Good bye to a good house.....

So....it is official. We moved out of our 1st home.
It was a rough, but good day.

I woke up on moving day, 7/19/08,
and quickly my mind flooded with memories of moving to P.
My husband & I closed on the house on our 5th wedding anniversary.
We spent the night, just the 2 of us (thanks to uncle K babysitting)
watching wedding video and remembering our wedding
and planning our future. Nowhere in that planning was moving
to WF in 3 years ever mentioned (it was more like 5-6 years).
We had so many dreams. So many good friends. So much time.
Then before we were ready........this appeared in our yard:

And so.... I woke up to the memories of the house, lots of good and some sad memories.
* Painting my son's room for the first time and him sleeping in his "first" bed (not the crib)
* Watching him climb into my husband's sandals and slide his feet across the kitchen floor
* Watching the excitement in my son's face when he got to play outside in our yard, swing on the swing set, and then scream bloody murder as we carried him into the house for the night.
* Saying prayers with my family and finally my son able to say his own prayers. He prays for friends, family, and choo-choo trains a lot.
* Walking into the house and realizing that it belongs to us (really to the bank since they hold the title, but that doesn't count).
* Watching my son celebrate 3 birthdays, 3 Christmas Holidays, putting on his first Halloween costume and trick-or-treating, and all the other yearly celebrations.
* Grieving over the death of my husband's grandmother. She was very special in our hearts.
* Finding out that we were expecting our 2nd child. My husband was running down the hall from the bathroom (I was afraid to look). He was so excited, I was in a sense of shock. I just couldn't believe that it was true. We were very, very happy to have another on the way.
* Daycare fun. Watching them all grow from small people into big boys and girls. Watching their personalities take shape and develop independence.
* Finding out about my husband's dream of moving back to his hometown and filling with excitement and so much joy.
* The "fun" of selling a house. Staging, cleaning, putting on the market....all so much work.
* The birth of our 2nd child, N. He is such a blessing and brings lots of work, but so much joy as well.

And, I could go on and on.
Each time I think of another memory, yet another pops into my head.
So, after quite a few tears on that hot Saturday morning,
I pulled myself out of bed, got dressed,
and headed into the mix of it all to start a new life in WF.

First, to pack up all the stuff.

Loading the trailer.....

....with the pile of stuff all around us.

Grandma D watched N so Mom and Dad could pack.

Even Z's friend T came over to help.
Such big boys and they really did help!

Thanks to all our friends and family that came to pack us up!
Family: Grandma & Grandpa D
Grandma & Grandpa J
Uncle W

Friends: M, K, & T
S & M

When we were all done, we wiped away our last tears and paused for a few last photos.

Z & his "best friend" T

Thank you house for all the great memories!
I hope you can give those great memories to the next family!

Now we are off to WF.

Dad, Mom, Z & N.

Off to start new memories, make new friends, and live in a new town.
It's hard, but we'll be fine.