One year ago today...

One year ago today, we arrived in Cary at what would become our new home.

It was a whirlwind of a three weeks getting here...

and sometimes it feels like we're still trying to catch our breaths.

On December 30th, as Steven and I sat in the waiting room at Mimi's dentist,

we received a call that changed our lives.

General Dynamics was doing some restructuring

and there was spot that needed to be filled in North Carolina.

The decision had to be made quickly, and, after looking at our options,

the only one to make was to relocate.

On New Year's Day, Steven and I made our decision.

On January 3rd, he flew out to Raleigh.

(He spent his 40th birthday alone in a MicroTel motel room with planes flying loudly overhead.

It did get him out of the surprise party I wanted to throw...the one he didn't want. :))

I tried to maintain a schedule for school that first week, but threw all hope of that out the window when I realized just how much work was ahead of me.  

For two weeks, my mom, the kids and I packed up the town home,

cleaned and prepared for the long journey east.

When Steven got home on the 17th of January,

he spent the next week helping us wrap everything up.

We rented the biggest moving truck we could find and we packed.

And we packed. And we packed some more. :)

On Friday, January 23rd, with the Audi crammed to the gills,

my mom, Maya, Scott and I took off ahead of Steven and Pete

and headed toward Kansas.

(I have to be honest here...Kansas is not my favorite state. I have my reasons.)

It's soooo boring to drive through. Thank goodness it was early on in the trip,

and we did it late in the day and into the night when I couldn't see just how dull the scenery was.

Maya said it was "line, pole, line, pole, line, pole".

That was the thrilling view from the back seat, apparently.

.)

This was in a motel somewhere. I'm not quite sure where.

We traveled Friday, Saturday, Sunday and then arrived in Cary on Monday afternoon.

In West Virginia we hit some pretty snowy, icy weather.

We forged ahead in the Audi

and Steven drove the moving van with our GMC on a trailer behind him.

Pete completed our caravan in Steven's Camaro. 

We were all so tired by the time we pulled off of highway 40 onto Harrison

and into our new neighborhood. I remember feeling full of fast food and high on caffeine,

exhausted from the drive and ready to be out of the car.

But when we found ourselves in Cary, getting closer and closer to our destination,

I found found myself getting more and more excited.

I will always remember what it felt like to turn onto Cary Pines Drive for the first time.

I was eagerly looking at all the houses, the trees and the neighborhood.

My exhaustion turned into a buzz of exhilaration. We'd made it!

We'd traveled 1,700 miles and now we were at the house we would call our home.

(Oh...I didn't mention the driveway. Think small alp, only on the eastern coast of the US.

If you've been here,you know. If you haven't, there is no picture or words to describe it accurately.)

Steven had told me about it so I knew it was coming. I was a bit intimidated, but, hell...

I'd just driven my mom and our children across country without any mishaps...

There had been no accidents, no getting too sleepy behind the wheel,

not even a spill in the back seat.

(Okay, there was that bit of confusion in Kansas City, and then the utter chaos in St. Louis

with the cell phone flying and having to turn around...

but aside from that...)

The driveway was assessed, then conquered! Yay!

Steven had sent me some pictures of the house,

but the floorplan was turned around in my mind.

It was so awesome to actually see it for the first time.

This is our living room from the front door.

This is the entry way from the middle of the living room.

The dining room. The French doors to the right lead out to a large deck and the back yard.

The kitchen and the eating area, (my office space) are also to the right.

 My desk sits in front of the these three windows.

(Perfect for keeping my eye on the kids while they're playing in the back yard.)

The piano sits alongside the right wall.

These are the French doors from the outside and our deck.

Gratefully, we had Pete here for a full week. He and Steven hauled all of our belongings

up the steep driveway and into the house. We experienced our first real east coast thunder storm

that first weekend. It came really fast and hit really hard, lightning and thundering and pouring down

sheets of thick rain. Then, as quickly as it had come, it was gone again, and the hauling of stuff continued.

The boys proved to be very creative packers. The shop vac attacked Steven when he opened the back of the truck, spilling all sorts of dust and dirt onto the street. Other than that, it all stayed put.

I can't believe they got it all in. I'm positive the truck was over stuffed.

The trailer carrying our GMC suffered a flat in West Virginia,

but other than that, Steven had a safe voyage.

Joey sat with him on the front seat and was a calm, quiet passenger.

My mom stayed with us until the seventh of February.

She helped us settle in and bought us two of the cutest little hamsters ever.

I'm happy to say that they're still with us and they're still the cutest hamsters ever.

There are some changes on the horizon. We may only stay here in this house until the end of May.

Things are uncertain right now. But we are happy that we made this move,

happy to be North Carolinians,

and excited for what the next year may hold for us.