Adios, 1326.

When I saw pictures of 1326, I wasn't fazed because that was just a house we were buying as an investment. I wouldn't actually be living there. Then, when I pulled into the driveway and knew she would actually be our house, I cried. I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that this would be our house. We only wanted to live there long enough to find something better- before Mc was baptized. 7 years later, and a few months after Mc's baptism, it was finally a reality. It took longer than we thought to sell. We listed while we were in Disneyland, had one showing, took it down over Christmas, relisted the first Monday of 2017, had 12 showings in a week and we were under contract. A young couple with no kids would be buying our house. 

We packed, started filling the moving truck and thought we had plenty of room- yeah, not even close. After a few hours of furniture and boxes, the truck was full and ready to go to G's to unload with still plenty in the house and garage. We had to have the truck back by 4:00 PM and rain was on the horizon. I called Bree & Ty and they saved our bacon- between his truck, Mark's truck, the trailer, the Acadia and ALL the kids in Bree's car, we barely made the "out by 5:00 PM" deadline. At 4:42, I locked the door for the last time. 

We spent so much time and effort making this house ours. We remodeled pretty every corner of her. The most ironic part, most of the final remodels were done just to make her more enticing for someone else. Exterior paint and fixing the "nose" were done the month before we listed, the back light was reattached after who knows how long of hanging by a wire, and the mismatched house numbers were finally fixed. We made her ours, an honorable Williamson, and we made great memories there. 

I didn't cry when we left. 

I will for sure miss our ward. I will miss my friends and (for the moment) walking my kids to/from school. I will miss the place where I brought home my tiny babies and the familiarity that we returned to after vacations and long days. I won't miss the apartments in the backyard and the naughty kids that come with it. I won't miss the busy street. I won't miss the crime. I won't miss rundown houses and unkempt yards. I will for sure miss the house payment and the proximity to Target. 

On to new adventures in a house that will hopefully be our last home. 

Last tubby in our house. 

Kids in the moving truck. 

Pa-ho-Nix

After Ashlee passed away, I really thought about how I was living my life, the risks I was taking and what I wanted my legacy to be be when this life was over. Ashlee was a risk taker- she always was. I remember calling her and she would be like, "well, we found cheap flights to ________, we leave in two hours so I need to pack". To be honest, I thought she was nuts. Spontaneity was something I wanted but only sometimes, if someone else planned it. Not really spontaneity at all, I guess. So, when flights to Phoenix popped up for $89 each way and a friend told me he was doing the Steel Magnolias play,  I took the "What would Ashlee do?" approach and booked the flights. Booked an Air BNB, told our friends we were coming and started planning a little get away for our birthdays. Little did I know that this same weekend would be our last weekend before we moved from our house, but, in the end, it all worked out. It was an amazing break. February is the ideal month to go to Phoenix. We left snow and cold for 80 degrees and sandals.

We flew into town on my actual birthday so that meant a free birthday dinner at Joe's BBQ with the Cossebooms. That mac & cheese. The sauce. The lemon cake. Seriously. It's really sad we live so far away.

The Air BnB was in old town Gilbert and the little cottage house was PERFECT! I totally would do that again! There were treats and little things that made it so much nicer than staying in a hotel. We did have the smoke alarm beeping at 4:30 AM and they were super willing to come and take them down.

Friday morning we woke up early to go to Feed My Starting Children to pack food for kids in the Philippines.Clea wanted to come with us so we went and picked her up, got to say hello to some old UOPX people and then worked with a field trip of 4th grade Christian school kids to pack food. Mark and I were on warehouse duty and scooped rice/soy with one kid each. Those kids were hard workers and SO well behaved! We were worried it we be a madhouse of shenanigans but we packed 67 boxes of food and the kids proved us wrong. It was good to see Clee (one of my all time favorites) and chat with some old friends. The work environment is just so different than it was. I am happy to be working from home for sure. 

 

We look hot in hairnets.

