Moving....

What a pain!!! I wish I could say "we're never moving again!" It's NO fun and lots of work. I am so grateful that my mom was there that last week to help with the final things...it's the worst at the end...cleaning, going through the junk, packing the breakables, and then there's the kids who want to keep EVERYTHING!! I am not a saver, I wonder if one day I will regret this... but seriously who ever pulls out their handwriting folder from Kindergarten, just to see how they once wrote their name?? come on!! I do save all the notes and cards from my kids, but that's it!! I do not like papers and junk ... maybe I'm a little wasteful... but I like a clean house!! Don't get me wrong I do have a few sentimental things and a few junk draws and a messy house a lot!!... I just don't save and collect it all!! Unfortunately my boys inherited a pack rat gene from somebody... Hmmmm possibly their DAD??!! and I did have to give in on a few things, just to avoid a battle
we had lots of help with moving out, just like when we moved in... we lived by some of the kindest, most generous, serving people I think I will ever meet!! We began boxing a few months before we moved and just started filling the garage so that when people came they could just grab a box and load it in. Our neighbors and friends filled the truck Friday night and Glen drove it up to our new place where all of my extended family was waiting to unload it!! Then Saturday morning Glen brought back my brother and dad in the empty truck for the last load! Once again we had lots of people come to help and we were their second move that day!! We never could have done it without ALL the help we had and are so so so grateful... My heart swells just thinking about it... they will never know how much that meant to us... Thank you so much everyone!!!!

While moving and packing Gabe became obsessed with boxes and bubble wrap and unpacking whatever he could get his hands on!! He liked the small boxes and bins the best! he insisted on climbing in and out over and over!! This one was just right because he could raise his leg up and over all alone, without holding my hand! I loved it too because then I could get some packing done before he moved on to the next thing!!

This is the only picture I got of Gabe's unpacking skills.... and I know it might look mild but it was one of those where I had to take a breather because it wasn't the first that morning and I had just gone through all the markers and pens and crayons and separated them. I put them into baggies, all nice and safe... I was so proud of my organizing skills! I turned my back and I do not know how?? but he grabbed all four bags and unlocked the zip and had them all over the kitchen floor in minutes... all I could do was take a deep breath, a picture, and hope they would entertain him for awhile!! I decided against organizing them again and just scooped them up into a bag all mixed together!!!

This was our neighbor... Evan's best friend and one on one basketball buddie too!! I loved to hear them talking from my kitchen window.
Evan was the Aggies and he was BYU when we first moved in but after awhile one would be BYU and the other the cougars (which is BYU's mascot!) his love for BYU rubbed off on Evan and Evan soon had a new favorite team! They were instant friends and what a great kid to be friends with... we love him and his family and feel so blessed to have landed right next to them!! Their influence, love and friendship will always be cherished!! It was so hard for the boys to say goodbye to all of their friends!!

having a picnic... with friends! I let them eat the last of the food in the pantry so that I didn't have to pack it!!
all, except for the noodles!!:)

Eli loved our neighbors dog Hercules and he loved the neighborhood girls too... maybe a little too much sometimes:)

Evan's buddies from school

Eli's best friend from Kindergarten...

The hardest part is saying goodbye to friends who mean so much. The good thing is... we know that because they mean so much we will always be friends! We will keep in touch and it's not really goodbye... just see you later...