Goodbye Utah, Hello America!

(Not that Utah isn't American)

Nearly three weeks ago (already?) we officially said goodbye to the Beehive State.  Just before we left, Buck graduated.  His parents, grandparents, and Aunt Christie came to town to witness the big event and see where we've made a home for the last four years.

We took them to the ever popular Temple Square.  I love the Salt Lake Temple, and hope this wasn't a final goodbye.

 

Millie's proud.

 

 

The day before we left, we celebrated Millie's 2nd Easter.

Yes, I forced Millie to wear a bonnet with her Easter dress.  Surprisingly, she wore a bonnet easier than she wears a bow!  Maybe we have a hat girl on our hands?

 

One final picture outside our apartment in Wymount.

The first day of our trip (brace yourself, it was eight days long) was from Provo to Denver.  We made it out of Provo just in time to get stuck in a winter wonderland in Vail.  Oh I hate that place.  It is nothing short of a miracle we made it out of the Colorado mountains when we did.  We literally made it out thanks to heavy praying and a tow truck.  Paying $225 for a tow for five miles doesn't leave you with a happy feeling.  Take my word for it.  Our fancy hotel didn't even make up for it.  Oh, I love priceline.

Day two provided lots of sunshine and flat plains, which we fully embraced, and took us to just outside Tulsa to visit our dear friends, the Tiner's.  Matt, Jessica, and baby Colin showed us a good time.

Jessica and Colin showed us a great place to run around:

 

 

We took advantage:

We also ate some wonderful food (Braum's is probably top of my list, but it was all good), saw Matt's stompin' ground, and toured the Blue Bell Ice Cream factory.  They've certainly set the standard high for their visit to our new home.  Yikes.

We ended up staying with them two full days and nights, so day four of our trip took us from Tulsa to Springfield, Missouri.  Other than getting pulled over on Route 66 for "speeding" (we didn't get a ticket, thank goodness) it was an uneventful drive.

Day five took us from Springfield to Geneva, Illinois to visit my Uncle KC and his family.  They moved from Connecticut (the same area we're moving to) a few years ago, so it was great picking their brains for places to live and things to do.  They sure miss Connecticut, but have a great new home.

Sweet Lily gave up her room for Millie:

We finally got Millie in a swing!  Apparently those are hard to come by.  Who knew?

Although Geneva is just a suburb of Chicago, we still got our fair share of wind.

This is the gang watching Elle's soccer game:

Can you imagine playing soccer in that?

Millie loved playing with my cousins.  I think Elle could be Millie's biggest fan.

We sure wish we lived by Emma so she could watch Millie for us!  She's a great young woman.

Can you believe it?  That's all the pictures I took!  I'll quickly wrap up since I know this hasn't been super exciting as is.

Day six we left Geneva (with a rocking chair, rocking horse, and Barbie Jeep for Millie) and headed to somewhere in Pennsylvania.  That was probably the worst hotel we stayed in, and it really wasn't bad (Country Inn and Suites).  

Day seven we finally made it to Stamford, Connecticut.  We were shocked with how busy the U-Haul storage unit place was.  Stamford proved to be a kind of big city.  Really, we felt like country bumpkins.  Picture this: We pull up and I jump out to figure out where we should go.  An hour-an-a-half later we've got a loading dock and storage unit on the second floor.  So over the next few hours we keep poor Millie strapped in her stroller while I pull things out of the U-Haul and load them on a cart.  Buck then fights for the one working elevator to fill with our stuff, take to the second floor, and unload in our unit.  We pulled up at 4:30 PM thinking we had all the time in the world.  At 6:50 PM we found out they close the whole place at 7.  We were maybe half way done.  Take it from us, all U-Haul storage places are not 24-hours.  You've officially been warned.  We finished what we could and actually got some help from the manager there, but ultimately had to come back in the morning to finish.

Day eight we drove all around Connecticut to get a feel of the towns.  It is beautiful.  We still aren't sure exactly where we want to live, but at least have an idea of how far apart these towns are.  The shopping (my kind of shopping at least) seems to be pretty spread out, so maybe I'll have to take up a new hobby.  Gardening, maybe?  Building snow men?  Not sure.  By lunch we made the very long drive to South Carolina.

The end.

Whew, what a trip.  We loved seeing the great country we live in, and have a new appreciation for so many states.  We also loved spending that much quality time together.  Yes, I did 90% of the talking, but you probably already knew that.  Buck did 100% of the driving.  Millie was super the whole time (not perfect, but better than expected) and if you need advice on traveling with a toddler I could probably share some.  This post is a bit long for all that though.

We did listen to The Hunger Games and Catching Fire during our drive.  I need to get my hands on Mockingjay.  Anyone in Fort Mill got an extra copy?

One last thing, I promise.  If you are wondering who has the most expensive gas, you'd probably guess the North East.  Well we're here to tell you, it was Chicago.  When we passed through, I'm fairly certain it was $4.60 ish.  The most we ever paid was $4.30ish.  Makes $3.80 look good, huh?