Big Move

The day finally arrived for us to go back to MN to oversee the move.  It was a welcome change of pace from all of the paperwork and phone calls that go into a big relocation.  Sara and Trevor went first on a Tuesday.  At the airport while standing in security Sara saw an old colleague of hers just getting off the plane in Phoenix.  He visits there frequently since Target Financial and Retail Services has a headquarters in Tempe and he heads up their Collections division.  That was fun running into him.  Sara kind of chuckled because he was in his business suit and Sara and Trevor were in flip flops :)

Trevor was fabulous as always on the plane.  He played with the ipad for a bit....

And then as soon as we landed and hit the runaway, he fell asleep!  Stinker didn't sleep the whole 3 hour flight, just when we were taxiing to the jet bridge!

Dada flew home late Thursday night so on Friday we ran errands and Trevor requested to see his old teachers and friends at school.  It was fun going back there and everyone was excited to see Trevor as well as learn about baby Hillins #2!  Friday night we had a good friend from grad school over for a late dinner.  He's going through a difficult time in his life so it was good we could be there for him and catch up.

 

On Saturday morning we walked to our favorite area one last time and had bagels.  Of course Trevor was most fascinated by the water fountain!

It happened to be Golden Valley Days when we were back so while Dada went to use up a gift certificate for a massage, Sara and Trevor went with our neighbors Katie, Erik, and Mac to the parade.  Needless-to-say we got a lot of candy but Trevor was very excited by the 'horseys' and the fire trucks, including this old one:

 

Saturday night we had a few friends over for a low key bbq.  It was nice seeing them one last time at our house and we really got a kick out of Trevor already courting his future wife Sophia by pushing her around the backyard.

Saturday night Golden Valley had fireworks for the celebration, although we like to think that they did it all for us...what a nice send-off ;)  Trevor loved the fact that they were right out of the room he was staying in.  He said "Look!  Fireworks just for me!"

Trevor kept oohing and ahhing over each one.  He couldn't pick a favorite - each one was his favorite!

Dada spent Sunday and other times throughout the weekend unconnecting electronics and organizing things that the movers wouldn't touch (or the papers said they wouldn't).  He was busy and probably glad to fly out on Sunday afternoon.  Monday morning 7:45 sharp this truck came rumbling up our street.  Our neighbor Katie saw it first and raised her proverbial middle finger to it as it drove by...rightly so, it's a big change and we will miss them and our other friends and family tons.

There were two drivers and two local guys all packing up our stuff and boy did they cruise!  They only stopped for a donut break and lunch that we provided.  By 5pm that day they had the entire house packed up!!  Mind you they said it would take 2 days to pack and one day to load!!  

It helped tremendously we're sure that Sara and her parents worked endlessly to purge contents for many many days prior to Sara and Trevor leaving for AZ.  We probably got rid of 1/8 of our stuff.  It felt good to donate stuff we no longer needed to families that could use it.  But seriously, Sara's parents were amazing at the task....we went room to room and sorted and organized everything. (Will make move in a breeze)  Anything Sara said they didn't want just disappeared into Sara's parents' car and they took it to their house to sort then throw, recycle or donate.  Simply amazing!  Thank you so much Mom and Dad Roslansky!!!

Where was Trevor during all of this packing chaos?  T stayed with Grandma Jeanne and had a blast!  Mommy and Papa Steve would drive back and forth in the mornings and evenings and it worked just great!  On Tuesday the crew was there by 7:00 to load before it got to hot!  They also came to get Brian's car that was being shipped.  The tow truck takes it to one of those big vehicle trucks that you see every so often on the highways transporting cars. 

By 3:00 the truck was wheels up!  The crew was excited that now they would have a day off (hard to come by during prime move season) and now the drivers would have a few days to stop and see one of their families in IA before heading to Kansas to pick up an apt. load before getting to AZ.  They asked if it would be okay if they unloaded our stuff a day early - so on Memorial Day instead of the following day (Tuesday) and of course we said yes given that we close on our house on Friday and will be just waiting for our stuff to arrive!  They would have even unloaded on Sunday but the Kansas load wasn't willing to move her move up a day to accommodate!

