Omaha-We Made it! Now about that house...

SO we got to Omaha, and got to see our house and walk through it for the first time. As we arrived at the house and met our realtor, he warned us that there were a few problems that we would have to contact the seller to fix before we closed on the house the next day. Problems were as followed: 1-they had taken out the washer, dryer & refrigerator which were supposed to be a part of the deal as signed by both parties in our house offer. 2-the carpet in the guest room/office in the basement had greasy carpet that would need replaced.

A couple of things to note here about my reaction to these things-number one reaction was "what?! there is carpet int he basement?" Having been told it was unfinished, I was imagining that it was just a slab of cement with maybe some shelves and a washer and dryer (that were obviously missing currently). So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the basement is much more finished that I had thought and in fact, we have put our TV and family room down there and a probable guest room. NICE!

Second reaction was that I could not believe the appliances were gone, but our agent assured us that he just needed to call the other agent and get them back, and that he would make sure they were back in place before we closed!

So, we walked through he house, loved it, were thankful we got it, and left for the day, planning to see our agent the next day (Tuesday) and to go over to the escrow agency and close in the afternoon.

Monday afternoon late we get a call from our agent that he was surprised that when he contacted the other agent he was told by her that they would NOT bring back the appliances and they were claiming that they were actually not contractually obligated to do so as they claimed they did not have a legible copy of the offer. They told our agent that he could let us know that if we had a problem with that, then we could just choose not to close on the house. Wes had to talk to our agent at that point because that was the straw that broke the camels back for me! I couldn't stay calm anymore-all the stress and worry was too much.

Wes told our agent that we knew they were contractually obligated, and that we realize that they think they have us stuck with this deal, but that we were not without backbone, and that we would not close without getting what we were promised. He told our agent that we have a good lawyer in the family that would make sure that we got what we were promised and that if we were not able to close the next day, we would look for another house and sue them for damages caused by their refusing to live up to their end of the deal (he wasn't a jerk about it, and actually presented it better than I can explain, but he was stern and made sure to express that we were not willing to get screwed in this deal.) Wes did say that he would be willing to make a deal if they wouldn't give us appliances back and we would take money to get some instead if that was preferable.

Within 5-10 minutes we got a call back from our agent saying that the other agent had told him that they had changed their minds and that the appliances would be back in the morning. As far as the carpet was concerned, it could not be cleaned and so they bought new carpet for the room and our agent got his buddy to install it for us.

After all the drama, we went in to the escrow agency Tuesday afternoon and closed at the house, then we went to the house and started moving in.

We have an amazing ward and had a lot of help emptying the moving truck. It was amazing! I cannot wait to get to know this ward better! Awesome!

Now that we have covered that...

I have sufficiently posted my blogs and pics about the Utah portion of this move, so now I guess I will share tales of the move.

So, we left early (not as early as we wanted to) on Sunday June 22 to drive to Omaha. Our plan was to stop in Kearney, Nebraska (about 2 1/2 hours from Omaha) for the night, then to go on to Omaha on Monday in time for our house walk through at 3 pm. Sunday was a long day between potty breaks, food breaks, nursing breaks, and crazy truck problem breaks! Let me explain that, but with a bit of background first...

When we moved from Omaha to Spokane, we took our time (like almost a week I think) to do it. On night one, we stopped near Mt Rushmore for the night, specifically so we could see Mt Rushmore the next day. We had been running late (as usual) and arrived at our hotel quite late. I had to check in, and all 3 kids were asleep, and it was pouring rain. Wes was driving the van, and went to drive around the block to try to find a place to park it while I dragged all 3 sleeping kids through the rain into the hotel to check in. As I was checking in, Wes called me on my cell phone to tell me he was stuck. He had ended up driving onto a dead end, and those that have ever driven a moving van with a car trailer hooked onto it, you already know, you cannot back up with it on the van. So, I had to get the kids back in the car, drive to Wes, and we had to proceed with the 2 person job of getting the car off the trailer, un-hitching the trailer, and backing out the very stuck van (and somehow do this in the Dark, dark midnight time of day and in Pouring rain)...have I mentioned it was pouring rain?! Anyway, we did it, it was a massive hassle, but we did it and it was nuts!

So, we were fully aware of the no backing up thing...fast forward to this move...

We were at our 2nd gas stop, which happened to coincide with a potty/lunch/nursing time (making this an already long stop). So, I was driving the van with the 4 kids in it, and Wes was in the moving truck. I drove up and got gas, then drove into a parking spot to take everyone to the potty. At that point I had lost Wes. I walked into the convenience store (I am sparing them by not mentioning their name as they are a favorite place to us overall, but they were ridiculous and rude and useless at this particular stop...) and took the kids all potty and to change diapers. Armour was a nightmare the whole time, and when we walked out, Wes was in this incredibly long line in the store and he told me that he had not even gotten gas as he had to wait in that line to get his credit card pre activated before it would let him pump. I asked if Armour could go with him as he was driving me nuts (he said yes and took A), and the other 3 and I found some sandwiches and stuff for lunch and entered the long line (by that point Wes was no longer in the store.)

