Saying Goodbye

Why can't we get all the people together in the world that we really like and then just stay together? I guess that wouldn't work. Someone would leave. Someone always leaves. Then we would have to say good-bye. I hate good-byes. I know what I need. I need more hellos. ~Charles M. Schulz

I couldn't describe my feelings more clearly than Charles Schulz! It has been so hard for me to say goodbye to the many wonderful friends I have spent so much time with in Cheyenne. Cheyenne is the longest place both Paul and I have lived since our original homes while growing up. There are many things I will NEVER miss about living in Cheyenne, but I will definitely miss this phase of our lives. It has been a long time since I have cried so much. Even now, I get sad thinking about all those we left. In the military your friends really do become your family. Here are a few pictures of some of our friends. I am sad that I did not get pictures of all our close friends! Sorry!

This is Travis and Amy Richards. We met them at Vandenberg AFB and they got stationed in Denver instead of lovely Cheyenne. We wish we could have seen them more often, but it was fun meeting them in Loveland, CO to say goodbye. They were great friends to us in California. We would get together often for dinners and to watch 24. They are such wonderful people and they will be missed!

We said goodbye to the Cahoons our last night in Cheyenne. It was Troy's birthday that night and so the boys have their shirts off in preparation for cake! We have seen each of their children from the time they were little babies and got to watch them grow. We loved playing games with Holli and Troy and just hanging out. They invited us over for countless dinners and have been great friends. Holli helped me so much in my transition to being a mom and was there to listen, bring meals, and spend time with me. Their kids are so well behaved and are always fun to be around.

We stayed with the Sanders our last night in Cheyenne and I think I cried off and on the whole night. When spending time with the Sanders you could usually find us either on a walk around the base loop or at Culvers! So we spent our last night at Culvers getting yummy custard. They have lived right below us for the past 3+ years and it was always so comforting to know they were there if I needed anything or got too lonely when Paul was on alert. We went to Mexico together before we had our babies. I got to spend the first part of Susannah's labor with her because Jason was on alert. I had Hayden about a month later and so we got to learn to be mothers together this past year. Susannah watched Hayden for me on Thursdays when I worked and as a result Hayden LOVES Susannah. When we are around the Sanders, Hayden immediately makes her way over to Susannah. Hayden and Payton just started to enjoy playing together and of course stealing each others toys. The Sanders are from Atlanta, so it is comforting knowing we will get to see them when they go home to visit.

We also had to say goodbye to our next door neighbors the Lasuras (sorry no pictures). They have 3 awesome kids: Ezra, River, and Cora. They all love Paul and we have loved getting to know each of them. They say the most hilarious things. They probably get it from their parents because they too are hilarious. Paul and I loved going over and telling stories and usually laughing most of the night. They also went to church with us. Joan has been great at helping me learn to be a mom as well and has helped when I did not know what to do with Hayden.


I don't know why, but we are terrible at getting pictures taken with the Eastmans. They are such good friends and we hardly have any pictures with them. Our last days are no different, no pictures! I met the Eastmans for the first time at church the Sunday before Seth and Paul graduated from the Air Force Academy (Seth and Paul knew each other from school already). They sat right behind us and Sarah scratched my back and I turned around and she had the biggest grin on her face as she said, "hi." We drove to ASBC with them to Montgomery, AL and 36 hours in our Toyota Tacoma definitely bonded us for life! While in Alabama everyone would ask Sarah and I if we had been friends for years. I don't know why but we just clicked. Sarah and I talk on the phone almost daily and I have loved being around her bright personality. Sarah is so good at showing her love to others and I hope this has rubbed off on my more reserved personality. We got to see Sarah get baptized and their whole family sealed in the temple this past summer. Watching Sarah gain a testimony of the gospel and make such huge changes in her life definitely strengthened my own testimony and has made me feel so close to her and her sweet family. We wanted to go from base to base until our husbands retired from the Air Force, so it was sad when this did not pan out as planned. Seth has probably been one of Paul's best friends as well. They have the same core beliefs, they can play sports together, and they can talk about what is important to them. Maybe Hayden will marry Wade or Landon so we can see them more often :)



And finally we had to say goodbye to my sister Michelle and her husband Jared. It has been so wonderful living close to them the past year. I only wish it had been longer. Michelle and I always played together growing up, but then went through a phase where we were not as close. By the time we realized how much we really loved each other I was in college. We have not gotten to live close to each other since we learned to appreciate one another. I am sad I will not be close when she decides to have children and I am sad Hayden will not continue to see her and know that she is her aunt and where she got her middle name. I know we will continue to talk on the phone almost daily and that Hayden will see them both, but it's just not the same. I have so much appreciated spending time with Jared and seeing all his great strengths, he is such a good match for Michelle. The Saturday before we left, they drove all the way to Fort Collins to say goodbye to us. We got lunch at our favorite, Cafe Mexicali, and then we made our way to the park to visit for a bit. I hope they know how much we love them!

