Moving Part One

Well, our move was a whirlwind and I hope that I can remember how it all went so that I can document it here! We decided to move out of our apartment on the night of September 1oth. We got up Saturday morning, the 11th, found a storage unit, loaded up the car multiple times and started moving out that day! We had known all along that our lease was up on the 17th, but kept thinking we could push it back if we needed. However, since we were going to have a hotel room in Lancaster that was paid for by William's work, we decided not to waste any money (or time) and decided to go ahead and move out and be done with the apartment. I had started packing the apartment some, but was nowhere near ready to move out completely. It was definitely a busy weekend! Sunday afternoon we rented a U-haul and had a few friends come help us do most of what was left from Saturday. The Ashtons, Martinezs, and David Quinn all came to help. After a long day of packing and moving, we had pizza with everyone and then had to drive to Lancaster for the night.

The kiddos all helped Arden "pack" his toys in his room

AHHH there's so much to do!

From the Left: Sophia, Theresa, and John Martinez, Owen, Anna, and Zach Ashton, William and Arden and lots of PIZZA!

William had to work at Edwards Airforce Base near Lancaster for a few weeks, which is why we had a hotel there. I drove us to Lancaster, with the help of a little Spanish radio to keep me awake, and we got there around 11 that night. We went right to bed after showers. William had to get up early on Monday to head to work and Arden, Molly and I had our first day of desert living.

We stayed at the Homewood Suites by Hilton. Here are some pics of our room:

The Living Room/Playroom/Arden's Room

It was kind of nice being in between homes because I got to bring a few more conveniences than I normally would to a hotel, ie the highchair and toy basket.

The kitchen - no oven, but a stove, microwave, dishwasher, and fridge

Our bedroom where we spent a lot of time because we were stuck in there after Arden went to bed at 8 every night. (Disregard the unmade bed, it was a hotel, not my job to make!)

The bathroom sink/Arden's bathtub

Tuesday and Wednesday I was back in Simi cleaning the apartment and moving the last few things out so that we could be ready for our final inspection on Friday. Arden played with Owen Ashton on Tuesday so that I could get things done without him slowing me down. We spent the night with the Ashtons on Tuesday and Wednesday nights to avoid a lot of extra driving. After long hours, lots of cleaning products, and one sore body, the apartment was spotless. Our inspection was on Friday morning and I was prepared to fight. Creekside is known for trying to keep as much of your security deposit as they can scam out of you and I was going to have none of that. I let them know I meant business! I told him we weren't paying for cleaning because it was clean, we weren't paying for new carpets because they were clean, we weren't paying for painting because it did not exceed "normal wear and tear" and we were getting our "non-refundable" pet deposit back because it was illegal for them to say it was non-refundable in the first place. At one point the guy literally stuck his nose out to sniff the air, after asking if we had a pet, and I responded with "Don't stick your nose out, you're not going to smell anything, you're just trying to find something to charge me for!" All of that to say, we got our deposit back, no questions asked! HA! SO, we were out of our Creekside Apartment on Patricia Avenue and ready for our adventures to come in the desert!

Up Next: Life in the Desert