Proof We Are Idiots

I woke up on the morning of our third day in the house to Rick's frantic voice.

"Anna Marie! There's a leak in the ceiling!"

I stumbled out of bed and ran into the bathroom. Rick turned on the shower and water immediately started dripping from the ceiling. When he turned it off, the dripping slowed to a stop.

Panicked, I called our insurance company to file a claim and find out what we should do. It was still early, so our local agency wasn't open yet. We talked to somebody at the 24 hour claim center who told us to shut off the water. They also told us that a claims person would call us later in the morning.

Rick and I had no idea how to shut off the water line to the shower without shutting off the water to the whole house. Rick didn't think the water was leaking when it wasn't turned on, so we just left it on.

Rick was running late for work at this point, so he quickly finished packing up and headed out. In the meantime, I was feeling a little bit teary-eyed. Fiona was sick, 99% of our stuff was still packed, there were boxes everywhere, and our ceiling was leaking.

Less than 10 minutes later, Rick was back. He's a good husband.

Rick went up in the attic to try and find the source of the leak. When he positioned himself above where the water was dripping, he was perplexed when there were no pipes or even any evidence of water anywhere. We knew that pipes aren't commonly found in attics, but we thought maybe our house was weird. What else would explain the water?

While Rick was in the attic, I turned the shower on and off a few times. Water would immediately drip from the ceiling when it was on, but it would stop when turned off. Rick couldn't see anything from his vantage point when I turned the water on and off.

When he came back down from the attic, we discovered that the light above the shower stopped working as well. We figured that all the the water caused it to short.

At some point during the day, we learned that our insurance company only fixed the damage that the water caused to the house. Stopping the leak and fixing whatever was wrong with our pipes was up to us. Maybe most people realize this, but this was our first home owner's insurance claim and we had no idea what to do.

We finally got a plumber (I think his name was Jeff) over to our house. We brought him upstairs and turned on the shower. Sure enough, the water started streaming from the ceiling. The plumber reached up to the shower head, made a few adjustments, and the water stopped dripping.

It immediately hit me. There was a stream of water shooting crooked from the shower head. It was hitting the ceiling and then dripping back down.

Boy were we idiots. Relieved idiots. We couldn't stop laughing. Rick made Plumber Jeff promise not to tell anybody what happened. As soon as Jeff opened the door he yelled out into to street, "Hey everybody, check this out!" He thought he was pretty funny. I'm sure he laughed all the way home. Rick and I laughed for the rest of the night.

Another Post About Moving

The day we moved into the house and the day following were somewhat of a blur. Since I can't remember half of it and since I'm painfully behind on my blog, I'm going to just give you the cliff notes version...

Wednesday: Moving truck showed up and we spent the day chasing the girls around the house and trying to stay out of the way. We also covered their ears as the movers cursed while trying to get our queen-sized mattress up the stairs. We got the girls' rooms mostly unpacked and we stayed up until midnight unpacking most of the kitchen. Gwen wouldn't take the room we orginally planned for her to sleep in. Why, because it has horrifyingly ugly stripes painted on the wall. We told her we would paint it, but she said, "I can't sleep in a room painted like that for one night."

Thursday: Rick went to work while I stayed in a house littered with boxes and packing paper. By midday it was apparent that Fiona was really sick. She had a fever and was lethargic. She kept falling asleep on me all afternoon. I had no idea what doctor to take her to, and I didn't have a car anyway. I finally called the insurance company who gave me the address of a nearby urgent care clinic. Fiona and I left as soon as Rick got back from work. The poor thing fell asleep in the car on the way, fell asleep on me in the waiting room, and feels asleep while the doctor was examining her. It turned out that she had a really bad double ear infection. We got some meds and didn't get home until almost 9pm. We didn't get any unpacking done that night.

Moving: Our Last Night as Washingtonians

Saturday and Sunday were nice, relaxing days. My dad and I were still tired from the concert, so we kept it low key.

On Sunday night, we had one final family dinner with the Jensen side of the family. My Grandma Amy even came! Rick's parents were just flying in after a weekend in Provo, so they came straight from the airport to join us for dinner too.

Just a few photos from our last day.

My mom loves to feed Fiona. Fiona doesn't mind it either

Gwen and Andrew shared a chair while watching a movie

This is what my brother, Mike, looks like when he is in a bad mood. Incidentally, this is also what he looks like when he's in a good mood. But, he does make AWESOME guac.

Jared, Gwen, Eric and Isaak being lazy and still watching a movie

There was some serious excitement at this party

We also celebrated a few birthdays and exchanged gifts

After many hugs, kisses, and tearful good-byes, we went to bed. We needed some rest because the next day we were leaving for Colorado!

