Westerward Ho!

I don't have my computer, so I can't post pictures. The next few weeks are going to be boring old posts with no pictures and odd formatting. I'll try to figure out how to make it better, but tonight I am too tired. :)

I missed a few weeks of letter writing. I was too busy basking in the sun, sipping pina coladas, and being lulled into relaxation by the rhythm of waves to bother with writing a letter. Oh wait, that wasn␣t me! I have been packing my house, driving across the country, taking care of my girls, and riding my bike-­‐-­‐not difficult to determine which scenario is more my style.

I have to go back to graduation for a minute because I forgot a great quote. Joshua␣s dad, Robert, flew out to join in the graduation festivities. It meant a lot to Josh to have him there and the girls and I were thrilled to see him as well. As we were feasting and playing games during Josh␣s 14 hours of vacation, Robert said, ␣I shed tears over you today. That doesn␣t happen very often.␣ Then with a gleam in his eye and the perspective of a father he added, ␣Seeing you walk across that stage I thought, ␣There␣s a guy who has finally made it [slight pause] after majoring in everything imaginable!␣␣

Josh is in Dallas, EMPLOYED as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group! He is working crazy hours. My only consolation is that this is Josh and he would work overtime if he were flipping hamburgers at McDonald␣s. He says there is a steep learning curve so he finds himself spending a lot of time on things he knows should not take him that long. On the other hand, he is really enjoying the work! Hopefully the learning curve will have leveled out a bit by the time the girls and I get to Texas but the enjoying-­‐the-­‐ work part will continue.

Kate really misses her Dad. The day after Josh went to Texas, she took my phone and texted him a message: I␣ll be there before you know it!

The packing party in Philadelphia was a huge amount of work, but very successful in the end. We had ten days to pack. There were moments when we thought we would be done early with nothing to do and moments when we thought we would never make it. In the end, it was just about perfect. We were extremely organized and ready by the time the truck arrived, but we had time to squeeze in a few adventures as well.

We went to hear the Philadlephia Orchestra play Holst␣s The Planets. We went to a service at Christ Church, an historic landmark in Old City, and sat in George Washington␣s pew. We spent an entire day at Longwood Gardens taking in their display of 13,000 Lilies. Alan made so many trips to the Museum of Art that he got to know the security guards. The girls got to go to the Franklin Institute with Uncle Alan. They ␣went through the giant heart 6 times and once backward!␣ On our last day in Philadelphia they went to the Please Touch Museum with Grandma Shelly and played the day away.

There were a few classic moments during packing. One, of course, was getting the box spring out the second story window. The sun peaked out one afternoon after a string of rainy days, so we decided we had better get the mattress out the window while we had the chance. We had to remove both panes of glass from the biggest window at the back of our house. Then we borrowed a rope from a neighbor and tied it around the mattress. Mom and Alan were upstairs lowering the mattress with the rope. Our neighbor was hollering instructions in a Philly neighbor kind of way. I was down below the window ready to catch the mattress. There is a scene in How the Grinch Stole Christmas where Max, the dog, is waiting down by the sleigh while the Grinch stuffs bulging sacks of toys up the chimney. The bags come flying out of the chimney and land right on top of his head. I was Max down below the window. Stucco bits were raining down on my head and I was standing there wagging my tail waiting to catch the mattress. We managed the ordeal quite well and were much relieved when the mattress was on the main floor with all the boxes awaiting the arrival of the truck.

The second classic moment was the day before the truck arrived. The girls were at a friend␣s house and Mom, Alan and I were working furiously to get the last of everything packed up. Just then an inspector arrived. My landlords decided a few months ago to sell the house. I have done my best to be accommodating during showings, open houses, repairs, etc. in spite of the fact that we were trying to pack up and move ourselves. Then just at this moment an inspector arrives. We greeted him and said we would do our best to stay out of his way. He said, ␣I don␣t know if you were informed, but we need to do a radon test in the basement and no door or windows can be open in the house for 48 hours.␣ We all just gaped at him in disbelief. I told him the obvious, that that was impossible! We were moving and would be out in two days. He was welcome to come back after we had left.

