The day after school let out, we spent the whole day packing up our Harrisville home in preparation for our move to Arizona. We were very grateful and amazed by all the help we received from friends, neighbors and ward members.
After packing up, we spent one last night with my parents and started our long trip Sunday morning along with my brother Matt and his wife, Nikki. We traveled to Gallup, New Mexico (Route 66 was running through my head for two day straight) the first night with only one puking incident--given our track record, we were actually pretty pleased. It was a long drive, but the kids were kept busy with a ready supply of DVDs (thank heaven for modern technology!). That night we all stayed in two tiny rooms at a Motel 6 then got up early the next morning and drove the last five hours to Safford. It actually almost seemed longer than the day before due to the winding mountain roads, cranky kids and the fact the Brigham threw up three different times and was completely miserable. Needless to say, we were all very happy when we finally arrived at our destination.
The house we are renting is an older home that apparently at one time housed a radio station. There is actually a guest house right next door that is also rented out and then a studio apartment above the garage where Matt and Nikki are staying. Even though the house is older, it's actually quite nice and has a lot of character. The kids spent the first two or three days just exploring the yard and discovering things that they wouldn't have seen in Utah.
The second day we were there, they found this little lizard in the back yard.

A couple days after we moved in, they flooded our yard, which is a common way to irrigate in Arizona and the kids got a kick out of playing in the flooded front yard.

Ben's Aunt Ruth and Uncle David live just a couple of miles away from our new home and have done everything they can to make the transition to Arizona easier for us. The kids already adore them and their boys (Ben's cousins). They especially love to go to Aunt Ruth and Uncle David's house because they breed Golden Retrievers. They have a litter of puppies that are about five weeks old and the kids LOVE them! The kids ask nearly everyday if they can go see the puppies.