Part 2 of our lasts and firsts

Disclaimer: A lot of these lasts and firsts are not going to be real interesting to most people - they are lengthy and a little sentimental, but when I started this blog I decided to use it as a way to journal our life. As you all know, this move was a big part of our life and this is my best way to journal it for our family. Feel free to read on and hopefully you won't get too bored.

I think one of the hardest things about the two weeks following Phil's departure for our new home was having to go see friends for "one last...dinner, dessert or kids' playdate". Phil was off in California and the kids and I were going from house to house to enjoy our friends and family one last time. Going to Bryan and Kelly's was especially hard. I had cried over all my church friends already, but when we went to their house that night, I knew it was our last.

A little history as to why we are such close friends....Kelly and I became friends through Phil and Bryan working together in Junction City. She was my first "I'm a mommy!!" friend. I had worked full time until I had Logan and quit my job to stay home with him. Kelly had done the same thing and I think we both wanted a friend that understood the life we were living (oh so different from working full time with adults!!). So, when our boys were young (Hayden was almost 1 and Logan was 7 months) we became friends - good friends right away. We endured a lot on those first playdates - screaming kids, fit throwing, hitting, biting, Logan getting stuck in a Little Tikes car and Kelly and I laughing too hard to help him, the famous words "when it is time to go - it is time to go"...etc. But over the last couple years we have been able to just sit back, drink coffee, enjoy each others company and let the kids play. I am so glad we endured the "not so fun" playdates and made our kids decide to get along!! I don't think there have been many birthdays for either of our kids without the other family there (even when I was too lame to have a real party - they were always there to celebrate with us!).

The evening was wonderful, and we had agreed beforehand to not say "good-bye". Well, it was time to leave and we all knew what we weren't saying. All it took was for Logan to jump in Bryan's arms and hug him as if he was his best friend or second dad - and the tears came. So, here are a few of the fun pictures we took...

Bryan was definitely missing Phil that night!!

I definitely miss the Saturday mornings when both Phil and Bryan were at work (while every other family was out having a family day) and we would decide to get together just because. The happy thing is that I still get my morning call. As soon as the phone rings, I know it is Kelly. And now they have a place to take vacation. We are so excited to have them this spring. The kids can hardly wait to have sleepovers together and share rooms.

We have so many memories and fun stories to share. I can still hear the laughter filling the house when we would all get together. I am so glad that our friendship is much stronger than the miles that separate us. Just know that I miss you Kelly and am so glad you are my friend!!

We went to Autumn and Sean's house for dinner and let all the kids play. Sean was more than happy to play on his computer while Autumn and I sipped coffee and talked about all the changes (for me and her - she seemed to inherit a lot of my jobs at the church because I was taking off - have fun my dear friend!!) and play referree with the kids. Unfortunately, the coffee was caffeinated (should have know with Autumn - she doesn't believe in decaf!!) and I didn't sleep that night. The nice thing when we left was that I knew I would see her on Sunday. So, the goodbye was painless.

There were plenty of other people we saw, but I was not good at picture taking (which I regret terribly), but we sure enjoyed being with everyone. The surprise visit with our old JC neighbors was especially nice - the kids had a blast!!

Several of the girls in church have the same dress. On Victoria's last Sunday the moms kindly dressed their girls in the same dress. How sweet - I told Phil through tears "how are we ever going to make friends that will dress their girls like ours again!!" (Oh, how dramatic I became the last few days).

Then, Chad's birthday party and all the time our kids spent playing across the street at their house (I am not sure we could have finished packing the house without my kids being over there!!). I realize that the last two houses we lived in were so unique because of the lasting and close friendships we started. When we left Junction City, I thought we would never have neighbors like we did there. Then, we moved to Eugene and became friends with Chad and his family as well as several other neighbors. What a wonderful neighborhood that was. We sincerely miss everyone from there and look forward to visiting soon.

The last night we were at church I was able to sign one last song with our sign team. This was also my first time to sign with my dear friend Autumn. I had tried for a couple years to convince her to join, but she didn't decide to join until about one week before we found out we were moving. Then, the whole team decided to work hard so we could sign together before I left. I have never in my life had so much fun doing something. I absolutely love to sign and have loved working with this group of people. My most memorable holiday seasons were when we put together the most awesome Christmas programs in sign language. I will miss this dearly...

And...one last hurrah at Papa's Pizza. What a blast we had....