The third classic moment was selling the scooter (I never could have survived this one without Alan). Josh loved his scooter, but the poor thing was a piece of junk. He decided he wanted to sell it. He posted an ad and we started receiving calls. As we were talking with the first prospective buyer, we realized we didn␣t have a title or a bill of sale or anything to prove that we actually owned the scooter. Josh, even after all he learned at Wharton, listed every problem the scooter had in his advertisement so the buyers all had a million questions for us about a scooter neither Alan nor I had ever ridden. Offers were coming in at half of what Josh asked and I was ready to go leave it at a bike rack in South Philly with the keys in the ignition as a gift to a lucky thief. Then the luck of Joshua came shining through. We got a call from a man who owns a hobby farm. He needed a scooter for volunteers to use on the farm. It wouldn␣t be on roads so he didn␣t care about the title or the cosmetic deficiencies. He just needed it to run. Without even an attempt at bargaining, he paid the asking price and picked it up that afternoon! Only for Joshua would something work out that perfectly.

We managed to reserve the parking spots right in front of our house on the day our storage pods were to arrive. The sun was shining that day and we were organized and ready. Our packing job was a masterpiece. Alan and I get great enjoyment out of packing so that not an inch is left vacant. We had fun finding the perfect object to fit each odd shaped space and the end result was a triumph!

After ten days of sorting and packing boxes, worrying about parking spaces, trips to the donation center, entertaining girls in a house with no toys, sleeping in odd places, and eating on the fly all culminating in our picture perfect packing job my Mom, Alan and I went out to dinner at Figs, compliments of the scooter. We made the most of it and enjoyed ourselves greatly.

Alan flew back to Utah the next day after two much appreciated but poorly compensated weeks of slave labor. We pressed my Mom into service even longer and the girls, my Mom, and I started our drive across the country that afternoon. We drove for 6 days. Thanks to Dad we had hotels lined up so each day we had a specific destination to reach and a swimming pool awaiting us upon our arrival. We ate relatively healthy snacks in the car, found rest stops with playgrounds, and managed to travel all the way across the country without eating any fast food! We asked for recommendations for local resternauts each evening and ate some really good meals. The girls were great. They listened to fairytales, stories, and the Lion King soundtrack over and over again. None of us were too sad to see the journey end, but it was as good as it could have been.

We are settling into a routine here in Utah. We have beds to sleeps in and dressers for our clothes. We resumed our morning breakfast and scripture study routine and set up some ␣Woodford Rules␣. This week we will get back into workbook sessions and an exercise routine. Kate discovered the piano this week and has spent a good portion of each day begging Alan to give her piano lessons. She came and explained to me how a piano works and then asked if we could get a piano when we move to Texas.

Yesterday I rode Little Red with Shannon for the third year in a row. Abby (14) and Brynn(11) joined us this year. None of us had trained for the ride this year, so we lowered our sights from the century ride and went thinking of riding the 18 mile or 32 mile loop. The furthest Abby and Brynn had ever ridden was 15 miles. We decided to start out on the 50 mile loop because the lunch stop was at 34 miles and we thought that would be a good place to stop if all of us or a few of us were tired. We all ended up doing all 50 miles. The ride was so beautiful. The mountains are still snow capped. The fields were incredibly green and filled with wildflowers. The sun was shining and I loved every minute of the ride. It␣s good to be back in the West.

Woodford Planning is in full force now for the summer. We have some general goals like selling our land, spending time with family, moving our junk out of my parents␣ house and finding a home in Dallas. We have few specifics worked out, however. Kate wants to take swimming lessons. At some point I will fly to Dallas to look for housing. We will be in Island Park for the Fourth of July weekend. BCG has a summer retreat the last week in July at a resort near Austin, TX. Kate starts school on August 22nd. That␣s all I know at present.