4th of July

This is the swing in my grandparent's back yard. The same one I played on as a little girl. The same one my mom played on as a little girl. Gage was playing superman on it at the 4th of July bbq. Good salmon, good apple pie, good people.

We did sparklers with Noah and then let Grandma read them bedtime stories while Dave and I went to the fireworks at the stadium with my cousin and the newlyweds.

Dave leaves on Thursday for Singapore. I'm trying to get as much of him as I can. We went to a movie and ice cream last night and to the temple together today. I'm trying to soak in the daddy diaper changing and wrestling while he's still around. Me and the boys will have plenty to keep us busy here for 5 weeks, but man we're going to miss him.

Wedding Day

The wedding was beautiful. Mrs. Erin Alba was gorgeous.

This is the third wedding my mom has done. She even does the flowers herself. I'm amazed at how she pulls it all off. Even with some unexpected and inconvenient sicknesses, everything came together. Most importantly, Erin and Tristan started their new family with love. And I think that's a pretty good start.

The sisters. Brinna, me, Erin, Kate, Dana

Through Boise to Washington

We drove up to Boise and had a short stay. Just long enough for a fabulous salmon dinner, time to play with cousins, late night laughs with Ted and Leslie, and of course some wild chicken rides. Thanks guys, we love you.

We're now in Washington. The house is full of sisters and husbands, and even my Grammee. It feels just right. We're getting ready for a wedding tomorrow. These amazing people are so ready.

Good night.

Moab

We just spent a week nestled in the mountains. First a few days to catch our breath from the move. It was nice to be on solid ground and not to have my head spinning with a million details. Then we headed south to Moab and the red rocks for an extended family vacation.

We biked and hiked and swam and napped and ate and played. Each family stayed in a condo on a cul de sac. The circle was filled with cousins non stop. Scooters, bikes, bubbles, air soft guns, night games. Something was constantly happening. It was great. Cousins are the best. We would have loved to buckle down and stay for good.

We're so glad we got to see everyone. We love you guys!

Moving Out

We said good bye to Michigan today. Noah waved out the airplane window as we crossed over Lake Michigan.

Last Wednesday we shipped everything we’re taking to Singapore to Washington. It will sit there until we pack it all into our 8 suitcases for The Big Flight. Big boy Noah drove with Daddy to the shipping terminal and helped him saran wrap it all onto the pallet.

Then we spent the week emptying out our house (and finishing a dissertation by the way!). We had the yard sale, sold our cars and then load after load went to Goodwill.

We spent hours on the phone changing addresses, closing accounts, reducing a file cabinet of paperwork down to a 10 pocket accordion file. Did we ever really need all that stuff?

We left our house empty. Empty and clean. Thanks to many a friend. I can not tell you how dear these people are to me. to us. to our family. And I can not tell you how much we needed them. They hauled trash, took loads to goodwill, ran last minute errands, threw good-bye parties, returned library books, loaned us furniture and cars, watched the boys, and even scrubbed my stove. I love every single one of them. Thank you so much.

Saying good bye was hard.

(photo by Noah)

Last night we stayed at a hotel in Detroit and then leisurely got on our plane this morning with a couple bags. From the airplane window Lake Michigan was quite a sight. Blue skies, clouds and all that water.

Crossing over was hard, familiar and good.

We are sad to leave what was behind and excited to see what is on the other side.

Gushing

We had our family portraits taken last week by this amazing friend. Here's a link to her photography site.

After a morning of bribing and bouncing and smiling I was sure we had nothing. But that Amanda is amazing like I told you. She even did our new header.

She sat me down and showed me these pictures of our little family and I cried. Really I did. The timing of leaving Michigan and moving on really brought on the nostalgia. Looking and thinking about memories, moments, how big the boys are, how little they were, how far we've come, how I love this place and those gardens. Just a bunch of sentimental gush.

Getting ready

Our house is getting more and more empty. We have 2 weeks before we leave Michigan. We're using diaper boxes as dressers and sitting on the floor to watch movies. Shrinking a household down to 10 suitcases keeps us on our toes. Last night we successfully boiled  corn on the cob in a frying pan and sliced the pizza with a plastic knife. 

We already sent 'the irreplaceables' away to be stored. David's parents filled their Camry to the limit with boxes of photo albums, journals, handmade baby blankets, and that sweet wooden barn I threw in at the last minute, and drove it across country to be tucked away in their basement. I even finished the baby books and blurbed a blog book just in time. Amazing how motivating a deadline like moving out of the country can be. 

A couple weeks later we wrapped up our bed frame, that awesome children's book shelf I found at a yard sale for $5, and more boxes of treasures to be stored and they all hitched a cross country ride on Curtis' cherry truck. Thanks Curtis! 

For right now, Craigslist is my still best friend, there's always more to get rid of. I can't wait for next Saturday - we're going to do the big yard sale, everything goes, and then haul the rest away. So by Saturday everything should be gone. gone. gone. Then we'll pack up those 10 suitcases and ship them to my parents' house. Everything we'll take to Singapore. And then with just a couple bags we'll leisurely travel over the mountains to visit our family. We've got a family vacation in Moab and a wedding in Washington to look forward to. 

Sounds like a plan, right? I sure hope so.