Hello Garner!

Much to my surprise, Nathan and his crew finished their work last night and they were able to come home today! That meant that I also finished the last things left to do in Luverne, turned in my keys, and left there around 11:30am. We were back in Garner 3 hours later and Nathan followed us in the house 10 minutes later! It couldn't have been better timing! The boys were SOOO excited to see their daddy and I was SOOO excited to have my husband back!! We had a nice supper here and all the kids are in bed. I just thought I would post an update quick and let you all know that we are all here in Garner getting used to our "new" place. Nathan has the weekend off (which will probably be the only weekend this whole summer) so we are going to enjoy eachother and being a family before he starts work on Monday. I'll post more later but for now I'm going to go hang out with my husband :)

So where does the family sleep???

Since I have had friends that have been asking me to update the blog more often (you know who you are! :) I will post tonight and show you a few pictures of what life is like in Luverne when all of your belongings are in another state. :)

We have been back in the absolutely wonderful town of Luverne for a few days now and I'm enjoying every minute of it (minus the packing part!). We haven't done much except hang out with Jen and Harley (her 3 yr old), pack, watch dvds on the computer (the kids do), pack, change our address at the post office, pack, get the oil changed in the van, pack, try to find stuff to cook on (thanks Jen!), pack, move stuff to storage, pack, try to get as little as I can for groceries, and oh yeah, did I mention pack?!?!? Okay, so I have been pretty busy since getting here on Monday, but it's been nice to have some help with the kids (thanks Jen!) and also have a few days to do it in so I don't feel so rushed. There is still a few more things to do in town before we leave but I'm sure those things will be taken care of soon.

We have all been sleeping on the floor on blankets that we left here, except for Brayan...he is sleeping in his pack n' play, which we all have thought about trying to climb in there with him but then I thought that it might not hold us all! :) The floor is not too bad, although I wake up a few times a night when my hips go numb. :) Eating is a real challenge when I don't even have silverware (Jen borrowed us a few spoons this morning for breakfast....oh yeah, and she gave us the cereal too!...how pathetic we are...). You can see in the picture of our living area that it is basically a complete disaster area in here with all my piles of stuff that need to go to storage or back to Iowa with us, etc...not to mention the kids' toys that they like to spread all over the room as to make sure I trip on them at least 8 or 9 times a day!

Tiernan has had a fever since Monday evening so he is actually been a very good boy. Today was better and he was up more than the last two days but he is still slightly warm to the touch. Pretty much all day monday and all day Tuesday he just laid down on his blankets and slept or just laid there staring at the ceiling. Every once in a while he would tell me when he had to go potty or ask me for something to eat. The picture below is of him eating pistachios with a cold wash cloth on his forehead :)

A little bit about Nathan....He is working with a storm crew in York Nebraska. He is operating machinery all day knocking down bad poles. They start nice and early at 6am and they got off late at 9pm. He is working 15 hour days (but getting paid for 17, so that's a plus!) He said last night that they said that the job should be done on Friday night so he would be back Saturday. So we'll wait to see! And yes, this is the longest time that we have been away from each other since we've been married (4-1/2 yrs!!). The longest before this was from a Monday morning to Friday evening when he moved to Luverne before the rest of us. So that also means that this is the longest that I have been in charge of the kids by myself! Yikes! That is another reason why I had to come to Luverne....thanks Jen! :)

This weekend is Buffalo Days in Luverne. There is parade on Saturday morning that I think we will stay for so I'll try to update as often as I can and post some pictures from that.

Tiernan with his pistachios

Happy Happy Bray Bray

The storm area...I mean, my living room

Could we get this pack n' play in a king size please??

Caedmon's corner

This is how Tiernan and I have been sleeping....super comfy (not!!)... Notice how I don't even have a pillow?? Thankfully there was one more blanket in our place that I could put my head on!

This is my life-saver Jen! (and me) right before posting this blog...she comes to keep me company at night!

