From Rigby to Charleston

Leaving Idaho was one of the hardest things our little family has ever done. The goodbyes were heart-wrenching. Packing up our memories was filled with a lot of emotion. I shed a lot of tears as I packed up the only house our boys have ever really known as "home". There were moments when we questioned if we were doing the right thing. I still cannot think about all of the goodbyes that were said without crying. Saying goodbye to our families and our closest friends was one of the most emotional things that we have experienced. However, somehow... even through the heartache, we knew we were doing the right thing for us. So, with that in the back of our minds, we made preparations to leave Idaho, the place we will always refer to as home. We were officially Charleston bound.

On Tuesday, June 8th 2010 we loaded the moving truck and hit the road. We drove our truck, pulling our boat behind us. Things started out smoothly... until we hit the hellish place people refer to as Wyoming. We were driving along, minding our own business when one of the tires on our boat trailer blew. Thank goodness for a spare... right? Jesse and I stood out on the crowded interstate as semi trucks flew by us going about 75 MPH... did I mention that we were standing about 10 ft. from them as they passed us. I was absolutely terrified as I stood there holding the flashlight shaking. Jesse got the tire changed in about 25 minutes, then we were back on the road. We got settled back in. The boys were tucked away in their pajamas fast asleep, Jesse had his energy drink and sunflower seeds within his reach and was prepared to drive through the night. I decided I would try and get some sleep so that I could take my turn driving when Jesse got tired. Just as I started to drift off.... POP!!!!!!! Are you kidding me? The other trailer tire blew. Now my question is, who in the world has 2 spare tires. We sure didn't. We were forced to leave our boat on the side of the interstate and grab a room for the night in the nearest town. We pulled into Rawlings, WY. at about 1:00 AM. It is a little town in the middle of nowhere. They have a handful of hotels, but they were all full. Who in the world needs a hotel in Rawlings, WY? I cannot think of a single reason why anyone would want to go there, I mean the ONLY reason we were there is because we were stranded until the tire store opened the next morning. We drove to every hotel in the town, every single one of them was full. We finally found a place with 1 room left. It was a room with a king bed. Who cares? We will take it. Better than sleeping in the car right? WRONG! Jesse, me, Broc, Brady and the dog all slept in a kind size bed. It was the most disgusting place I have ever been. It was the type of place where you wear flip flops in the shower. I felt dirty just from walking inside. I guess it will be something that we can look back and laugh at, but at the time... NONE of us were even smiling. Finally, the tire store opens, we get two new tires, go get the boat and we hit the road. The rest of the trip went really smoothly for the most part. We ran over a dead dear, nearly hit a few live ones crossing the road and learned that lightening bugs guts glow even after they are splattered on your windshield. We spent a fortune on gas, ate enough fast food to last us a lifetime and spent way to much time in public rest rooms. I must say, our boys were ANGELS. Thank goodness for DVD players in cars. They didn't fight once, we didn't have to make any "emergency stops" on the side of the road to use the bathroom and they didn't even spill in the car. We really could not have asked for better travelers.

We made the 2400 mile cross country trek in just over 48 hours. We arrived in Charleston of Friday the 11th at about 10:00 PM. We were all absolutely exhausted! Jesse drove the majority of the way. He was such a trooper! We were all relieved to be in SC. None of us were to anxious to spend much time in the car for a while.

We had never seen our new home in person until we got here. It was so exciting to step foot in our new home! We were all thrilled with the house. It is beautiful and we have our own dock in the backyard on the water and a neighborhood pool just a few houses up the street. The boys couldn't wait to go swimming. Pictures of our new home coming soon!


The boys slept in the bean bag the last night in our old house. All of their bedding was packed.



Our wonderful home in Rigby... we will miss our house and the wonderful people in the neighborhood.


Our new home in Charleston. We are so excited to make new memories here!