So.... Seems as though God did have some big plans for us in 2009. Just a few days ago Garrick was accepted to the University of Florida... For this year!!! Which means we have about one week to pack up everything we know & love here in Sacramento and relocate our growing family to Gainesville, FL.

The instant we found out this news, Garrick started acquiring his student loans, looking for a place to live for all of us & getting his acceptance papers together. Much has happened over the last few days. Loans are in motion, we locked down a loft & have already begun selling some of our things & packing!!! Aubree's room & toys are mostly packed, my stuff is getting there and the kitchen has started transforming into boxes. This feels crazy & overwhelming, but we'll get everything packed & loaded by Thursday at midnight... Just in time for our early Friday morning departure.

The loft that we'll be living in is 6-7 blocks from Garrick's Business School, about 10 blocks from the amazing football stadium where OUR beloved Gator's DOMINATE each year & just a couple blocks to bars, cafes & restaurants. It puts us in the heart of Gainesville, minus some of the immediate areas the undergrads infest!! Haha! :) It's a great location & I can walk to pretty much everywhere except my grocery store of choosing (Publix - the best place to shop in the South-East) & Target. Our loft is a three bedroom, two story unit above some restaurants, more-so cafes. We'll have two bedrooms & a bathroom upstairs and downstairs would be our laundry, kitchen/living area, third bedroom & bathroom.

This past weekend my mom, Kelly & Annie came up to help pack, but mostly visit! :) I just can't work when there is an option to talk & enjoy each other's company under these circumstances. We did get a lot done & Aubree LOVED having the company and dancing on the table for all of us. On Saturday night, we had our closest Sacramento friends come over for a BBQ to say Goodbye. That BBQ turned into going out to a bar/Lounge & then some Blackjack gambling until 3am!! That's the latest I have been out in, probably 5 years. But I had to be the DD and get Garrick & his buddies to where they needed to get safely, plus it was fun hanging out with the people we love! :) Something like that is so worth the memories when you may never return to California to live again.

We may end up being East-Coast people for the rest of our lives if these next couple years goes by successfully. And that is why I am struggling with this, this is a huge change & it's hard on me. It's hard for me to be that much farther away from my family & friends, my home state & the things I'm familiar with. I'm also very excited, don't get me wrong! I just have a lot of mixed emotions (maybe it's this pregnancy), and as much as I sometimes enjoy the anticipation of change, the actual change can & will be challenging.

I do have hopes & prayers coming into this... I of course hope & pray for Garrick's future success, but also for Aubree, new baby & my adjustments, I pray that we meet some nice couples & families, develop a good support system & try to enjoy every minute over the next two, possibly stressful years ahead of us. This will be an experience like none we have ever shared before & it is my hope that we really, truly can appreciate it, laugh at the battles, be protected, yet have fun, live a little like college kids (when we can) & give our kids a great Gainesville life & experience!

So... We hit the road on Friday morning!!! Hope to arrive in Gainesville early the following week (Monday 8/3, Tuesday 8/4)... We'll have to see how many stops we can limit with Aubree. It'll be us three (four) sitting on that uncomfortable moving truck bench for days!! 40 hours non-stop driving, so we'll try to get 10-12 hours of driving in on a day.

We will greatly miss all of our California friends & family!!! You all hold a very special place in our hearts & nothing will change that. We also hope that some of you can get out there to visit us, especially during the exciting football & basketball seasons. We're so excited to be Gators!!