And Some Beautiful Hellos

The last few days, I've been showing you glimpses of when we packed up to say goodbye. Now I'm ready to show you our first hellos at our new home!

When we made our final trip to the new house, I took Lexi in the car with me, because her crate takes up a lot of room, and Ryan took Braeya in the truck with him, because her crate is much smaller! :) When we arrived at the house, we decided to introduce them to the new space in seniority order, so Braeya went in first. She hopped right out of her crate with no hesitation. 

And though she has never done this before when we've moved, she immediately started stretching and exploring. I've said before that this house has a lot of similarities to our Kokomo home (in its layout and feel) and I don't know if she noticed that or not, but there was never a single minute when she acted like this wasn't absolutely home. She owned it from the start. 

Ryan and Tim had brought the couch over prior to our final move, so it was already sitting in the living room and she seemed glad to see it - AND glad that she had a window to look out of while she sitting on top of it! (Check out our pretty mud yard back there!)

Lots to see!

She spent most of our first day right here, happy as she could be. (The picture is blurry, but you get the idea.)

Speaking of blurry - that would be ALL of the pictures of Lexi meeting the house, because she was SO EXCITED that she just ran in joy and is basically a fluffy blur. We did not anticipate any issues with her in a new space, because all of the world was created for her enjoyment, and this was no exception. (This is truly her life. She loves every location she visits and every person she meets.)

He could not put her down fast enough. 

And then she just ran around sniffing it all! She was SO HAPPY to see the couch. The one thing that did freak her out was our empty apartment. I think part of it was because it was so echo-y in there and part of it was because there wasn't anything soft to sit on anymore. Just a hard floor. But she reunited with that couch in a fat hurry! 

SO MUCH TO SEE!!!

Cracks me up that they're all so blurry - but that's Lexi on the move for you!

Ryan and I stood back and tried to figure out what to do first. Isn't that the worst? When EVERYTHING needs done and you don't know where to start? Ryan decided to hook up the washer and dryer because we needed to wash our bedding so we could sleep that night. :) And I started unpacking boxes for the kitchen - so we could eat!

But first...an official first picture in our new home. We were exhausted. Can you tell? (Spy Braeya back there?)

And a big hug for my new pantry. It's a dream. 

NOW to the unpacking:

And Ryan worked on the washer/dryer.

Took a break in the afternoon to make some coffee. Ryan got his a little too full. 

Lexi helped assemble the sectional. LOL!. 

This might make you laugh! Our home came with a microwave and dishwasher already installed, but it did not come with a refrigerator or stove/oven, so we had to purchase those. Our refrigerator came a couple of days after we moved in, which made it fun to try to eat in the meantime. Our local friends stored all our refrigerated food at their house, and we stuck our upright freezer in the refrigerator space. What do you think?

Braeya and I took a nap. 

Note about the nap: one of the things I was very intentional about as we made this move was to do at least one thing every single day that was restful. Napping without awakening to work texts or doors opening around the building was high on my list, and I started IMMEDIATELY. It was glorious.

We worked hard all day, and that night we sat down to a celebratory glass of sparkling grape juice. We didn't have internet, clothes unpacked, or much idea where the spare toilet paper was, but we did have our pretty glasses!

A grand start to a new chapter, and we were grateful.