Treasure Hunting

Hooray for places to sit! We now have couches along with a few other finds from Craigslist. I also found some things that weren't absolutely necessary...but I am a sucker for old luggage in particular, along with old books...and whatever else I like at the time! There are still some things on our list so I am off to find more treasures. Oh yea, and best birthday wishes to momma Sprad and momma McClure! (I have the best family in the world!)

Furniture Hunt

So we have a house...now we just need something to go in it! Since we sold all of our furniture back home, over the past few days we have been scavenging all the local thrift stores, yard sales and Craigslist for some good finds! We haven't had much luck till today, when at a thrift store Paul plucked a beautiful antique table from the piles of trinkets and uh...old fish tanks that lay on top. So this is our first piece of furniture to adorn our new home! I love the old rustic wood, and the fact that we paid 15 bucks for it makes it even better! Have to say I am very impressed by my husband's clever little eye for a bargain!

Official Redding Residents

We are so excited after two and a half weeks on the road to have found where we will live! It took us about a week, and we have literally looked at everything!! We just signed the papers and are on our way to move in some of our boxes. This calls for a celebration at Dairy Queen! (we find something to celebrate every day for Dairy Queen though sooo yea.)

Church!

In the midst of house hunting all day every day, we were really happy when Sunday finally rolled around! It was so refreshing to worship, and Bill Johnson's message was amazing! (Check him out in the video worshipping by the way...my favorite part of the vid haha!) We are learning every service is crowded. We were packed in like sardines, many people didn't have a seat. It was a great day, and it reminded me of why we are here! Jenn Johnson sang her song 'Come to Me', and the words to that song seem like they were written just for me! It is the song of this season of our lives, not to mention Jenn just blew it out of the park! So excited to be here.

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We made it!!!

So we have officially reached out destination!!!!We drove through yesterday and arrived about four in the morning today, getting to bed around five...so eight in the morning NC time. After a few hours of sleep we returned the u-haul and have been house hunting ever since! We are relieved to finally be here, and pretty dang tired too! We have a couple possibilities as far as housing, but nothing for sure yet, so tomorrow we will continue on our quest! So far I think this cute little duplex may be in the lead. Love and miss you, dear friends and fam of NC :)

On the road again

We officially made it out of Vegas and have crossed into California! Praise the Lord!

One more night!

The suburban is now fixed and we will end our forced extended vacation in Vegas tomorrow morning! Paul and I have decided we are both small town people and I think we will breath a sigh of relief when we finally get to Redding. I have enjoyed the landscape around here though. Everyone seems to talk about Vegas at night, but in the daylight you can see all of the beautiful surrounding mountains. When traveling on the highway I feel like I should see some cowboys and Indians ride up beside my car!

Hoover Dam

After lunch we visited the Hoover Dam. Very cool. It's amazing to me what we can build! (and when I say "we" I mean all the people who are smart and brave enough to make something so monumental happen!) Though they charge for everything during your visit at the dam, it's definitely something you want to see if you are out this way.

Boulder City

Soooo here we are on the outskirts of Vegas in the prettiest little town called Boulder City. With 2600 miles down and only 600 more to go, we ran into some transmission problems with our sweet ride " the burb", so we took it to a shop in Vegas and are patiently awaiting the repairs in a city that is plentiful in entertainment! Luckily, with the amount of pizza we just ate, we should just be able to roll the rest of the way to Redding!

Night on the town

So Vegas has really brought out the party animals in us...ok well that might not be true at all. It is about 9:30 here and we are ready for bed! It has been fun experiencing Vegas (raunchy billboards/advertisements aside) but it seems we still haven't quite adjusted to the time difference here, so we are ready to crash when the party is just getting started so to speak. We might be a little lame... In the casino we went to a slot machine thinking we have to play at least one game before we leave. Well we sat down and couldn't even figure out where to put our coin in to play! At this Paul remarked " we suck at Vegas."

Vegas Baby!

We made it to Vegas! The drive here from Arizona was sooo beautiful. The plan was to visit the Hoover Dam before hitting Vegas, but the oh so sweet security guards wouldn't let us go through with our trailer... Yea pretty dumb. But we are here, enjoying our Vegas sweet, and getting ready to hit the town for some grub!

Grand Canyon...take two!

It's a beautiful day in the Grand Canyon! Still very cold, but the sun is out and the fog has cleared. So glad we came here, the scene is just amazing!

Grand Canyon...take one!

We have arrived at the Grand Canyon! The only problem is the blizzard is apparently following us and with all the snow and moisture the canyon is very foggy today. So we are staying the night in the booming metropolis that resides nearby (sarcasm here). We are staying in the "Red Feather Inn" in this little tourist town that is sleepy during the winter months. Paul was however very excited to be calling it quits early this evening so he could catch his beloved Tar Heels play Miami :) though the vast view was still breathtaking we're hoping tomorrow's weather clears so we can see the Canyon in all it's glory.

Western Landscape

Loving the west :)

AZ

Now in Arizona...heading toward the Grand Canyon! I made Paul stop along the way when I saw a bunch of old cars covered in snow. Love things like this!

New Mexico Blizzard

We were on our way through New Mexico when a mini blizzard hit! It has been a very...Interesting night to say the least. There was some light snow flurries along the way, then all of a sudden the road became one huge sheet of glass and there were cars everywhere that had slid off the highway. The road was pure ice, and the snow progressively became heavier. Seeing the numerous cars busted up or laying on their sides, I prayed the whole time! We were still 50 miles out from any town and there was nowhere to go but forward. Paul drove us through like a champ and God kept our tires on the road the whole time! So happy to be safe in sound in bed tonight! Who knew we would face a winter storm in New Mexico?

NM

Just crossed into New Mexico! 1600 miles down, over half way there!

Texas

We made it through Oklahoma and are traveling through the plains of Texas. Nothing but dried up landscape and tumbleweed around here!

Love at first site

Flat, rugged, eery, old... A few words I would use to describe Oklahoma City... And not in a negative way! Every direction we turned there was an awesome photo to be snapped! I totally loved it. Favorite so far. We also visited The Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum. Despite the freeeeezing cold weather the poignancy of the memorial was overwhelming.

So this is what Oklahoma looks like.