Goodbye, 616 Talladega!

 As you may have noticed, we have not been the most consistent in our blogging as of late...most of that is due to the fact that we have been preparing to sell our home and purchase a new home...all of it has taken longer than expected with a few more bumps along the way. It all started when a family in our ward was moving to Kemmerer and needed a home...We then called our realtor in March about possibly putting our Rock Springs house on the market in April to get a jump on the rush...that was on a Wednesday...she called us on Thursday with a potential buyer and asked if we could show it the next day..."no," was our reply...but perhaps on the following Monday...we didn't sleep for 94 hours cleaning, de-cluttering and decorating...but it was worth it as we had an asking offer by that Monday evening...with a contingency that we would be out in 30 days...needless to say, it has been a process!

Immediately, it was as if a made for television montage of all of our happiest moments began playing, "...Show me that smile again.. Don’t waste another minute on your cryin..."

 

Here are a few pictures for our memories...some of the best...I was still pregnant with the girls when we first moved in... 

 

 Max was about to begin preschool...

 and now the girls are about to start...

 

 We hadn't started our first play group yet...Max didn't know very many kids in the neighborhood

We're nowhere near the end
The best is ready to begin. 

 We were just starting to navigate in the new ward and hadn't started socializing too much yet...so many wonderful memories of backyard BBQ's, dinner parties, play groups, friends dropping by, Christmases, Halloween when my mom was still here taking care of the girls while we actually trick or treated as a family, Thanksgiving with Keith & Charayye right after the girls were born, Christmas with our Lucky elf on the shelf, elf hunts, Easter egg hunts (in the bathtub with Ben 10)...pulling up to the garage and hearing the kids yell, "we're home!!!"...knowing where everything is in the house...being able to drive home without even thinking about it...still driving there sometimes...

 

Appropriately, we had a sign that hoped, "All who enter as strangers, leave as friends... Goodbye 616 Talladega drive, you've been so good to us...we will miss you!!! We only lived there 3 years...so, this may be a bit melodramatic...but I am feeling nostalgic...

As long as we got each other
We got the world spinnin right in our hands.
Baby you and me, we gotta be
The luckiest dreamers who never quit dreamin!!!!!!    

Mothers' Day in California

 All of the kids loved how sweet the oranges were in California...

 One of my favorite outdoor shopping malls...they have the greatest little bakery...

 Cute little Lia-dore...she's so adventurous, fun-loving and sporty!

I kept this side ways so I could retain the size...look how cute these cousins are!

 Mini Peter (Devon) is the cutest! He and his brother will be welcoming a little sister later this year!

 

Kiri & Lia are obsessed with Ariel, the Little Mermaid and when we happened upon her and Rapunzel, Lia Freaked!!!!

Here we are visiting my grandparents' memorial site...

 I don't know why I really love this picture...it makes them all seem like such real little adults.

 

There is an almost exact picture of me at this age, at this very pier with a little Hermit Crab.

 

Max was a little distraught that he couldn't buy me anything for Mothers' Day...but after I told him time is all I wanted and maybe a card...he drew dozens of these little pictures for me and left them through out the house...my mother just said that as she was cleaning up after our departure, she's still found a few! Cute boy...

 

 This is actually the day after Mothers' Day...we were at a park and were about to go home when Max asked if we could walk home....so, my Mom took the girls and we walked the mile home...it was so much fun! Afterwards, Max noted, "that wasn't tiring at all...as long as you tell stories and stuff...you don't even notice the walking...remember when it was always like that...before the girls!?" Break.My. Heart!

 

 I love how he writes his lower case "a"...with a little curly tail...and he'll take his sweet time with the tail...so cute!!

 Kiri is getting so brave..she just loves swings, dancing, tumbling...   sweet girl!!!

 

The kids walking to the beach at my parents' house

 matching girls! I love how when Kiri says, "I love you," or kisses you, she'll close her eyes!

 She's so tender heart-ed...but she walks into a party like she is walkin' onto a yacht...she always has one eye on the mirror...

 Lia...starting to let go of some of her shyness...

 They really compliment each other and from time to time, I re-read the notes I took at their baby blessings and am amazed all over at how wonderful and powerful the priesthood is.

At the Police Station with the Boys Scouts

 I was recently called to assist with the Bears and I have been loving it, mostly because I was called to assist one of my close friends who is also uber organized...this was the day we went to visit the Rock Springs Police Station.

 I got to bring my kids...here's Max, apparently showing some trepidation at all of the armed police officers...

 These little girls were so facsinated with the punch dummy

 Here's one of our Bears getting fingerprinted

 The girls hugging it out...

 After they got to see the are the police officers practice

 Max, being arrested and hand cuffed...looking like he lost his initial fear...

May this never really happen!

Chef, cook, pastry maker, dough puncher, the Baker King...

 One day Max's preschool class made bread rolls, his teacher, Mrs. Heidi, said that Max was the only one who decided to shape their roll...can you tell what it's supposed to be?

 I thought he did a great job!!

 Here is a picture of the Sphinx...

 He were are with Max when he was just one year old.

Here we are in front of the Three Pyramids on a Camel. Love this boy!!!