Saying Goodbye!

Saying goodbye to all of our friends was heart breaking.  We've gained so many friends over the last 12 years.  Sweet Kip threw us a neighborhood moving away party.  So many of our friends and neighbors came by to wish us good luck.  We will always look back at our time in AF with wonderful memories.  We went out to dinner to our favorite Thai restaurant one last time with Dan and Cathy.   There was one point in time where we were eating here once a week.  They've been such great friends!  We tease them that they'll have to drive up to watch the Black List with us on Monday nights.  We're sure going to miss them and all of the fun double dates.  Now who is Matt supposed to go see all those "dumb" movies with?  

On my last bike ride, I stopped and took a picture of the temple.  I'm going to miss having a temple 5 minutes away from us.  I love ridding and driving past it all the time.  We still sing "I love to see the temple" every time we drive past it.  (We started that when Chase was a baby)

So we hired some movers that a friend recommended.  When I opened the door and met them, I was disappointed.  I thought "this scrawny guy is going to move my big furniture?"  But we ended up being pleasantly surprised by them because they were amazing!  They did a great job moving all of our stuff, including our heavy stuff.  We rented a Uhaul  truck and then the movers put all the stuff in it, drove up to T, and then unloaded it at our new house.  They spent the whole day with us and were so delightful!  We couldn't have asked for better help.  They were very hard workers and positive.  They left a note for us at our old house when we came back late that night.  We had the movers come on Thursday, that way we had a couple of days to do the last minute cleaning once everything was cleared out. 

Mom, Dad, and Marilyn came down Thursday to help us with the big move.  I thought I was ready but there were a few cabinets in the kitchen that I forgot about so luckily Mom and Marilyn tackled those.  Dad and Matt stayed busy helping the movers.  Mom and Marilyn brought a bunch of food with them so we had plenty of yummy food to keep us fueled.  It was so nice to have their help with the kids too!  It was Mom, Dad, Marilyn, and Bridger's first time seeing our new house.  It's going to be a great rental house.  I'm so grateful for it!!!  There's plenty of space for us and a great backyard for the kids and Sophie.

Chase and Bridger were awesome helpers!!!  We moved boxes in as fast as we could because it was getting late.  Mom and Marilyn wiped out some cupboards for me.  Mom and Marilyn kept Tanner out of the way.

Saturday was our final day in our house.  Bridger had a game at 11:00 so we went to that and then came back and wrapped things up.  Ardell and Charlene came down to help us.  Charlene was wonderful to take Tanner so I could clean.  It seemed surreal to see the house so empty.  I have such a feeling of sadness.  I remember crying my eyes out when we left Minnesota and I was worried that I would do that again.  But I think I was too stressed out.  I was able to take a quick final walkthrough the house and say goodbye.  I had a quick little cry and then that was it.  Time to move on.  I've loved everything about this wonderful house!!  We have loved our neighbors!  It's been a fantastic neighborhood for our boys.  The schools been wonderful.  It would have made it a lot easier to move if we hated it here.  But I'm so grateful for the fond memories!!!

Luckily we were able to find our cat Lizzy hiding in a window well before we left.  I was worried about getting her up to T but it all worked out.  I careful put her in a carrier and off we went.  When we got to our new house I let her out.  She was looking around and then Sophie got out and immediately chased Lizzy away.  We were worried that we would never see her again.  On Sunday we still hadn't seen her so Bridger said he was fasting for Lizzy.  He's been praying every day that we'll find her.  Luckily a few days later, she came to me one night as I was calling for her.  I don't think she likes her new outdoor home.

We finally made it up here around 7:00 on Saturday night.  There were boxes everywhere!!!  But we managed to find the table and eat some pizza.  Unpacking was a little overwhelming but I focused on Tanner's room first so he could have a bed and then the kitchen.  After that I just tackled a room at a time.  Things were mostly unpacked by the time we left for the cabin a week later.  I was an unpacking machine!!!