we're here!

We made it to our new home! Its crazy to think we have been here for 2 weeks already, and just a week from today Marsh will start all of his medical school adventures.  I'm handling this reality...ok...kind of... I blame my emotions on the little man inside of me that is ready to kick his way out. It's definitely his fault. We got here on July 18th -- it was a beautiful 104 degree day in Missouri :) but we were so excited to finally be on our way to our goals that we have talked and dreamed and prayed about for what seems like forever!
We left on an amazing high, finishing off with the most wonderful Hill family reunion -- my first one at that!  It was so nice to get to see everyone all at once, one last time, before we left. 

 

The week of the family reunion Marshall ran a basketball camp for all the older nephews.  He is so wonderful.  It was amazing to watch him get ready for the camp and how excited he was and how much he really wanted to help the boys be good, kind boys more than be good basketball players.  That is the man I married, it really is and I love it so much! He had quotes and lessons before each practice, and we even made them all personalized camp shirts!  It was actually a blast.. for me anyways.

We finished up the reunion in Bear Lake, then we came home and got to see cute Kimball get baptized!  I was so glad Mark and Aimee were here when he got baptized so we could all be there!  Plus, it gave us a little extra time to hang out with them again.  Our trip back there seems like it was so long ago now!

 

The baptism was on Saturday, and on Sunday we spent time with friends and family. On Monday we loaded up the van, and it was the beginning of many wonderful adventures!  We are so grateful to our wonderful friends and family that came to help.  It was so great to get to see Mari and Blake and Marie and Isaiah one last time.  They were so kind to come help because I obviously wasn’t any help.  But mostly I just loved getting to spend a last few minutes with them.  They have been the best friends to us this last year; I don’t know what we would have done without them!

So we started off!  At 11:30 the truck was loaded and ready to go, but the company hadn’t found the car carrier we ordered yet.  By 1:30 our bumper had been cracked and scraped by the company trying to put a car carrier on that didn’t work because they had given away the one we ordered! After exhausting a million other resources my sweet dad and husband left for Wyoming where they would get another car carrier to try.  At 6:00 that night they called because they got the car carrier to work-- don’t worry, they drove all that way to use the same carrier, but this time the worker man knew how to put the car on right!  The next day the girls-- My mom and I and my sis Joy-- took off for Kansas city on a plane.  I am so glad we flew!  I can’t imagine driving all that way right now.  We met up with Marsh and my dad in Kansas City... only after they had had a few more adventures with the moving truck… and we headed to our sweet little Kirksville!

 

I felt so nervous when we pulled up to our little house, but when we walked inside it was so much more wonderful that I had expected!  It is perfect for our little family, and its CLEAN! I am so grateful it's CLEAN! There haven’t been any bugs! It was a miracle! Dad and Marsh and Mom and Joy unloaded the truck in record time, and they finished right as the missionaries rode up to help-- perfect timing, right?! Just after we started figuring everything out, my brother Aaron and sis-in-law Sara pulled up with their babe all the way from Georgia! It was so sweet that they came all the way to help us get settled.  We loved it, but mostly we just loved so much getting to hang out with them again (and mom and joy just loved playing with baby Grant!). The eight of us spent the next few days putting the whole house together.  It was wonderful, and there is no way we would have been able to do it all on our own! After 2 days of working, my feet were so swollen I just had to lay there like  a bump on a log for a few days.  I felt so useless, and I was so glad everyone else was there. It made me really, really appreciate family love. We finished up almost everything in putting our house together, and then took off to Nauvoo--it's just and hour and 45 minutes away! 

 Aaron and Sara came out on Aarons b-day and right before Sara's so naturally we had to have a little celebration

 

It was a wonderful trip to Nauvoo, just like the one my parents took us on when we were little! It was Marshall's first time being there with the temple built, and it was Sara’s first time ever! It was so fun to be in the temple and enjoy it together.  I am so grateful we get to go back all the time.  It is our closest temple, and we are in the Nauvoo Stake.

 

I’ve said so much and should really go to bed, but that is the story of how we got here! I am so grateful my family was here the first few days; I needed it emotionally and physically in a million ways. It was so hard to let them all go home, but now it is just Marshall and I and the house is quiet.  It has been so nice that we almost welcome the quiet. The last few months have been anything but quiet in our lives. We have had a week and a half of just bliss, like a second honeymoon, just enjoying each other, trying new Kirksville things, and meeting new friends.  Kirksville has been good to us! I've loved soaking up these lazy days with Marshall, I love him so much more everyday. I didn't know it was possible and it is making it hard to think he will be gone all day long soon. It's funny how it works when you love and care about someone so much that you want to share every moment with them, yet you love them so much that you would do anything to help them achieve their dreams--even move to a town surrounded by corn 60 miles each way, stay home and cook and clean for them… it's funny, love is :)