bumps and more bumps

well here is the story.
we finally arrived in new york after a short flight and about 1 1/2 hours of waiting on the runway to get out of the plane, an hour of waiting for our bags, and an hour of waiting for the rental car people to get through 3 people ahead of us. i have decided i dislike traveling very much. yes flying gets you there in one day, but ugh! i hate waiting in lines! especially when there are a bunch of other people pushing, shoving, and rushing around you. anyway, once we were in the rental car and on our way to our new home we enjoyed the beautiful trees and tons of buildings. once we had driven for quite a while we arrived to our apartment. a very kind lady in our new ward met us and brought us blow up mattresses, sleeping bags, a pack 'n play, and dinner. she had never even met us. it's neat to meet people like that who are super kind and generous to anyone and everyone. they inspire me. we had an interesting night in our empty apartment. it's a little spooky to be in an echoey and empty apartment. i didn't really like it. but with the hotels being at least $150 a night we decided this was a better idea.
the first bump. the apartment, to say the least, was not clean. what is it with people moving out thinking that someone else is going to want to clean up their mess and their germs right as they are moving in? it totally gets under my skin. oh well, i cleaned it and that's that. we spent most of the week out and about running errands, picking up all sorts of stuff for the apartment. we picked up lights from ikea to hang from the ceiling since our apartment only has lighting in the kitchen and bathroom, a couple of rugs for our wood floors, a desk for our computer, curtains for the windows, another air conditioner, etc. etc. i try not to think about the money. moves are exspensive, right?
our second bump was when our cars arrived. in the first day we discovered something was terribly wrong with both of them. we got my car fixed in a couple days, but in the meantime we had to drive around in jeffrey's non air conditioned car. man, those kids heads were sweating. that is when the decision was made that we would buzz all three of the boys hair off as soon as our stuff got here. we are currently trying to fix jeffrey's car so that he will again have air conditioning and so that his car will start in the morning. he had to take my car to work the first couple of days and i took him to work today. it is all working out though. we'll pick his car up tomorrow.
the next bump was we found out our temporary insurance is not going to work out here. so yeah, still trying to figure that out.
the next bump, the washer wouldn't work. i finally get a washer and dryer and the washer is broken. i just about cried. i know silly, but it was really frustrating. i just wanted things to stop going wrong. luckily that day another lady from the ward brought us dinner. that was a big help to me to remember that things are ok. there are nice people and good things happen.
the next bump, our stuff was delayed again!! this time only 2 days though. it finally arrived on friday july 11th. only 11 days later than originally planned. it did get here. most everything was in good shape. a few things got busted, but i guess that is expected. i was really sad about jeffrey's mobiles. they got squashed!! i was so sad. also a piece of my pottery i made back in high school was not packed right and it shattered. :( again, oh well. got to let it go. the packers unpacked and i tried to put everything away somewhere, anywhere, as fast as they were taking it out of the box. sweet jeffrey entertained the boys all day long while i worked inside as the packers kept unloading. it took all day. we were so tired! all of us. it felt so good to sleep in our own beds again. it's been great getting settled into our apartment fairly quickly.
ok, so here is the next bump, the one that hit me the hardest. i think it hit me the hardest because there had already been so much that had happened and i just kept hanging on until i snapped. i had left a message for the landlord about the washer in the evening and then called her in the morning because i wanted to get it fixed quickly. now i had only called her 3 times in the 4 days we had been here. i called because we couldn't get some of the windows shut, we needed to know if the moving van could park in the parking lot, and to ask to get the washer fixed. she was out of town, but she had told us to call if we needed anything. her response to my call that morning was a shock. she sounded upset so i asked her if she was mad for some reason. she said yes and proceeded to yell at me saying i had called her every hour on the hour since i had gotten here, that a broken washer wasn't an emergency, that i wasn't giving her enough time to get back to me, etc. i tried to defend myself saying i was just anxious because everything seemed to be going wrong and she said that it wasn't her problem and then she hung up on me. i broke down bawling. i couldn't believe she would first of all yell at me, second say something so outrageous as, you've called me every hour on the hour, and then hang up on me when i tried to defend myself. i was a complete mess. i just couldn't take one more thing. it was so crappy! but sweet jeffrey, stood by me, let me cry, and help me keep moving and tried to keep giving me hope that things would work out. i don't know what i would do without him. he is so amazing. he went over and tried to talk to the landlord. she was nicer to him but she did make it clear that she could kick us out if she doesn't like us. she won't even give us our signed copy of the lease. what the nerve! we are trying to figure that out still. oh yeah, and our washer is still broken and she hasn't returned jeffrey's latest call about it.
ok, moving on. we went to church on sunday and wow, what a different experience. it was great and the people are very kind. the thing was there were only like 40 people there. i don't think i've ever been to a ward that small. they said a few families were out of town, and some were probably at work, but still, it is small. i'm not saying that will be bad, just an adjustment. it felt weird when half of the relief society left after opening exercises to go to the spanish speaking class and there were only 5 of us left. the closest member lives at least 15 minutes away and the rest are probably at least 25 minutes away. i do look forward to getting to know the people here in my little town though. i hope to meet them through story time, the park, and anywhere else i can.
good news is the bumps have slowed down since sunday. just homesickness setting in as jeffrey is now leaving to work each day and i am now figuring out what there is to do here with my kids. today was a better day. that's probably why i can finally do a post and not feel like i'm going to break down and cry. i would have posted last week but we didn't get the internet until yesterday. we went to a nearby park last night right after jeffrey's work. it's down by the river. it is so beautiful. the boys love the front yard. in the evening they catch fireflies with daddy. there are a ton in our yard at dusk. we've eating dinner outside most nights on the pick nick table out there. it's a fun place. it really is. things will get better and more comfortable, just like everyone keeps telling me. i sure appreciate all your prayers, your love, and your support. we miss you all so much. not really looking forward to going through all of this again next year, but for now i'll try not to think about that. hehe. so there was my story, my update, my eventful couple of weeks. whatever you want to call it. we wish you all the best wherever you are. God bless.

leaving salt lake city. july 6th.

eating strawberries outside while daddy and elliot caught fireflies.

the movers trail of boxes to protect the wood floor. i can't believe i forgot to get a picture of the movers and the van. darn.

jeffrey outside all day with the kids the day our stuff got here. you're awesome!!

sammy's haircut.

elliot pre-haircut.

elliot post-haircut.

jeffrey mid-haircut/mohawk.

look how nice he looks! he loves that buzz.

the kids are pretty much overjoyed to have all their toys back! they love that they have a playroom! it has been great!

i'll post some more pictures of our apartment once it is decorated. for now, good night.