we did it! (with lots of help, of course!)

Wednesday morning we ran down to Lewiston to get the truck. After a crash course in driving it, we came back to Moscow and parked the truck...on our lawn! The ramp went from the truck to inside our house. It made things a great deal easier to load, that's for sure!

Thank you to all who came to help us load the truck, we couldn't have done it without your muscles!

Poor Jeremy Hansen stuck in the top of the truck!

The kids had a Leftover Chinese Food Picnic in the dining room!
All the beds were packed up in the truck, and the hardwood is too hard to sleep on alone; we all hunkered down in the living room. The kids konked out while we finished packing.

Thursday morning, after packing nearly all night, my fabulous friends from the ward came over to help clean! The t.v. kept them busy while we stayed busy too!
My Home Teacher and his family made us BREAKFAST! They brought over fresh fruit, warm pancakes, cold juice and everything you could need to start out a busy day. That was so sweet of the Barnes Family! Thank you!!

Thank you to all my wonderful friends that helped come over to clean my little house. I feel so blessed and am so lucky! I couldn't have done it without you!

There were more of my gal pals that came over, but I was too busy directing and cleaning to get more pictures! Thank you to Sheila, Kendra, Connie, Kristin, Ashley, Holly, Shelley and Melissa for all of your help! And thank you to Laura for helping me out with the kids so many times. I am so incredibly blessed to have such wonderful friends!! (and I'm hoping I'm not forgetting anyone, my apologies if I have).

Just about loaded up. It was a funny sight, no wonder people looked at us funny. The truck was bigger than our house!

We're ready to pull out of town. Tears are streaming down my cheeks, and Dawson wanted to hug the house one last time.

We made the journey down to Boise, it was very difficult. It was slow and we were both so incredibly exhausted. There were a couple legs of the trip that I don't remember at all, and it's a good thing we had walkie-talkies--we kept each other alert. It was a hard trip. For all of us.

We finally pulled into Boise at 1:40am. Unloaded the air-mattresses and had ourselves a very fine few hours of sleep.
It just feels like we're here visiting and not staying! Dawson keeps asking us when we move back to Moscow, if he can take his toys with him. And he keeps asking if he can ride in the "big truck" first when we move back. Hasn't hit him yet, poor thing.
But we already feel very loved! We had several neighbors come over and say hello, invited the kids to play at their houses while we unloaded the truck and furniture, and made lots of sandwiches for the men. I love this ward! We are unsettled, but we feel very welcome!

Thank you to ALL that has made this move a little easier.

"before we leave moscow..."

-Taking pictures in front of the U of I Fountain

For the last three years, we've been saying that there are things that we need to accomplish before we move from Moscow. Since the fountains are RARELY on, we got this done quickly! They're not on in the winter, which I can believe, but then they only have them going for a few days in spring and then off most of the winter. They come back on when all the students (and their parents) return for the fall. It seems like they just turn them on for the "special days" during the year! Quite humorous.

-Pictures in the GIANT Rocking Chair

-Paint our pottery pieces

Grandmother Velta and Papa drove down and brought a delicious picnic lunch and we took them around town. They accompanied us while we painted our pieces and had fun watching the children play. It was nice to have them visit for the afternoon! Ryanna was at school so she didn't get to paint her piece until later that night.

Carter didn't paint anything, he built stuff!

We're sure going to miss Moscow, we've loved living here!

seriously, how much stuff?

I can't believe how much stuff we have! Our house is teeny tiny and yet I'm finding myself puzzled at how much we have. I'm truly counting my blessings, but can't I count it by just moving and leaving it all behind?!

Packing is a joy, but my puzzlement is:

Why does it make an even bigger mess than you originally started with?

The principle is relatively simple. You take an item, place item in box and then follow suit with a lot more items. When I get done filling up a box, I tape it closed and then see a few other little piles around said box. WHERE did those come from?!!

I no longer care about putting "like things together" (sorry Mom, you DID teach me and I did listen) but I just don't care now. I was a rebel today and put games along with my sewing supplies along with some silverware. And I didn't even care! (If you knew me, I'd be losing sleep over that if I actually cared!)

Whew...the countdown is on. This is our last Friday night in Moscow, Idaho. I'm feeling a little sad about it!

P.S. Happy Birthday Kristin!

more graduation

I love this picture! Ryan, Diane's Mom and Diane.

Ryan, me and Judge N. Randy Smith, who was the key speaker from commencement. He serves on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. He and Ryan had a lot to talk about, since Ryan just got back from California arguing in front of the Ninth Circuit the night before!

Those cute goofballs again.

The cake that we honored the graduates with.

After graduation, we all went over and had a BBQ with the study group for one last party. We ate good food, reminisced about the happy times and hard times of law school. We laughed a lot and shared stories and jokes. Some of the jokes went right over my head, but I laughed anyway. It was just nice to be there for Ryan and support him.

Eddie The Puppy is such a good sport! My kids just adore him. We're sure going to miss him. We bought a dog bowl just for him, so when he visits, we'll pull it out for him!

I love this picture of Tina and her boyfriend!

Mark getting REALLY into character for one of the legendary stories...

We gave Mark, Diane and Brandon bottles of their own 2007 Cabernet from a local winery here in Moscow. We chose wine because now we all can take a tangible piece of Moscow with us wherever we go. (and because we all don't drink, we'll always have it!)

Me and Tina.

Tina, Mark, Ryan and Diane.

Diane just loves it!
Ryan and Mark say goodbye as tough men.
Christy and Tina.
We went back to Mark and Christy's place to settle debts from over the last couple years. Who owes who how much, etc. We got sidetracked (gasp!) and talked for a few more hours.
Christy's got out her checkbook and calculator.

This is neat. Ryan and I have always said that the FIRST big framed picture that we want in our home after law school (because they're so darn expensive!) is the one of George Washington kneeling beside his horse. I LOVE that picture. Holdaways gave it to us for a graduation gift. I was in tears, it meant so much to me!!

Thank you to all for making this graduation so special!