The Tornado of July 2011

July was the month that the tornado hit our family!  Actually, it all started on June 3rd when we received the official notice that we would be moving to Germany the following month, but that is ancient history.  With official orders finally in hand (it was tough to get official orders due to the fact that whomever touched them became an incompetent fool) we RACED to Utah for a quick visit.  (Raced is relative.  Texas is an enormous amount of nothing and takes days to cross.)

Here is our rest stop entertainment while Darin continued to make phone calls to movers and others.

 First stop...Sterling, UT.  Home of grandpa, grandma, Drew, Jazzy the dog, and grandma's ice cream store.  Anya was so excited to be out of the car.  She chased the dog around and got her first (and last?) mouthful of dog food.  We spent a fun day on jet ski's and the lake.

 Next stop...SLC.  Then up to Henefer for the visiting and 4th of July Celebration!

 Darin and his grandma.

 Back to Bountiful to play with as many cousins as possible.  Here we are at the church visitor center and the Family History Museum.  For any who haven't been, the museum is wonderful for kids, AND free with A/C.  Couldn't be better.

 Next, camping in the Spruces with the Allred Clan.  Yep, I think that we are a clan.  Anya's only playpen.  It is hard to camp with a scooting girl and not a walking girl.

cousins.  That was a good year for babies.

 Yes, Noah pulls a dumb face in every picture we take.

 Siblings!  I think that I may be the only sane one of the bunch. :)

 Hiking to Donut Falls.  Noah would rather ride on grandpa.

 Last a BBQ with family and friends before heading back to Sterling for more visiting and ice cream.

 We had to rush home.  Once again rush is relative.  It means driving 24 hours in 2 days with 5 kids in the car.  As soon as we made it home, we needed to ready the van so that Darin could then drive 5 more hours to Dallas (the next day) so that Curry (van) could start the trip to Germany.  I stayed home (No way I was going to be getting in a car again.) to meet the first movers and get our first shipment on its way. By Monday we had more packers, Tuesday loaders, Wednesday more packers....they were terrible for the most part.  So very slow and the loaders were lazy.  Imagine my shock when they decide it would be easier to just roll my boxes down the stairs...shocker!  We weren't OK with that.  Darin had to politely tell them to carry the boxes.  We will be VERY lucky if our stuff shows up in one piece without major damage.  We could go on and on about the terrible movers, but there isn't anything that can be done now.

Dinner.

During this time we moved twice in our hotel rooms, I had the flu once, and we sold the Durango.  We spent way too long cleaning and boxing.  Packing and repacking suitcases to see if we had enough (or too much) stuff.  We also were able to spend time with wonderful friends.  Be fed by wonderful friends and get away from the chaos for bits of time.  Darin continued to go to work at nights.  It is now midnight.  Darin is at work again trying to take his Germany Driving Exam so that we can drive our rental car when we arrive.  We leave in the morning and after a stop in Baltimore we will head to Germany on Monday. 

We have an address:  PSC 2 Box 14949
                                  APO   AE   09012

*Just a reminder, it is the same to mail to that address as it is to Texas with the exception of a customs form.  Prices are the same. 

I hope that we make it in one piece.  We have all been stressed and really grouchy.  We may make it, but what I really hope is that when we do get there, we all still like each other.  That may be asking too much.

My posts from now on should be more interesting.  I think even talking about walking down a German street would be more interesting than this stuff.

 But that was what happened in just 3 weeks of July...a tornado hit my life.


[I have a ton, can you say 156, pictures from our UT visit and we were only there 7 days.  Davis is a sentimental fool and wanted to capture everything.  So ya'll (still a Texan tonight) are lucky that I only posted a 17 pictures.]