We are here. We are alive.

It has been a long few days.

We are all pretty exhausted. If you follow me on instagram (@megbriggs), you've seen updates. But let me start from the beginning and really catch you all up on what we have been doing over here.

On Friday, we picked up the truck before lunch time and organized the boxes in our place to get ready for it to be loaded up. We had a few ward members and the missionaries (because they love us) come and help Ryan pack up the HUGE 22 ft truck (way too big for us). They girls and I headed to Target to kill some time and by 5:30pm, we headed back home. We picked up Ryan and went to Red Elephant for the last time for dinner. Brinley loves that place and it was per her request to eat there.

When we got home, we rushed to get the girls to bed, and then did some last minute vacuuming, cleaning, and packing. I prepped snacks for the drive while Ryan loaded up the truck with some random things we left out. Surprisingly, we got to bed at 10:30pm. When we got finished with everything, we crawled onto the air mattress and crashed. I swear I have never been that tired. Of course, Ellie woke up a couple times to nurse, and since I was so anxious about the next day, I had a rough nights sleep. 

We got on the road by 7:30am. I was driving our car with Brinley and Ellie. and Ryan was cruising in the big truck.

last picture in Tallahassee! Getting on the I-10.

I-10 and a rest stop.

filling up. driving through Gainsville on the I-75 was disgusting. We hit thousands of Love Bugs and our windshields were covered with nasty bug guts. GROSS!

We only stopped 3 times which is what we planned on. Ellie took two 30-45 minute naps. Brinley did fantastic in the car. She was very talkative which helped me stay alert. She asked a lot of questions about our new house and how much she was going to miss Tallahassee. She was especially concerned about leaving her friends and having to make new friends. We never had a meltdown! I couldn't believe it. Ellie stayed entertained by Brinley and Brinley continued to stay entertained by her movies/shows. I had a great set up in the front seat so I didn't need to rummage through anything to pass back to her. I had a bag full of books, crayons, coloring books, and her magnet dolls next to her car seat so whenever she wanted to do something, she would reach in and stay busy.

Ryan purchased a set of Motorola walkie-talkies so we used those instead of phones to communicate. Genius I tell ya! Ryan was Big Daddy and I was Hot Mama. We stayed in contact whenever we needed to and it was very reassuring and comforting. I highly recommend getting a pair of walkie-talkies if you're ever caravaning with someone. He was pretty on edge driving that massive truck, but also felt like it was a Man's Right of Passage--driving a 22 ft. long moving truck. It was b-i-g.

When we hit the last 30 minutes before getting off the Florida Turnpike, I almost peed my pants. The fact that we were SO close and I could close my eyes for 5 seconds and that Brinley and Ellie could get out of the car sounded sooo good at this point.

We pulled into our complex (sight unseen, fyi), and just about crashed on the sidewalk outside. Brinley was manic. Ellie had a dirty diaper. I had a headache. and Ryan was stressed about moving in. The complex looked beautiful! We had done a lot of research about this place and surrounding complexes, and we are still, sooo grateful we chose this complex. We got the keys and followed the leasing manager to our apartment. We did the walk through and were amazed how much bigger those extra 400-500 sq feet felt in comparison to our other apartment. 

Everything was perfect, except our power wasn't on. errrr, what!? Apparently, the previous tenants didn't pay their last power bill, so the electric company completely disconnected the power even though I called to set us up and everything. The leasing manager immediately got a hold of the company, but they didn't give us any comfort that the power would be turned on that day. Plus, it was the weekend. I had no idea what we were going to do, but if we had to live in the dark, we would. The leasing manager came back an hour later and handed over keys to a guest suite just one building over. We brought over enough things for the night, and were grateful to have some A/C and a comfortable couch to crash on. It was a one bedroom, so we stuck Ellie in the closet, and we made a bed on the floor next to our bed for Brinley. We decided to go grab dinner at Publix when Ryan got a phone call from one of the Partners wives! The firm wanted to buy us dinner and it could not have come at a better time. They stopped by an hour later with a huge bag of Carrabba's. We ate like piggies. We are still amazed at how generous and giving the Firm as been to us. Seriously, just another tender mercy about our decision to take this job.

We got the girls to bed, still undecided about going to church the next day. When we woke up in the morning, we felt sore from all the packing, but refreshed. Church was at 10am, and since it was Mother's Day, we decided to go. 

Brinley made this card for me in her new Sunbeam class. Or should I call her Brendly. I'll have to write it down for her teacher next week. Our new Ward seemed very friendly and nice and we're excited to get involved.

By the time we got home, it was too late to get Brinley down for a nap, so we decided to head to the beach. It was exactly what we needed. 

Our power was still off by this point, and we knew it would be on by Monday, but we weren't sure exactly when. Brinley had been having some pretty rough tantrums, so Ryan gave her a blessing Sunday night. Ever since the blessing, she has been in a better mood. We are both trying to be sensitive to her and the fact that everything is changing and new. 

I'm not exactly sure what just happened, but we are here. and we kind of can't believe Ryan graduated last Sunday (here and here), and our new life has begun here at the beach. We love it!