This is going to be more like a novel, since I haven't collected pictures from others to go with all of the things that have happened this month.

On May 2, Ben graduated and commissioned. I only took Sydney to graduation and left the babies at home. It only lasted 50 minutes, which was awesome. The only speaker was the valedictorian. Best graduation ever, although Sydney wasn't terribly impressed with it only being "talking and not a show."

That evening he commissioned with the Air Force. Most of my family was there, which was really nice. However, we all had our kids and ended up spending most of the evening in the hallway, since Major Martin decided to perform a ridiculously lengthy stand-up routine, which caused the ceremony to last 2 1/2 hours. Ben commissioned last. Sydney really enjoyed helping to pin new ranks on Ben's hat.

After we got through all of those festivities, it was time to really buckle down and get ready to move. We did a lot a cleaning and organizing to prepare for the movers. Eight days before the packers were supposed to be at our house, we still hadn't heard from anyone to confirm packing and loading days. I called Hill and was told that they might not call until a couple of days beforehand, but that I could call back to see if I could get more information.

Monday afternoon (less than two days before packing day) I had Ben call Hill to see if we could find out what was going on. I had a feeling that things had fallen through the cracks, and if we didn't track down who was supposed to be coming, no one would be there Wednesday morning. Ben spoke to an airman at Hill, who told us to call JPPSO in Colorado, who told us to call Alexander's Mobility Service in Maryland, who told us to call Atlas Van Lines, who told us to call Mollerup Van and Storage in Roy, Utah. Mollerup had never heard of us. This resulted in a call back to Atlas, after which Mollerup called us to confirm a Wednesday pack date had been scheduled. That's cutting it just a bit too close for me.

The Air Force scheduled two pack days for us. Three guys showed up at my apartment at 10:40 and left at 5:20, at which time everything was packed. They even took two breaks. We really don't have a lot of stuff.

We still had our beds, so we all slept there that night, then after Sydney finished preschool on Thursday, I drove down to Orem with the kids to wait until Monday when we could start travelling to Missouri. Ben stayed in Logan to take care of the fish so we would only have to move them once.

We really enjoyed being able to spend a few days with family before moving so far away.

Monday morning, we began our drive. My sister, Kari came with us to help with the kids, since Ben and I both had to drive cars. She has been an absolute LIFESAVER! At 7:30, we headed up Provo Canyon on our way to Wyoming. We stopped at Little America for gas and $.50 ice cream cones. Our next stop was Rawlins, Wyoming for lunch. Ben got a late start and caught up with us just as we were finishing lunch.

We then went to Laramie, Wyoming, to the University of Wyoming to see Big Al. The BBC made a documentary of this allosaurus skeleton found in Wyoming that was 95% complete. It is one of Sydney's favorite things to watch. She was so excited to get to see the real thing. We even got her a t-shirt.

We stayed the night in Cheyenne and decided to have dinner in the restaurant in the hotel. Bad idea. We were there FOREVER. It was an hour before we got our food. I was so frustrated and tired. After we finally got out of there, we played in the swimming pool. The kids loved it, and it helped them to work off some energy so they slept really well.

We set out first thing the next morning, and drove for about an hour before stopping for breakfast in Sidney, Nebraska. Sydney thought that was pretty cool.

We then drove to North Platte, Nebraska to visit Cody Park to play on the kids' carnival rides. We were disappointed to find out that, although not posted on the website, the rides only run from 5-9 at night. We got to see llamas and peacocks and play at a playground.

Our next stop was the Heartland Museum of Military Vehicles. We got to see a lot of restored WWII vehicles, which was a lot of fun. There were a lot more outside, but Nebraska was so ridiculously windy, Ben and Kari only took the girls to see the two you could climb inside while I fed Zack in the car.

The wind in Nebraska was so bad that our cars constantly wiggled as we tried to keep them on the road. No my favorite days of driving. I vowed never to live in Nebraska.

We stayed the night in Lincoln, where the kids again slept really well. They had a warm breakfast available in the lobby. Ben took the girls to play on the elevators, which were glass on the back. I couldn't even look, but they thought it was great.

