“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.”

I'm not one that likes to say goodbyes. In fact, every time I think about saying goodbye to two of my closest friends or my family in Utah, I tear up. I know this move will be good for my family and it is a good start for Jacob's career but at the same time I'll be farther away and starting over. When we moved to Idaho in 2003, I cried the entire 4 hour drive up from Pleasant Grove. This was just saying goodbye to my family (for a couple weeks.) Little did I know then that with Jacob still working construction projects in Utah how much we would be down to visit. The first year we lived in Idaho, we spent more time in Utah than we did at home. Idaho has really been great to us. We have enjoyed living out in the country and raising our family there. We have had many different life experiences from starting new businesses, buying & remodeling a house, to graduating from college. Now it's time to move on.This is my closest friend, Lindsey. We have and take care of our own families but we are like sisters. I'm really going to miss her. She was my neighbor when we first moved here. It took a year for us to become friends (basically because my family traveled so much) but from there on, we were always involved with each other. Some how we always had kids around the same time too (without planning it.) We were just that in sync. I'm going to miss our late night Wal-Mart runs. It's always funner to go grocery shopping with a friend. Our "sneaky shopping" trips to Maurices. We both have an addiction for the clothes at that store. We taught primary together for 2 1/2 years. I couldn't have asked for a better partner. Midnight showing Twilight movies won't be the same without her. Lindsey is one of the least selfish people I know. I'm so grateful that she is my friend.

House Hunting

We arrived in Austin on Sunday for our week of looking for a house. Jacob and I got off the plane and the rental company gave us this cube. Jacob has driven it the entire time because I have no desire to drive it. The Kia Soul is small and powerless. Basically how we felt in this big city.

We decided to rent a house (I would love to buy but that won't be happening any time soon). What a difference renting a house in Utah / Idaho is to renting a house in Austin. Everything is done through Realtors and if you snooze you lose. Our picks of houses that we looked at on the Internet on Friday & Saturday were gone by Monday morning. We spent 10 hours on Monday looking at houses that were either extremely expensive or extremely dirty. By Monday night I was emotionally drained. I even cried.

Tuesday was a new day. By two in the afternoon we had an A, B, and C plan. Plus, A and C weren't listed in the MLS listings so we were sure to get something we liked. A was our dream home and a far shot but Plan A didn't want to rent since he was selling his house and wasn't in a hurry and didn't need the money so we snatched B up. I'm excited for our move. Our new house is in Round Rock and it's in a great neighborhood and really good school district. I hope the kids are as happy as we are.

So now it's Wednesday night and our next dilemma is that we aren't suppose to be home til Saturday. We have a lot of stuff to still get down at home and time is of the essence. Since Delta wants to charge us over $200 a piece to change our flight we are going to try flying standby. We could end up spending a really long day in the airport tomorrow.

I'm grateful that we could hang out with Betsy and her family during the day (in between our different realtor listings) and the evenings. I'm still trying to convince her just to stay down here but I don't think it will work. Hazel was my "adopted" child. She would sit on my lap, have me hold her, and tuck her in. It melted my heart because this trip I really missed my own children.

So it's off to bed and here's hoping (praying) we can get home tomorrow and I can give my own kids a hug and kiss.

Things I am going to miss....

Reality is setting in. For the last couple of weeks, I've realized how much I'm going to miss Idaho, even more, the people in Idaho. Many different things have passed through my mind but tonight I'm going to focus on just one of them. My dad. This past week he has been up here visiting me again. He usually spends about 3 weeks a year up here with me and my family. My kids love it. I love it.

He has his "rituals" that he does with my kids:

• Going to Barnes and Noble and buying them a book.
• Going to Big Judd's and getting the big hamburger.
• Making their "own" list and going grocery shopping.
• Feeding the ducks at the falls.
• Going to our annual "special place". (This year the weather didn't cooperate and we couldn't make it up there even though we tried.)
  

I really hope he can come out and visit me in Texas. (One doctor has cleared it.) I'm so grateful for our friendship.

Push, run, pose and snap!

Easter Sunday, we decided to get a new "feet" picture.
We climbed up the piles of dirt....
barefoot. And hitting the button to take the picture and running halfway up the hill barefoot didn't feel too good.
The clods and the rocks hurt. But then we decided....
to take some silhouette pictures and that was even harder.
We were barefoot and I was running completely up the dirt mountain, posing, in less than 10 seconds.
It hurt even more, but it was well worth it.