Saying Goodbye

Honestly, this was the hardest part. From the moment we told people we were selling the house, my chest always felt tight. I kept questioning if this was still the right thing to do. Luckily, and also a blessing, we have the best friends who (though so sad and kind of mad that we were leaving) continued to support us. They would say "Even though I'm not speaking to you, I hope everything goes well. Let me know what I can do to help." They brought dinners, they cleaned, they loved on my kids, we had a fantastic going away party hosted by the Young Men and Young Women. We had goodbye dinners with Jennie & Kelwin and goodbye lunches with so many friends. Really, you carried us through this hard time and were also God's cheerleaders for us so we could do this hard thing. Realizing I don't have so many special people in these pictures and now I kind of understand the kids fanatic picture-taking! If you have a picture of us together, please send it! So in no particular order are the goodbyes we said. 

Goodbye to the Gilbert temple. The closest temple for now is Birmingham or Baton Rouge (both about 4 hours away). The one in Tallahassee (2 hours away) will be open next summer. 

The surprise party the kids at church gave us! As mentioned before, Dan does a Circle K run almost every day, so the party was soda themed! Great music (thanks Owen) and fun drinks (thanks Cassy) and really cute going-away gift baskets (wish I had a picture but thank you Lauren, Jessica, Melanie, Kirsty, Sarah, Amy, and Stacy).

And we will forever treasure the words of love from Sydney and Owen. 

 

And not to be forgotten is our annual tradition of Pie Night. For more than 13 years, we had friends over the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to eat pie (or other favorite fall treats) and this last time was so special, even though it wasn't at the right time. The always amazing Maureen Saurey gave us this beautiful book of Arizona. People wrote messages inside of love and friendship that  we will cherish forever!

The best across-the-street neighbors you could ever ask for! When you know that they will always have your back whether for a cup of sugar or listening to the stories of Sophia, we were incredibly blessed by the Mroczeks!

One more time buying Sunday soda from the Walmart vending machine (no Circle K on Sunday:)

All the kids came home to say goodbye to the house and to be together there one last time. Kass won the game of Monster with this most excellent hiding place. 

Saying goodbye to brothers. 

Finally, early on the morning of October 5th, we left a piece of our hearts in Gilbert Arizona. For "some reason" that morning I drove out a different way - past the Rigby's house. It was early but Dave was out talking to a neighbor. We stopped, all of us teary, to say one last goodbye. Typical Dave, made us feel excited about the adventure we were about to undertake. He just has a way! Another person God put in our path on this journey (though Dave and the rest of his family have been there all along:).