What an amazing goodbye...

from St. Clair Shores, Michigan.

The last couple of days in Michigan was wonderful. Even though there was tons of stress with packing the truck and cleaning the house, it was a sweet experience. First, on Saturday, tons of men from Ian's work and our Roseville Ward came to help us load the truck. They were so fast and did such a great job. Yet, things continued to be crazy since we ran out of room in our Ryder truck and the Uhaul trailer was much too small so I had to go purchase a larger enclosed trailer for the move. This took more time than I thought so I was having troubles getting to all the events of the day. The boys had their Baseball pictures and there was the Maye's going away party. All I can say is thank goodness for my mom, my friends and our coach. My mom ran the boys over to the pictures without any money (I failed to tell her that she needed cash to order the pictures) so coach Todd and his wife purchased the pictures for us. I finally arrived, with the cash in hand, as they were getting ready to take the team photos but they refused the money -- they wanted to do this for us to show us how much they were "going to miss the boys and loved coaching them." How NEAT was that.

Then we were missing the party of the Mayes' due to the craziness so Russ left the party to pick up the kids. I just love the Mayes -- you can never have a better couple who will do whatever it takes to make sure we are well taken care of and there to give love and comfort and spiritual insights and the most amazing FOOD. I don't know what I would do without those guys.

The Uhaul trailer incident was such a disaster and Amy (my next door neighbor) jumped right in to help -- taking the trailer back to the ornery Uhaul man. She is the most amazing neighbor anyone could ask for -- she loves people, parties, and our Wednesday night "girls' night out". She is also my talking on the phone while I am doing dishes buddy.

That night we said our goodbyes to many of our friends at the Mayes' adult party. I can honestly say that Michigan is full of the most amazing people. How can you have 20+ best friends? Well, all you have to do is live in our neighborhood and go to our ward. The couple on the far right are the Hemmingways -- Tadj and Natalie. They are such a fun couple. We have shared 2 ski trips with them that are totally unforgettable. Natalie taught the kids how to ski and Tadj (the ski patrol) always got our kids out of a "pickel." Nat has such a funny laugh -- she cracks me up! She is so fun loving and just loves life. We are gymboree shopping buddies and love to share in the latest children's fashions. Tadj has a way to be so patient and kind-hearted. They are such a great couple.Hilary and Milo came by after the party to hang out one last time. They are our double date buddies. I will have to talk more about Hilary in another post. Mr. Milo is now Bishop Milo -- we wish him all the luck and blessings in his new calling. He will do such a great job. He is inventive, funny and such a peacemaker.

Dave and Daniel came to help us move and we are so GRATEFUL! I am sure spending 3 days in a truck with limited sleep and even more limited rest food (I hear Ian will not stop for anything) was awful but these guys took it all in stride.

There is so much more to say about our move and I will have to share it little by little.

*just a side note -- I have been trying to download pictures in a hotel and just cannot get them do download. I MUST try again later.