More awesome people

A couple more of my best friends, Wynetta and Paula took me to lunch at our favorite restaurant the week we left.

This playground was built the year Ivan was born and we have a picture with me and him in a stroller, since he too was est. 2004. Look what time will do!


Got to see Caleb and Micah also before we left in a blazzing hot day. A couple of adults were gallantly acting as stepping stools so we could shoot this since the smallest ones were too short for the window.

Packing day in the former nursery, then box depo. It was a formidable mountain, but fit in the truck with room to spare!

Fun with Tighe

I am so fortunate to have wonderful friends. They have all made this major life move so much easier, whether it be playdates, babysitting, meals, food dropped off, or loading a truck, we've had a whole army of support. It has been incredible. I can't imagine getting through this without so much help. Of course, Brian has been awesome, everyday packing and organizing stuff.

Still in Abilene

OK, so we are not still in Abilene when you read this, but I still have lots of pictures to share, so while we drive, you get to look into our last days in Abilene.
We spent lots of our time with Tighe and her kids of course. We went to the zoo a last time and made our own exhibit as seen here. This one is called two strollers crammed with excitement.







With all the house packed up, the kids had to get creative. They still had their bikes to ride and what else.... hum climb the front porch hedge? I'm hoping that as you read this we are not crawling down each other's throats from the long trip!

photographical glimpses into our lives

Our friend Olivia Brigham has her own photography business- Inspired by Grace and also does artistic creations which are amazing. She is also a good friend of Tighe's and thus became our friend also. As a going away gift, she did a photo shoot for us which I posted about here and here. It was a lot of fun and of course, the kids wanted to be a big help too.
So they took Olivia's cue from their sessions and picked up her attention grabbing toys to keep Brian focused on the camera while she shot him.

Here Olivia gave Dominique a high five after she smiled (sort of) for the camera.


Another night, we set up an old film projector and watched reels of film from when Brian was a toddler and one from a performance he did at Christmas in first grade. It was such a fun night and the kids loved watching their daddy crawl around as well as see their grandparents in another decade.

Dad was always big on photo taking, so I come by it honestly. We are constantly recording the moments of our lives and I love to look over them and remember.

At the park with the girls

This was a nice day at the park with Lily, Tighe and Isaiah, I'm guessing Isaiah was there, I don't see him in my pictures and can't remember! When you read this we finishing up our final day in Abilene, but as I write it is the day before the truck loading.
Grandpa Ray asked if we are packing the truck tomorrow and Ivan said no. The adults were as confused as he was asking if we were going to leave our stuff and drive it empty and Ivan said, "we can't put the truck in a box!" Get it, "pack the truck!" Ah, the English language is riddled with traps.

Ivan informed me today that he and Dominique had made a deal, that when they are adults, she is going to buy him a pole saw and he is going to buy her her wedding dress. When I told him that wedding dresses can be very expensive, he altered his promise, now saying that he would make her dress. He thinks he can sew because I own a sewing machine. Even I don't pretend that I can sew and that's with the machine!

We went to the pool for the last time and then met up with Micah and Caleb for a last fun play time at the park, only it was scorching hot outside and I think Ivan either got some heat stroke or spun too many times on the tire swing in the blazing sun. Either way, he felt like "barfing" the rest of the time as he liked to tell us. Dinner and an arctic cold restaurant finally cured him, but I should have known after a decade of living here not to go to a park on a hot day.

Truck loading day

I'm posting this in advance, trying to get ahead so that you will still have something to read and look at while we are on the road. So while you read this, I will be packing a truck, along with Brian and his guys. The kids will be enjoying time with Tighe. We've been getting in as much time as possible, so instead of seeing each other once a week, as usual, we've been meeting 2-4 times or so! Yeah, it's going to totally suck to be separated.


Here is one of our last times at toddler library time. Emora has been really getting into it, so that has been fun to watch. I should really write down the song titles so we can keep singing them with her, but we will miss the outings, the library, it's staff and the ambiance of children's time. We hope they will have programs in Fort Qu'appelle.

We were at the Meredith's and Emora started posing for the camera. Can you believe this? We just laughed and laughed and she poured on the charm!

Friends and more friends.

We've had a couple of new neighborhood kids camping out at our house often after school. Our kids love them and they are really sweet boys. It's kinda weird to have someone new show up in our lives as we are leaving, but maybe that is just a sign that we will have new friends appearing no matter our place and time in life.

This was our last visit to Mary. We stopped at our favorite burger joint on the way home. The owner took our picture and said he was going to post it on his wall, so if you are ever in Anson, you could see my smiling face looking back at you, though I will be a whole country away.

This was at Valarie's. Dominique was "mowing" the lawn in high heals, a necklace, a dress and her favorite hair style which is a huge bow smack in the middle and top of her head.

saying our goodbyes

We're getting down to the wire and saying goodbye to lots of friends. I got to have lunch with Paula and Wynetta, then tonight we had dinner with a couple of the neighbors. We were at Kay and Floyd Meredith seen here and were joined with Valarie and Logan. She made aprons for us girls, so we had to do an apron picture. We played hide and seek until we had exhausted every possible hiding place. We are filling suitcases, the play set is dismantled and I finished some travel activity books for the kids before we packed the printer. Just a bit left to do tomorrow before we load the truck Thurs.! Can hardly believe it!

@ the meadows

I've actually been trying to post this for the last 4 days! Blogger was just not uploading the pics, so I went to facebook, uploaded them then snagged them from there for here! Much too complicated. We just gave our cat away! That was weird, but she will be much happier not having to do the huge move and transition time. She was Brian's cat, so I let him make the call. I was just surprised that he wanted to give her away. We'll probably get a new cat once we're settled. He wants a friendlier one.

Our friends the Snooks have jam nights periodically. We've been going since they started when they bought their acreage. We enjoyed our last jam while grandpa Ray was here and they took some family shots of us in their bluebonnet patch. That is the state flower, for the non-Texans who read this and didn't know it. Vera took shots of our last time there and also gave us some vintage pics. Good memories ;)


Today (ie. when I wrote this last Friday!!), Brian traveled to go see Big Buddy one last time and deliver his suitcases (which the ambulance refused to let him bring) and wheelchairs. The kids and I joined up with Tighe and her kids to have a last zoo visit and picnic. Then after a rest (that some of the kids took), my trio and I got another swim time in at the Y. They are all taking off with swimming now. Of course, not if I ask them to practice, but the lure of touching the bottom and then the desire to swim without arm floats is motivation enough I guess. Emora can now balance herself with just arm floats and no vest. She can spit out water, blow bubbles and scream like a banchee if I'm not holding her. She can also do that last trick out of water.