Moving: Goodbye House!

The day after the moving truck left was closing day. Before we surrendered the keys, we went to the house in the morning with the girls to say goodbye. But first, we had to take Gwen to her five year check-up and get her some shots. (More on that later) I'll just say she's tough stuff and didn't even cry!

The girls loved running through the empty house. The especially loved playing in the closet under the stairs. (We call it the Harry Potter closet.) It was usually too full to play in, so they enjoyed seeing it empty...

We left the shelves in the playroom for the buyers at their request. Lucky dogs.

One last family picture in the house.

This picture doesn't do it justice, but I loved the view of the trees out the window while going up the stairs...

We also left the doorway bench and shelf for the new owners....

Before leaving, we sat in each room of the house and shared our favorite memory associated with each room. This has become a tradition for us every ime we move. Here are some of my favorites:

Kitchen: All the meals shared there with friends and family.

Downstairs Bathroom: How we used to keep a chair in there in between the sink and the toilet. Gwen couldn't reach the sink, even with a step stool, so she used it to stand on. It was funny to explain to guests why we had an extra chair next to the toilet.

Living Room: Christmas mornings.

Fiona's Room: Rocking her in the middle of the night.

Guest Room: All the friends and family that stayed with us.

Bonus Room: Playing with the girls and having dance parties with them

Master Bathroom: Blowing bubbles in the bathtub.

Before we left, we took some video footage of the house and also got some outdoor shots...

As we drove away from the house, I didn't cry like I feared I would. It's been important to me to stay strong for the girls. It was so weird to drive out of the neighborhood knowing that it would be the last time.

Moving: Packing the Truck

On Wednesday, the moving truck showed up with movers ready to load. Let me just mention here that our truck driver was a little crazy. When he was backing the truck up to the house, there were some moments were I thought he was going to hit the house or something. Somehow he didn't but he did manage to knock over the for sale sign in the yard.

He also spent the majority of the day talking about politics as much as possible. I guess when you drive a truck there is plenty of time for listening to talk radio. There also lots of time for the crazies to settle in.

Anyway, I decided to meet the movers at the house and let Rick stay at his parents' with the girls. I'm just way to controlling to not be involved. Plus, Rick had some work that he needed to do while his parents played with the girls.

While I wasn't hovering over the movers, I was cleaned the bathrooms and the fridge. Rick also came out in the late morning to meet with a signer from the escrow company. It was so nice that they sent somebody to the house!

The movers finished up in the late afternoon. I walked through the house several times, just taking in the weirdness of how empty it was. I headed back to Bob and Cathy's house for a little rest before going back later in the evening to clean. I was so tired and ready for this chapter to be closed.

Moving: The Beginning

I was grateful that Gwen's birthday was on a Saturday. Since the next day was Sunday, were able to have a somewhat relaxing day so that we were well-rested for the upcoming week: Moving Week.

Sunday was our last day at church. That was a hard day for me. I hated saying goodbye to all the ward members who had become like family to us. Later, we went to Bob and Cathy's for dinner where we had to say goodbye to Jeff and Krissy's family. By the end of the day, I was done with saying goodbye.

Monday was a crazy day. The packers were scheduled to come the next day and there was tons to do to prepare. We took everything off the walls and then patched and painted all the nail holes. We also had to do some major organizing to make sure the movers packed things in a way that made sense. Thankfully, some more experienced friends told me that if we left a stray shoe in the bathroom, it would be packed with the toiletries. Not that we ever have stray shoes laying around.

We also had to pack everything we would need for the next 9 days that we would be living out of a suitcase. Although we could have stayed in our house a couple more days, once that packing began, we figured it would be easier to stay somewhere else. Also, we couldn't be in our new house until the 8th, so we would also be staying in a hotel for a couple nights.

We were really, really glad that we arranged for both of our moms to come and help for the day. Although we originally felt like we could get everything done somewhat quickly, we soon realized we were wrong!


Even with our Moms' help, we were still up until after midnight trying to prep the house. We went to bed too tired to feel sad that it was our last night in the house.

We woke up early in the morning the next day (Tuesday) and brought the girl's to Bob and Cathy's house. We got our rooms set up there and I went back to the house to meet up with the packers.

I spent the day supervising and taking care of business on my laptop. We snuck away briefly to take Fiona to her 15 month check up. (More on that later).

I ended up waiting too long to eat my lunch. My cutlery was packed and I had to eat my frozen meal with a straw. Luckily it was penne, so it wasn't too hard to manage.


The packers didn't finish that night until almost 8pm. I called Rick and let them know they were done so he could pick me up (his car was already in Colorado, so we were a one car family).


