Moving Day

So this happened today.

I don't think I have had much time to process all of it. It has been go, go, go from the second we woke up and we had to focus and just get 'er done!

We asked guys to come at 11:30am and eight amazing men showed up to help us.

 Brian.Josh.Daniel.Dave.Mike.Tracy.Braden.McKay.Joel

Wow!

We seriously know the best guys ever. We even had to turn a couple down because this was plenty of men to be hauling in and out. 

The truck was filled in one hour. One hour, people! 

It was awesome.

Since we were able to get it filled so quickly, some relaxing was able to happen before the pizza arrived. ;) Once all the stuff was in, there was some Tetris playing that had to take place and not all eight could help out with that.

I can't say enough amazingly wonderful things about the people that we have been surrounded by the last three years. After the guys left, a few hours later four women from the ward came and we got the ENTIRE house clean in an hour. A lot of that is attributed to Teresa and her machine-like qualities, though. She cleaned most of my kitchen on Friday and the entire basement before the ladies showed up. This move definitely would not have gone as smoothly without her. 

Amazing Emily picked my boys up at 8am this morning with empty bellies and she filled them for all three meals! How have I been so blessed to have such an amazing friend? I didn't worry about those boys for one second of the whole day which helped me stay focused and organized. I can't think about life without the Russ family too much or I will start to fall apart. 

My kids are truly part of their family and it makes my heart so happy that we have found friends that love us like family. Here is Miss Abby comforting Thad after some trauma to his knee.

 Em said it took about 45 minutes to calm him down, but Abby stuck to it and he came back happy as can be...except his face dropped when we came to pick him up (after his 12 hour stay) and as we were leaving he said, "Mom, why didn't I get to stay very long?"

This day went so smooth and it's because of the wonderful people that were involved in making it happen. I have an amazing husband, family and friends that have been so supportive and loving. My boys have hardly been home the past two weeks as my friends have taken turns having them at their homes for an entire morning or afternoon. I was able to organize and pack and feel ready for this big day. A big thank you to all who contributed to the success of this move. 

We still have a ways to go. The boys fly to Utah with Grandma Teresa tomorrow night, but before then we will need to finish packing up and cleaning some of the things we have been using and also pack our car up with all the things we are hauling to Utah. We can't do that until we drop them off at the airport, but we will get it all done in time to drive out of Connecticut EARLY Monday morning. Our goal is to get to Nashville on Monday and then all the way to Austin on Tuesday. It is going to be A LOT of driving, but we are looking forward to a fun road trip together.

I have so many more feelings and thoughts to write down, but I don't think they have hit me as strong as they will until after we actually leave. 

We are grateful, we are blessed, we are happy, we are sad.

As hard as this is, I wouldn't want to feel like it was easy. We have had a good three years, met life long friends and grown in ways I had never imagined. It is only so hard because it has been so good.

Before the Move

I have a few random pictures taken in Connecticut before the move, so just wanted to tie up the loose ends!

Thad got viral hives right before we left for DC.

It wasn't too bad except for him being itchy.

They would come and go and there wasn't much we could do, so we just waited it out...

Well, Emily did because she is the one that watched our kids! 

It definitely led to a sleepy Thad.

 I love when kids that think they're too big for naps, take naps. I love him.

I love when babies do things that make them look big:

I love my man baby.

We played extra hard to get in all the playing we could before the move:

Wes and Thad both LOVE the trampoline.

It is definitely something we will have to inquire about with Santa somewhere down the line in Texas.

 Trampoline + Kids = Happy Mama (and happy kids!)

We love the beach.

I didn't think I did until we moved there. 

It is the best thing about summer on the east coast.

Luckily we had a couple hot enough days to play on the beach before the move.

Wes crawled everywhere and got FILTHY. 

I would not have let Thad do this. I have loosened up a bit.

This was happening during my, "I really wish he would walk" phase, but there was just nothing I could do.

He loved it, though, so I shouldn't complain.

We met a few friends at the beach, but I only manged to get a picture of Thad and the cutest Kate I have ever known.  

  

Goodbye to beach days for now.

Don't worry, we will be back!

Fun on 23 Cottage Street:

 It doesn't look like a lot of fun, but they love being teased by dad!

Brothers are still the best. 

I put Thad's Lego decorations up for grabs on Craigslist and the person who came and got them left this beautiful basket of organic eggs.

Things like this remind me to try and be more thoughtful. She totally didn't have to do it, and it made my day when I came home to this sitting on my porch! 

Brian always takes the best pictures and I love all four of these!

The top left is for sure my favorite.

These boys are just so perfect for us!

Joyous Joyschool:

Thad.Jared

Going outside to play was always the boys' favorite thing to do!

I arranged a field trip the the East Norwalk Fire Station right behind our house and it was a huge success. It was during spring break for the big kids, so they got to come too!

