June

For us, June was a busier than normal month. We went to Utah twice - once in the middle of a move. We spent precious time with friends and family (joyful!!), said a lot of goodbyes (bittersweet), and headed out into the unknown again... Georgia...

Brookie enjoying the lounge chair at Grandpa's and Grandma's house! :)

Grandma Neff with Flint! We're so blessed to have wonderful family who spend time with us and drop everything to be with us when we come to visit. Sweet Grandma Neff is always quick to run over whenever we have a few minutes to be together. I wish we were more predictable and could plan to be with her more, but she makes it easy to be with her and it's so fun!

This little guy LOVES Grandma!

The big guys went shooting. Grandpa Coleman, Grandma Coleman, Dad, Mom, Uncle Trevor and Uncle Trent went to the shooting range and we took the kiddos. Cole wanted to shoot, but wasn't quite tall enough to see over the counter, so he has to wait 'till he grows a little bit. Daddy and Grandpa let him shoot the bb gun in the back yard. He was in heaven!!

Shooting was a blast! We shot Dad's guns and Tyler's new gun. Very cool. Dad's gun didn't like me. It even ejected a shell down the neck of my shirt and one in the face. I don't think we're meant to be. :) Ty's new gun though is really fun to shoot. I like Dad's 357 too. :) We were happy to be with everyone shooting and get to spend some time with Trent before he goes on his mission. We also went rock climbing that day. It was fun to be outside and hang out with family we love so much!! We're going to miss you Uncle Trent!

Brother hugs. Trent did a marvelous job with his talk on Sunday. It touched my heart and we're so proud of him for his desire and willingness to serve a mission! He's such a neat kid and we're glad he's our brother and uncle! We can't wait to hear his stories about Brazil and the work there! :) These pictures are from the party after church. :)

The Evans men

The impromptu family picture :)

We LOVE Uncle Trent!

Trent, Kenzie & Trevor

Cute couple... hint, hint (Sorry Trev. I couldn't resist just a little jab in that general direction) We love Kenzie!

We drove the Subaru to Utah to get better gas mileage. This is how the kids slept. It was close quarters, but at least Flint feels loved.

Our Three Musketeers!  We LOVE YOU Flint, Brookie and Coleman! You light up our lives!!

When we got home from Utah, we did a lot of packing and playing and packing! We enjoyed spending this afternoon with our friends, the Moores playing in their front yard water park. Flint loves Emily!

Flint doesn't love the water (it was pretty cold)

Becky and Brookie

Coleman had no fear and was thrilled to slip n' slide for a couple hours! Good times!

Stephanie and Flint

Flint with Abby, Stephanie & Emily at a fun party our friends threw for us. Cute Jenn and all our dear Salem friends threw a party for us at the Coombs' house. It was so nice to take a break from the chaos of packing to spend time with all the people we love so much and that we'll miss terribly! Thanks so much everyone! The food was delicious and the company was THE BEST!

Brittany Springer, me and Erin Harris

Brittany Springer, Renee Coombs, Ruth Scott, Kristi Rudolph, me, Erin Harris, Anne Olsen, Jenn Mize and Stephanie Moor holding Flint. I love these ladies! I wish I had gotten a photo of everyone who was there (and everyone who wasn't there). We are so blessed to have all these wonderful friends. We'll miss you terribly!

Cute Bailey :)

Landon, Coleman and Jr. Cole's really going to miss these buddies! We were lucky to be in preschool and primary together and play often. We love you Springers!!

Dear friends, the Springers - Randy, Brittany, Landon & Jr.

The Moores - Tom, Abby, Stephanie & Emily - Tom was our home teacher almost the whole time we lived in Salem. :)

The Rudolphs :) We love you Kristi and Gavin and sweet baby! We'll work on being super-hero pen pals! We're going to miss playing with you Gavin!

The Harris fmmily! :) Travis, Erin, Grayson & MacKenna.

Renee and Jenn

Brookie and Cole admiring Caleb's water feature.

Peter, Tyler, Flint and Caleb. Poor Tyler got stuck late at work and didn't get to be there for much of our fun party, but he did get to chat with these guys for a few minutes. :) We really are so blessed to have such sweet friends!

Flint and his bestie! He's going to miss you Jenn! Not sure we'll make it through all 3 hours of church without you! :) Jenn took him for me while I taught YW and he LOVED it!

My amazing cousin and her dear family came up for a visit! We have lived in the same state for 3 years (opposite ends) and not been able to get together, so she and her darling hubby made it happen. They came up for the weekend and were SO fun to be with. They had such a long drive! They were amazing! Thanks Doug, Christy, Emma and Jason for the fabulous weekend!! :)

They came Sunday morning and we all went to church together. It was so good to see Christy. I wish we could get together more often. She's such a good example to me and I love her darling family! The kids all got along so well and Cole and Brookie were especially excited to have them come for a visit. We went to Silver Falls to see the waterfalls and walk around. A beautiful trip with amazing people. We love you Ruf family! Thanks so much for the fun weekend!!

