Welcome to Tennessee!

Hello! We have finally arrived at our new home in Knoxville, Tennessee! We left Las Vegas on the morning of May 29 and arrived in Knoxville on June 1. So we have officially been in our new house for a little over three weeks. The journey across the country will forever be remembered, and probably never repeated! Okay, well maybe not EVER, but not for a long, long, time! Jason drove the 26 foot Penske with our lovely red Sunfire, that has miraculously survived this long. I drove our van with the three kids in the back. Along the way we had some highs and lows. A few of the low lows include Parker clapping handfuls of his own poop from his own poopy diaper about half an hour out of town. Yes, this all took place around Henderson. I knew then and there this was going to be a L O N G journey! I believe Parker also threw up at least 2 times along the course of our 4 day trek. Could have been more, I just lost track of time, and almost all feeling by the time we arrived. Also, the rental truck we got kept overheating on Jason and stopped in the middle of the freeway once for Jason. This was also about 1 hour out of Vegas. Were these signs we were not to leave? Other than these disasters, things went rather smoothly. Luckily we were reimbursed for the overheating truck, unfortunately I was not reimbursed for the smelly kid!! Each day, we let the kids swim in the morning before driving to our next destination. We would stop about half way through the day and eat lunch at a park and I'd let the kids play for an hour or so. Then back to the van for more coloring, reading books, and watching movies! Thank goodness we have a DVD player!! Then when we stopped again, more swimming, dinner, and bed. This was our crazy life for four days.
Now that we are here, we are quickly becoming acquainted with the area, the way of life, and the people of the South. Everyone here is very friendly and they love to talk. I cannot walk past an older gentleman at the store without them saying darlin', or honey, or sweety-no matter what I look like for the day. I will have to hit the store more often for a self esteem boost! Everyone always talks to the kids and about their own kids. The pace of life is much slower here also. In Vegas, we just got used to everything going fast. Fast driving, fast getting through the checkout lanes, and fast in and out of any store. I cannot go to Walmart to pick up a few things without it taking me an hour! I am not kidding. They only have 4 lanes open at the supercenter, so the lines are super long to start with. Then, once I get to the checkout, the checker (always very sweet) stands and chats the entire time they are checking out my groceries, one by one making sure they don't make any mistakes. I have not been able to get through the checkout line quicker than 20 minutes!:) Like I said before, everyone here is VERY nice, we just will have to get used to the laid back easy going approach they have to life. Maybe it will do us some good to slow down a bit!
There are trees everywhere in Tennessee! I mean huge tall beautiful full trees. I am SO excited for fall. I'm sure the trees will be breathtaking! Right now the weather is HOT and HUMID. I only capitalize them for anyone who has not experienced this type of weather. We thought we would be okay coming from Vegas heat. It is about that hot, with 5 pounds of sweat all over your body. Head to toe! My kids constantly have sticky little bodies, even fresh out of the bath.
Okay, so now that we are mostly settled, I promise to recommit to our blog. I am going to try to put one picture a day! Be patient with me. i promise I will keep everyone up to date on our lives in the south! we love you all. We miss all of our friends from Las Vegas. We have learned so much from all of you and you all will hold a special place in our hearts forever! Please keep in touch!