Alex and James were missing though, so that was a bummer.

 

Wes really wanted to be one of the big kids and kept straining to get out of his stroller.

Sometimes they just want to grow up too fast!

We of course stopped at Sweet Ashley's post field trip and it was a huge success! 

Amy.Ashley.Shelley

I will miss these girls dearly and am so glad we got to do Joyschool together all year. 

We couldn't resist this shot!

Family and Birthday Fun!

I was able to enjoy another memorable birthday. Not only was I able to spend it with my boys, but Grandma Cindy, Grandpa Kent, Aunt Tiff and Uncle Birtley were able to join us out in Connecticut! It was definitely our last big hoo-rah before the move, and it was awesome!

Grandpa Kent had never been to Connecticut or the big city before, so we started out with our regular touring around Norwalk.

Stew's:

Jordan's:

Valencia's:

(Grandpa Kent LOVED the food, it definitely lived up to the hype!)

Home:

Grandpa Kent was so thoughtful and bought these bubbles at Stew's....Thad loved them!

So did Wes!

It was too muddy to send the babe out, but he enjoyed from the window.

I know Thad's face is blurry, but he LOVED playing the iPad with Grandpa and there was lots of time spent on the couch playing the Cat game.

Having visitors always wears a little guy out...Grandma rubbing your back definitely helps!

We also enlisted Grandpa as our handy man while he was in town-

 We made several trips to Wal-Mart and Home Depot to fix the baby gate, our dressers and a few other little projects I can't remember. Thanks, Papa Bear!

After some time in the suburbs, it was time for them to head to the big city!

Grandpa Kent had never been there, so he was pretty excited. I sent them off on their own the first day to meet Birtley and Tiffany who were staying in the city for a couple nights.

It POURED rain all day, but they were all good sports and had fun shopping at all the fun stores to stay out of the weather.

The rain settled down and I was lucky enough to meet them that night for my last Broadway show.

Nice Work If You Can Get It was awesome and we all loved it so much!

We were in the back row, but didn't mind one bit because the theaters are small and we just loved it.

Matthew Broderick was the main guy and he was fabulous!

We had heard that he comes and greets fans and signs autographs after the show, but we couldn't stay because we had to hustle back to Grand Central to make our train.  

Times Sqauare 

Grand Central

Luckily the weather cleared up for us the next day and we were all able to head into the city together!

We drove in and parked downtown because the main thing we wanted to see was Ground Zero. Brian and Grandpa Kent had never been, so that's where we started. (We almost skipped out on it because of the long line, but we are so glad we didn't!)

 

It was so great to see the pools with the names around them, and I can't wait to go back some day when the museum and the Freedom Tower are complete.

We walked around downtown a bit because we wanted to eat at Sophie's, but it wasn't meant to be. 

The location we knew of had closed, but we luckily had a yummy Mexican lunch instead.

It's always fun to wander in the city!

Riding the subway was a MUST, and it is always better when your adult-to-children ratio is high!

We rode over to Brooklyn to we could cross the bridge into Manhattan and enjoy the beautiful skyline.

Birt and Tiff were making up for lost time from the previous rainy day, but joined us for a few minutes and then rode off again into the sea of the city! 

Lady Liberty from a distance! 

We spent the rest of the evening walking through downtown:

 and made our way to SoHo for our last trip to Rice to Riches.

Grandpa Kent loved that too (it has sugar, of course he did! I am my father's daughter.)!

Afterwards we played at the park across the street while Brian and Grandpa went to get the car. 

It took a little longer than we hoped so we just couldn't hold Wes back, and I let him crawl and slide on things I never thought I would. Remember,this is New York City, people.

He was so dirty I barely dared to touch him when we were done. 

He had fun, though, so I guess it was worth it.

It was such a fun way to spend our last day in the city as a family! 

Grandma and Grandpa had fun too, so it was double awesome.

Birthday Time

 My birthday fell on a Sunday, which is always fun! I got to see all my friends at church and the kiddos in Primary sang to me, which is always really sweet.

We had a yummy dinner after church and it was just so fun for us all to be together! My mom is so great about making sure I don't have to do much on my birthday...or anytime that she's around--She's the best! 

The boys were pumped for cake and Wes enjoyed licking the beater after Grandma made the Whipped Cream. 

After presents were opened and candle blown out, we got right to it-

That night we all said goodbye to Birtley and Tiffany as they had an early flight out Monday morning.

What a fun birthday I was able to spend with my family!

 Monday afternoon we said goodbye to Grandma Cindy and Grandpa Kent.

As you can tell throughout the post, my boys' favorite spot was Grandpa's shoulders and he was kind enough to let them occupy it often.

This goodbye wasn't too hard as we knew we would see them in a few weeks after our move.

We love them so much and are so happy they were able to make it one last time before we moved!