The Big Move

Well, this post will bring me up to date with the blog. At the beginning of January we moved because of Eric's job. He was promoted and transferred to the headquarters of his company which is just outside of Chicago, Illinois. I have never made a move like this one. Prior to now all the moving we did was basically local and besides renting a truck for one day to move all the big stuff, we could always take a few trips in our cars with smaller stuff that we didn't want to box up. This time, however, we had to box up literally everything we owned. It was crazy! Eric's work paid for a moving company to load and drive all our stuff to our new home, so it wasn't as crazy as it could have been. Still, this isn't something I want to do very often.

We were able to make the drive in 2 days. Two very long days. We are now mostly settled, and hope to be completely settled in another couple of weeks. Eric is enjoying working with his new co-workers, Emma is getting used to her new schedule (all day Kindergarten here) and starting to make some new friends. We like our new ward and are awaiting callings.

We arrived a couple days before our stuff did, so we didn't have much to do except become familiar with our new surroundings. We drove around Chicago and saw quite a bit, including Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower.

We also toured a Jelly Belly Factory which Emma loved.

Coming from a cold place helped us to adjust to the cold here. The wind is a bit stronger and more frequent, and it's more humid of course. That happens when you move from a desert. I will just have to recall my mission days (it's fairly humid in Austria) to help me.

Emma has found her own way to enjoy the sun without going outside. She was laying on our piano bench enjoying the sun shining in the window.

And then, just to make sure we were sufficiently introduced to the winters here, Mother Nature decided to send a blizzard our way. The news crews here were referring to it as "snowzilla". Officially we received 23.5 inches of snow. But add really strong winds and we ended up with huge snow drifts effectively shutting down everything and blocking many people inside their homes. Since we didn't have to be out in it (schools were closed and Eric didn't have to go into the office), I actually loved it. I thought it was so much fun! And Emma loved playing in it.

If you look closely, you can see my hands sticking up above the snow. I was standing just outside our front door reaching as high as I could. That's how much snow was blocking our door! Eric had to go out through the garage on the side to take the picture.

So we are here, trying to get settled and adjusted, and looking forward to what comes in our new home.