Wow, nearly a month and no post. Sorry to leave you all hanging. I haven't any photos to include in this blog... unfortunately. But since it has been some time since I last blogged, I thought it important to update everyone on what we've been doing over the last few weeks.
I checked out of school on October 15th. That was the earliest possible time I could do it and I made my goal to do it then. Two days later we were packing the U-haul up and getting ready to move. My brother and his wife graciously offered to vacation on the Oregon coast and then drive down with us back to Utah on Saturday the 18th. No one really remembers the details perfectly, but it was mentioned during the evening of Friday the 17th, albeit rather faceciously at the time, that perhaps we should just drive out that night. We would spend all night on the road, avoiding all the traffic, and the children would sleep during the greater portion of the drive. Plus, we wouldn't be getting much sleep on the floor that night and we wanted to leave at 5:00 am anyway. Well, despite my better sense, we actually decided to do it. After a lovely dinner of whole wheat pancakes offered by the Marshall's (Thanks guys!) we packed the rest and headed out. It was 10:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time.
The kids were out almost immediately, and ultimately there was only one melt-down from Ethan throughout the entire trip. It was pitch black through the pretty parts too, but all-in-all I think it went rather smoothly. Oh, there was one more thing. While driving the big truck with the trailer, occasionally a gust of wind would come and push us. Nothing serious, but it did cause us to swerve ever-so-gently. Everytime the truck would move Challene would worry. Everytime she fell asleep she'd wake up 5 minutes later and say, "are you ok?" I appreciate her concern, but after 12 hours of that, it got kind of old. I think she was the only one who didn't appreciate leaving when we did. She didn't get any sleep at all.
We pulled into my Mother's home at around noonish (Mountain Daylight Time). She, Dad, and Linda and Sara graciously watched a well rested Ethan and Joshua while Challene and I crashed for three hours.
Afterwards it was unpacking time. What with my family, and a few friends we had everything out of the truck within an hours time. It was great! I'm also pleased to report that my bike made it down here unscathed, despite one of the tie-downs breaking. It didn't move.
So, we've been getting settled since then and I've been working with Dr. Norman too. That's been interesting to say the least. I've been spending the majority of my time learning the office logistics with only minimal patient interaction. That's good, though, because I had no clue as to how the office would work. I've also been learning a lot about marketing and public relations. His PR person quit the weekend before I started so the office has been kind of hectic. We're working on transitioning into my taking a more formal role into patient care. Personally, I think it is working out well. Most of the patients see him because of his personality. Working up front and in an indirect manner with the patients has allowed me to build a repore (sp?) with them. As I've taken more patients on, I've learned that this was a good thing. If I was just thrown into seeing them, I don't think it would have been as smooth.
Dr. Norman is great. He's everything I hope to be as a chiropractor... with a few minor changes I'd make, but that's normal. He talks as if he's already hired me in January. That's fine by me.
So, Challene and the kids have been acclimating fairly well. We missed church our first weekend here and the next week was little Dylan's blessing. But we made it last week and that was an experience, that's for sure! First off, the church house was built circa 1968 and it is tiny! The hallways don't even wrap around. Which is a problem, because Elder's Quorum is in the extreme Northwest part of the church while nursery and relief society are on the extreme Southwest parts. Problem? We have to circle clear around the front of the building and cut through the chapel to get to the other side. It's rather annoying. But I'll deal with it.
We came to find out that the relief society president lives across the street from us! Across the street!!! I had to find someone on the street, ask him if he's Mormon and ask him what ward I was in and the time we meet! But in the three weeks that we were moved in she didn't come once to meet us or tell us what ward we were in or what time we meet. Thanks to 12-year old Andrew we found out that we meet at 1:00 p.m. We were actually relieved that we meet at one. That way, next year we'll be at 9:00 a.m. which will work much better with the kids and nap time. Yeah, well, that's what we thought. Come to find out that they just changed to 1:00. They change times based on the school year! THE SCHOOL YEAR! Have you ever heard something so rediculous? Me neither.
I met the bishop on Sunday. Here's how the convo went:
Bishop: Hi, how are you, I'm bishop such-and-such.
Me: Oh, hi bishop. My name is Will Green. My wife and I just moved in from Portland, OR.
Bishop:
Bishop: Well, see you later
/end communication
Bizarre. Eveything about this ward so far: Biz-to the 'a' double 'r' to the 'e'.
But, we're enjoying our time here. It's nice to be home in Utah. All of our skin has dried out extensively, but we're getting over that too. We miss Oregon and we miss all of our friends there.
Challene has been sicker than a dog over the past few weeks. Two Sunday's ago (Dylan's Blessing day) she was so sick that while I took the kids to the blessing her mom took her to the instacare place. Turns out, Strep throat. So, 10 days of antibiotics later she was feeling pretty good. Until yesterday. Another trip to instacare and, you guessed it, strep throat again. She's down and out and on her second bout of antibiotics. Here's hoping this one takes, eh? The poor girl hasn't been able to enjoy family or friends too much because of it and she feels horrible. So, if you haven't seen Challene yet don't worry, I'm sure she'll be ok for a few days... until round three hits!
That's all for now. Tune in later for updated pictures Oh, speaking of pictures, our good friends the Bralliers took us some family pictures before leaving Oregon. Check them out here. I can't wait to get the CD with all of them. Thanks Becky and Dave, you did a killer job!
Until next time!
Adieu.
