Journey to Virginia

 Well, Loren and I finally have internet! Happy day! We've had a CRAZY past two weeks. The week before we left for Virginia my parents went on a cruise so Loren and I stayed with my siblings while they were gone for a week. It was so much fun and loved spending time with them before we left. I have to say though, my mom's amazing! Running kids to swimming, football, cross country and taking care of the house is a full time job- one that I never fully appreciated when I lived at home. Funny how our perspective changes over time. I sure love you, mom!
  In between all that, we had to pack and move out of our apartment. A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped- you are all angels and we couldn't have done it without you! Mom Peck and Emily came and helped sort everything into "going to virginia" and "going to storage" boxes. If they hadn't come I would have sat on the floor and cried, they were amazing. Chris and Kristen also came to the rescue with lemonade and manpower to move our couch. Cam, Mary, Mom and Dad Rigby cleaned and moved the last of everything. It was such a blessing to have all this help- we love you all so much.

Monday night, the night before we were to leave, we had a cookout with both our families. It was so fun to be together and we really tried to take in every moment. Family is everything!

After tearful goodbyes (I blamed it on the pregnancy hormones), we started our journey the next morning. Here's what our car looked like. Poor thing, I feel like we should give it a prize or something for driving so far with so much weight. We were packed to the brim.

Dad Rigby was driving to Rock Springs, Wyoming for work so he followed us for the first few hours. We had lunch with him and then went our separate ways. We made it to Cheyenne around five and were all too happy to be out of the car.

The next morning we were greeted with what I had been fearing would happen. Our left rear tire had blown, it must have happened sometime in the night. Thankfully, we were still in the parking lot of our hotel and not on the interstate somewhere. We met a really nice family who helped us take the tire off and put the spare on (which we could only reach by unpacking and then packing the back of the trunk). We followed them to the tire store and then asked if we had money for a new tire. They were angels sent from heaven and we know we were blessed because of your prayers! While we waited for our tire, we decided there was no better time than the present to see what Cheyenne had to offer.

After about an hour we were back on the road again. Did you know that Nebraska is one big cornfield? Well it is. We hadn't seen so much corn in all our lives. Let's just say we were happy to reach our hotel in Iowa and see something other than corn!

  The next morning we made our way across Missouri. We stopped at Liberty Jail and the Independence Visitors Center on our way to the Davidson's. It was such a spiritual experience and worth taking the time to see. At the Davidson's we were given the grand tour of their gorgeous house and yard. We had fun visiting, making pizza and watching Kerri ride her horse. Thanks for a relaxing and wonderful night!

The next morning we drug ourselves back into the car. We had reached the point of "are we there yet?" Luckily, West Virginia kept us on our toes. The scenery was incredible, as were the rain storms. We also got caught in traffic caused by a crash that kept us stationary for about 30 minutes. Needless to say it was a long, grueling day and I was crying tears of joy to see our hotel that night.  

After losing hope of ever making it to our new home, somehow we did! We pulled in around 3:00 and met our landlady, Kathy. We were totally overwhelmed with all she had done for us. She had made a cake, grown a tomato plant, put lights outside on the sidewalk so I wont trip "in my condition", put a mat in the shower so I wont slip, put new curtains up, had flowers in every room and thought of every other thing we could ever need. She is so sweet and we feel very blessed to have this house. We're located just three blocks from the law school and within walking distance of downtown with the library, bank, and grocery store. For the past few days Loren and I have been trying to navigate around the one way streets and numerous highways with and without our GPS. We're getting better but I still think it will take a while for me to get my bearings. We're still in the process of unpacking but its been so nice not to be rushed. Slowly, our little house is becoming a home. We love you!