After the wedding, everyone needed a little of a breather. We had driven to Cali, helped as much as we good, rehearsed, and celebrated. It was such a wonderful time, but we decided to "escape" for a little bit to Balboa Park // The San Diego Zoo.





Michael kept asking to see the elephants, so that's the corner of the zoo we decided to do. It was HUGE, but so worth the time we took to walk around. As you can see, we didn't even reach the "end" of our corner and Michael passed out in the stroller.

I can't wait until we find a time to go back again.

Last week we ventured to San Diego, CA for Clark's brother's wedding. We had such a wonderful time. It was mine and Michael's first time to California, and it's definitely not going to be our last. I may have fallen in love with it. The longer we're here, the more I'm loving the West Coast in general.

Don't quote me on that just yet, though.





Our first full day there was the wedding rehearsal, but that was in the evening. Most of the day we were able to spend it in the sunshine. These pictures were taken at the pier on Pacific Beach, San Diego.

One more installment of this mini-vacation to come.

Our last stretch was from Albuquerque, NM to the Phoenix area. It wasn't too terribly long, but it seemed like it. Driving that piece of the US, I half expected wild horses to run across the road or for cowboys to appear out of nowhere. I truly felt like I was, well, in a Western. Go figure.

In case you missed it, here are the links for the first, second, and third part of our journey.


We took obligatory pictures when we reached Arizona. This is our first BIG move after all. All others have been local or within the state of North Carolina. That is to say, all the moves we've made as a family. This does not include all the moves we made before marriage, since we both come from military families.




According to Google Maps, not including pit stops or anything like that, we traveled for 44 hours and 2,915 miles. We took six days to drive, really, and it wasn't split up evenly at all. But we survived... and WE MADE IT!

Want to see some pictures? Of course you do! If you follow my Instagram, please excuse... because most of them are from my phone.






My favorite things are the hot air balloons and, well, our house. While I am enjoying the weather, I confess I do miss having the seasonal cold. Let's not even talk about what the summer is going to be like.

But the hot air balloons, and our space? Yeah. I'm in love.

We left Iowa the day after Christmas. Sadly, we didn't have a lot of time to spare. We had to get to Arizona by Saturday at the latest because we knew Clark had to go back to work the first or second, and we needed plenty of time to unpack and attempt to settle in.

This was probably the longest stretch. We were "hung over" from Christmas and family time and I wanted nothing more than to just curl up and go to sleep, but we kept goin'. I'm actually rather proud of myself for this. If you remember from the first post, we were both driving. While Clark's job entails lots of driving and he's pretty accustomed to it, I am not. I used to love road trips, but six hours was usually my max of driving. Having a ten hour day with our two year old in the car... it was definitely a challenge. Here was our route.


I think the days of driving before weren't that bad because we were going to family. Knowing we were driving into the unknown afterwards was a little intimidating. It's not that I wasn't excited... I was just all nerves. The funny thing was Michael woke up the morning of the 26th and said, "Ready to go. Dada drive the big truck, Mama drive the car." It's like he knew that we were going somewhere important. He was ready... or he was just used to our routine of two days to stay, and then hitting the road again.

But before we made any hotel stops, we made our way to Lawrence, KS to visit my grandparents. I'm lucky if I get to see them once a year, so it was so wonderful that it worked out for us to see them. Although Michael was a bit of a grumpy gils, he managed to enjoy spending time with them after settling in a little bit.

(Please excuse the quality of the pictures, they were taken with my phone.)




Afterwards, he was pretty much done for the day...


until we had to stop for dinner and McDonald's was the only food option. Let me tell you, traveling is rough. I know you can make healthier options, but it seemed almost impossible with the route we took. Needless to say I'm making up for it now!


He didn't eat anything except the fries. Our child has yet to venture into trying chicken nuggets... or, really, any meat other than tuna.We made it to Ponca City, OK. It wasn't quite our goal. We had hoped to make it to Oklahoma City... but I was just too tired. I needed to stop, and so we did.

