Last Days in Tennessee and The Drive (leg one)

 We had a little time with family to do some fun things in between packing, packing and more packing. It was so wonderful to have our family there to help us, because I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have gotten done without them!

 We ate at a local "dive" called Hog Heaven. Such delicious BBQ!

 We also visited the Bicentennial Mall.

 Rob is seriously the best packer ever. We hired some movers to come help us unpack in Texas and the head guy said that he has never seen a better packing job in his whole 35 year career. He even offered Rob a job if HP falls through :) We ordered 4 ReloCubes, but only ended up using 3 thanks to Rob's skills.

 A last view of our little home for the past 2 years. We sure will miss this place!

We pulled out of Nashville on Tuesday, May 15 to start the big 3-day drive out to Utah. We had some delightful and not-so-delightful moments.

 Ruby did a good job napping in her seat and was much happier when she woke up.

 Grace spent most of the trip watching her shows, thankfully with headphones. The most-watched movie was Barbie's Princess and the Pauper...by the end of the trip, she was belting out the songs as we drove :) It's funny to listen to little kids sing without the reference of what the song actually sounds like and says :) She is so cute.

Another memorable moment of the trip was when she was throwing a huge fit over something trivial and just would not calm down until Rob pulled off the highway and got her out of the car and made her sit on the cooler for a little time out in the middle of nowhere. It was windy and cold, so it didn't take her long to calm down.

Love this picture. The exit is "No Name"

 Yet another funny from the trip. Grace was pretty much exhausted the whole time but refused to sleep in her seat because she says it's too uncomfortable. So she cried and kept telling us that she just wanted to sleep in a bed. We were in the middle of nowhere (again, or still...) and asked her if she saw anywhere where there might be a bed. She'd say no and just keep asking for a bed. It was so pathetic :)

 At one point we stopped at a Cabela's for some free entertainment. The girls loved looking at all the awesome stuffed animals.

 We also played at a lot of playgrounds on the way out.

The girls really were troopers and did an amazing job for being in the car for at least 8 hours 3 days in a row. We finally made it to Utah for my brother's wedding on Friday.

Grace's Joy School Graduation

 The next day, Saturday, May 12, we had Grace's graduation from Joy School. We have loved spending two days a week with some of our favorite friends over the past year. Grace still always talks about her favorite friends from Joy School.

 Eli, Grace and Cherelle playing. We got to the park first and Grace met each of her friends and brought them over and introduced all of her friends to her family. She was the sweetest little hostess making everyone feel welcome.

 The kids singing the Joy School anthem.

Rob gave a commencement address. He talked about his time in Joy School 24 years ago and talked about our favorite Gunny Bag as part of it. He thanked the moms and all of the work that they put into a good foundation of learning for the kids.

 The Meeks helped the kids act out the story Caps for Sale, which was a favorite activity we did at Joy School. Of course the kids would love acting like the silly monkeys!

 Grace receiving her diploma

 All of the graduates

Cherelle, Grace, Evelyn, Eli and Anna

 Moms and grads

Cherelle and Michelle, Grace and Amanda, Evelyn and Stacey, Anna and JaNae, Eli and Katie

 Graduates!

Rob's Graduation

 Friday, May 12 Rob received his Masters of Business Administration degree from Vanderbilt's Owen Graduate School of Management.  We were so lucky to have both the Bunkers and Carters fly in for the momentous occasion (and to help us pack!). It was a beautiful day. We were all so proud of what he's done!

In front of the Owen Graduate School building.

His locker

The campus is spectacularly beautiful. Oh how I miss Tennessee's green-ness!

Happy graduate!

This is the best family pictures we could get that day :)

All the LDS guys he graduated with: Tristan Tucker, Rob, Ben Meek, and Andy Rigby.

It was a really special day to celebrate the last 2 years of our lives. Now on to the next phase...a job!

A Sweet Prayer

This afternoon I was putting away Grace's too-small clothes. She wanted to go through them all that I had already carefully folded and put away and I told her that she couldn't take them out. She was really upset that they were all too small and was crying and crying because she doesn't have pretty clothes like those and won't ever again (drama, much?). I told her that if she wanted to cry, she would need to go into her room to do it because it was driving me nutso. She cried for probably about 10 minutes. Then I heard her calm down enough to say the sweetest prayer that went something like this "Dear Heavenly Father, I really like all my old clothes that are too small. Please help me to feel better and calm down. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." And after it was all said, she was very calm and was done crying. It was so sweet that in her time of sorrow and upset that she turned to her Heavenly Father and believed that He would help her to feel better, and He did. She is just so sweet.

p.s. I know that I am so far behind on blogging. I will try to catch up soon, but for now you can know  we made it to Texas and are getting all settled. :)