Monday, September 17, 2012

Utah update

The trip to SLC

The move went without many glitches. We hoped to arrive to Salt Lake in the evening of Sept. 6 but we didn't actually pull into Todd's parents driveway until Friday, Sept. 7 at around 7pm.

Even though we were prepared, we still didn't get every last little thing packed until 7pm and between fueling the vehicles and dinner we didn't get out until around 8pm.

We had originally reserved a 26 ft truck for the move, but we had enough things to fill a 12ft trailer and our 8 ft trailer as well. The movers were awesome. They disassembled furniture, moved it outside without ever bumping into anything, wrapped everything with blankets and shrink wrap and loaded the trailers tight.

Todd's dad drove the 26ft truck and towed the 12 ft trailer, Todd's mom drove our sedan and Todd our SUV and smaller trailer. I sat in the back and try to keep the kids happy and entertained for two days. It was a slow ride but we eventually made it.

Carson enjoyed the drive through American Fork Canyon. We spotted several trains and looked for tunnels. He's become a big fan of trains since our trip to Durango, Colorado.

On Saturday, Sept. 8 we spent the morning unloading everything into a 10x30 storage unit near where we are staying. It's crazy to think that most of my earthly belongings can fit into such a small space.

The House Hunt

We have spent a significant amount of time looking for homes since we've been here and we still haven't found the 'perfect' home. There is a foreclosed home that meets our criteria and is in surprisingly good shape. The finishes are a little dated (late 1990's) and I hate the idea that I'm going to have to downgrade for a time until we get everything changed over but I love the location and the neighborhood is awesome.

It's a 5,000 sq ft home on a half acre lot that backs into an un-used cementary plot - really quiet neighbors. The house sits on a dead end street aprox. 15 mins. away from Todd's works and from his parents and not far from shopping and the freeway.

It comes with a garden with fruit trees, a 1/2 basketball court, playground area, covered deck, a workshop in the back, parking for at least 15 cars. The basement can be sectioned off as an apartment or be used as part of the house. We are keeping our fingers crossed that this house works out for us.

Unexpected phone call
This morning I received an unexpected phone call from the storage facilities where we've been keeping our belonging inquiring as to whether we forgot to put a lock on our unit yesterday. We haven't gone in since last Friday when we unloaded all that we brought with us.

The call really worried me. It meant that someone had tampered with our lock and gained accessed to the unit.We didn't keep any electronics or valuables but still the idea of having to replace everything was overwhelming. 

The storage facility is in a safe location with staff that lives on site, and security cameras. A code is required to enter and exit. Still, they managed to get around all of those precautions.

Even with all of those precautions they still stole a lawn mower, edger and a sewing machine. The police will look at the video surveillance tomorrow and see if they can get any information from it.

Luckily we have insurance on  our stored property that should cover all of our losses. I'm just not looking forward to the bureaucracy that it's going to require for us to get them to pay out.