Provo to Dallas

A week ago we made our big move to Dallas. On Monday and Tuesday, we loaded up a big yellow moving truck with the help of our family and neighbors. On Wednesday morning at 6:30, we left Provo and began our two-day drive to Texas. Thankfully, my parents drove with us to help out. Most of the way, Jason and my dad drove the truck while my mom and I drove the car with the kids. I left expecting the worst--a toddler that would need constant entertaining and would hate the long trip, and a 2 month old baby who would scream almost the whole way because she hates her car seat. Luckily this was not the case. Both girls slept a good part of the way and Callie was pretty good at keeping herself entertained. What I hadn't planned on was being sick, so I was pretty miserable. We ran into a really bad thunderstorm in New Mexico with high winds and pouring rain. It was pretty scary to drive in, but we made it through safely (although the girls' car had a close call...let's just say that fatigue, sickness, and horrible weather are not a good mix...).

Almost 47 hours after leaving Provo, we made it to our apartment in Dallas.

We had planned on my brother-in-law Cory coming to help us unload the truck that evening along with Jason, my dad, and my mom/me (when our hands were free). Also, my dad was planning on calling some friends and previous ward members to come and help. We figured we would unload part of it that first evening and the rest the next day or so. Well, Cory had a big problem at work he had to solve so he was running late, and everyone my dad called were either busy or out of town.

In the meantime, Jason and my parents started the unloading. I was in the house trying to keep Maddie happy and keep Callie inside (she of course wanted to run around outside, and who could blame her after spending two days in the car?). After 10 or 15 minutes of unloading, these random guys started bringing stuff into our apartment. My first thought was that we had some really nice neighbors, but then I noticed one of them had a BYU shirt. My next thought was that we had a lot of LDS people living in the complex and maybe they were friends who just decided to come help. Either way I was extremely grateful. We ended up with about 5 of them helping to unload the truck. Within about an hour the truck was empty. My mom told me later she had been praying for help in unloading the truck. The Lord definitely answered those prayers.

After the truck was unloaded, we discovered what had happened. Another family just a couple of buildings away moved in the same day. The guy was also starting at PWC and is also LDS. They had called and asked the Elders' Quorum to come help them move in. A couple of the guys that came to help us had first helped the other family move in and then came over when they saw us moving in. Another couple of guys thought they were helping the family who had asked for help. One guy said he was walking by, saw someone wearing a BYU shirt, and decided to join in. We have not yet met that other family and I feel bad that we stole their movers, but we sure are grateful we had some help!

My first thought upon entering our apartment was: This is a LOT smaller than I remember. How in the world are we going to fit all of our stuff in here? I still have a ways to go, but the answer has been a lot of creativity and not wasting space. Although I have made a lot of progress, it's hard not to look at all of the boxes everywhere and think: will this ever end?!

(Note: This picture does not include all of the still-packed boxes in our apartment. This is just a taste.)



We went to part of our new ward on Sunday. The building is between our apartment and Jason's work, and the ward is huge! They had a homecoming for a mission president and his son who just returned from a mission, so there were more people than normal, but it's still a really big ward. They opened both overflow rooms to fit everyone. We got lost trying to find the church building, so we got there late. Callie was still getting over being sick and was a mess the second hour, so we left after spending Sunday School in the hallway with screaming kids. I can't wait to go this Sunday so we can actually introduce ourselves and meet people.

While I have been turning this apartment into our home, Jason has started work at PWC. His first day was Monday and so far he's just training and will be for a while. He's been taking the train to work. There's a stop half a mile from our apartment. There are about 20 other new employees, one of which is that other LDS guy, but he hasn't met him yet.

Aside of moving in, we are also having a Black family reunion of sorts. It's been so fun seeing everyone again and being so close to them. It's also really fun having all of our kids together to play. It's too bad we can't be close to both the Allphin and Black sides...We'll just have to keep trying to convince the Allphins to move to Texas.