Move

We moved to Utah the beginning of this month. It was a lot of work and we are glad that portion of our move is over, though we still have a ways to go.  After loading our moving van and cleaning our townhome(Thanks to all who helped move, clean, and watch our kids), I flew out with the kids and Ryan drove. My mother-in-law, Susan flew with us to help me with the kids.  Richard, Ryan's brother, helped drive our van and moving truck with Ryan.  It was a 30 hour drive and took 3 days so we were very grateful for all the help!
Now that we are here, we are staying with my parents while our house gets built.  It should be done in about 6 months, but we'll just have to wait and see:)  I am very excited about our new house and all the possibilities we'll have with it.  We are also excited to start a life in a new community with our kids. 
It has been 8 years since I have lived in Utah.  We have lived in Chicago, Alexandria, and Sterling, VA.  All of those places are very different from Utah and big cities, next to tourist attractions.  It's a different lifestyle, not to mention we have been away from family most of the time.  So it will be a bit of an adjustment moving back.  I'm optimistic though that our experiences have made us more diverse and accepting and will help us really make the most of our new home and community.
Some things in Utah are great: Fry Sauce, LDS bookstores, Mormon displays in Costco, Family, No rated R movies playing at the gym, the library movie section is watchable, etc.
Some things in Utah I don't think I'll ever get use to: Big hair, sparkly back pockets on everyones jeans(I can't believe I use to wear these),  driving everywhere at high speeds, the bright sun, etc.
We sorely miss our friends in VA and will try to stay in touch and keep those friendships alive, but for better or worse we are here now and we plan to make the most of it and live the best we know how.