Sweet Home Alabama

We maaaaade it!!!!

We left Logan last Wednesday, traveled across 9 states, ate egg McMuffins three mornings in a row, pounded an extra large bag of peanut m&ms, stayed with great friends and family along the way, and got quite the travel/nap schedule going on for Jack. When we pulled into Hoover, AL last Sunday, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and were excited to move into our apartment the next day. But it turns out, two naive and sheltered Utah kids should never pre-lease an apartment all the way across the country without looking at them first or at least asking a few vital questions...

On Thursday night, we moved into our third (and hopefully final!) apartment that week due to flea infestations, globs of cat hair in carpets, globs of cat hair painted onto floor boards, and cigarette smoke seeping through the walls and into our clothing and onto everything we owned. Plus there was my meltdown/panic/claustrophobia attack. Seriously, Spencer almost pulled the my-wife-is-crazy-and-I-think-she-is-going-to-wig-out-and-stay-insane-forever-if-you-don't-get-us-into-a-livable-apartment card on the management.

I truly don't know what we would have done without the Birmingham LDS Temple President and Matron who are dear friends of my grandparents. We had never met them until Sunday, but they welcomed us into their home and treated us like family. They fed us and they let us borrow their car and they babysat Jack and they took us furniture shopping and they even washed and folded our clothes while we were running errands. In the middle of one of my meltdowns I sobbed, "I juuuust wanna live with the Vankampens foreverrr!!!!" (Maybe I was being a little dramatic, but I wasn't in my right mind, remember?)

But our apartment is wonderful now! I easily overlooked our broken air conditioner and clogged shower drain because we have CLEAN AIR TO BREATH!!! Plus, we earned ourselves a whopping $25 gift card to Outback Steakhouse from the management. (And an upgraded apartment for the price of the flea infested one.) But really, what better way to finish off the worst week ever than with greasy bloomin' onion rings and a delicious steak dinner?!

And some pictures of our journey...