MOVING WEEK: KC-Galveston

I'll let the pictures do most of the explaining, but in our last week in KC, we had a lot of projects we had to get done before the big move, and there were lots of goodbyes to be had, and on top of that Melissa had her baby just a couple days before we left. :)

      Short story real quick- My sweet sister Michelle had Scott, Syd and I over for dinner the week before we left; Nothing out of the ordinary. I was already emotional because of a $500 Sprint Bill that was only supposed to be $100, and this would be my last meal at Michelle's before we moved so of course when I walked in the door to see some of the faces I care most about and Michelle holding this sign, I started to cry. It officially marked the beginning of saying "Goodbye."

Scott and I sanded and restained some furniture we were bringing with us- update it a little! This bedroom set was my Grandma Welling's set. My mom remembers it in her house all growing up. Now it's Sydney girl's!

grayish/brown BEFORE

Copper/Gold AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER!

We got to spend some time with one of my best friends from home, Melissa during our last couple weeks in KS. Here we are at Lake Quivira Golf and Country Club, a place I used to be a banquet server at in high school and wanted to show Scott. 

I always thought it would be fun to live at Lake Quivira. Now I live at the beach ;). 

For one of our last family dinners, Scott and I made one of our specialty dinners- Sweet 'n Sour chicken with chow mein, crab rangoons (minus the crab..ha) and rice, and had everyone over. We're lucky Mel didn't go into labor until the next day. :)  

I probably should have gotten a picture of the people too...

Two days before we moved, Jeff had to leave for a business trip.

It was sad to say goodbye to him. I didn't expect to cry and neither did he!

This started a chain reaction as you can see (if you zoom in ;)).

We needed to update our barstools to match our new furniture we ordered for our living room/kitchen area. This light brown color wasn't doing it for us anymore. 

Voila! Much better.

MEL AND MIKE HAD BABY #4!!! 

Lacy Jayne Morris

Born Fri. 7/27
We got to be there for the birth!

Our new lil' niece, Lacy :)

Uncle Jeff, Syd and baby Lacy

Sydney was and still is OBSESSED-

with ALL babies, all the time.

This called for finishing another project. 

I did the final touches the day before our move. 

I had no other choice! They couldn't decide on a dang name!!! ;)

There's mommy, enjoying her new baby out on her new covered patio.

MOVING DAY 1

Packing the truck.

Thanks to all who helped!

Michelle is pouting. 

She was sad to see our car all hooked up.

One last bath in Grammy's tub for the best friend cousins Sydney and Madie

MOVING DAY 2

The drive to TX/Galveston

SO MUCH CRYING!!
It was weird to leave knowing we wouldn't be living here for at least 8-12 years if ever again.

This is the last I saw of my family in KS. I took this picture from the truck window as we were just about to drive away. Sad day. But exciting adventures ahead!

She looked so funny sitting shot gun in that big truck!

This was from the trucker before us. Can you believe it?!!?!

$620 for one fill-up! 

We were glad ours didn't hold that many gallons, but we did feel very much

a part of the trucking community the whole road trip down, stopping at all the trucker

stops and eating at all the trucker places. There are only so many options when

you are driving a big diesel truck with a tow dolly behind a trailer. Truckers are so nice. 

WELCOME TO

!!!!GALVESTON!!!!

Doing a little stocking up on food so we could survive

during the long grueling unpacking ahead.

I took this pic two nights ago- 

This is her new best friend here in Galveston.

She totally deserved it. :)

See what I mean? Grueling (I'm not even sure if that's the 

correct word, but it sounds intense, right?) See where that huge

box is to the left? That's our walk way. Wish us luck.

wow

Unpacking has been one big game of Tetris,
which you can only expect when you downsize :)

My new friend, Stormie, invited Scott and I to a "play group" at a pool where another girl from church lives. It was the morning after we moved in and we decided it would be a good way to meet people and other medical students from school and church. 

This pool, which looks out over the ocean was at the two mysterious towers that I can see across the field from my computer room window where I am now typing. They are no longer a mystery to me :).

We've met lots of really nice people. Some guys from church and a random neighbor walking by helped us move in. Someone brought us dinner our first night in town and our next door neighbor Maggie made us a pie. I think we're going to fit right in here in Galveston for these next four years. :)

HOMELESS and CAR-LESS

More correctly, we are really just HOUSE-less and only 1 car less. 

Long story short: We did NOT BUY THE HOUSE. We backed out after the inspection report came back to us. We started feeling worse about it anyway after getting the Flood/Wind insurance quote back for it- which is on an Island the was destroyed 4 years ago by a hurricane. Being in a flood zone is no good for the price of house insurance, and we weren't prepared for the "high-risk" flood zone price- at all. We also would not have been prepared for the possible risks that the inspection report posed either, had they ended up being real problems.

We sold our 2nd car, the Civic, two days after putting it up for sale. It drove away from us on the 4th of July, the same day we decided not to buy the house. Suddenly, our "home" no longer existed and we were back at square one, with less than a month to figure out from Kansas City where we were going to live in Galveston, and having already made the trip down there. It was quite depressing. I felt so helpless because now that we sold our car, we weren't guaranteed to live close to campus anymore. The housing options down in Galveston were slim-pickings when we were there in person- it's even worse from almost 800 miles away.

But, as promised, THINGS WORKED OUT. I was relieved of that desperate, helpless feeling after only a day and a half. Everything came together in a way that we couldn't have planned better ourselves. Instead of being tight on money and in a house, we are going to be tight on space (about 1/2 the space of the house) in an apartment, but have a little more money. I'm grateful for that circumstance because sacrificing space is more worth it to me than sacrificing so much more money- that honestly, we didn't really have. There's still no doubt that it will STILL be tight for us until he finishes in 4 years, but we will be much better off financially this way.

It's a little 3 bedroom apartment, the same place where the people lived that we stayed with when we went to Galveston to look for a place- So only by default did we get to check the place out that we otherwise would have never seen. We are so lucky to have called the very day we did, b/c the 3 bedrooms are almost never available. It was perfect timing. The exciting part is that it's a nice place in a nice area, really good price for the island (all utilities included in the rent) and it's only 1 mile away from campus (located at the north end of the neighborhood we were going to buy in).  So the fact that we sold our second car became a blessing again, Scott's bike and the free moped we inherited from a friend a few months ago will be very useful again, as well as the city bus that comes right by (and is free for students).

We feel very blessed, grateful and relieved that things are working out the way they are. I know we will be much happier in this situation, however long it may last for. For more reasons than I have mentioned, it has been a good learning experience, with only a minor price to pay for it.

Just for some viewing pleasure, here are some 4th of July pics- mostly of Syd in her cute garage sale dress ;) Call us ghetto. I LOVE (good) garage sales!! :)

 Playin' a little Croquet- A Fourth of July TRADITION in our fam :)