how i keep my sanity while in the moving process.

After moving 4 times in the last 3 years, I feel like I'm finally getting a grip on this whole moving thing. There are plenty of other people out there who move way more often than Ben and I do, but I still feel like I deserve a gold star or something for packing up all of our stuff 4 times. Trial and error has taught me a few things about moving....

1. Weeks (and I really do mean weeks) before moving, purge! If you give yourself plenty of time to go through things, you'll be able to ship that old CD to your brother or give a stack of no longer wanted WWII novels to your 70-year old neighbor instead of dumping everything off at a thrift store. But you'll also have time to make those runs to the thrift store to get rid of stuff. Take this opportunity to get rid of things you don't love, no longer use, or are broken. Ain't nobody got room for junk.

2. Use up your food. There's nothing more annoying than having to move boxes of canned food or bags of sugar and flour. Depending on how much food you keep in food storage/your pantry, start trying to use up as much food as you can in the 1-2 months before moving. This is usually when I'll plan meals around whatever random cans of food we have, or use up the miscellaneous food items we have in the cupboard

3. Reserve a moving truck and find "movers." Unless you're paying for professional movers, make sure you get that truck booked as soon as you have a moving date! (Most places require at least two weeks of notice and a moving truck is pretty essential to moving. The bigger the truck, the less likely it'll be available with short notice. We found out the hard way once. :)) Instead of hiring people to pack and unpack the truck, Ben and I are blessed to have great friends who are always willing to help - in return, we try to give as much notice as possible and like to have doughnuts and water bottles or pizza and soda to offer depending on what time of day the move is. Clean up is easy and stomachs are fed.

4. Clean the new house/apartment before moving into it if you're able to. There's nothing that breaks my little heart more than having all of my boxes and things brought into a dirty house. I just don't handle dirt well in general, but having to unpack things in a dirty space makes my skin crawl. Ben and I like to go over the day before to wipe down closets and shelves, doors and cabinets, walls and ceiling fans, and door handles. We also sweep the entire place and mop. Sure, the floors are going to get dirty the next day when 10 people are hauling boxes around the place, but it really helps. Also, moving all of the boxes into one (or two!) specific room(s) keeps your movers from walking all around the place getting the floor dirty or muddy. I also try to keep ahead of the guys and quickly sweep the spots where the furniture will be going right before they bring it in. (I'm a nutcase; it's fine.)

5. Use Styrofoam bowls. These are great for packing dishes to prevent scratches and chips. When packing bowls, simply place a styrofoam bowl between each dish. When packing plates, cut slits all around the sides of the styrofoam bowls to flatten them out and place between each plate. People say diamonds are a girl's best friend, but Styrofoam bowls, newspapers, and packing peanuts are mine!

6. Label boxes clearly with the room and 1-2 items. For example, when packing up my linen closet I'd write "linen closet" with "sheets & towels" below that. That way, when you're digging through piles of boxes, you can easily find clean towels when you want to take a shower after moving.

7. Wrap your furniture! I can't tell you how many pieces of furniture we've saved by wrapping it all with this stuff and this stuff. Tight corners can sure be hard on couches or large dressers, so making sure that those pesky corners are protected is well worth the time!

You've probably moved a million times more than I have...

What tips and tricks have you learned along the way?

we're no longer homeless.

On Sunday I fed my Primary class cough drops because 1) I didn't have a snack/little treat for them because all of our food is buried somewhere in a box, and 2) it was the only way to keep their mouths shut for the lesson.

It kind of embodies how frustrating our weekend was. ;)

I had a post all typed up about our move and house situation right now, but it was too long and negative.  Instead, I'll just keep thinking happy thoughts!

Onward and upward!

intermittent thoughts, pt 2.

These eggs were given to me by a sweet, pudgy, old woman from the middle of nowhere Missouri.  She and her husband came to the hospital to talk about a study we're doing, and she brought a bag full of veggies fresh from her garden and eggs gathered that morning.  I get to wear scrubs to work and I get fresh eggs?!  I'm so blessed. ;)

Our apartment was hit by a tornado.  Or at least it looks that way with 500 boxes everywhere.  We move into the little red brick house this weekend and are over the moon excited!  (Could you all pray/cross your fingers/make an 11:11 wish that the house will be finished by Saturday morning at 8 am?  As of yesterday evening, the upstairs bathroom hadn't been touched, carpet hadn't been put down, and the wood floors hadn't been refinished yet.  Obviously, we're nervous that it won't be done on time and we have to be out of our apartment this weekend!  Hashtag homeless, hashtag I don't think I'd survive the streets.)