So, we wait in the long line, get crappy rude service, and return to the car with lunch in tow to nurse Kindle. I get Sol & End in their seats eating their lunches and start nursing Kindle. Then Wes called...He said he was stuck in the diesel gas area and he needed some help.

Damn...

So, I stop nursing the very hungry little girl, seat belt all kids I had with me (A was still with Wes), and away we go. It takes me a while to find Wes cause I drove all around the commercial truck area before I found him by where I had been parked in the non-commercial truck diesel area. He explains that he waited in that long line only to find out that at this particular place, the truck pumps are only available for commercial truck use, so he has to go to the public diesel truck pumps. So, he goes over to the 2 pumps and finds that there are 2 campers parked in the way-yes parked in the way!! The people had just pumped up and gone in to eat or something, and after more that 10 minutes waiting, someone finally came out and moved a camper-unfortunately it wasn't the one Wes was waiting behind, so he cranked the steering wheel over and goes into the now, finally empty pump. He pumps his gas, gets in the truck to leave, and realizes that he cannot get the trailer around the pump area and he will have to back up to get out!

Double Damn...

So, we take the car off, take the trailer off, he backs up just enough to be able to get around, and we re hook everything up, and finally get ready to go. By that time, Ender had to pee again, and Kindle was REALLY starving, so we still had to take care of those needs before we could go...

That was the craziest part of our drive (thank goodness). We made it to Kearney that night late, then drove on to Omaha the next morning. More on Omaha & our house in the next post!

We made it...

FYI-We made it, are homeowners, are frantically unpacking to try to get into a normal mode again, and Wes is starting in the radiology department Tuesday (yes, he has his birthday off). Training went well, and I was able to hold down the fort on the home front. All in all, it's all good and there will be many updates and pics as soon as my house is more together!

Johnsons out!

Well, the time has come for us to complete our last part of the move. After our cross country move is complete, we will be in Nebraska. We started out in Washington...(where we left great friends...)
Stopped by in Utah (Where we are leaving great family & friends)...
Now, on to Nebraska where we will meet new friends and meet up with old friends...

I will not have Internet for a while (hopefully not too long without it, but it looks like it might be a while...), so it looks like this blog may go without updates for a while...Sorry! Feel free to browse old blog entries and enjoy my insanity of the past. Johnsons out!

Off to Utah

Driving to Utah we slept in Missoula, Montana the first night.

This is the view from our hotel window:
S & E
A (he was feeling pretty sick...poor kid!)

In Utah

In Utah, all 4 kids with me, really tired, can't believe we have to reload a truck and do this drive across country thing again in 3 weeks...missing Wes and missing Spokane, but overall doing well and getting excited to get our house!!!

Ahhhh...

How does one pack with 4 kids?! Seriously?! Especially when one child is only a week old and nurses all the time?! And seriously how does one pack when one is still recovering from childbirth?! AHHHHHHH.....
Frustrations aside, we ARE moving, so packing and cleaning and everything must move forward...In case you don't know, we (the kids and I) are moving next Saturday. We will be going to Utah for 3 weeks while Wes stays here and finishes his work. (Thank you SOOOO much to Jimmy and Carly who are willing to let him stay with them-you guys are seriously the best.)

So, around June 20-21, Wes will meet us in Utah and we will drive on to Omaha where we will be closing on our house on June 24th.

So, if you live in Utah, and want to come visit with us while we are there, let me know. We will be there in about a week and a half. And for those friends in Omaha, we will be there (for at least 4 years) starting around June 23 or 24.

And for my great friends in Spokane, I am so sad to be leaving!! My bed rest jipped me out of a lot of my time here, but I have loved it and have loved getting to know so many great people! I know a lot of us are moving to various locations around the country, but I hope we can keep in touch! Spokane rocks and I cannot believe the time here is almost up.

Well, I better try to get some of that packing done while the older kids are at school...

A few more house pictures

The house was inspected today, and the realtor sent us a few more pictures, so I thought I would share again.

The Front-a much better pic than the other one. Front from the drive way.
Bedroom 1 (will probably be the boys room) kinda small, but will work.
Bedroom 2 (probably the girls room, also a bit small but will work!)

Bathroom
Master bedroom-looking good!

Master bedroom looking into the master bathroom.
Living room


Backyard including the fence.

Side/back yard.
Across the street
Down the street one way
Down the street the other way.

Looking good-I am excited!!!

Big News!!

Last week we made an offer on a house in Omaha, and it was accepted by the seller. It is still pending our inspections and we won't close until June, so I know a lot can happen between now and then. SO, I don't want to jinx anything, but if all works out as we expect it to, this is the house we will be moving to in June. It is near a lake which we are totally excited about! It has 3 bedroom and 2 bathrooms and like I said, we are just excited about it and hope all works out! Enjoy the pics!

Omaha to Spokane...

Well, I used to be really good at sending out updates on our family in email, but I have not sent one out in a long time, and thought I would just post our update here instead. Maybe I'll send one out later anyway...we'll see.