Hello Luverne! (I need a nap!)

Watching a movie--yes, they were all sitting still for a few seconds so I had to get a picture!

This is what we ate supper on back in Luverne since all our stuff is moved!

Hallway from kitchen area/front door looking into living room

Door and dining area

Living room

Front of building --we are in the apt on the upper left (behind the tree :)

Buddies

The bathroom

Tiernan and Brayan's room

Tiernan's bed

Their closet--just to give you an idea of the bedrooms--our bedroom is just like this, just on the other side of the apt.

Our kitchen area

At our friends the Forsmans' when we were in St. Cloud.

Diane and I, and Brayan

Tiernan feedin' the baby calf

Tiernan and Caedmon throwing straw....so fun!



Wow! Where do I begin?!? Well, I can start by saying that the 24th grandchild on the Legatt side was born on Saturday night!! Jeremiah (Nathan's younger brother) and Elisa welcomed their new baby boy, Eli Thomas to this world. He weighed 8 pounds and was 20 inches. They also had a home birth assisted by Joy and both mom and baby are doing great! So Congratulations guys! We can't wait to meet him!


Okay, so Saturday morning we woke up, ready to pack for the day. Our plan was to pack and load the trailer that my mom was bringing from St. Cloud on Saturday and then Sunday we would move to Garner. Well, since our plans have a way of changing at the last minute, Nathan got a call Saturday morning to go on a storm crew to Nebraska for a week, leaving from Clear Lake IA Sunday morning at 7am. Yikes! So we starting packing really fast, which ended up not really being that fast since we have 3 little kids who need breakfast, lunch, naps, etc. But we packed and hurried around and my mom showed up with the trailer around 2:30ish. Nathan started loading the trailer while I kept packing and we left Luverne around 6:45pm and got to Garner around 10pm. We unloaded everything (with the help of our landlord) and got to bed around 12:30-1am-ish. Whew! I said in the last post that we would have a two day move...I was wrong, it was ONE!


It went pretty smooth, except for a few glitches when we got to our "new" apt. One thing about this apt is that it is on the second level. The way that you get up to that second level is on these very narrow, very steep deck steps that don't have a railing on one side (safe, i know!). And the stairs don't go up the side of the deck like any other normal persons would, these go up the middle of the deck thru a cut-out (which nathan hit his head on a few times while moving...not fun!) I will have to take a picture and post it since that was the only thing I didn't take a pic of. But yes, we moved all our stuff up through the small opening in the deck. Well, all except the bed since it wouldn't fit!! We had to manuver the bed up and over the side of the railing and onto the deck to get it into our place. And when I say 'deck', don't think of a nice stained wooden deck and railing like typical decks are, nope-not here, this deck is like a few boards painted gray with metal railings and spindles wide enough for my kids to fall through that wiggle back and forth when you touch them! Lovely.....


So anyway, we unloaded the stuff, went to bed and then Nathan left at 6:15am the next morning for Nebraska for a week....leaving me alone with my kids in a town where I don't know anyone or where anything is without a phone and without interent!!! (If you are bored with your day-to-day tasks, come live with us, I promis you won't be bored!!) Our cell phones don't work in Garner so we will be getting a land line. And this week internet will be in too... I will leave our contact info at the bottom of this post in case you want to send me a nice letter (I love mail... hint hint!! :) My mom stayed over-night with us and stayed until about noon on Sunday which was SO nice to have her help in the morning since Nathan had already left. We couldn't have done the move without my mom willing to drive the trailer to us and back and help moving, we appreciated it greatly Mom, THANK YOU!!!


