Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Welcome to Tennessee

It's funny, every time I tell someone I moved here from California the response is one of the following:  "I'm sorry" or "Why would you do that?" Then I go on to explain the different reasons why it just felt like the right move for our family. Then they usually give a nod in agreement.

I titled this post "Welcome to Tennessee" because I really do feel like we got a huge welcome from complete strangers. On the day we moved in, we met our landlords for the first time. We had been communicating by email and phone calls, but had never met in person. I pull up to the house after running an errand to find one of our landlords helping us move in and the other had made us a lasagna! I was blown away that they would even consider doing something like that. Southern hospitality really does exist and I had forgotten what it felt like.

One thing about being LDS, is that when you move into a new area you already have a network of people surrounding you. I called the bishop of our soon to be ward to let him know we were moving in and he made some phone calls. The next thing we knew about 4 or 5 guys came to help us unload so our Senior fathers wouldn't have to help with the heavy lifting :). One of those guys wives brought us pizza for dinner and another day the relief society president brought us a  meal as well. I am so grateful for those generous people that took time away from their day to help strangers unpack and for those thoughtful women who didn't want us to have to unpack and cook at the same time. What a blessing they are.

By our second day here we knew the names of our neighbors on either side of us. I am ashamed to admit that my plan to make cookies and deliver them to the houses on our street hasn't happened yet. I hope to get on the ball and do that soon. One set of neighbors came by on mother's day and brought us this...















She said she tried out a Barefoot Contessa recipe and it made and extra cake so they gave it to us! YUM :)

Almost everyone I have come in contact with has been friendly. When I called to set up the trash collection service, the women I spoke to, started giving me ideas of places I should take Morgan for fun. I think we spoke on the phone for 30 mins. We have also noticed that you really can't be in a hurry here. We have somehow ended up lengthy discussions with cashiers at a few different stores.

One of our favorite things about our little blue house is that it has a yard. Kevin mowed the lawn for the first time the other day.















I think he enjoyed it. I know Morgan and I have enjoyed playing outside.

So far, so good here in Tennessee. I will end this post with a few pictures of Morgan admiring herself in the mirror, because well, it's not a good post unless there are pictures of Morgan in it. :)











































1 comment:

Elizabeth said...

baby jeans are the cutest