cooped up in the car for so long, the kids just wanted to run free. Not the best place for that. We were in a group for the tour, and everyone was so annoyed with our crazy, cranky kids. Needless to say, I was a little stressed!! But, here are some pics anyway...

Andy waiting to go down to the cave, with Schuyler.

My sister, Adriana, with Ashlyn and Drew. They were checking out the gift shop.Exploring the cave! Drew wanted to climb and run and wasn't happy when he couldn't.

We look terrible!! But the waterfall behind us was cool. Sorry you can't see it.

When we finally got to Florida, we had to go to Andy's brother's house because he had our key to our new house. When we decided to move to Florida, Andy flew out and stayed with his bro to look at houses. He found one he liked and made an offer. Yes, I had to be very trusting!! They took video and pics and I approved. Well, we didn't get that house. After Andy came home, he kept looking and found an even better deal on another house. His brother checked it out for us and told us it was a great house. We took his word for it, and made an offer. This time we got it! I told Andy it was a good thing I felt right about moving to Florida or there was NO WAY I was going to move to a house and place I had never seen before. Anyway, we got to my brother-in-law's house at 4:30 and cracshed there. The Elder's Quorum pres. of our new ward had arranged for some men to help us unload the U-haul sat. at 2, so we left the kids with their cousins and went to see our house for the first time!! Lucky, I LOVED IT!!!! I really like the house, the space, everything. I'll post more about that later. Overall, Florida has been a fun adventure, although it doesn't feel like home yet. I'm sure once we get to know people and get involved, I'll feel more at home. We'll see!!

It's been nice to live so close to family that we haven't gotten to see much of, and get to know them. Andy's brother Kip and his wife Martha have 3 kids, and they been having a blast with our 3. They love holding Schuyler and Ashlyn wants to swim in their pool like EVERYDAY. We've been looking into getting our own, so we don't have to drive 40 min. for her to go swimming.

One of Drew's favorite things is taking a bath. When we were at Kip and Martha's, he couldn't even wait to take his clothes off!!! He was so glad to not be in his carseat anymore!!!