And just like that the truck was gone and we were left looking at one of our favorite things about 'our house' - the view out the front door.  Look how green it is!  A lot different than Arizona!!  Sara surprisingly didn't shed any tears at that point...but a few did fall after seeing Trevor's room empty the day prior :(  It probably helps that we have a gorgeous home in AZ that we're moving into.  It doesn't have this view but it has a lot of other things that make it special!

Tuesday night Grandma Jeanne treated Trevor to his first batch of Rice Krispie bars.  He wasn't as into making them as he was eating them!  Who can blame him?

On Wednesday we went and bought another flower to add to his planter.  Trevor might have a green thumb, unlike his parents!

Before we headed to the airport on Wednesday we had one last get together with Jim and Annie quick - nothing like some Davanni's pizza to wrap-up our time in MN.  YUM!  Trevor and Sam even got to take a ride with Uncle Jim on the riding lawnmower.  They thought that was 'pretty cool' (in the words of Trevor)!

Our flight home was delayed a bit due to weather so we didn't actually land until well after midnight but Trevor was an excellent flier.  Mommy told him that he could play with the ipad while all the passengers were loading but once the plane started moving it was night-night time and that's exactly what he did!!  All went fine on the flight until he woke up hot and was nice enough to wake up the whole plane with his tears.  At least were already descending so it was time to start moving anyway!

All went well with the close on the 25th although Arizona does it a bit different....all docs need to be signed 3 days prior to close (so we signed prior to leaving for MN) and money needs to be wired and verified 2 days prior.  So we had our final walk through Thursday at 5:30 and once everything was recorded Friday morning we picked up the house keys at our realtors.  That was probably around 10am.  

On Saturday morning Sara's parents flew in to help with the move and we had some nice family time and meals with the Hillins and Roslanskys (along with completing some new home projects) prior to the moving truck arriving at 6am on Memorial Day!  They asked to start early because of the heat and that was just fine with us - we'd be up anyway because of the excitement!  Plus we asked the neighbors and everyone was fine.  They all have young kids too so they are up as well!

It was so nice to see our drivers and our stuff again!!  This time there were three local guys helping unload the truck and reassemble our furniture where we wanted it!

Trevor came to see the truck and was a little apprehensive about what was going on....

...until he saw his toys and all was right again in the world!  'MY TOYS!!!!'

So that we never forget our fabulous drivers, here are Nait (from IA) and Carlos (from TX).  We highly recommend them and will be sure to request them if we ever relocate again.  Nait asked Sara at least three times an hour if she had any questions.  You could tell they really cared...unlike some of the horror stories we heard prior to our relocation!!

And they hit the road by 4pm and then it really was home sweet home!

 

So how did we spend our first night in our new home?  The 4 Grandparents and Trevor stayed at the Hillins' house while Sara and Brian spent the first night in our new home.  Brian had to go into work for an hour or so but he came home with Dairy Queen so we celebrated with a favorite treat - blizzards!  And after that we never went back to the Hillins where Brian had been staying since the end of February, Randle had been staying since March 5 and Sara and Trevor had been staying since the beginning of April.  We really, really appreciate their generosity in letting us stay with them for so long.  We all get along well so it really went smoothly.  We had check-ins every so often and everyone agreed at each 'mtg' that things were going well!!  We know we will all miss each other but we're only about 20 minutes from one another so we'll see each other often!  A big heartfelt thank you Grandma Pauline and Papa John for all that you did for us during our time together - the accommodations, the meals, the activities....wow!  Thank you so much!

Happy Belated Mother's Day!

As you can tell, we're a bit behind on the blog due to everything going on...and since selling a house, buying a house and relocating across the country wasn't enough...we're super excited to announce that baby Hillins #2 is due to arrive November 18!  

Long legs Hillins, just like Trevor!

  These pics were from the ultrasound at 12 weeks, 5 days.  We actually found out that we were pregnant the day before Sara's last day of work (hence the 'giving alcohol up for Lent' excuse at Sara's happy hour that evening).  But since Brian was in AZ, Sara surprised him with a text of the positive pregnancy test and told him that he better find us a house to live in quick :)  Needless to say he was excited and surprised!!