Wednesday morning, we went to the Lincoln Children's Museum. They kids had fun playing, and we all enjoyed some much-needed time outside of the car. I got an good taste of how the trip was wearing on Sydney when it was time to leave the museum, and she screamed about how I was being mean and dumb to her. Those are the worst words she knows, so she was pulling out the big guns.

We drove out to Nebraska City for a quick lunch at Burger King, then set out for St. Joseph, Missouri. After a brief stint in Iowa, we finally crossed the Missouri border. After a quick visit to the Pony Express Memorial, we checked in our hotel and headed straight for the pool. We went to Red Lobster for dinner (so yummy!) then turned in for our last night on the road.

At 4:40 a.m. Thursday morning, my cell phone rang. It was Kari over in the next room with Sydney. Sydney had started throwing up. I had already been up for two hours with a cold and had just gotten back to sleep before this happened. I went over and bathed Sydney, got her dressed, and brought her over to the other room. She watched Happy Feet on the computer, which puking into the ice bucket for an hour and a half. Then it started coming from the other end. Not the most exciting illness to have in the car.

We equipped Sydney with a bowl in case she decided to start returning her food again and set off. We stopped in Liberty for breakfast. Ben was wearing his uniform so he would be ready to go when we arrived on base. A nice gentleman won three stuffed animals out of the claw machine and asked to give them to the kids. Tansy used hers to knock an entire glass of orange juice over which covered the table and got on Ben's pants. He was able to get it out. Phew.

Near the end of our meal, a lady stopped to thank Ben for all he does. Another gentlemen asked us to point out our waitress so that he could pay our bill. It was amazing to get so much attention because my husband decided to serve in the military. It really makes me proud of him.

We all got back in the car, and thought we wouldn't stop until we reached Whiteman. After all, Sydney had gone to the bathroom twice at the restaurant, so we should be good. We ended up stopping about 45 minutes after we started out and again in Knob Noster, which is only two miles from Whiteman. Poor girl. Two minutes after getting to Whiteman, she had to go again.

We went to the Whiteman Inn to get into our Temporary Lodging Facility (TLF). We had originally scheduled to arrive on the 20th, but when we found out that the Air Force would cover four days of travel, we pushed our arrival date back to the 21st. Ben and I had both tried to call several times, but I only got through once and hung up after being left on hold for 20 minutes. The girl at the desk said that since we didn't arrive on the 20th, they no longer had a TLF for us and finally offered us a single room until a TLF would be available the next day. I told her we had three adults and three children and that wouldn't work. She then left to go "figure something out."

Ben and I left the kids with Kari and went to get IDs taken care of. Poor Kari was stuck outside with the three of them until a nicer girl at Whiteman Inn showed her a playground. They also bought some snacks. I was able to get back to them almost an hour and a half later, then we waited for Ben for another half an hour. At this point, the nicer girl was able to check us in to a TLF. She showed me that she had chosen the one we are in because there is playground just outside the front door, and the laundry is so close. I loved her for that.

We are currently staying in a place with one bedroom with a queen bed. The living room had a sofa bed and the chair also folds out into a bed. Right now the kids are in the bedroom with me and Ben and Kari sleep in the living room. When Kari leaves, I plan to move the kids to the living room and Ben and I will take the bed. We'll see how the kids deal with that. They are still acting up a lot, since their lives have been turned upside down.

Friday morning we got keys to look at two houses. Despite all of the assurances of new houses and renovated houses, we get to choose from two that are scheduled to be demoished before we think we will be transferred. Not much to look at. It was pretty disappointing, but we have been through twice, and I have some ideas of improvements. The nice thing is that since it will be demolished when we're done with it, we can pretty much do whatever we want. The yard is also fenced, which is awesome. And it is my very own house, not an apartment.

Yesterday, we went to Liberty and Independence. We wanted to make sure Kari got to see those before she went back to Utah. We had a good time, and even stopped at Cici's pizza. Everyone tired out pretty quickly though, so we headed home.

Today was the first day in our new ward. Everyone was very friendly and introduced themselves. We met with the bishop this afternoon and will be heading over to another family's house tonight to roast marshmallows.

Basically, things have gone really well, with just a few hiccups. Pictures will be coming soon! Thanks for hanging in there with me for this long, long post. I use this as a sort of journal, so everything needed to get in. Now that we are here, I'll be posting more regularly.