"You're Gonna Miss This"

"You're Gonna Miss This"
Trace Adkins

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days
Hadn't gone by so fast...

These are the good times,
So take a good look around
You may not know it now,
But you're gonna miss this

As I sit here tonight missing Arizona so bad it hurts...this song just keeps playing over and over in my head. Arizona (and all that came with it) was my paradise. And I miss it. Terribly. I miss all of my favorite things in Arizona....mostly the friends. And the heat. And the pools. So here are some of the things and people I miss dearly...so very bad. In fact, if we’re being honest here, sometimes I feel like I have a hole in my chest I miss everything so bad. *tears* I do love my new house, being close to family, etc... But I will always cherish and miss fiercely my Arizona paradise....

The bright side is: I don’t feel like I took Arizona for granted. Between the zoo, the pools, the kids clubs, friends, etc… we lived life in AZ to the fullest. And I cherished every day. At the end of every day I would lay in my bed just adoring where we were at. I felt like I wanted to just wrap my arms around my paradise and hold it forever. And knowing deep down, that it would all end too soon. And it did. But for tonight, here are some of the memories, people, and places I love, picture-style….

getting settled....

we are here in utah, and getting all settled in. but, before i go into a little catch-up...

we wanted to wish sweet little lily a HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! we are so sad we can't be there to give you birthday hugs in person lils...so here's a little happy birthday from the girls:

emma and her bff lily. (i don't have any great pics of them together...it's hard to get two 2-year-olds to look and smile at the same time)

so there you have it lils...we love you and miss you like crazy! have a great birthday sweet little girl!!!!!

back to the catch-up...

i know i've had a million requests for pictures...i'll try to get some on later today. we are about 70% unpacked i'd say. the yard is taking WAY longer than we had planned, thanks to the insane utah winter weather in june, and the soil that might as well be cement. most of the rooms inside are unpacked, but nothing is on the walls yet...and no decor up yet. so if i post pics later, realize we're just still 'getting there'.

the drive to utah went WONDERFUL...i couldn't have imagined it going better. my kids usually don't do well on long drives, but they didn't have a single problem..and no crying the entire 10+ hours in the van. poor nate, the moving truck was a junker...and it didn't go very fast. we left almost the same time, and he pulled in 3 hours after us. but the vehicles worked great, the kids were great, so it was a success. we closed on our cute house last thursday, and then started the move-in process. (note to self: i am NEVER MOVING AGAIN...unless we hire someone to do it. i really just can not stand moving.)

our ward here is great...very young, and about 3-5 new families move in every week from the subdivisions being built. i'm sure we'll get used to utah...but it's going to take a while. things just seem different here. but we really are in love with this house...i'm so glad we chose to build!

that's all for now folks. i've got a million pictures to catch up on, and posts to do...so check back soon. we miss all of you arizona friends so bad!!!

happy birthday sweet abs

5 years ago....

now
happy birthday to my swimmin', smilin', game-playin' little ray of sunshine. you bring more joy and happiness and light into our family than you will ever understand. we love you more than life abby!! HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY!!

day...22ish?

so i've kind-of lost track of exactly what day we are on today. i think it's about day 22. and can you believe this...it's going to be done FRIDAY! which means from digging the hole to completion it will be a total of 25ish days. i think that is some kind of record (aside from Extreme Makeover Home Edition of course...)

oh...and please realize when you look at these pics...our floor is not gray, and the carpet is not pinkish. :o) the lighting in the pictures is funny i think. and if you ever see a small woman sneaking under a garage door on a new build, with a camera in hand, don't call the police. from what i hear that's what the 'photographers' do for their 'clients'. ;o) THANKS MOM! (she had to get in somehow, right?)