A Move to Orem

(Sorry this post isn't as fun with all kinds of pictures.  I was a little too busy to get a bunch of shots while moving ;)  There's a lot of writing, so feel free to skim.)

Let's be realistic.  I'm procrastinating again.  Most likely, one reason that I blog so much is because I don't feel like doing anything, but I don't want to do "absolutely nothing" like watching TV.  Basically this is my favorite form of "productive procrastination".  In this case, it's more like taking a break.  On Thursday (yesterday), we moved from our old apartment in South Provo to our new apartment in North Orem.  I've mentioned this before...there were a lot of reasons why we were so excited to move.  And now that we are here, I'm liking it (so far) just as much as I thought I would.

We put off packing for a decent amount of time since we had family in town last week/weekend.   I had packed things earlier, but still had a lot to pack.  We started that on Sunday and worked a little each day.  Apparently not quite enough though because the night before the move I was up until 3:30am trying to finish packing.  I didn't have every little thing packed in the morning, but it was pretty dang close.  Just a few last minute things here and there in the other bedroom.

Jim had gotten the keys from maintenance earlier on Wednesday and they said that it was ours after 6pm.  We couldn't get a lot moved since Jim had work just a few hours later, but after Jimmie was in bed, I headed over with a carload of food and cleaning supplies to transfer refrigerated/frozen things, clean the apartment to my standard, and document any possible damage.  I was SHOCKED to walk in and realize that the whole apartment (except the 2 bedrooms) are tile!  Jim and I both would have bet anything that it was carpet when we toured it.  They must have just had a HUGE area rug and lots of furniture.  Not gonna lie, I was a little bummed.  But it's since grown on me and thankfully, we do have a nice big area rug too.

Our good friends Ally & Bob came over to help load the truck at 8am on Thursday before they had to leave for class.  And my friend, Rachel, was nice enough to let us borrow her Pack n Play so that Jimmie's nap time wasn't super messed up.  Of course, as soon as we got the gigantic truck loaded... we couldn't find the keys.  Awesome.  Long story short is, after many attempts to fix the situation and a wasted 3 hours & $50 for a key that was supposed to work and didn't, we found the key.  In a jacket pocket.  At least we found it! Our day would have been MUCH longer and more expensive had we not.  While Jim waited with the truck, I loaded the car with toys and other miscellaneous things and came over to the apartment with Jimmie.  He quite liked the floor!  After finding the key and getting the truck here, Ally & Bob met up with us again for lunch and unloading the truck.  We couldn't have done it without them!

Here's a little video of Jimmie and a quick tour of the mostly empty apartment.  Heaven knows, it will be a long time before we get all of the boxes unpacked and stored for more pictures.

(I think it's kind of a big file... You may want to pause it and let it buffer once you start it)

The apartment is definitely smaller.  I would guess it's about half (maybe a little more) the size of our old apartment.  But I think I will like that better.  It will force us to sell/donate/throw away a lot of unnecessary junk and stay a little more organized.  

Right now, our place is obviously still in boxes.  There will probably be a lot of boxes for a while still.  After several nights of very little/no sleep, we're both pretty zonked.  Thankfully we will have this weekend to unpack more and do things like go to the grocery store. Also, I did a pretty awesome job of staying organized while I packed.  The boxes are labeled great so I was able to get any of the basics that we will need for a while unpacked last night.  Slowly, but surely, we will get it all done.  

Mid-Truck Unload

Boxes, boxes, boxes.

Well, we got one box unpacked!  1 down... 100 more to go!

A few things that I already love about our new places:

- Location.  Jim and I are both less than 5 minutes from work. This part of Orem is also pretty dang windy.  It's not my favorite thing at work, but it is AWESOME to have that here so that we can play with things like kites & pinwheels and always get a good breeze through the house.  And there is a really nice park at the end of the street.  A great play ground, picnic area, and even some smaller hills which will be great when it snows.  We're close to a main road, but not right on it.

-  Windows.  Speaking of breeze, all of our windows open.  And have screens.  Woohoo!  They are big and open, but have blinds too.  We haven't needed the heat or AC that comes with the place.  Just windows...and it's awesome.

- Neighbors.  We met both our next door neighbors and the man beneath us within a few hours of being there.  They seemed like genuinely friendly and great people.  The older gentleman living in the apartment below us seems like the most laid back, chill kinda man.  I was super concerned that having Jimmie running around would be a big problem in an upstairs unit.  But I don't think it will.  He let us use his parking spot while he went fishing for about 3 hours with his granddaughter.  I've heard a lot of kids running around today, so there must be some more families in these units.  And of course, if you see my Facebook, my bagpipe playing neighbor.  Didn't meet him, but if the bagpipe routine becomes regular... I might have to.  At least he's good at it! It was kind of refreshing to lay on the couch with the window open and listen to the bagpipes.  

(It's very quiet.  You'll have to listen carefully)

- Dishwasher.  And it's a nice one.  'nough said.  

- YARD!!  We have all kinds of fenced in yard over here.  On both sides of the apartment and behind it.  Because our complex is off of the road, I don't have to worry about Jimmie getting to the road.  He really seemed to like the grass (and mulch) while we were moving in!

- Overall layout & feel.  Basically, I just really love the feel of this place.  Even with all of the boxes, it just feels less busy than our old place.  And I love that Jimmie can play with his toys in HIS room.  I love the neighborhood/more secluded feel.  Overall... I think this place is a pretty big WIN!

Now let's hope it stays that way :)

Congratulations, you've made it to the end of the post! 

Jimmie and I decided to play a little basketball tonight.

How cute is he...