We had to do a few fireworks before they left to go home. (I think it was me subconsciously just wanting them to stay a little longer :))

And then the serious packing and cleaning began! We had so much left to do and it seemed like it would never end! Then Terry and Marilee came and our sweet friends started coming over. We had lots of help and spent lots of fun time with friends while we worked on this impossible moving project.  Raegan Parker spent days organizing and packing. Ruth Scott came and helped for a long time. Darin and Beth Allred helped load, clean and pack. Heidi Davis helped me clean and took my kids to the amusement park. David, Jenn & Tucker Mize packed, cleaned and loaded stuff. The Potts cleaned, packed, organized an EQ loading party and brought dinner. Bruce Sellers helped load. Shauna Brown took my kids and helped organize the loading party. We had so much help. I need to find my list so I don't forget anybody. We are truly blessed to have all these wonderful people in our lives!

This is my dear friend, Gayle, and her baby, Will, who came to help pack and brought her darling son. She was a super packer and after a long day of that fun her hubby brought us dinner! Thanks Bonds!

The boys playing on the bunk bed. Greg from across the street, Cole and Mackay. They played while Raegan organized and packed. She was AWESOME and they had us to dinner after too. She was such a help and the kids loved playing while we were packing. It made it so much easier.

Wonderful husband in the back of the moving trailer. And so it began. :) Tyler and Terry were super loaders! They were amazing!!

Grandma and Flint. We were so blessed to have you here with us Grandma! You made it so much more fun and you were such a hard worker! We loved spending time with you and loved going to the park with you. You were amazing.

One very happy guy with his grandma!

Ty with his good helper, Brookie. She was a champ through all this and especially enjoyed playing in the trailer. :)

I'm pretty sure Terry never stopped from the minute he walked through our door. He was such a hard worker and got so much done! We were so blessed to have their help! Flint was feeling especially lucky with all the attention he got from Grandpa and Grandma.

The Bonds: Steve, Gayle and Will

A happy Flint with Grandpa!

We had a few picnics in the back of the trailer. Greg and Cole enjoying themselves.

Brookie's picnic

More playing in the trailer

We said goodbye to Grandpa Terry and Grandma Marilee Sunday morning so they could get back home to help with funeral plans. It was a crazy week for everyone and it was a tough time to be away. While we were packing up and they were helping us so much, Tyler's sweet grandmother passed away. We are going to miss her terribly! She was a remarkable lady!

I took these pictures of James on Sunday afternoon before we left Monday morning. I think they turned out pretty well all things considered. :)

Flint, me & Raegan. Raegan was such a help. She's a super mover! - pretty sure she was twice as productive as me. :)

On Sunday night we went to the Mizes for Father's Day dinner. They were so sweet to have us and the Guests and Ruth Scott. The kids had a blast together too.

The Father's Day hugs :)

These guys REALLY love their daddy! They're lucky to have him! :) Thanks Tyler for being such a fantastic dad and husband! You are amazing!

Jenn and Brookie. She's going to miss you Jenn! You were the fun aunt from day 1! We met Jenn our first Sunday in Salem. Brookie loved her from the very beginning. Brookie loved riding to preschool with Jenn and Tucker and Coleman. Jenn is the reason Brookie could cope with giving her binki away. Jenn took her fun birthday party and made it fabulous! We all appreciate the love, hugs and bribery! :) You are a special part of her life.

Coleman loves Jenn too. She's pretty much the funnest mom around!

Sweet Ruth! I'm gonna miss this chick! She rode to church with us after the ward split and I loved chatting with her all along the way. She was so sweet to stay and sit with us too and when Tyler wasn't there she was such a help with the kids. She taught Coleman's primary class and he loved her. We all enjoyed the times she spent with our family. We're going to miss you Ruth!

The next morning we were off on the first leg of our journey. We locked up the trailer and piled in the car to head to Utah where we planned to ship our cars to Georgia and fly there ourselves.

It was nice to be in Utah and be able to spend time with family. :) We postponed our flights so we could stay for Grandma Flint's funeral. I'm so glad we stayed. It was good to be together with everyone we love and miss so much!

Ty, Nanc, Cole, Grandma Neff, me & Brookie

I love being with my sweet Grandma! She is an incredible example to me of all that a woman should be! I love her with all my heart!

..and we always get a good laugh in when we're together. She makes me happy!

Ben and Lindsay stpped by! They were in town between busy schedules and it was great to see them. They're going to BYU Hawaii and Ben has an internship this summer in San Fransisco. No grass grows under their feet. We were glad we timed it just right. :)

We got to see Grandma Coleman a couple of times - both too short, but I think even a longer visit would have been too short. I love spending time with her and it was so fun to see her. She keeps in touch with us so well through the mail, but it was fun to be together in person!