Most of our friends and family know that the end of May/beginning of June we moved from Omaha, Nebraska to Spokane, Washington. On May 31 we had to be out of our dark little basement apartment in Fox Run, and we were going to be able to get our keys and move into our new townhome in Indian Canyon in Spokane on June 4th. So we decided to make a whole trip out of it. We got the Penske moving truck on the morning of the 30th and figured we would pack it up and clean up the basement hole that day and drive out to begin the journey early the next morning. I had already arranged a hotel near Mount Rushmorfor us to stay in the night of the 31 and 1st. I had arranged a hotel in Bozeman, MT for the 2nd, and a hotel in Spokane the 3rd. Then we could just go in and get our key early the 4th and move in and return the truck quickly. We had also arranged with our new ward to have some guys come help us unload the turck at 5 pm on the 4th.


Wes and I worked on loading and cleaning the basement from like 6 am until about 9 pm nonstop on the 30th, and still figured we had about 2 or so hours of work left, so we decided to go to our hotel in Omaha and come back to finish in the morning (the drive to Mount Rushmore was only supposed to be like 7 1/2 hours or something). So we finished and drove out about 12:30 the next afternoon. Wes was driving the big 22' Penske truck with the car hitched on the back. We quickly realized the truck had a "governor" on it that made it unable to drive over 65. So, it took us longer to get to all the places...

About 9:30 or 10:30 PM, we got to our hotel near Mount Rushmore. It was a downpur when we got there. I ran in the hotel lobby, carrying and dragging all 3 sleeping kids to check in while Wes tried to drive around the block and find a place to put the truck. As I was trying to sign the hotel paperwork, Wes called on the cell to tell me he was stuck and needed me right away. So, we quickly finished checking in, got in the ven and drove to where Wes has gone. The parking area he had gone into came to a dead end, and Wes was stuck with the Penske in the lot between 2 rows of cars. I came around to where he was, parked the Van out of the way, but in sight with the sleeping kids init, and we tried everything we could to back up the truck out of there. You might not know this, but you can't back up a truck with a hitch on it, at least not this kind, and it even said so on the hitch. We quickly realized that this hitch don't lie-it wasn't possible!

So, still in the pouring rain, we had to take the car off the hitch (which requires taking chains off the bottom/frame, and off the front wheels-which were kinda stuck as they were soaking wet!)! But we got it off and out of the way, then we unhitched the towing device and the two of us rolled it out of the way. Then we were able to back the truck out, reattach the towing device and park it where the hotel had told us to. We decided to wait to put the car back on the tow-er in the morning (it was about midnight by then).

We went to bed finally. In the morning we woke up, ate our hotels free breakfast and went up to Mount Rushmore. We had planned to stay up there and hike for a while, but our van kind of overheated on the way up, so after about an hour looking at all th stuff (with our kids going nuts), Wes and I decided that we better be responsible and try to get the van looked at and fixed before we had to drive further the next day. So, we left and drove back into town. The van was miraculously doing fine all the way back down, and we decided it was ok and that we would just take it easy the reat of the day and try to leave really early the next morning to get to Bozeman.

THe trip to Bozeman, and on to Spokane were fairly uneventful (there were the times of near overheating when we were stuck in a one lane canyon near Coeur D'Alene and stuff, but fairly uneventful). And we arrived in Spokane on Sunday July 3rd. As I was checking into our hotel I got a call from a family in our new ward that knew we would be there that day inviting us to a BBQ. So, we went over there and met half the ward on that first Sunday afternoon. It was a great way to meet a lot of people in the ward in a low key, fun setting.

THe next day we got into our apartment complex and it was so much better than our hole in the ground in Omaha! Not to say it is perfect, but I like it much better. We started to unload the truck at like 8 am (as soon as we signed all the paperwork adn got our keys and stuff). We unloaded all day (at Wes's insistence that he wanted it mostly done before anyone came to help at 5 pm). I kinda grumbled as we carried heavy items in all day, but I did work hard and try to help. It's a good thing to cause 5 pm came and went and nobody came to help us. By about 5:45, the van was empty of all but 3 thiings, 2 dressers and a heavy hope chest. I was dying by then, and shaking head to toe and literally about fell over getting the first dresser in the house. I was bad enough that we determined that I could not help anymore, but we needed some help getting the last 2 things in the house. So, we called our friend in the ward that had the BBQ and asked him if there was just one person we could call to come help us with these last couple things. He said he would be right over. So, a bit later, he and another guy came over and helped us, and their wives showed up with pizza and soda for everyone! It was SOOO nice! I really appreciated that! Thank goodness for the Molines and the Spencers!

We started to learn our new town and get used to everything for the next week or so, had some friends move in from Omaha, and started getting to know new people in our ward and in Wes's program.. THen the last week of June, I went to Disneyland with the kids and the whole family (I will blog about that seperately), and got back with mys sister Mel on the 2nd of July. We hung out with Mel here until the 6th. And now we are just finally getting the chance to settle in here.

We have a great ward, and we have park play days (basically like playgroups) once a week this summer, and we try to do other fun stuff through the week, go on walks, swim, go to parks, just hang out... We've met a lot of new people and are enjoying getting to know new friends. Spokane is beautiful and we really feel lucky to have matched into a transitional year where we still get to spend a lot of time with our daddy Wes! That's all for now!