Repost - Moving to Alaska: Day 1

So I didn't keep it going while we were actually traveling and I fell short of actually blogging over the last year so here it is ONE YEAR later, Brough Family Life Moves to Alaska!

I will keep this up this time. (I'm telling myself that as much as y'all)

Pullman, WA to Spokane, WA via Moscow, ID and Coeur D'Alene, ID
Miles traveled: 122

Day 1 was a day of endings and beginnings. It was the end of our time on the Palouse. It was the end of 10 years of our lives that included meeting, falling in love, marrying, graduating college, having kids, getting jobs, buying a house and going back to school. Leaving was hard, I cried... A LOT! But thanks to a couple of really fabulous teenage boys, who mean the world to us, and their families our last day in Pullman was more than we could have imagined.

A lot happened that day and truth be told I don't really remember it all now, it was a blur. Here's what I do remember

• Took boys to daycare. Ran into a friend who volunteered her son to come help. Said son is a fab kid and the help was welcomed. Friend also had need for mattress and box spring that we needed to get rid of.
• Ran around like CRAZY people! Dan was cleaning the house and finishing projects. Mom and I were dropping stuff off at the thrift store and organizing our stuff to load the cars later that day.
• Sometime in there our tenant showed up and took a tour. I saw him briefly.
• I had a job interview.
• Other fab teenage boy shows up and we load up the cars and empty our house.

At this point we were ready to go but we still had the mattresses, box spring and two teenage boys that weren't ours. Though we would have loved to bring them our cars were full, that and I'm sure their parents would miss them. So we waited. And while we waited the boys played stick ball in the street. And had a BLAST!


Then the parents came and the boys left and we left but the day was PERFECT! And I love those boys like they are my own.

Then we took a trip to Moscow to take a picture in the big red rocker. It's something that just has to be done! And then after dinner at Wendy's we headed to Coeur D'Alene where we planned to spend the night. But our plans were thwarted by poor planning. We planned on just driving into Coeur D'Alene and finding a hotel room. What we found was that there were so many events happening that we couldn't find a hotel room in Coeur D'Alene, or Post Falls, or Liberty Lake, or Spokane Valley. We ended up staying all the way in the University District of Spokane. All in all about 40 miles out of our way but at least we had a pillow under our heads and day 1 behind us.

Dan's New Job

So my plan was that I'd be far enough in my telling of our move to Alaska that the post about Dan's job would conveniently coincide with the first day of school. But today is the first day of school and that didn't happen. I wanted it to work "perfectly" but perfect doesn't exist so now is as good a time as any.

We decided we were moving to Alaska sometime after Christmas. People who know us really well probably weren't very surprised by this decision. Anyone who knows me knows how much I love this place and how badly I wanted to be back in Alaska. It wasn't a decision we came to lightly. We spent a lot of time agonizing over the decision, talking pros and cons, jobs and daycare, friends and family, timing and transitions. A lot of tears were shed, almost all by me, and a decision was made. We would move to Alaska with or without jobs.

I should note here that things in our life have never fallen "perfectly" into place. We have moved into three of our homes after dark on the last day of the lease at the previous place. All but one of our jobs have been offered the day before the last paycheck for the previous job. Seriously it's all LAST MINUTE! For some reason I thought this time it would be different. Silly, silly me!

In May Dan got a call for a phone interview at a middle school near Fairbanks. It was for a position teaching math. It seemed like the perfect opportunity and it was May, we weren't moving until July, so having a job now would eliminate some stress and anxiety. The interview went well but Dan didn't get the job. We were crushed.

In June we came to Fairbanks for my 10 year high school reunion. While we were here Dan got a call for a math job at a different middle school in Fairbanks. This job was much closer to where we would be living. We were excited, we started counting on the job perhaps before we should have. Again the interview went well but Dan didn't get the job.

We both applied for countless more jobs and received countless rejections. At moments we started to doubt whether we were doing the right thing. But the we had passed the point of no return. Dan had resigned his job and the position was already filled, there was no turning back. And honestly I don't think it was ever a serious consideration.

So we packed, we cleaned, and we moved. We checked for jobs every night but there was nothing. Then one night in Edmonton a job came available. A middle school math position at the school where Dan had his first phone interview. So Dan applied. The school year was coming soon so the posting said the hiring process would be expedited. Less than 24 hours later Dan got an email asking him if he was interested in interviewing. He looked at the available times and they were all before we could possibly make it to Fairbanks. So he contacted the principal with other times and we hoped that he was flexible.

