a vacation to remember

I feel like my life has been turned somewhat upside down since we last talked.

We're just moving to a different state before our baby is born.  No big deal.

We have known ever since Tim got his new job that they would be moving us to Utah at some point in the distant future.  Summer of 2013 was the original estimate.  Then slowly but surely the estimate changed to April or May of 2013.  Then it became as soon as we could manage it after the baby.

And then suddenly it was...January.

We drove out to California on December 17th, because Tim needed to work out of the California store, and because it gave me the perfect opportunity to visit with my grandma and my aunt for a few days.  They only live about an hour from the store, you see, so Tim was just able to commute over there for a few days while I baked cookies and took naps with my grandma.

It was the perfect arrangement.

But the first morning after we got there, I got a phone call from Tim telling me that the board had changed their minds and that they wanted us up there ASAP.  In my own mind, this still meant after the baby, but in their minds it meant right now.  I spent the next two days in complete denial, not really thinking that this was actually going to happen so soon.  It wasn't until Tim described his various conversations with his boss over the past few days that it finally began to sink in.

We really were moving.  By January.

And since the absolute cutoff date for anything travel-related for me is something like January 20th, we knew we needed to make it earlier in January as opposed to later.

The emotional make-up of the past few days has been an odd combination of overwhelmed, distressed, excited, grateful, confused, and anxious.  And frankly, a million other emotions, too.  Sometimes I don't know minute-to-minute which emotion I'm going to feel next.

The prevailing emotion this morning, however, is one of gratitude.  I don't know how everything is going to work out, but I do know that we are so blessed to have Tim's job in the midst of this uncertain economy.  I know that there are amazing family and friends out there who are eager and willing to help.  And even more importantly, I know that Heavenly Father never leaves us alone.  And neither does His Son.  As long as I can remember that, everything will work out, just as it always has and just as it always will.

The next couple of weeks are going to be a whirlwind of commotion.  Packing, camping, more packing, flying up to Utah to find a place to live, even more packing, and then finally, moving.  The tentative date right now is January 9th.  Depending on how things go, I may or may not be a little MIA on this little blog of mine.

But before I go missing, let me just take a second give you a brief summary of the rest of our Christmas holiday.

Like I said, my grandma and I spent a few days just taking naps and baking cookies.  It was fairly heavenly, actually.  Those chocolate cookies in the picture with the marshmallows on top?  They're about to be covered with delicious chocolate frosting.  And that recipe for the chocolate chip cookies was the best I've ever had.  I guess my great-grandma knew what she was doing.

On Thursday the 20th, the rest of my family drove out to California to spend a couple of days at my grandma's before Christmas.  With eight people and two dogs running around, things always get a little hectic, but it is seriously so fun.  We went for walks, made soda runs to 7-11, ate doughnuts, ate cookies, ate out, watched Christmas movies, and just enjoyed each other's company.  They even let Tim and me open our presents before we left, and let me tell you, Tim and I were not the only ones to get spoiled this year.  Baby girl got her fair share of the loot!

On Sunday before we all left, I made my family take a picture with me just like I did last year.  Someday they'll be grateful for this tradition I'm creating.

Then Tim and I drove out to Yuma to spend Christmas with his family.  It was my first Christmas with the Devey family and it was so fun!  They are so good to me.  And they're just one of those families that you can't help but feel comfortable around, if you know what I mean.  And we got to spend some time with friends that Tim grew up with, which was awesome.  Made even more awesome by eating incredible street tacos.

On Christmas morning, I woke up to our baby moving around.  These days, that isn't an uncommon experience for me, but on that day it felt particularly significant - like it was a reminder about the true meaning of Christmas.  It was a beautiful way to start the morning.

The rest of the day was filled with presents, food, more food, nap-taking, even more food, and the movie The Hobbit.  I'd never been to a movie on Christmas before, but we loved it!

It was a vacation to remember, to be sure.  Partially for fun reasons, and partially for stressful reasons.  But now we are excited to start the next chapter of our lives...in Utah!

Pray that we don't go crazy in the process :)