Picking up our MOTOR HOME in Mesa, AZ and our trek to Montrose, CO

Paul and I flew from Anchorage to Mesa to pick up our new motor home.  It was a loooooong flight.  We were picked up by a cute old guy from the RV dealership Always RV.  It was about a 30 min drive from the airport.

One of the things they required us to do was to stay the night in the motor home on their lot.  Paul met with a mechanic and walked around the motor home.  He explained how everything worked and functioned and then we took a ride.  Paul was in 7th heaven.  You'd have thought it was Christmas morning.

WE went to Wal-Mart to buy some basics and some food and then went back to the lot to spend the night.  The next morning Paul met with the mechanic again.  Paul asked a few dozen questions and we were good.  After signing all of the paperwork we were off into the desert in our home on wheels! WooT!

 So many cool cactus plants. BIG ones, small ones and medium sized ones too.  
And my favorite...the Joshua trees...yes partly because of the U2 album :)

We traveled from through Arizona, past the Hoover Dam and into Las Vegas.

Lucky us! We had the best home cooked meal by my sweet sister Rebecca.  It was awesome to visit for a few hours, show she and Marin the motor home and have a nice meal. I love her so much!

 We got back in the m.h. and drove until Paul could no longer keep his eyes open.  and that my friends is the coolest part of an RV...when you are tired, you pull over, park, and walk back to a bed and you go to sleep.  We slept somewhere near Cedar City, woke up the next morning and kept on trucking.  

We stayed  in SLC for a few days, showed the new rig to my parents Janet and Richard and got some errands done before heading now to Colorado.  Paul's dad, Bruce was having a surgery to have a tumor removed from his neck, so we had planned to go to keep Paul's sweet mother company and calm during the surgery.  Paul and his dad have this incredibly special bond and Paul really wanted to be there while he had this procedure. 

Here are some shots from our trip to Montrose, CO. 

 

the search begins and fun in Anchorage

It is always a joyful reunion for Paul and I at the end of a long 3 weeks apart.  I can honestly still say, I miss him like crazy when he is at work.  That my friends is part of the reason we have decided to move up north to Alaska.

June 20th I flew into Anchorage to meet Paul and begin the search for a house.  But let's face it, we

could only stand to look at 5-6 house a day.... and we weren't our realtors only clients.  So we played like kids in downtown Anchorage.

The Peanut Farm was a little hole in the wall restaurant that we found.  We sat on the back deck right next to a small river/creak. 

It was so peaceful and fun.  Only downside was the mosquitos.

The next day we went to the summer solstice festival in downtown Anchorage.  Hey when there is a free festival, why not go?!

I loved this cool totem carved from a tree showing some of the animals found her in AK.  The bottom is a moose, then a bear sitting on his head holding salmon with a bald eagle on his head.  So cool and creative. 

We went to Olive Garden to celebrate the beginning of summer!

 and our new beginning in Alaska.

 This photo was taken at 11:00pm after we had gone to see a movie.  

It was so cool to me that it was that light out that late at night. 

One of those summer things I will have to get used to, I guess. 

 

 I giggled at the skating rink in the middle of the shopping mall.

We literally drove South out of this rainstorm.

It was really beautiful. 

 

This was us wasting time on the beach before we caught our flight

to Arizona to pick up our MOTOR HOME!!

 

Going with the flow

Before we started this great adventure of moving to Alaska, I promised myself one thing, that I would go with the flow.  We had a plan, but hey things can happen.  So I made it my mantra, gonna GO WITH THE FLOW.  If plan A doesn't work our we are going with plan B.  If plan B starts to sink, we will form plan C and so on and so forth. 

The Lord must have prepared me for this incredible journey and given me some kind of foresight because there have been some twists and turns that's for sure.  One thing I k
new for certain was that Paul would take care of me and that in the end everything would be as it should.  Trusting the Lord and trusting Paul made things easier and calmed my heart and soul. 

I am also very grateful for family and friends that supported us and kept me sane during this whole process. I am so very fortunate to have such an amazing support system no matter the distance.

I am grateful I got to spend time with some people who mean so much to me before I left too.

Jenna and I went to Megan & Rafael's wedding reception and then to dinner. 

I will miss my Jenna so very much. She is a voice of reason for me.

My good friend Kristi.  We served together in the Venezuela, Valencia mission.  Such a loving, loyal friend.  So of course we had to go out to eat at La Andanita, our favorite Venezuelan place. 

 Me with my favorite, a patacon.  Like a sandwich but the bread is fried plantains.

 Hiking City Creek with my good friend Carrie Anne.  This lady is amazing.

 Craig and I on an adventure to the Gateway.  We had dinner at California Pizza Kitchen and of course laughed ourselves silly.

 Breakfast the next morning at Eggs in the City, then shopping at 

Jolley's pharmacy and gifts.

 Father's day with my wonderful daddy! Man I am lucky!

Talk time and play time with my amiga Liz and her cute kiddos.  

She just moved to Chattanooga, TN with her husband and four children with one on the way.

 My darling friend and jeeping buddy Sarah and her baby Abby took me 

to have Nielsen's Frozen Custard a North Salt Lake classic.

This was all from June 5th - June 19th or thereabouts.  I flew to Anchorage to meet Paul on June 20th to start our search for homes. 

So grateful for so many friends and family. I am blessed. There is a popular saying that feels appropriate for this post,   

KEEP 

CALM

and

CARRY

ON  

 So I am.