Exodus

Those of you who know us well enough to be reading this blog know that our move to Oklahoma was quite a whirlwind. Since Joel's new employer wanted him to start as soon as possible, we really had to scramble to pack and make everything happen. I think moving in two weeks would be difficult in any situation, but being pregnant definitely did not help. You know, the last two times I've moved have been the biggest moves I've experienced, and I was in my third trimester for both of them. Not fun. Equally not fun was saying goodbye to people. The more I think about it, the sadder I feel. Things have been great here, but it was sad to not be able to say goodbye to so many of our friends. Even the friends we were actually able to see, the goodbyes weren't really enough. Sad.
One of the people that was hardest to leave is Kenji. He's been our Utah buddy for almost our entire married lives, and he was the one member of my family that I had close by for many years. The week before we left, we went down and had dinner with Kenji, during which Dane asked if we could jump on the trampoline at Kenji's house. He was happy to oblige.




Dane definitely misses him. Kenji came out for a visit earlier this month, which I will post about later. We were happy to see him again so soon and hope he can visit again soon (hint hint).

Packing was hard. But I did my best to be thorough, though I didn't take pictures of the process. I had many kind offers of help, and one night my sister-in-law Elizabeth, who was in town from Japan, came over and helped:

That was really nice of her. I really should have better documented all the people who helped pack/load/clean. They were a huge help, especially Joel's mom. We got a personal thanks from our landlord for leaving the place so clean; Mom definitely helped us with that!
She also spent some quality fun time with Dane:

We've lived pretty close to Mom for the past several years, so it is sad to be so far away from her, too. Thanks for everything you did for us, Mom!

George and Melanee, et al, came over to help with the final packing/loading, even though George wasn't feeling well. That was really great of them, and Dane loved being able to hang out with Sam and Kevin. Here they are, enjoying pizza and being cute:

Joel, George, Kenji, and many other helpers from the ward loaded everything into our truck, after which Kenji and Dane perched on the top of the load:

I keep looking at the pictures and thinking, "Why the heck is Dane wearing a jacket?" Since we've had well over 30 days of topping 100 degrees here in Oklahoma, it's easy to forget how it was still chilly when we left Utah. I should have been more grateful for the coolness while I was there. In fact, the other day, as I was forcing Dane into his super hot car seat, he started crying that he missed Sandy, Utah. I asked him what he liked about Sandy, and he said, "Winter."
Amen, Dane.
I also miss going to nearby parks with Dane. Of course, there are nearby parks in Oklahoma, too, but given my "condition" and the 105 degree temperatures EVERY DAY, we haven't made it to a park. This is a little collage of nature that Dane picked up on one of our many trips to the park in Sandy, Utah:


As we finished cleaning up our apartment, Mom forced me to lay down and rest for a bit. It surprised me how much harder it was to get things done while being pregnant. I'd kind of gotten used to just feeling achy and sore all the time. When I finally laid down, I realized how much my body hurt. Joel happened to take a lovely picture.

Haha, gross.

Then, we headed off on the two-day drive to Oklahoma. I have never driven on a road trip for longer than about five hours. But since we had two cars to transport, Joel and I had to caravan the 19-hour trip. I'm kind of amazed we made it, given our exhausted state. But it all went well. Thanks to Allen and Monique for hosting us at our halfway point, feeding us, staying up WAY too late with us, and even being late to church just to hang out with us!

We made it to Oklahoma unscathed, where Mom and Dad and Rika were eagerly awaiting our arrival. It was nice to have a relaxing week before Joel started his job, even if some of that relaxation was mitigated by the drama with the house that almost was. We were a able to just hang out a lot. Dane and I had a jam session:


And finally, here is the end of old job/moving beard that Joel grew until he started his new job.


Why, you ask, does his wife allow such vile, prickly behavior? I have never held such sway with my husband. Some women have this power over their husbands; I don't know how they do it, because I sure don't. What can I do? Refuse to kiss him? A fat lot of good that'd do since we haven't kissed in like four years anyway.
Just kidding. It really doesn't bother me that much. And considering the fact that I've been known to go entire winters without ever shaving my legs, we're probably about even. Well, I really don't have very hairy legs. So maybe he still owes me.
This post is becoming an overshare, so I'll stop now.