So after the rest of the day by myself and the kids, I decided to take a long walk with the kids. We walked by their brand new water park just a block away from us, wow it is nice! It's got TONS of slides, big ones, small ones, you name it, it's there. There's water foutains and things that spray water, diving boards, just about everything. It was fun to walk by although I don't know if we will ever go since two-thirds of my kids are scared of water! Maybe Tiernan and Nathan can go if he ever gets a day off. (Funny story about Caedmon and water....most of you know how freaked-out he is of water, well when we were staying at the holiday inn, we were walking through the lobby towards our room when we passed this small water-fountain thing were water was trickling down some stone....caedmon saw it and started crying, loud..we were like 'caedmon, you are just looking at it! you don't have to go in it!' It was funny...poor kid :)


Since Nathan will be gone this week and we still have a bunch of stuff left to do in Luverne (finish putting stuff in storage, clean, etc) I decided to drive back here today and stay most of the week here. I figure I feel comfortable here, I have a phone, internet, JEN NEXT DOOR!! :). It really hit me when I drove back here today about how much this feels like home to me. I love everything about where we live(d) in Luverne. I love the views, the apt, the apt building, the stores, the people, my egg lady, our milk farmer, the tress, our laundry room! (the laundry room that we have in Garner is located in the basement that you access from outside that is down these cement steps into this icky, dirty, wet, cement room with spider webs and there's this dark hallway-like thing that leads to a single guys apt in the basement....not exactly where I want to spend my time. I think Nathan will be coming with me to do the laundry :)



Just for the summer...that's what I keep telling myself :) I hope and pray that once we are all settled, that we (I) will adapt to Garner like we did Luverne and it will turn out to be a great summer! So for now I am back in Luverne, enjoying the last few days here. On saturday there is a parade in town so I think I will stay for that and go out with a bang! :) Our kids have been such troopers during all this....and are getting very good at sleeping where ever they are. In the last week, they have slept and stayed in 4 different cities! Last Monday and Tuesday we were in St. Cloud, then we went to the hotel in Clear Lake IA for Wed, Thurs, Fri and then went to Garner for Saturday and Sunday and now Monday in Luverne!! They are also good in the car, which is a huge blessing! Caedmon is the most restless but as long as he can eat something, he's fine so he gets a lot of snacks in the car :) Tiernan is very surprising since he's such a busy boy, but once he gets in the car it is very unlikely for us to hear a peep from him! He just sits there and looks out the window. For those who are curious, it is about 3 hours (actually when I drove here today the timer on my van said exactly 3:00 when I pulled into our parking lot) from Garner to Luverne. It is also a little over 3 hours from Luverne to St. Cloud, and I think it's about a little over 3 hours from Garner to St. Cloud, so basically it's a nice triangle to all three cities!

Our contact info is:

1190 Division St. #4

Garner, IA 50438

641-923-2184 (this will be hooked up on June 5th)....this week you can get a hold of me on my cell since i'm in Luverne and it works!!

Well, I think I'm going to go to bed. I'm tired!! My kids have all been in bed since 6:45pm so I think it's time I join them!

Goodbye Luverne

I don't have much time since it's 12:30am and I'm extremely tired after a super long day, but I'll give a quick update..... After 3 days and 3 nights in a hotel it's SOOOOO nice to be back in Luverne! Have I ever said how much I like Luverne? :) Today I tried EVERYTHING to find a place in Clear Lake and nothing. I made about a hundred calls, stopped at 3 realtors offices, looked at a couple places, called the owners of vacant houses, everything and nothing was available. We thought we would sign for this one apt and then after everything was said and done, he tells us we don't qualify b/c it was a 2 bedroom and we have 5 people moving in and according to their rules you can only have 4 people in a 2 bedroom apt. I'm like 'come on!' 3 of those people are under 3 ft tall! That can't count! But, it does....soooo...we were left with taking a place in Garner. (By the way, the reason why everything was booked in Clear Lake was b/c it's tourist and vacationer season b/c of the lake in town so the population doubles from 8k to 16k in the summer b/c of all the travelers, so everything in town to be rented is full). So the place we got in Garner is an old, small 2 bedroom apt that I guess will suit us fine for a few months. (did I ever mention how nice we have it in Luverne? :) My mom is planning on coming down here tomorrow and then we'll pack up and probably go to Garner on Sunday and move in. Another 2 day move...this one will actually be quicker than the last! We will be bringing as little as possible and keeping the rest of the stuff here at this apt in a garage in hopes that we will be back here at the end of the summer for another job going up around worthington. Jen, (being the great manager that she is!), said that we'll probably be able to move back into this apt! That would be awesome!! Anyway, so there's our plans for now. I will update with pics, etc later and I'll be sure to post pics of our new old place when we get settled. (it has floor to ceiling fake dark wood paneling in the whole place, every room, just to give you an idea of the great 'decor'...) There's lots to do tomorrow (like laundry, make bread, unpack suitcases, oh yeah....and pack and MOVE!) So i better get to bed.....g'night.

