For my Momma

I'm creating this blog for my momma. . . That said I have no idea what I'm doing. My daughter, Gracyn, and I have recently moved to Little Rock, AR (Benton actually, or Bryant? I'm not really sure, I still haven't figured out where Bryant ends and Benton begins) to be together as a family with Gracy's Dadda and my fiancé, Justin. We moved down here from Gallatin, a small town in Northwest Missouri. Gracy has left her Grammy, Grandpa Randy, and Aunt; Grandpa Mike; Aunt Kayli, Uncle Roy, Crazy Cousin Kennedy, and soon to be baby boy cousin; Grandma and Pa Burrell; Nana and Great Great; Uncle Nic and Megan; and many other friends. It helps that Justin’s family lives in the Little Rock area, so Gracy will still have grandparents, great grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins nearby. Dad (known to Gracy as Grandpa Mike) was almost willing to join facebook to stay in touch and view pictures. Momma (known to Gracy as Grammy) thought a blog would be the best way to communicate about daily/weekly happenings. Dad was very relieved with the blog idea and that he didn't have to succumb to facebook. Although we are leaving behind many loved ones by moving to Little Rock, we are excited about the life change and are looking forward to this new adventure:-)
So, this past weekend was pretty hectic. My last day of work as a Substance Abuse Counselor was Thursday. I packed Friday and Justin drove up (8 hours) after getting off of work at 5. Saturday morning Gracy and I went to Aunt's (my little sister) 6th grade basketball game while Justin wrapped all of our boxes and furniture in plastic. By 3:15 we were all loaded up and ready to go. After a tearful good-bye with Dad and promises of future visits, we headed over to Mom's to say good-bye to Grammy, Grandpa Randy, and Aunt. We hit the road by 4 and made it all the way to Joplin, MO before we stopped for the night. We ate dinner at Cheddar's right by the hotel and I ordered the vegetable plate. Gracy shared with me and we had baby carrots, green beans, mashed potatoes, and broccoli and cheese casserole. She's getting sooo big! I'm astonished every time she does something new (like eating table food at a restaurant). Sunday, we set the clocks forward an hour and left Joplin around 10:30. We stopped for lunch at McDonald's and Justin decided Gracy was ready for her first french fry. . . she wasn't. After 5 minutes of fishing the soggy french fry out of her mouth we settled on a bottle. Gracy and I sang the whole way down to Little Rock. I wouldn't have survived the trip without George Strait's 50 number 1's and Miranda Lambert's new album. It also helped to have the 8 hour trip divided into 2 segments. It was definitely best for Gracy. The last 30 minutes of both drives, she was pretty fussy. We arrived in LR around 3:00 and unpacked and moved some furniture to storage until we move into our apt (hopefully before April 1st).  Until then we are staying with Justin's mom and step-dad (Thanks Sheryl and Craig!)