While I waited, I sat on the rocking chair in Fiona's room in the dark. It just looked too weird with the lights on... all empty and except for boxes everywhere. I cried as I thought of all the nights sitting there in the dark with her in my arms. I felt like I was leaving all the memories behind in that room and that all those precious nights would be lost there.

As Rick pulled up, I slowly made my out of my home. It was a strange feeling that I wouldn't be living there anymore.

Moving: The Game Plan

Once Gwen's birthday was over, we went straight into "Operation Move". Rick took the entire last week of August off so that he could help with the process. There was a lot to do! Here was an idea of our timetable (boring for you, but something I want to remember):

Monday, Aug 30th: Prep house for packers to arrive. Remove wall hangings. Patch, texture and repaint any holes left behind (yes, we were that nice). We also used this day to make sure our house was in order because the movers will pack things exactly how they find them. We also needed to pack overnight bags for us. We were going to stay with family for the remainder of our time in Washington and would also stay in a hotel in Colorado for two nights.

Tuesday, Aug 31st: Entire family goes to Bob and Cathy's to stay for the next three nights. Packers arrive. Anna Marie back to the house during the day to supervise. Fiona also had her 15 month appointment scheduled during the afternoon.

Wednesday, Sept 1st: Moving truck arrives. Anna Marie to stay at house to supervise and to clean. Rick to join later in the morning to meet with the escrow person and sign documents. (They came to the house, how nice!)

Thursday, Sept 2nd: Stopping by the house to say good-bye. Gwen's 5 year check-up. Shoe shopping. Lunch with Rick's co-workers. Exhale.

Friday, Sept 3rd: Pack up and leave Bob and Cathy's and head to Renton to stay with Anna Marie's parents for the next 3 nights. Anna Marie goes to the Gorge with her Dad for the Dave Matthews Band concert. Matrix also gets picked up in the morning for shipment to Colorado.

Saturday & Sunday: Hang in Renton with family.

Monday, Sept 6th (Labor Day): Fly to Colorado so that Rick can return to work the next morning. Stay in a hotel for the next two nights.

Tuesday: Do a final walk-thru on the house and go to the signing. Stay the night in the hotel.

Wednesday: Mover's arrive!

Thursday- Unpack and get settled!

More details on the move to come!

Colorado Bound

Sometime in the Spring, Rick's boss, Paul, called him with some information. Paul told him that the Recruiting Manager in Denver was planning a retirement. Paul told Rick to dust off his resume and send it to him to review before officially applying.

The fact that Paul was also the hiring manager for this position gave us a very strong impression that Rick was going to get this job. The opportunity was a good one too. The position would require Rick to manage all the recruiters in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas and Nebraska. This was just the type of position Rick has been dreaming of.

Since we had only moved into our house a couple years ago, there is still some decorating that hadn't been completed yet. To top it off, our yard was a mess, the closets needed some major decluttering, and there was dust on the blinds an inch thick.

Since the real estate market in our area is not doing well, we knew our house needed to be pristine, so we began working on projects to make our house shine that we wouldn't regret if Rick didn't end up getting the job.

We painted. We hung pictures. I made pillows. We painted some more. We cleaned, and cleaned, and cleaned. We accessorized the bedrooms.

We jazzed up the yard with new bark, new sod, a fence, an arbor, and a sweet deck.

Of course we didn't do this alone. We are blessed with many amazing friends, family and neighbors who kindly sacrificed their time for us. We would have never done it without them.

Rick had interview, after interview, after interview. I believe it was 4 total. He finally got an offer and we had to act fast. Once the offer was made, he was in Denver within days. Starting at the end of June he wad dividing his time between Seattle and Denver. By the first week of July our house was on the market. By the end of July, he was in Denver permanently and only home on the weekends.

Although it has been one of the largest trials of my life, time and time again, it has been proven to me that we are supposed to do this. Things are falling into place and small miracles continue to happen.

The first day our house was on the market we had a viewing. Less than two weeks later we had an offer from this family. It took another few weeks to reach mutual acceptance. But I still haven't reached personal acceptance.

There are a lot of things I'm still working on accepting. The hardest thing is coming to terms with the idea that we will moving from the state that we grew up in and always lived in except for college. We will be taking our girls away from their cousins and grandparents that they love dearly. We will be leaving our best friends. We will be losing an amazing ward. We will be giving up our house that was practically perfect in every way. Don't even get me started on the difference between the purchase price of our house 2.5 years ago compared to the sales price. Ouch.

Although the list of reasons why I don't want to leave is long, there is one thing on the list of reason's why we should go that trumps the rest. We know we should go without a doubt. That is the one thing I can't deny. So we are pushing forward, trying to keep the faith, but boy is it hard.