Day 469: Deep in the Heart of Texas

Well, we made it. We are finally in Texas. It was a long road. 4 full days, to be exact. 

It began when David rented a Budget truck that was about 3 feet too small... and we had to unload everything to reassess what was going to be left behind. (at 1 am. Did I mention that?) Fortunately, David's coworker is a saint and came to our rescue with one of his roommates at 1:30 am and helped us until 3. Two extra men=much less work for us. But we were still up until 5 the morning before we left.

  

mid-unloading. 

Thankfully, Tori and Eric saved us by bringing over an air mattress and a few blankets so no one had to sleep directly on the floor for the few hours that we did sleep. So when we woke up at 7:30am with PDD, we were better rested for it. We finished the last details of our move (AKA threw away trash) and said goodbye to our little apartment. As we were closing up shop, David noted that Apartment 32 was all Pearson had ever known and suddenly, I felt even more sad and nostalgic about leaving.

 

 our door--and the loudest doorbell ever. I hated that thing and finally dismantled it.

Then we began the roadtrip by stopping at Target for some snacking necessities and In-N-Out for Burgers, Fries, and Milkshakes. Did I mention that Michael joined us for this roadtrip? He did because he is the best brother ever. He also really enjoyed finishing three books in four days while I drove all but 2 hours and David drove a crappy truck all the hours.

  

I think this is book one.

 

 We found some friendly shower-cleaning employees...but no bathroom-cleaning employees, which made me really concerned.

 

 And we faced P-Dizzle forward (which I'm pretty positive is against the law in maybe all of the states we drove through, but made this even remotely possible, although still traumatic.)

We stopped at the Grand Canyon. It was dark, but we had already cut Big Sur out of our initial trip plans (thanks a lot, Budget truck), so we decided to just go for it. Although I wish we had also been there in the day and we definitely did not get ANY good pictures, it was MAJESTIC. And Pearson loved being awake and out of the car. 

 Oh, you couldn't tell they are standing in front of the Grand Canyon? Are you blind?

 Just PDD being his cute self, like always.

and practicing walking with dad to blow off some steam before we got BACK in the car, which was a huge battle by this day of our trip. (end of day 2, of course.)

The third day I finally stopped at a target in the morning and bought a "Best of Sesame Street" DVD. Since PDD has never really watched TV, I didn't think it would be all that successful, but BOY WAS I WRONG! Especially since most of the "Best of" consisted of songs and he is obsessed with music. He also seemed extremely fond of Anderson Cooper's moment with Oscar the grouch, but we haven't revisited it, so I can't be sure. Also, I realized I hadn't been distracting him with much in the way of toys when I noticed him going to town on his toes... never fear that two top teeth appeared about a week after this picture was taken. 

 Our final day! At this point, it felt SO CLOSE.

 and book 3 on the home stretch!

 Poor Michael was, I think, a little tired of hearing PDD complain by the time we went to Texas and immediately sought some quiet solace when we arrived at my parent's house. 

After a little apartment drama (seriously, moving in two weeks made me such a stress case), we finally decided to stay somewhere for a few months and look for a house! We haven't started looking yet, but in the mean time, I am really enjoying our new apartment. It is almost twice as big as our last apartment, and feels new, and WE LEFT THE DENIM SOFA BEHIND! Which means I got a new sofa and suddenly the sun is shining brighter than before! haha. But I still have this aching hole in my heart that misses Palo Alto and all of our friends there. I miss the outdoors more than I can say, and Pearson misses it too. Every time the door to our apartment opens he seems desperate to escape, and I don't blame him. BUT we are still enjoying ourselves in a big way. Here are some of the highlights of our new life: 

 Stairs at grandma's house! He didn't even have to think about how to get up them. 

 A big bath tub. I mean, seriously, it's like a swimming pool for him. Especially compared to the pink tub at our last apartment as illustrated in the pictures below: 

 

eating apples. New favorite. 

 playing cars with Uncle Michael. Also favorite. Uncle Michael. and cars. Sometimes he will only go to Michael.

cousin Calvin! built in friend and soon to be best bud. 

 

 getting accustomed to our new ward...by sitting/crawling/screaming/shouting/gabbing in the foyer during at least one, possibly two, and sometimes all three hours of church.

 emptying the shelves of DVDS...

 ...to find Despicable Me. No joke, he will find the case and bring it to us to put it in. Then, he will watch a lot of minutes at a time. Enthralled. As demonstrated by this photo. And did we cover the fact that he is walking? He started walking about a week after week arrived--10 months. Now we are at 11 months and the slow and steady walking has turned into running (as of two days ago.) Before yesterday, it was hard to keep walking when he could drop to his knees and crawl like lightning.

 

We are also into kissing really hard. Not always, but sometimes. I love being the recipient of these kisses. A lot of intensity. And these kisses don't happen for everyone. But Chandler and Corinne have both been beneficiaries of Tiny Dancer's uncontrollable love. 

 we also enjoy being goofy

 and lately, we really hate sleeping. Actually, I've always really hated sleeping, its just the babe who is finally catching on.

other things PDD likes to do:

-throw balls

-dance (which actually means bounce) in almost perfect rhythm (sometimes his body can't keep up with the beat and remain balanced since he is usually doing this standing up)

-chase after the dogs and point out all of the "dahs" we see or hear

-try to whistle (which means that he puts his lips in an "o" shape and then sings really high)

-click his tongue until you copy him

-open up all of the cupboards and empty them all as fast as possible

-throw food on the floor (especially at grandma's when it brings the dogs running. This is usually accompanied by giggles)

-throw tantrums when tired

-avoid naps (especially in the afternoon)

- try to stay up until Dad gets home, when he will then cooperate and go to bed fairly well. Stinker.

-cry when Dad leaves for work

other things I do:

-get ready to go back to school in January

-work at Anthropologie

-read books I check out from the library or borrow from my sisters. (They basically have an amazing YA library of their own.)

-watch Next Iron Chef: Redemption with my mom and sisters

-take trips to the QT

-fill up my car for less than $3/gallon (on a good day)

-see my family whenever I want

-see the Dance family whenever we want

-watch the girls dance

-take piano and voice lessons

-be a cool mom (obviously)

and believe it or not, David actually made it here with us! He is...

-loving his new job. Seriously. All he does is talk about it. Fortunately for him, I find it interesting, so I like to listen. :)

-training for the Iron Man Houston in May

-wearing jeans and a t-shirt to work everyday (perks of only two people in the office)

-loving learning about Terreno (the farm business his Dad owns. I would say empire, but maybe that's just me exaggerating...)

And after all of that, here are a few pictures of P just being adorable because everyone loves pictures of a cute baby.

he just gets really excited about shaking things...