saying goodbye

Our whirlwind of the past 3 years in SoCal finally came to an end as we created an even bigger whirlwind of our last two weeks. My calendar had multiple things on it every. single. day. In addition to packing and the the logistics of moving across the country and storing your most prized possessions while selling the rest. We played hard, and loved every minute of it.

We had a couple different things for work to say goodbye, especially to this special lady, Erica. She has been my rock at work through fun and not-so-fun situations and one of my closest friends who I knew I could count on for anything. She came up to see me multiple times while I was drugged out of my mind in labor with Parker, held my hand and let me entertain her with my loopiness while they inserted my catheter, brought me a box of doughnuts my first morning after delivery, threw a baby shower, has loved my little Parker, spent countless breakfast and lunch breaks together, and many, many lunches and dinners out to catch up. I'll miss her dearly...

Anaheim Regional has been one of the most culturally diverse populations I've worked with, and I have to say, I am so incredibly thankful for that experience. It was difficult at first, and I definitely had to stretch myself, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love these people so much, and again, will miss them dearly.

My heart aches a bit thinking about not working for an indefinite period of time. I'm not quite sure when I'll be able to work again...I imagine I'll pick back up again when the kiddos are in school full-time, but until then, it's up in the air. I love my job for so many reasons, but we all make sacrifices, right?

These vacuum-sealed bags saved our bums trying to get everything to fit where we needed it! We were both a little stoked out of our minds as we stuck the vacuum hose on the outlet and giddily watched all the air disappear and the bag shrink!

Last Bachelor night with my girls. I don't really remember the episode as much as I do the evening with the ladies: Chinese takeout, some treats, and dranky dranks. I don't need much more than that.

That, and this picture. Like, forever.

Found out from our missionaries that fellow Texan, Elder Rast was in the next stake over. So we took him out to lunch and caught up.

For Steve's birthday, I got us tickets to relive our glory days from the Spanish Fork demolition derby when we were first married. That was seriously one of the most fun nights of our lives and we couldn't wait to get back to our roots. We were way to stressed (er, Steve was. We've both seen a special side of Steve that comes out when things get crazy. I'm talking stops mid-sentence and walks in the other direction to do something else because his mind is going too many miles per hour) to think about dressing up like we did the first time, and turns out Orange County doesn't have quite the same population as Spanish Fork, Utah. 

(Although I think you'd be surprised, there really is a small, select population in Orange County that fits into what most of you think it might be. The aston martins, chihuahuas in Escalades, and hair implants generally resided in a select few zip codes, and I definitely understood why. Those areas are breathtaking. I'd live there too if I could afford it.)

Creamy, frozen custard amongst as many flavors of soft, tangy Italian ice as you could think of. Sadly, we only discovered Confetti Italian Ice our last Saturday in Cali. Blast it all.

We had to get creative in our entertainment as strangers slowly came one by one to buy his treasures (we kept his most prized treasures) or they mysteriously disappeared into the big, blue bins outside...

Anna got the girls together at my most favoritest restaurant, Roman Cucina for one last girls night of saying goodbye and showering Baby Girl A. with the cutest little denim miniskirts, soft cardigans, and pink, glittery jelly sandals. The OhSo girls, minus Kadee. This blog has become quite the project, with lots of late nights, emails, texts, some ups and some downs, but more than the love of recipe developing and sharing, is the love I have for the girls. I know that the next holiday party they do for the blog without me will probably pull at my heartstrings a bit, but it will get us together one way or another!

What would you do if I sang out of tune, Would you stand up and walk out on me.

Lend me your ears and I'll sing you a song, And I'll try not to sing out of key.

I get by with a little help from my friends, Yes, I get by with a little help from my friends.//

Poor guy's world was turned upside down, and I think he could sense all the changes as they were happening. He got a little crazier: not sure if that was him turning two, or everything else, but I'm sure the combination exponentially increased all of the above.

About a week and a half before we left, we planned a last minute adults-only date with our buddies, the Egberts. I think we all knew it would be our last hoorah together (as they were leaving for a check-up at Duke about a week before we left), although nothing was officially said. It was the perfect evening, we hit up a new dinner joint in downtown Fullerton and walked around while we explored and giggled for a couple hours. I think we all felt it as we tried to drag the night on little by little: first trying to get ice cream even though we were all still full from dinner...when the place was closed, we suddenly decided we needed Sonic.

A couple days later, we finally said our goodbyes.

Love you two.