At this point the earliest we could possibly arrive in Fairbanks was late evening July 26. Dan got a response from the principal asking how 9am on July 27 would work. Dan readily took the time. So less than 12 hours after we arrived in town I drove Dan to his interview. (we arrived in Fairbanks so late there was NO way I was going to try and show him where to go, it was easier to drive him) And he rocked the interview and got the job. So with less than two weeks until the school year started Dan was employed. Last minute, of course, and yet so perfect!

And I'm SUPER PROUD of my husband!

Not a real post

So I was going to post about day 3 of our trip but I've got a lot on my mind right now and a post just isn't coming together. But I didn't want to not say anything because then bad habits of NEVER blogging start and I didn't want that to happen AGAIN!

Pots and Pans

The same pots and pans that were enjoyed as drums are now being used as shoes. Please excuse the diaper only. I NEVER let my kids run around in just a diaper but he had just gotten out of the shower and this was too cute to pass up!

1st Day

Today is Dan's 1st day at his new job.

It's his 1st day at a new school.

It's his 1st day meeting new co-workers.

It's his 1st day to get a real good look at his new classroom.

It's his 1st day at a job that he has dreamed about for a while. A job where he teaches math and only math.

Next Wednesday will be his 1st day with a whole new group of students.

And we are all so very PROUD that today is his 1st day.

Avoidance

I have this big, epic journey that we took this summer that I really need to start blogging about. I mean we moved from Washington to Alaska and we DROVE. That's quite the trip, trust me! But I just keep avoiding writing about it. It's not that I don't want to its that there is so much to write about I'm not really sure where the beginning of the story is. And so I avoid by posting cute pictures of stories of the boys. Tomorrow I will find a place to begin the story of our journey. For now enjoy a cute picture of our family.
Before we moved we took a trip to Seattle. Partly to pick up my mom at the airport, party to visit some friends, partly to see the Air and Space Museum and the Space Needle, and partly to see a Mariners game. (We lost Jonathan at the Mariners game but that's a story for another day, I PROMISE!) This picture was taken on the observation deck of the Space Needle. It was my third trip up and the view never gets boring. It's just so beautiful looking out over Puget Sound.

I have a bit of a love affair with the Space Needle. There was a time when every flight out of the state of Alaska passed through Seattle. So every time we traveled I flew by the Space Needle and looked upon it with awe. I always wanted to go to to the top but we NEVER left the airport. Now that I've been to the top three times I can say that it was well worth the wait. And it's still my favorite feature of the Seattle skyline.

Sleeping

Jason is a sleeper. That kid likes his sleep. And he will sleep ANYWHERE!
Including on the living room floor on top of the toys he was just playing with. Upon careful inspection of the picture I can identify several things he is sleeping on top of:

• Green army men
• half of the Millennium Falcon
• a video game controller
• a blue blanket
• a magazine

But he looks so comfortable!

Seven 8/9/10

7 years ago Dan and I got married. This year we celebrate our 7th anniversary on 8/9/10, get it 7,8,9,10. Yeah we're dorks we've been looking forward to this anniversary for a while. We had big plans to go to Hawaii but then we moved and those plans are on hold. So instead our BIG plans involve a trip to the fair (and a morning at the DMV). But we'll be together and that's what really matters, and I know we'll still have a great time because we always have a great time together. So happy 7 years Dan. I love you and I love having fun with you!Ummm honestly I have NO idea why we are looking at our wedding cake that way. Apparently it was confusing us in some way... I dunno!

Exciting Friday

So I didn't get around to getting a post ready last night for today because I was exhausted. We spent all day yesterday at our storage unit because OUR STUFF GOT HERE!!!

I wish I had a picture of the storage unit that we filled yesterday but I didn't think of that until just now and I'm not driving down now to take one! Maybe later. I'm just super excited that OUR STUFF GOT HERE!!!

We have our clothes, we have our sheets, we have our kids clothes, we have our kids bunk beds, we have our kids toys. It was like Christmas in July only in early August. Dan has his teacher clothes before he starts his job so we don't have to go out and buy new clothes. I have my clothes too before I start my new job! (I'll fill y'all in on the jobs soon!) It's wonderful having our stuff here. Most of it will be in storage for the next year until we get our own place but at least
I wish I had a picture of the storage unit that we filled yesterday but I didn't think of that until just now and I'm not driving down now to take one! Maybe later. I'm just super excited that OUR STUFF GOT HERE!!!

Mattress Sliding

Let me preface what you are about to watch by saying that I know this wasn't really safe but all the toys were packed up so I let him have some fun. His big bro was at a friends house but if he had been home this never would have happened!

That said Jason was having a blast!