Lasts and Firsts

Saying goodbye is HARD. All my kiddos (and me) had tears in their eyes as they said goodbye to their friends, the Norths. We had so much fun exchanging small gifts and letters with these girls. Lots of walks to the North residence to drop things off! :) I'm still hoping for some marriages to come out of this friendship years down the road! ;)




I am surprised that I even got this picture...I could barely see with the tears gushing out of my eyes! Mandy and Dan hosted a goodbye breakfast for us the Sunday we flew out to VA. It was really a struggle for me to hold it together and not cry the entire time. I regret it now, but I decided not to hold the babies (Emme and Wesley) one last time because I knew I'd NEVER be able to get it together after that! Even still, over a month later, this picture brings tears to my eyes and an ache for "home". I am immediately zapped back into Mandy's backyard watching these kids enjoy each other SO MUCH. It hurts my heart...but that said, I know that for some reason we had to go. Andy keeps reminding me, "There is no comfort in a growth zone and no growth in a comfort zone." I try to remember that when my heart hurts on days when I see Aaron's eyes fill with tears to play with his beloved cousins. We do enjoy Virginia Beach, but have a ways to "figure out" why the Lord wanted us here.
Our last moments in AZ!
LOVE these girls with ALL my heart!
Getting ready to enter the terminals.
Alex is our HUGE helper. He pushed one of the carts with all our luggage.
...On the airplane! The kids all did amazingly well on the plane rides! We were pretty worried during the lay over when they all went completely BANANAS running around the Chicago airport. You could almost hear people's thoughts as we blazed by them. "Please don't let them be on our flight. Please don't...." etc. We even got a few compliments on how well our children behaved (ON the airplanes.) :)

Our first visit to Daddy's new work place.
Daddy kept trying to show us around his office...but all the kids wanted to do was ride around on these chairs with wheels on the wood floors. We gave up and just watched them!



Our first visit to the beach! It was FREEZING!


Even though it was COLD, WINDY and FREEZING...my boys insisted on getting their feet in the ocean! They claimed "it wasn't even that cold!" SAY WHAT??? My feet couldn't even stand 10 seconds in there!
Aaron was not about the cold water! He walked around the beach with his self made hoodie!
This sweet family in our ward, the Saunders, put this on our door while we were flying in. It was SO NEAT to have this banner across our front door in our new place!
They also left a bag full of cereal, snacks and treats. Love them!

Forts built with the boxes mommy emptied out. Good times!
We had been here for four days... and right out of the bath Aaron goes SAILING into one of the 90 degree corners of the wall (they are square here and not rounded off like they SHOULD BE) and busts his head wide open. O.M.Gosh. THANK HEAVENS I had one number of some awesome people in our new ward. (the above mentioned family). Wonderful Amber drove me to Urgent Care while her husband stayed with my other kids. Eight stitches later and Aaron is now tucked safely away in bed. What a night. He was the bravest kid I have ever seen! Not a tear shed when they numbed him. ...only when they had to shave his head! LOVE THAT KID.