Whirlwind Tour With a Side of Christmas

Let's see ... the last time I blogged, we were still residents of Arkansas and little Paisley had only been to 5 states. A lot has happened in the last month. We are once again happy residents of the great state of Minnesota and our baby has now visited 8 states in her short 4 months in this world. My apologies for taking a month hiatus from the blog, but once you hear our recent schedule, I think you'll understand.

I'll be honest, it's exhausting even thinking about how hectic our schedule was for the last month, so I'm going to keep it simple for everyone's sake.

We have wonderful friends that gave us a proper send off in Arkansas before we left. First is me with my work friends from the various peer companies I worked with (sorry to the "Brian's" on either end who the waitress proceeded to cut out of the picture.) Brian, Bryon, Brian (seriously, I answered to Brian while I worked down there,) Tricia, Jennifer and Alex - you are all wonderful people and I am lucky to have crossed paths with you all. I hope our lives will cross again soon!

Then Kyle and I with our General Mills gang at the Catfish Hole, before hitting the bars on Dickson Street. Another amazing group of friends we will always cherish ... thanks for making Arkansas such a special place for us.

And the new amazing cowboy boots my friends gave me as a going away present ... I will cherish them forever!

My new job was set to start on December 13th ... my plan to drive North the weekend prior was foiled by Snow-maggedon 2010 so I cashed in miles, flew to Minneapolis, rented a car and lived with our good (and very generous) friends Adrian and Josh for 10 days. It was fun to have roommates again and act as a nanny to their adorable son, Austin. They even helped it feel more like the holidays running a cookie factory in the kitchen and going to see Santa. I can't thank you guys enough for the hospitality!

After one frantic month of notarizing paperwork, scanning important documents and coordinating all that goes along with buying a home, we closed on our new house in Independence, Minnesota on December 22nd. Or should I say I closed on the house, since Kyle was holding down the fort back in Arkansas. :)

Due to the recent addition to our family, I then flew back to Arkansas and we hit the road to Cleveland for Christmas. That's right. A 14 hour roadtrip to start and end our holiday - sounds relaxing, huh? For once, we did have good weather and clear roads so we were happy.

Christmas came and went quickly. I was sick as a dog with a sinus infection but we enjoyed some QT with my parents, brothers, sister-in-law, nephew and aunt ... having everyone home at the same time hasn't happened for the Mulhausen clan in quite some time so we had a professional document the event.

Since our trip was so short, I was only able to squeeze in a few hours with my two best friends, Rocky and Lisa ... but I always cherish my time with them and take it whenever I can get it!


And, here's our little nephew, Vaughn, looking just as cute as ever! I couldn't spend as much time with him as I wanted since I was sick but I just love him to death and am counting down the days until I can see him again.

We got him his first laptop ... he's already very familiar with them from Skyping with family since he was only days old ... but he really loved the sounds and flashing lights on this one.

14 hours back to Arkansas to pack up, load the truck and say goodbye to our adorable house on Shelly Drive. It served us well for the past 22 months.

Our last photo together in our empty house - took the same shot before we left the old house in Hopkins. I'm a fan of starting traditions ... I think I get it from my Dad who used to sing "Tradition!" ... from the musical Fiddler On the Roof. See, Dad, I was paying attention back then!

To beat the ice storms that seem to always be brewing in Iowa during the winter, we completed the 10 hour drive the same day they loaded the truck with our belongings. We escaped all the bad weather, including tornados in Arkansas, and arrived at our new house at 2:30am on New Year's Eve. Enter the dreaded twin air mattress...

3 days on the air mattress, 1 night at a friends' house to ring in the new year, 1 plumber to de-winterize the house so we had running water 12 hours after we arrived, 4 inches of snow, 1 semi, 1 U-haul, and 2 tow-trucks later (don't ask) ... all of our belongings arrived at our new address, and we were free to start making our new house a home.

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Here's Kyle with our good friends Steve and Mark on New Year's ... the helmet was a joke, we weren't really drinking that much ... seriously, we're too old for that. :)

Sound exhausting at all?!?! Throw in figuring out a new job, selling a home, dealing with mold mitigation on the new house, scheduling the cable and internet guy, dealing with mice in the basement, transitioning a new puppy to a new climate and new surroundings ... and it's enough to make your head spin. Even Paisley was wiped out.

We are ECSTATIC to finally be settled in to our new home and have NOTHING on the calendar for a really long time. So, feel free to come visit ... cause we're not going anywhere!