Cross country trips, birthdays, grandkids - you name it!

It has been a very long time since I have posted anything here, so this post is going to be my attempt to remember the whirlwind of the past three months.  I'm sure I'll forget lots of important things (when you get to my advanced age, the details start slipping through the cracks), but I'll do my best to capture the highlights. Feel free to go get yourself a snack - this may take a while!

• In May, Dave took a job at Presbyterian Health Systems in (drumroll please) Albuquerque, NM!  Surprise!  I never in a million years would have guessed that we would move to NM, but crazier things have happened, I guess.  So we closed down Dave's CPA practice, hired a manager for my stores in Heber, rented our house, split all our belongings up between a little condo in Springville, and a small house in Albuquerque, and took the plunge.  Whewww....that's a lot of moving, believe me!  If you want to see pictures of our house in Albuquerque, check out my other blog Amenities Design  I'll be posting pictures of the scary, (very) depressing before pictures, and the happier after pictures.  It's not all done yet, but it's a heck of a lot better!  I will be making frequent trips to Utah to keep up with the stores, the kids, and the grandkids.  I also plan on making frequent trips to northwest Arkansas to see the attractions there (i.e. Matt's family!)

• I flew to Iowa in June (?) to help Rachel, Jeff, and Forrest make their cross-country trek to Utah.  Even though it's a long (and mostly boring) drive, it wasn't much of a sacrifice because it meant I get to be a little closer Rachel, Jeff, and this little guy:

I'll bet you'd drive cross-country for that face too, wouldn't you?!

• Matt, Amy, and Preston flew to Utah the end of June, and we had fun visiting with them.  We were getting close to the date we had to be out of the Heber house by then, so Preston helped Dave with some of the packing:

"Help pia, help!"

• In July, Matt and Amy took a trip to Guatemala to visit some of the places Matt had served during his mission.  The bonus for us was that we got to have Preston all to ourselves for 10 days!  I recruited Bekah to help me, since he loves her so much (well, it's a mutual attraction), so she flew down here to NM as well.  We had a great time with Preston - he's full of personality, that boy is!  Here are a few of my favorite shots from his visit:

Bekah showed no mercy when it came to the water-gun fights.

A trip to a local spray park, where Preston was obsessed with

getting a little girl's plastic cup for himself to play with.

Box car lovingly created by Bekah, to Preston's exacting specifications.

Bekah getting a ride in the box car.

• On our last trip up to Utah, I invited Rachel to bring Forrest swimming, and I picked up Megan and Abby.  Bekah was with us as well.  We had a great time in the pool, where I quickly learned that it is very difficult to keep your eye on three swimming grandkids at the same time.  Megan and Abby slept over afterwards, and we had a fun time watching Disney princess movies and playing Barbies.  During the same trip, we also celebrated Rebekah's 20 birthday.  What?!  How can it be that our little baby is 20 years old and all grown up?  Sigh - don't know how that happened, but it sure did!  We celebrated with a Harry Potter themed party.  I know that this is going to be the butt of jokes for many years to come, but here it is - the Harry Potter House Colors cake.  First I'll show you what it's supposed to look like:

Oh sure, it looks easy.

After two attempts, here's my version:

Where was Amy when I needed her?!

Yep.  Could not make that darn thing come out for the life of me. Oh well, we had a fun party, and we all had a good laugh over that stupid cake.  

Here's the beautiful 20 year old:

Happy Birthday Bekah!  We love you!!!

• Lots of birthdays to celebrate this summer - Rachel had a birthday in July (which sadly I missed being there for, but I was thinking of her!), and Rob celebrates his birthday today!  Happy birthday today, Rob!   I will be able to see Forrest celebrate his 1 year birthday, though.  Hurray for airplanes!

• Oh yes, and we got family pictures taken this summer.  It was a lot of fun, and we got some really great shots of everybody.  Here's one of my favorites of the kids and kids-in-law

Another one of my favorites

Those leaves were very intriguing.

Okay, there you have at least some of the highlights from the last three months.  Hopefully I won't go another three months before my next post - it's too hard to remember!