Is this like deja vu to some of you?  Most understandably it is because 3 years ago on Mother's Day we announced baby Hillins #1!  Their due dates are a day apart (Trevor's was 11/19 but didn't arrive until 11/25) and Sara's pre-pregnancy weight is exactly the same.  

We were able to tell Sara's parents the day that Brian and Trevor flew to AZ after we ran errands (ie had a doctor's appointment and had an ultrasound to confirm the pregnancy).  We told them by having Trevor come out in a 'Big Brother' shirt and they got it much quicker than when Randle came out wearing a 'I'm going to be a Big Brother' collar :)  Super exciting for them because Jim and Annie are also having baby #2.  Their little guy or gal is due in early October!

Once Sara arrived in Arizona we waited a few days to tell the Hillins.  Because they thought Sara gave up alcohol for Lent the cover was pretty easy but we had a nice meal the night before Easter and Sara decided to 'have' a glass of wine to compliment the steak.  However, at the beginning of the meal we toasted to our new life in AZ and not drinking for 7 more months because baby Hillins #2 was due in November.  It was a tad confusing but then we explained what was happening and there were cheers and hugs all around!

How's Trevor handling the news?  He's super excited!!  He tells everyone that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy and his prediction is that he is having a little sister.  We'll see....Sara is carrying just like she did with Trevor so if Sara had to guess she'd say boy.  Pauline says boy too!  Although this pregnancy is way different.  As in nauseous all the time especially after dinner, sometimes ending with trips to the bathroom :(  One other thing is that on March 23 Sara woke up and walked to the bathroom only the next thing she realized she was laying on the bathroom floor, kind of half up on the wall.  When she came to she didn't really understand why she was sprawled out in the bathroom and did she go to the bathroom already or not?  She felt fine after that so once Trevor got up she got him ready for school and drove him to school.  After getting home and processing everything she called Brian and they decided she should call her most awesome OB/GYN Dr. Chow.  He advised going to the ER right away for fainting and a possible head injury (with blackout) and letting them know she was pregnant.  Since Sara wasn't allowed to drive she called our most awesome neighbor Katie who works from home and through tears Sara got out that she needed to go to the ER and Maternal Assessment Center at Abbott.  Katie dropped everything and was there in minutes, no questions asked although she already assumed Sara was pregnant.  Good friends do that :)  Once at the ER Sara was seen immediately, tests were run and there was lots of waiting and Katie stayed through it all.  We'll never forget how great she was when Sara needed her most.  All was fine it seemed (could have been dehydration after an extra salty McDonalds meal that Sara and Katie and kids had the night before) but the last test they did was an ultrasound and all looked good with the baby.  Thank goodness!! Never had all that with Trevor :(

But in all seriousness, Trevor is going to be an awesome big brother!  On his own doing he started carrying around a baby and requesting a bottle to feed his baby.  Baby also likes cookies.  What a good sharer!

And he takes the baby for walks.  Melts our hearts!

 Trevor often asks to wear his Big Brother shirt and is on a mission to grow up even faster.  He recently requested to drink his own 'coffee' at restaurants.  Stop.growing.so.fast. 

 So we'll be sure to keep you all updated on baby Hillins #2 that will most likely be born via c-section on Monday, November 12.  EXCITING!!!!!!

Horsey Ride!

Since Trevor was a little stinker at the PetSmart event Mommy (aka sucker) took him to MacDonald's ranch where he got to ride a big horsey around and around.  He was so proud sitting on the horse and riding it with the trail guide leading.  Afterward he told anyone and everyone about it!  That was worth every penny of the $5 for this Mommy! 

What a Cool Company!

Coming from a FFF (fast, fun and friendly) company at Target we weren't entirely sure what to expect PetSmart's culture to be (of course Brian researched before accepting the job but still) and we are happy to report that PetSmart too is FFF!  One night we attended family movie night where food and beverages were served and they had chairs, tables and beanbags(!) set up for the viewing of WallE!  What a fun time!!