I consumed 5 bags of cough drops last week.  That's roughly 1,800 calories.  FROM COUGH DROPS. (I'd rather those 1,800 calories come from something really great like P.F. Chang's chocolate cake or Cafe Rio.)  Strep is awful, doctors are wonderful, and cough drops are saintly.  Also, getting an inhaler as an adult is just as nerdy as getting one as a little kid.  I'm almost embarrassed. Almost.

HAPPY FRIDAY!  We'll (hopefully!) be spending our weekend moving and unpacking.  Yay!

summer night get-togethers.

Earlier this week we had a farewell get-together in the park for our friends who are ditching Missouri for Colorado. ;) We're so happy for them, and will miss them so much!  The weather was lovely, the company was fabulous, and the pavilion was definitely unique, haha.

Happy Friday, friends!

I'll be spending my weekend at the pool, reading and soaking up some sun.  :)

and we're off.

I keep having these internal panic attacks as we drive across Colorado when I remember that I won't be seeing my family until December. But, truly, we're so lucky to have this opportunity and to have had everything work out so smoothly thus far. So to our family and everyone else out there: feel free to come visit! ;)

we're packing some bags.

I don't post very much, really.  Sometimes I just can't put what I'm feeling into words, or I'm just too lazy to log into Blogger and type it all out.  Usually it's the latter.  But today, the emotions are running a little high and the words to express what I'm feeling are just kind of tumbling out.

See that red state that B's foot is on?  It's Missouri.  And I'm moving to St. Louis in just under a month.

People ask me all the time, "Are you so excited to move and start your life being just the two of you?"  And I usually reply with something like, "It'll definitely be different to live outside of Utah, since I never have before."  But the truth is, I'm really, really nervous about it.  I'm the kind of person who gets attached to places, people, and the security of knowing where everything is.  So going from a county in Utah where I've literally lived my whole life (where my parents went to school, where our first house was, where my parents currently live, where I went to school, etc.) and knowing where the best grocery stores are and cheapest movie theaters are, I'm going to live in a city with as many people there as there are in the whole state of Utah.

I'm leaving behind the streets I've been driving for the past 4 years.  I'm leaving behind Cafe Rio pork. :)  I'm leaving behind the friends that I've made from jr. high, high school, and college.  I'm leaving behind my job, with my fabulous boss and co-workers.  I'm leaving behind my college, that I've just begun to appreciate.  (It took me three attempts to write the next little bit seeing as I had to take a little walk each time so no-one at work would notice by watering eyes and sniffling nose.  It was awkward.)  I'm leaving behind some of the best people I know.  I'm leaving behind my very best friend.  For years she's always been there--having my back, providing the laughs, giving support and advice--and it's no walk in the park to leave all of that behind.  I'm leaving behind my parents, sister, and brothers.  And I can't even begin to talk about that.

We've already started packing things up.  The hallway is filled with boxes of books and clothes, quietly reminding me that it's not too far away.  The emails back and forth with potiential employers are there.  Knowing we have a small apartment on the 28th floor of a building downtown makes it even more real.  I've already started looking up where the closest Walmart and Target is, and have been working to memorize surrounding towns in Missouri and Illinois.

Even with everything that will be left behind, I actually do think that St. Louis will be fun.  I'm excited to see what St. Louis is like since I've never been there.  I'm excited to go try some authentic ethnic foods and see what clothing stores are out there.  I'm curious to know what it's like to live 28 stories above the ground in the middle of a busy city.  I don't mind the thought of starting another job and trying something new, as well as meeting new people.  I'm interested to see what the wards are like out there.  And mostly, I'm excited to experience all of this with B.

There will be trips back out to Utah, or family coming to St. Louis.  There will be phone calls, texts, and some serious Facetiming going down.  There will be an updating of blogs with more stories, pictures, and details.  There will be cards and letters in the mail.  And there will still be those relationships.

People do this everyday.  And I can do it, too.