It's Garrick's 27th Birthday today & we had a nice, relaxing day. Garrick had classes from about 11:30 to 4:00 today, but I was still able to make him a big breakfast & later that evening we went out to dinner. We went to a Louisiana style restaurant called Harry's. We ordered about 6 different dishes & all shared (Shrimp Scampi, Louisiana Pork Tenderloin, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee, Shrimp Creole, Shrimp & Scallop Orleans & for appetizers, Calamari & Crabmeat & Eggplant Napoleon). Garrick even had room for a slice of Key Lime Pie - we're stuffed!! And it was delicious!

Garrick's mom, LoVida drove up from West Palm Beach & has been here to help out with Aubree and celebrate with Garrick. She'll be staying until late this weekend, Yay!!! It's a nice break for me. Last night Garrick & I were able to go over to some friends apartment in the building next to us and played drinking games... Hmmmm, drinking games drinking water doesn't quite work. Believe it or not, I was one of the worst ones playing, we played Kings (never played before... this college life is ALL new to me!).

This life is definitely different than the one we're used to. Everyone has classes all week and drink all night. Tonight, while walking home from dinner we saw 4 people dressed in Toga gear heading to a party. Every night there is a party! We were invited to one tonight that had a keg & beer pong - the people having the party are Med. students, Law students & Business students and all have class tomorrow at 7am. The next two years are going to be crazy, good thing we have a couple of kids (almost) to keep us grounded, it would be so tough for me to live that life ALL the time! :)

So, we've arrived in Gator Nation!!!

It's crazy to think that two weeks ago from RIGHT NOW Garrick was taking his GMAT & we had no idea we would be sitting in Gainesville, Florida right now!

The last week has been pure insanity. Early to mid last week we packed up our home, on Thursday evening/night we had some wonderful friends come & help us pack our 24-foot truck. The truck ended up getting all packed (even though it didn't seem like it could happen), Our friends, Chris, RV, Seth, Kevin & Rachel were such a blessing & stayed until almost midnight. After everyone left, Garrick & I stayed up for another 2 hours cleaning the house & tiding up loose ends. We ended up finally getting to bed at 2am, only to be woken up by Aubree at 4:20am, there was no going back to sleep for any of us. So we got up, finished packing, took a shower, packed the cooler, made a Starbucks run & hit the road! We drove until about 6:30am & ended up FINALLY stopping in Tucson, Arizona around 11:30/12:00am (LONG DAY!!). We ended up doing that with only making 3 stops (Buttonwillow, CA, Santa Clarita, CA & the California/Arizona border). Two to fill up gas & one "unscheduled stop" for an emergency bathroom trip for me (it's hard being pregnant & holding your bladder!!)





Day Two: Garrick (Aka Drill Sargent) woke us up at 6:00am & we hit the road 45 minutes later (after a little McDonald's breakfast). We made it about 40 miles past San Antonio, to a little town called Seguin, Texas, we arrived a little after 1am. That day we made one stop in New Mexico & two stops in Texas (all for gas - but one was "unscheduled" but turned into a gas fill-up when I had a crazy craving for Dairy Queen's chicken baskets - YUMMY! Texas was crazy! Lot's of rain & lightening storms. West & East Texas look like two different countries... It was wild driving through that state.
Day Three: Up at 6:15am (4:15am Pacific Coast time) & hit the road about 45 minutes later. We stayed at the Hampton Inn so we got a free continental breakfast, biscuits & gravy, waffles, bagels & cream cheese, cereal, coffee, juice, yogurt, fruit. It was a nice start to the day. This was probably the day I was mostly looking forward to. An hour after we left we arrived in Houston, Texas & then on to Louisiana (where we made one stop), on to Mississippi & then Alabama & FINALLY to Florida!!!! We arrived in a city called Lake City (45 minutes north of our final destination, Gainesville, FL) at about 12:15am. We stayed at the Hampton Inn again (my new favorite traveling/road-trip hotel - the beds are amazing!!!!).


Day Four: Drill Sargent finally let us sleep in until 8:15 (5:15am Pacific Coast time... what a nice guy, huh?). That morning was enjoyable. We had another nice breakfast & then hit the road. We arrived in Gainesville around 10:30am. Found a place to park our big truck, unhitched our car, drove to the leasing office & picked up our keys. We love our place. It's perfect for us!

I'll write more about our place when it gets completely unpacked & post pictures. Right now everything is about 60-75% unpacked... Unpacking is a lot of work!!!

I had to write this & this is the last post until I'm in Florida (I think).

I was driving around town today, picking up medical records, buying a cooler for the truck, getting snacks at the grocery store - pretty much running around like crazy!!! On my way home, right in front of me for a couple miles was a black Jetta, like my 06' Jetta that I drove up to Northern CA in before beginning all these things God had in store for me (the one I turned in for a new car last year). On the back of the car it said "JETT" - My "A" had fallen off awhile back. I was like, wow... that could be my car!! The registration was November (like my car) & the license plate frame said "Niello" (that's who I turned the car into) ANYWAY... I looked at the license plate & it was my old one 5SGT129... That WAS my old car. The car I was in when I packed up from Orange County, not really knowing what my future would hold, the car I brought my baby home in... The car that eventually lead me to my life now.

I thought it was symbolic to see that car & out of all days... The day before we depart for our NEW life in Florida. It felt good to see that car & it also brought back so many memories of my previous adventure & as challenging as that was and as scary as that was, it was so worth it. So, I am now accepting of my adventure (as scary & as challenging as it may be)... Only this time I'm doing it with my FAMILY! :)

In the midst of all of our crazy & exhausting packing, we had our 13 week Ultrasound & scan yesterday to check on our baby's health. All looks good with a 146 bpm, 3 inches long & just a VERY active little baby!! This baby was jumping & punching, moving it's little head from left to right, kicking it's legs, moving it's arms all over, sucking it's precious little fingers... Ahhhh... It was amazing to see our second child, that baby melted my heart! Aubree sat in on the Ultrasound & kept saying "baby, baby" - not sure if she was seeing what WE were seeing, but she seemed excited.

Tonight is our last night in our bed, tomorrow we pack up our huge 24-foot moving truck & we're sleeping on an air mattress tomorrow night. I better enjoy tonight!! I can't believe that this is our second to last night sleeping in Sacramento! :(

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!!