Good bye Gillette

We have decided to try out a new state and the luck winner is North Dakota.

We moved out of Wyoming New Year's Eve and into North Dakota New Year's Day. What a way to start the New Year. I have decided I don't need to make any New Year's resolutions because they are all about a fresh start and we are starting about as fresh as you get. New job, new house, new town, almost a new baby, new schools, new stay at home mom. I think I will just focus of making all those new items work out well for everyone.

We were very sad to leave a wonderful ward, but I think we have jumped into an equally great one. The week before we left I had two days of packing planned. (I had already packed the majority of our stuff before Christmas). One day of loading, one day of driving and one day of unpacking planned. Then our friends from Gillette decided to get sealed in the middle of that week. While I was grateful they were doing it much sooner and we could go, it also meant giving up a whole packing day because the temple was of course in Billings (a 3 1/2 hour drive both ways). I am so glad we didn't stay home to pack it was the most special temple experience I have ever had and so worth the entire day. I as so glad we were able to be there with them.

The next day I was close to a melt down and called some ward members. Thankfully Sister Allen and Chris were willing to give some serious service and came to help. She packed my whole kitchen while I ran around and packed odds and ends. Chris shoveled the sidewalk in freezing temperatures. Without those two I never would have made in time. Then of course there were those priesthood holders who came and on the coldest Gillette day ever, packed the Uhaul. I did end up hiring some labor help and all together we had 9 people and were loaded in 2 1/2 hours. Then Sister Pope helped by providing a hotel room in Bismarck for us the next day so we could relax before moving in.

The Uhaul did break down 2 hours away from Bismarck, but really it wasn't a problem. The biggest pain was Jacob having to wait 2 hours for the nearest tow truck to come from Bismarck and tow the Uhaul to our house. When we were all unpack we called again and they came to tow it away.

I had hired laborers to help in Bismark, but that morning 9 guys from our ward just showed up and had us unpacked before the laborers even arrived. It was soooo cold. 0 degrees and windy. They were all so energetic and excited for us to be there I didn't even hear a minute of complaint. Then we had meals and people calling to check on us the next few days.

Now that we are all unpacked and feeling more at home I hope we get the chance to repay some of the service we have received the past few weeks.

In honor of leaving our Gillette house I thought I would post a couple pictures of the finished bathroom Jacob did. I love how it turned out.