Catch-up post: Moving from North Carolina to Washington State

Moving is always an adventure and this move was no exception. Ry and I were excited to finally be settling down somewhere, but sad to leave North Carolina. We met so many wonderful people and we truly fell in love with Matthews Ward. Everyone was so welcoming and from the first Sunday we felt like we belonged. Its been six months and we love our new ward, but we still miss Matthews ward. There is just a special feel there.
I still miss so many things - the Siskey YMCA (especially their childwatch and super fun zumba classes -I've never looked forward to working out so much!), driving through beautiful Myers Park, Sardis Presbyterian preschool, living 3 hours from warm beaches, the list goes on and on. Of course, there are a few things I don't miss - the bugs, especially the mosquitoes, being #1 on that list.
Anyway, to get back to moving. We loaded our stuff into a Movex truck (while the driver sat in the cab with the engine running so he could have AC - the fumes were something else!) But at least we didn't have to drive the stuff back ourselves. After our last cross-country trip with a moving van we weren't too interested in doing it again!
Our house was supposed to close June 5th and so the idea was that the boys and I would come out June 15th to set things up while Ry finished up the last couple week of his residency. At the last minute the bank, however, changed their policies so that Ry had to have started his new job before the house could close. Therefore, there was no real good reason for me to fly the boys out two weeks ahead of time, but the truck had been reserved and plane tickets purchased and so that is how it worked out.
Ry stayed with a wonderful doctor and his family during this time and I stayed at my parents house while my wonderful parents drove our Xterra from Charlotte to Portland. While we were super grateful to have a place to stay, this was actually a really hard time for me. We were unsure if the house would close, I was bascially alone in my parents house with the kids, trying to keep them from breaking things - for example, my Dad's new laptop that they took the keys off of - I didn't always have access to a car, our stuff was still en route, missing my husband, missing Charlotte, and not being able to get T to settle down and go to sleep until midnight most nights - then getting up with him as early as 4am because his internal clock was confused. Anyway, it was hard.
One bright spot was the day we picked strawberries and made jam together. Look how proud the boys are!

We were so happy the day that Ry came back and we were all together again! Ry started his job the day after flying in, but we still had no stuff and no house. Our belongings arrived July 4th and we had to put them in storage. Then after days of waiting for the bank to fund, a last minute trip to Seattle to sign closing papers, and a lost bank wire that threatened the deal at the last minute, our house finally closed 6 weeks after packing up our stuff in Charlotte. The bank actually failed completely 2 weeks later so I guess we were lucky. We moved into our new house (the one in the picture in the previous post) on July 23rd. Here is a picture of us on our first night in our new house!