Is it next week yet?

Here are a few pics from today and last night. We went to Garner tonight to check out the possible places to live. Please pray that we'll find a place in Clear Lake which we think will be closest to Nathan's show-up site and so that we wouldn't have to move to those places that we looked at......yikes!!!

This is what the kids starting doing right when we got to the hotel! "Lets jump on the bed!"

Play area at the hotel

Caedmon's having a good time

There's Mr. Climber himself

Our smiley Bray Bray

Update

Ok, so Nathan wanted me to correct myself...we were not in St. Cloud for 2 weeks, we were there for a week and a half. We got there on a Thursday night (late) and left yesterday (Tuesday) a week and a half later. :) We were very busy with everything going on and trying to get everything accomplished in a short amount of time. Nathan was busy out on the land over-seeing the construction of the road that is being built for the development. It is coming along nice and it should be done by the end of the week! Okay, so now that I've corrected myself, I will let you know what's going on with the job......

Nathan called right away on Tuesday morning and spoke with the lady from the union hall in Iowa that left him a message last Friday. She told him about the "Mason City" job and he accepted. He will be putting up a transmission line that will run from Crystal Lake Iowa to Manly Iowa (I think) and they project it to take 3-4 months or longer. Like how they give us a set time? :) He will be working 6 - 12s (6 days a week, 12 hours a day) which is very nice compared to the 7 - 12s we thought he'd have to be working.

So yesterday morning we left St. Cloud for Des Moines Iowa to get his referral slip from the union hall. (I took us 4-1/2 hours drive time, 5 hours with stopping once) Then from there we back-tracked north to Mason City (about 2 hours) to find a hotel to stay for the night. Nathan's training this week was being held at the Holiday Inn so thankfully they had a room available!! So this morning Nathan is in training and we are playing in the hotel room :) It was quite a scene last night here with trying to get all the kids to settle down after being in the car all day long and then all packing into one little hotel room. But we made it! I went to get some groceries last night and once I left Nathan was able to shut off all the lights and the kids were out shortly after that.

So we have a couple days here. He will be finding out today how many days of training he has, either 2 or 3 and then it will be back to Luverne (3-1/2 hours) to pack our things and move them down here!!! We will be looking at a few places tonight to live at. Two of them are in Garner and 1 is in Forest City. We don't have many options because of the fact that we just want to rent for a few months and most people want a 6 month to year lease. The other reason is that the guy in Forest City told me that there is a feed mill crew and two other wind power crews looking for places to stay so we are competeing with them too. We are too worried about it though, the Lord will provide!

I will keep you updated as I know more......and later I will post pics of our stay here and in St. Cloud. But for now we are off to play in the play area here at the hotel!!!

Real Quick.....

I just have a few moments, but I thought I'd give an update of where we are at..... We've been in St. Cloud for almost 2 weeks waiting to here about the next move. We got a call from the Iowa union on Friday but Nathan's phone battery was dead and he wasn't by a charger so we missed the call. We will call Tuesday (tomorrow) morning to see what the call was all about and we will go from there. If it is the job that we've been waiting for, we will most likely be moving to Forest City, Iowa. Well, that's all for now...the kids (and my husband) and waiting in the car so I better run! I will update as soon as I can!