In lieu of a mass email

We made it! I was going to write a big family email when I thought, "Wait, don't I have a blog for that kind of thing?" Obviously I have forgotten that this blog exists... :)

After we moved out of our condo it didn't seem real that we were moving. We had three weeks before we had to be in Virginia, so we stayed with family in Utah and Idaho and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. It was three weeks of bliss, which made it that much harder once we actually got here!

Bowman: He drove across the country by himself, but eased the loneliness by stopping at sushi restaurants every day for lunch. He started work as an official ExxonMobil employee on Wednesday! We are so grateful to have this wonderful job.

The pros and cons of his work so far (based purely on my observations and without having consulted with Bowman on this at all) are:
Pros - He gets three meals a day, on a regular schedule, which is more than he can hope for at home sometimes :)
Work is literally 100 feet from our hotel. No commute!
He genuinely likes his job. Always a plus!
Cons - Long days! 12 hours yesterday, ugh! We have been spoiled with a very open schedule for the past 10 months. Still,  Rayna and I get bored by about 4:00 every afternoon, and we really look forward to him coming home.

Stephanie: After two days I am getting used to the idea that we live here now. It didn't ever feel like we were moving, until Wednesday morning when I woke up in Virginia. And I realized, I didn't give my family a proper goodbye! And I am gone from Utah for who knows how long! And why is it so humid??? Also, Wednesday morning my phone stopped working, and that's why I haven't been able to answer all those calls from friends and family telling me how much they miss us and the dates you're all coming to visit. Right?

Really, I like it here and I'm happy to have yet another adventure in our journey toward a permanent living situation. This hotel setup is really nice, although it may mess up my already shaky bathroom-cleaning habit. Four months of housekeeping might be enough to ruin me forever, we'll see. :) We are so lucky to have 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. And we really do have beds for 6 people, so plan your visit and call me tomorrow after my phone is fixed!

Rayna: Always the most exciting part of the family! This poor girl has lived in 6 places so far, at the ripe old age of 18 months. We have been so blessed to have a child who can go with the flow, although my champion sleeper hasn't been much of a champion lately. It's only been two days, I realize, but I have been proud of her sleeping habits for too long to just let that pride go! She has been an awesome sleeper since she was 3 months old, but I think it's been a combination of separation from Bowman, too much a/c, and one too many new sleeping arrangements for her this time. Plus, she can cry "Mama!" now when she wants out, and I just can't resist that! 2 AM and I can't resist it! Once she's asleep, she's okay, so hopefully she learns this place isn't scary and that Bowman comes home every night.

She is the same sweet and happy Rayna that's she's always been. She loves to talk on the "hello" (the phone), drink juice and "spicy" (soda pop, haha!), and eat her "bips" (chips). She asks for "dada" and "papa" (grandpa) all day long. She loves looking at pictures of family. Maybe when we see you next she'll know all of your names!

That's our update for now! We love and miss you all and can't wait to find out that we've moving back! Who knows, but keep your fingers crossed!