Then a few weeks later they had Western Family night that was so cool it can't even be described in words!  Everything was done to the top including the invites and all of the activities in food.  You name it, they had it - facepainting, a band with dancing, old time photo booth, a petting zoo, a train ride, pony rides, cowboy hats and bandanas, picture stations....too much to even mention!

We started the evening with a horse and wagon ride complete with a cowboy serenade!

Trevor was all excited for the pony ride up until they assigned him his horse and he wouldn't get on.  Apparently he wanted the bigger horse.  So off he went and no ride for him :(

We devoured a fabulous dinner of pulled pork sandwiches (hot dog for Trevor of course), chips, beans and homemade root beer floats.  Another highlight of the evening was having dinner with the CEO Bob.  As it turns out he was sitting at the table right next to us but then everyone at the table got up and left (did they not realize they were dining with the CEO??) so Brian leaned over and said 'Bob if you'd like you can join us' which he did!  We had a great conversation and Trevor and Bob bonded over their love of potato chips...so much so that when Bob said there is no such thing as too many potato chips Trevor reached into his chips and handed one to Bob, which if we remember correctly he took!  In any case, the man with the blue bandana in this picture is Bob and his 9 year old daughter is in pink (she wasn't too happy about the outfit her Dad picked out for her to wear to the event!).

One of the last activities we participated in for the evening was a dog show that had various acts.  Here a dog climbs up the ladder and jumps off to his owner.  Trevor was very impressed with this and watches the video Mommy shot over and over on her phone!  Can't wait to see what event is up next at PetSmart!  What a cool company!

Train park

One of Trevor's favorite places in AZ is the train park...which you've all seen a million pictures of before but you know Mommy, she always has her camera ready to capture images that are precious memories.  Including this, Trevor waiting very patiently for his ride on the train!

She also captured Trevor looking very intensely at the other kids riding in 'our' train car:

As well as a tired Trevor fighting off the sandman for one quick train ride:

And then there were those darn ears!  Not sure if this is the start of an ear infection but we did learn at the end of March back in MN that one of his tubes did fall out.  Hoping that the dry, warm AZ climate helps keep the ear infections at bay!

Golf Course

After dinner each night, Trevor requests to go to the golf course.  Normally they just run around and chase each other but the other day Trevor found some golf balls and a golf club in the Hillins garage and just had to go try it out!

He's pretty good, although very stubborn and wouldn't listen to anyone on how to properly hold the club.  He just hits and hits until it goes in the hole and he does his happy dance!

Shoulders

Trevor is big into 'shoulders' lately.  Ask him if wants to do shoulders and he turns around so you can pick him up and says 'yes, sure!'  It really is the cutest thing and no one can really turn him down including Papa John!  It's not the easiest or most comfortable thing to do with a 32 pound grandson but he does it out of love.  Precious!

Yay - Furniture Shopping

Trevor found the perfect piece of furniture (or so he thought) when out shopping.  He is certainly a trooper and would probably out last Mommy when shopping!  Mommy isn't a fan of furniture shopping even though she has a 4,000 sq. foot house to now figure out.  Here's to hoping most of our current furniture will work (minus the pieces our MN home buyers purchased)!

Watering Flowers

Trevor is fascinated with helping Papa John water the flowers and his cactus.  It must be a kid thing to do because we remember well when our niece Lauren helped Papa with the same task!

AZ Zoo!

We had a family outing to the Phoenix zoo on a nice hot day at the end of April.  The heat will not stop us from having fun but thank goodness for misters!

Trevor really enjoyed all of the exhibits, especially the big turtles because they were on the move.  Usually when we'd see them in MN they'd be sleeping!

We stopped for a lunch break for Trevor (a hot dog of course) and he found some friends who wanted to share his lunch.  Trevor is like 'hey, what are you doing??'

Hey, Uncle Steve, Trevor is a John Deere boy at heart :)  Forget pilot or pianist, maybe his calling is a farmer?  He sure enjoyed pretending to drive the big green tractor!