As an added bonus, Nancy Oswald was there visiting too. We shared Oregonian hugs and had a good time chatting with her.

We also made a little time to get out into the mountains we all love so much. We "hiked" a bit and just enjoyed being outside. Utah definitely has the corner on beautiful mountains and nature. I love it and miss those mountains so much. It just makes me feel good to be there! What a great day!

Grandma Coleman, Flint, Ty, Brookie, Cole & Grandpa Coleman

This boy was thrilled to be outside with dirt, sticks and rocks. He gathered a few things and built a "habitat" for his plastic bugs in the back of the suburban.

Dad (their extra hairy version). He had surgery on his neck and was waiting to shave till it was healed a little better. I kinda like the mountain man look, Dad. :) He's pretty awesome. I'm pretty sure this wasn't his first choice of activities, but he put up with us just so we could be together. I'm lucky to have you. Dad! You are my hero!

Here's a wonderful dad with his kiddos. :) Thanks for putting up with us slow hikers. They get it from their mother :) Tyler's always patient and sweet when we do these crazy family adventures. I appreciate his gentle way of making sure it all works out for everyone. He's so good at making things work out. This hike was perfect. ;) Thanks hun for being amazing!!

My amazing mom! She is truly a blessing in my life! I so appreciate her example! Her listening ear and sense of humor have blessed me my whole life. She is one amazing lady! I love you. Mom!

Yup! Love these guys! He wins the #1 dad award!

I love these two! They're so good to put up with me and to help me with so many things! :) Maybe we can just move a few states from between Georgia and Utah. That would make things easier. :) I wish we could be together all the time. It's nice that when we are, we can just pick up where we left off. :) xo

Coleman with his "habitat"

This sweet girlie loves to be outside and was soaking up the time we were able to spend with family! :)

entertianment for the car ride

This guy is a pro at going with the flow. :) Thanks Flint for being such a happy kid. You make all our lives happy! You are a joy to be around!

Cole, Brookie and Grandma in the pumpkin coach at the "Cinderella Park." We went with Grandma Coleman and Grandma Neff and had a blast. They were so sweet to spend their time with us playing and roughhousing at the park. :)

Flint swinging with Grandpa

The pool at Grandma's is always fun!

And watermelon makes it even better!

The day we shipped the cars off, Dad and I put new running boards on the Suburban. Bless your heart, Dad! We have been driving around with 1 running board looking for a good deal for awhile now and he surprised us with brand new shiny ones just in time to head to Georgia!

Loading up the cars. It was quite an ordeal to get to this point... 'nuff said. But the loading of cars was really cool and this company was really great. Glad it's not my job to get the cars up there like that!

We feel so blessed to have been able to stay for Grandma Flint's funeral. It was wonderful to see family and friends and have the time to think about all our wonderful memories with her!

I have known her for only 7 years, but she has influenced my life in many many ways. She was always so kind and sweet with  me and with the kids. She gave great advice and always made us feel so welcome.  I loved visiting with her and hearing about the books she was reading and her advice on marriage and kids and just life in general. She was gracious and kind and loving and has impacted us all so much! We feel blessed we got to say goodbye to her on the phone before she passed away, but are sad we have to wait so long to see her again. We're thrilled she's with Grandpa now and I'm sure it was a sweet reunion!

We got to visit with Grandpa Evans while we were there too. It's always fun to see him! :) The kids love to visit his house and we had a good time catching up a little.

Walking home to Grandpa Terry's and Grandma Marilee's house from Grandpa Evans' house. Grandpa, Grandma and Dad were such fun swingers. :)

...and a little front yard wrestle to end the night. :)

Our first days in our house in GA. :) We arrived later than planned, but but our stuff (trailer) was even later. We were here in the house for quite awhile with just the suitcases and stuff we brought with us. The kids were very creative in their play. ;)

Arriving here in Georgia followed the suit of the whole experience - red tape/disaster/extra work. We arrived at the home we were to rent several days after we'd told them we would arrive (we had apprised them of the situation) and found the rental agent and a buddy unloading the previous tenant's belongings into a truck... I walked through the house and figured it would be ok. Tyler, of course, had to start work that day (the story of our lives). I left so they could finish their job. When I came back and upon closer inspection of the house, I found it to be very dirty, still housing random belongings from the previous renters and full of rodent poop. Yup. Lovely. Needless to say, there was a LOT of cleaning to do, power and water to have turned on and red tape from those companies. The rental agent did agree to send in a cleaning lady who scraped off the first layer of grime, but we still took more than a week to get it into an even livable state. We cleaned the living room really well and all slept there in sleeping bags together. It was crazy, but we did it. Thankfully most of the rest of our experience here has been less crazy. :)

We are very happy to have stairs. The kids love it. :)