It's Finished!

We closed on our house yesterday. We are so blessed that we were able to sell it and that it all went through without any problems. We are officially no longer home owners. It's kinda sad, but a relief.

TROUBLE ALONG THE WAY!!!

Warning! This is very long. Get some popcorn, a drink, make sure you go potty first, then start to read... 8-) We left for Denver Friday around noon. About two hours later we got a call from the title company saying that they were going to close on the house Tuesday! YAY!!! We were so excited, and relieved. We had to go slow because the moving truck was pretty loaded down and wouldn't go above 70. It took us about five hours to get to Grand Junction. We stopped for gas and went into subway to get something to eat. I was feeling tired just thinking that it would be midnight or later before we got to Denver. I was worried about the weather because I had heard that there would be a snow storm over Vail pass. I didn't want to drive it at night, but there wasn't much choice. Calvin had arranged for people from our new ward to come help us unload at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Calvin was driving the moving truck and I was driving our pick-up. After we ate we got back in the trucks and got ready to go, but the pick-up wouldn't stay started. Then it stopped and wouldn't start at all. Calvin checked it all out and figured out that the fuel pump was bad. We asked a few people where to find an auto parts store, but no one seemed to know their way around. We finally figured out where one was so we drove the moving truck several miles down the road until we found a Checker Auto. We had to buy the new fuel pump, $279 dollars! (the girl there felt sorry for us and gave it to us for $239 to price match it to another store) We also had to buy a couple of tools, a jack, two gas cans, a siphon, a how to book, etc. $400 dollars later, we were on our way back to the pick-up. It was starting to get cold so I gave Calvin my white hoodie to wear. I had another jacket for me, but he didn't have anything. We tried to siphon some gas out of the tank so it wouldn't be so heavy. HA! Yeah right! The truck has some kind of screen or siphon prevention device in it. Did I mention that the fuel pump is located INSIDE the gas tank?!?!?! Anyway, we dropped the tank down using the jack, siphoned about ten gallons of gas out that way, replaced the fuel pump. Calvin had to rewire electrical wires init to make the adapter work. And, I must put in a plug for my husband here. The man is a genius!!! We were both so tired and his arms were so sore that he absolutely did not have the strength to lift the tank back up on the jack, not even a little bit. We were trying to figure out what to do when he had the light go on in his head. He took two of the tie down straps off the tarp in the back of the pick-up. They have wenches on them. He put them under the two ends of the tank and lifted them up and bolted the tank back on the truck. GENIUS!! I would still be standing there wondering what to do. We needed to clean up but the two gas stations by us were closed so we went into the hotel next door and used their bathroom. When we came out, the guy at the front desk thought we were in there doing other things since we went in together. We explained that we were dirty and Calvin was covered in gasoline and he had to change his shirt and wash up a bit. He was very nice after that. You would think the story ended there, but no! I got in and started the truck to make sure it was going to work and rolled the window down so we could say a prayer before we left. As we were saying Amen Nebula jumped out the window and ran off! Nebula is our cat. We were so tired and weary and emotionally spent at that point. I tried to catch her and I was crying and praying, not knowing what the heck I was going to do. I was thinking there was no way we could catch her and we were going to have to leave her there. She jumped over a fence and I thought that was it. Calvin saw her in someone's yard so he jumped the fence. Just as she tried to jump up over the fence he caught her by the tail. He handed her to me over the fence, I put her in the cat carrier, furious, but relieved and we finally were able to leave. Tragedy averted...Barely!!! As we got back on the freeway it was about 1:15 a.m. We drove until about 3:15 and stopped at a rest stop. We slept, off and on, for about an hour and then got back on the road. I did fine after that until about 50 miles outside of Denver. I struggled so much to stay awake that last little while. Calvin kept saying he was ok. We got to our new apartment at about 7:30 a.m. and unloaded the truck into the garage that we rented there. About that time a couple of guys from our new ward showed up to help. I was near tears wondering what would happen if no one showed up and we had to unload it all ourselves. About 15 minutes later there were so many guys there I couldn't believe it. I didn't even have to go downstairs again. I told everyone where stuff went and Calvin handed them stuff from the truck and they hauled it all up. In about an hour and a half they had everything unloaded, both in the apartment and in storage and were gone to help someone else move. It was amazing! We were so blessed! We got about two hours of sleep before the guy came to hook up our internet and cable. Then we went and picked up the washer and dryer, went to get something to eat, went to get groceries and a few things for the house. We were so smelly and grungy. We both still smelled like gasoline and sweat. It was gross. We showered and went to bed at about 11:30 p.m. I think we were both out in about 30 seconds. What a day huh? We are well on our way to getting things unpacked now. I will post pictures of our apartment when I get some. I only have one right now. Below are pictures of Calvin fixing the pick-up and the last one is the spare room in the apartment.

MOVING DAY!

Some pictures of our empty house. It was so sad to leave. I did fine until it came time to close the door and walk away. We decided to say a travel prayer before we locked up and I started bawling like a baby! These three pictures are of the family room...

The office...

Tyler's old room...

The front room/dining room... The laundry room (or as Calvin called it, the back porch)... And the kitchen...

This is a very interesting picture. If you look very close you can see what the problem is. I now have proof!!! Check out the white box on the left side of the pick-up. Is it just me or does it look like it's about to take a tumble? Notice that in big bold letters it says FRAGILE! This is why I don't like to let Calvin be in charge of my fragile stuff...

REALLY COOL PAINTING!

This is a picture of the painting Alicia did of my sister's dog, Bo. It is amazing. Everyone in the family loved it. It looks just like him. She is so very talented.