First week

So our first week in Harrison (actually Valley Springs) was kinda neat. We got here on Thursday July 1st. Rested on Friday and Saturday. Sunday we went to town for the festivities-which included: tricycle races-by the toddlers, turtles races- they had over 300 this year and it was pretty neat to watch it happen, then we had fireworks that night and after the fireworks they closed down the 'square' for street dancing. It was mostly just high schoolers hanging out so we just went and wandered walmart for bit...Monday we rested some more, didn't want to deal with the holiday traffic. Tuesday we went around town and applied everywhere. Wednesday we went to Branson Missouri so that Marshall could apply at a bunch of places there. while we were there he had a cpl of pre-interviews. Thursday we helped his mom to clean and organize her house some. Friday Marshall went back to Branson for a bunch of interviews, and he came home with a cpl offers. He had to turn some down, but he ended up taking the job at Bass Pro. He had to go up there on the 12th to fill out all the fun paper work, he had orientation on the 13th and he had his first real day on the 14th. So far he really likes it, except for the drive. Its about 45 miles each way. Which is a big bummer. But at least our car is getting really good gas mileage now.

I still haven't found work, which is difficult for me to deal with. There just aren't any nursing homes hiring right now, and either is the hospital. But I keep trying. That all I can do.

Day 6

A funny sign that we kept seeing everywhere

The beaver wanted to try and drive for a bit

We finally made it to Arkansas

kinda what it looks like all the time

Marshall doing what he does best: talking on the phone while driving-barefoot

thought this was awesome since my moms last name is Greenland

Ok so I got really bored. I was tired of being in the car

Good ol' Harrison

We made to our new home around noon and got everything unpacked and set up and were able to finally really relax by 5. it felt so good to finally be out of a car and not have to be back in one in 8 hours or less.

Day 5

The sunrise as we are leaving New Mexico

Yep, thats right, we stopped at The Big Texan..

so Marshall could eat this cow

Just starting the challenge

after he finished, or should I say quit. He couldn't do it all.

He was really hurting after eating so much meat

some random leaning water tower

and a random building

oh yes, sweet Oklahoma.

It was a beautiful day.

We drove til we couldn't drive anymore. which was around 10 that night. we ended up staying in some small town right on the border of Oklahoma and Arkansas. It was a good thing we had stopped, we really needed to get some rest.

Day 4

We started our day off by visiting the Painted Desert, Petrified Forest

Mr Marshall

yep thats me

the beaver wanted in on the fun to

on of the buildings in the painted desert

Marshall out on the Agate Bridge. and yes there was a sign that said to stay off

Marshall out on one of the 'cliffs'

the beaver snuck one in with marshall

made it New Mexico by mid afternoon

pretty much how it looked the whole way to Albuquerque We stopped in Alberquerque to rest for the evening (which turned into the whole night) where we had one of the worst experiences ever with the hotel. 4 different rooms and finally a different hotel later, we were finally able to sit down and rest for the night.

Day 3

Day 3 through pictures:

stopped on some indian reservation somewhere in Nevada

marshall just had to stop here

pretty much all of Nevada looked like this

the beaver was so bored he climbed in the door handle to take a nap

one of many mini dust devils

we finally hit Vegas

It took us two hours just to drive the stinkin strip. and it wasnt even that exciting. Im kind of bummed that there really wasnt more to it. But at least now I can say that I have been to Vegas.

By night fall we had finally made it Arizona.

We drove to flagstaff that night, which was kind of difficult considering there are no rest stops in Arizona anymore. How lame is that? All the hotels were way to expensive so we ended up just finding a dark parking lot and sleeping for a few hours.

Day 2

Today we spent some much needed time with Lexi. We were able to be with her for about 5 hours. We spent some time at the mall, then went to the park. The playground was to hot to play on, considering was 103 degrees that day. So we found a quiet little creek to go play in. We all really had a good time, and Marshall got that dose of Lexi that he has been needing.

After spending the day with Lexi we continued on our way, making it Reno that night. It was a hot and very boring ride. We were so glad when we finally got to Reno and were able to get into a hotel and get some much needed sleep.

Day 1

To start our journey off, we left Oregon on a beautiful sunny day, June 26, 2010. We had a little get together with some close friends at a near by park. We all had a blast, and it was hard to say goodbye to our "family".

We then made our way over to Valley Memorial Cemetary to visit with Caramon for his 1st Birthday. It's hard to believe that its been a year already. We visited for a while, decorated, and said goodbye to our boys. Its going to be hard not being able to 'see' them for a whole year.

We left Quatama Crossing Apartments around 7:30pm, made our way over to Gemia and Gary's house so that we could have one last hug from the girls and also have a family prayer. And of course leaving was a lot harder to do this time.. We traveled through the night til we made across the California border. Then we rested for the night... More to come later