We had to stop and try a new happening donut place called Hurts Donuts in Tempe. They had like 50 different kinds of donuts and picking six was a challenge. We ended up with the Jesus (think donut/churro baby), German Chocolate, Salted Caramel, Oreo, Reeses and Lemon. Probably the best donuts I have ever eaten. 

We rented a car for the trip and of course, I always go cheapy and hope that we get an upgrade from a Kia Rio to at least a mid size. Well, they said they didn't have anything to upgrade us to until Mark asked about the sports cars. They had a managers special for $50 and Mark's response, "Treat yo self". So we did. It was fun to drive while we were there.

Jere Van Patten (he's going to be famous someday) was someone I worked with at UOPX. He told us he was quitting one day to go to ASU to get his Masters to teach drama at a high school and we all thought he was berserk. Well, he graduated, now teaches high school drama and got permission from SAG to have some very talented ladies come and perform Steel Magnolias for a fundraiser. I was ALL in. It has been my dream to see the play since I knew that's where the movie started.  I of course wore my favorite shirt (had some photo ops) and our seats were front and center to the stage.The original woman cast to play Shelby got stuck in NYC so they had a stand in who had to use the script the entire show- I should have offered to stand in ( you know I have that movie memorized line for line).  It was a great show! Mark and I both cried appropriately and I can check that off my bucketlist. The Cossebooms came too so we had dinner with them before and spent a little time with them. Miss them everyday.

On our last day we went to the new Aquarium and Butterfly observatory in Scottsdale. Spendy but awesome! The bathroom didn't have mirrors rather a HUGE shark tank which would make getting ready and swimming suit try on sessions SO much better! The lady at the front told us "not to miss the bathrooms" and we are glad we didn't. They had a Jurassic Park-like ride where you would sit and they would move you from tank to tank to see seals, sharks and other fish. Mark and I are fond of aquariums and may just set a goal to see one in every state (note to self: Boise aquarium not even in the same ball park).

Shark tank in the bathoom. 

The butterfly observatory made me a little misty eyed. Sure missed Ash. It was SUCH a cool experience  to just have 100's of butterflies free flying. Someday we will take the kids back for sure. They had TONS of chrysalis waiting to hatch. Some were bright green or gold- they looked almost like jewelry! There were butterflies everywhere and a few hitchhiked on Mark's hat for most of the time we were there.

Chrysalis

The trip was that last little boost we needed to come home and finish packing before the big move. That one on one time with Mark was much needed too- we hadn't been away just the two of us, since the previous December. We saw La La Land, Dr Strange, ate out, slept in, watched Netflix, ate donuts in bed, chatted late with friends and just enjoyed being together. Sure glad he comes along for the ride. On to our next "What would Ashlee do?" adventure.

A peek inside.

Two years ago today, I typed a Facebook status while Mark was wheeled back for an MRI that basically joked about how much this picture of his brain was going to cost us-little did I know that the price would be more than monetary. At that point, 2/6/2015, Mark still hadn't tipped over the edge into the Upside Down. The headaches were still there, ever nagging. We still had plans to list our house for sale in March. He was still going to work every day. We still were living our lives like we always had done not really knowing that every.single.detail of our well thought out plans would change.

Two years ago. Two as in more than one. As in 365 days and then another 52 weeks.

I can't believe we made it this far. I had a close friend tell me in the very beginning, after a challenge threatened her marriage, that two years later, their lives were almost back to "normal". I caught myself almost daily counting down how many days we had left to a year almost thinking that New Years 2016 would bring some sort of magic that would snap us back to our old life.

It's 2017 and the days seem to be brighter. We celebrate Mark's 38th birthday today, my 35th tomorrow and we fly to Phoenix for a much needed weekend together. The last time we went away, last Christmas overnight, Mark was still zombie-fied by his medication and I spent most of the weekend reading a book by the fireplace (not complaining too much). I am so grateful that we made it through. I am so grateful for him. Grateful for the progress we have made as a couple and excited for the new journey life is taking us on.