Goodbye Idaho

This has been my longest break from blogging.  I don't know if anyone even reads them anymore.  I do know that if I continued not blogging I would regret it.  I am so happy I keep a faithful record of our family and we love going back and reading about our lives.  So I'm back in the saddle and I am going to work really hard to get caught up.  So here goes...

We moved.  This was truly one of the most difficult and stressful decisions and times of my life.  I think that I've had a difficult time motivating myself to blog because this was such a hard time and I don't really like revisiting it.  The last six months in Idaho were really hard.  Bryan had to make the difficult decision that the job there wasn't going to work out long term.  We were so blessed having a perfect opportunity fall into our laps that would move us to Utah.  After a great deal of prayer, stress, tears, sleepless nights and so forth we decided that the move would be the best for our family.  I can say with confidence three months into our new house that we made the right choice.  That being said, it didn't make moving any easier.  We loved our house so much and putting it on the market and looking for another house is a stress I never want to relive.  In fact, I have told Bryan many times that I am not moving again, ever.  Not only did we have to leave a house, but the girls were old enough to feel the stress of the move, Bryan was doing board preparation that equaled about 70 hours of work and was transitioning out of a job where they weren't too happy about his decision to leave.  There were some crazy, stressful moments that I am thankful are behind us.  There were also some moments that were wonderful.  There were many things about Idaho that were so great for our family and I can confidently say I am so thankful for all that we gained and learned from our two short years there.  We were able to squeeze in some fun things before we left and I am glad I get to go back and review all of them.  It makes me happy knowing we made the most of our last bit of time there.

Audrey was just looking too cute.

 Bryan and I would make a goal to have lunch together most days.  Sometimes we would meet at a park near his work.  I think Lily loved having the extra attention.

 We spent lots of time in our great big giant yard.  Our yard is what the girls miss most about Idaho.  I have never seen yards as beautiful anywhere else.

 This was Bryan packing up his office.  At this point we both knew with certainty it was time to move on but we were thankful for the wonderful people he worked with.  He had such a great nurse that was his right hand.

 We had lots of play dates at the park with our friends.   We still miss them terribly.  I am so thankful for texting.  I mean I can't even begin to express how thankful.  It is always amazing to me how many wonderful people cross your path in life and I met some of the best in Idaho.

 Oh we miss these guys.  I don't think we laugh harder with anyone else.

 We took a trip to the local water park.  The girls had the best day.

 This is such a great memory.  I love watching the run from slide to slide.

 This is a view I will miss forever.  The Idaho nights were always cool and summers were filled with the smell of mint.  I really loved that.

 We also spent a day at the aquarium in Boise.  It's small but really fun.

 The girls were very brave with the giant lizard.

 We had to take several variations of this picture.  Everyone's face had to make it in at some point.

 Julia had one last piano recital.  We loved Sister Hatch and I am forever indebted to her for giving Julia a strong love of piano.  That is all I could ever want.

 On my last night there I had to snap this picture.   The girls found a cat that they sat and watched for a long time.  This was a great yard and a great house.  I'm so thankful we were able to live there.  It's interesting how life doesn't always take the exact path you lay out for yourself sometimes.  I came to Idaho thinking we would live there forever and had every intention of doing so.  I am thankful that I have learned the valuable lesson that things don't always go according to plan and that's ok.  Sometimes it's better than ok.  We have grown closer as a family, Bryan and my marriage has been strengthened and we never would have know what kind of practice Bryan would have wanted without having this experience.  Thank you Idaho for being so good to us.  Now on to new adventures...