We had decided in January that we were going to move down to Utah. Mark was going to go back to school, I was going to go back to work, and it all needed to happen by May 18th, which was Mark's first day of school. Well, there was this job that I had heard about that would be absolutely PERFECT for our situation (for myself), and I found out on February 21st that they had re-opened the position. We had already planned a trip to Utah for the first week in March at this point, and after applying for the job online, my next step was to take an exam in SLC on March 13th. This posed a bit of a problem since we were coming HOME from Utah on March 9th. So, this was the plan.....February 27 Luke and I jumped in the car and drove to Boise. Amanda and Rob were blessing their baby on the 1st of March, a Sunday. That same Sunday Mark, Kale and Jack loaded up the expedition and headed to Utah, and I met them there on Monday morning. Our plan that week was to look for apartments, and leave on that Friday to head to Bozeman to say goodbye to our good friends, the Richards, before they left for New York. We were going to spend the weekend in Bozeman, and head back to Lolo to start packing things up. I was going to fly to SLC on the 12th to take my exam, and then fly home, where we would load up the u-haul, say goodbye to Montana, and be living in Utah by the 21st of March. That WAS the plan. Instead, in our four days in Utah we found an apartment that we had to get. It was in a beautiful location, in our price range, and the landlord offered it to us, no questions asked. The problem was that he wanted it rented immediately. He couldn't hold it for two weeks. So, we thought about it and realized that there was really no reason we were waiting to move down on the 20th, why not do it on the 12th?!?! So, thats what we did. We put the deposit down on the apartment, made it home after the trip to Bozeman, and started packing. Monday we started packing, and had a wonderful anniversary dinner at my mom's house that evening. Tuesday we packed some more, and had dinner at my dad's that night. On Wednesday we brought the uhaul up and Katie and Robert, Mom and Tim, Dad and Janice, and Heidi and Brian all came to help load it. We loaded the whole house in about 3 hours! Mom brought pizza for everyone, and we said our goodbyes right there, in our big empty house. We stayed at my dad's that night, dropping off the boys at about 7:30, and heading back up to the house to do a little last minute cleaning and organizing of the stuff that was left. The next morning, Thursday, we headed out. We got a late start so didn't get in until about 7:30 that night, unloaded a few things, and spent the night at Casey and Jeannie's. The next morning had to go fast, because we had to have the uhaul unloaded by noon so I could head into Salt Lake and take my exam at 1:30. Talk about cutting it close. But we did it, and we're here, and happy so far. Well, for the most part. Mark is still up in Montana, trying to sell the business. We miss him a lot, but are getting by, having lots of fun, and appreciating the help from Jeannie every chance she can get.
Here are a few photos from the road.......
This is Monida pass, crossing from Montana into Idaho
I believe this is Malad pass, just before crossing from Idaho into Utah