But I made up for it. The next day we drove all the way to Albuquerque, NM. Which, by the way, isn't exactly a party. It seemed like we hit so many stretches of nothing. It was beautiful, but definitely different than what I'm used to. Michael, bless him, did a little better the next day. We kept telling him, "We're going to the big house!"


It really seemed to be catching. Just wait until you see where we finally landed!

We were in Fayetteville, NC for two days or so before we hit the road early Dec. 22nd. Our goal was to make it to Iowa the evening of the 23rd (which we did), but it meant two long days of driving. Here's the route we took.


My parents were rather worried about us going through WV. After all, there's usually ALWAYS weather. The funny thing was, it was actually VA that gave us trouble. It was pouring down rain through the entire state... er... the entire part we drove through. West Virginia, on the other hand, was sunny and positively beautiful. When we stopped, I snapped a few shots of Michael and our UHAUL.




Annnnnnnnyway...

We made it to Iowa right on time. I was so excited to get to spend Christmas with my parents, sisters, and niece. It wasn't the same without my brother-in-law, but it was still pretty magical.







We had so much fun. Poor Michael was a little overwhelmed. After being in two hotels, Mimi and Pop's House, Marmee and Papa's House... the morning after Christmas he told us he was ready to go home. We kept playing up our move as, "We're going to the big house!"

He's still a little unsure... but we're making progress!

We have landed in Arizona, which now means I can share bits and pieces of our journey with you! The New Year is approaching and I appreciate your patience as we get things together in our new home and I then proceed to get the blog back in my routine and running!


Our move began a bit complicated. We had a friend watching Michael one day to load our trailer, only to discover it wasn't enough room at all. The next day we had to switch out the trailer with a truck, and our moving plans altered completely. A very long drive that was supposed to take a certain amount of time with switching drivers switched gears and extended (only by a day!) when we both had to drive the entire journey. But, as you know, we survived.

Our first stop was Fayetteville, NC to see the in-laws. Not only were we celebrating Clark's birthday and an early Christmas, but we had stuff stored there. Another reason the switch to a big UHAUL truck was definitely needed.

It was a lot of fun. We are so excited that we are now only five hours away from Clark's brother and (almost) sister-in-law. We'll be taking another trip in barely any time to get to their wedding in CA!

Here's what you're here for... pictures!








The last picture is my absolute favorite. Trying to get a picture of four men-- that's it. Clark's maternal grandfather, PaPa, is looking at Michael/the cake, Clark is looking at his Mama's camera, Pop (Tim-- Clark's dad) is also watching Michael, and Michael is trying to blow out the candles. Classic.

Almost Clark's entire family is settled in NC. His brother is in CA because he's in the USMC, almost a sort of "family thing". But it's a pretty big deal for us to be moving. The only reason there weren't crazy, tearful good-byes is because we're seeing them again soon. I don't know what it's going to be like then!

This has been a busy week. We've been trying to squeeze in time with as many people as possible. Moving across the country means, of course, that people suddenly want to see you as much as possible. I'm not complaining. I feel so incredibly blessed and loved, and with that comes the sadness of leaving all our friends behind. That's not to say we won't be in touch or stay close, but you know what I mean.



Dear December, You didn't exactly listen to my plea of taking your time. We are leaving in six days. Please stay calm and let us miss all the bad weather when we hit the road through the Midwest. We are prepared, of course, for the worst... but we'd really love for it not to come to that.

Dear House, You are a mess, and for once it's ok. All the boxes are piling up and it's hard to figure out what to pack and what to keep out. Be patient with us as we empty you out. And, if we're being honest, I may miss our home but I don't think I will miss you all that much.

Dear Readers, Please watch the video below. Maybe it seems small, but it made me bawl. This time of year is the time to remember how helping and giving to people, big or small, can mean so much. After all, God gave his only son to us so we may know true grace. We received the best gift of all, so shouldn't that inspire us to give to others in any way we can?



Have a happy weekend! Less than two weeks to Christmas!

Things to come:

White Chocolate Chex Mix

Be Our Guest: Breaking Out of the Bubble, a special post from ShaCarol