I basically cried the entire time I wrote this and I know that this is not goodbye forever, but it will never be the same again. That's the part that makes me sad. Thanks to all for being such great friends and for making our time in Cheyenne unforgettable.

Birthday continued...

I don't know why but I could not continue to add pictures so here is the rest, sorry this is turning into a really long post!

We then busted out the pull string pinata, which didn't really work, so Paul ended up ripping the top open for the kids. All kids love pinatas, so of course it was a good time.

Family picture with our messy little girl!

Family picture with our naked, clean girl!

Catching Up: Pre-Birthday Celebration

I have so much to post since I have been without a computer for almost a week now! But I will start by rapping up what happened in Cheyenne before we left. Because we won't be in Cheyenne for Hayden's first birthday, we had a little pre-party for her. I am still kind of sad that we had to do a month early party and that we won't be among all of our friends for her real birthday, but such is life.
I decided to do an owl themed birthday party and we had a lot of fun with it. She had an owl shirt, pinata, buckets for the candy, and cup cake toppers (oh, also the invitations). Here are some of the decorations:

I made her cake earlier that day and decided to make a more baby friendly cake, especially since she is really only 11 months old. The frosting was full of sugar, but the cake had ground up carrots, raisins, apple juice, whole wheat flour, etc.

Hayden's friends brought her such cute presents and she has been playing with all of them non stop. She loves playing with her puzzle, ball-popper, bubbles, little pony and baby doll. She has been really funny with the baby doll. She gets really upset if I hold her and feed her the bottle, she takes the bottle away from me and tries to drink it herself! She likes touching the babies eyes, nose and mouth. She also got lots of cute outfits and bows!

I always love watching all the kids get so excited about the presents!


Next we introduced the cake to Hayden and it was so funny to watch. She was very tentative at first as she is with most all foods. She didn't want to let me get any in her mouth, but as soon as she tasted the frosting she decided to give this whole cake thing a try! Eventually she tipped the cake over and then bear-hugged it while eating it. She was an absolute mess. Some kids hate when their hands get dirty, I wish Hayden was one of those kids, but she most definitely is not. She loved mushing the cake between her hands and fingers.


The first video shows when Hayden first bear-hugged the cake and the second clip shows her really eating some and playing with it.

"What a blow"

Sorry for the title of this post, it's an inside joke with Paul that some of you may know! Anyway, we do have bad news...So Paul has been working with the HR lady from Bastian Material Handling to figure out our housing situation while we are in Indiana. She asked us to keep our belongings in storage for 6 months since the Air Force will pay for it and instead of doing a "full-didy" (moving all your own belongings yourself) and making a lot of extra money, we scheduled to have professional movers come and pack and store all of our things. She told us it was standard to live in a fully furnished apartment while Paul is in training. Paul repeatedly asked her if we would have to help with the rent or any other expenses and over and over she told us "no." Anyway, she got a different job and left the company and yesterday Paul gets an email asking if we can bring our own furniture to Indiana because the furnished 2 bedroom apartment is $93 per day. We obviously start to freak out because the movers are coming in 3 days and we now have to figure out what to do. We called Uhaul and other moving trucks to see if we could reserve a bigger one and none could guarantee a truck by the date we needed it. Also the Air Force already payed the moving company and if our weight is less than what they already estimated then we would have to pay the difference. So yesterday our plan was to have everything sent to Indiana instead of Atlanta and Bastian would store our belongings in one of their warehouses and then we could have access to the furniture and things we would need while there. Although there was still a lot of unanswered questions with this plan: who pays for our things to be moved to Atlanta once training ends, where do we live until our belongings are delivered to Indiana, once they are delivered to the warehouse, how do we move the big furniture to the apartment, and so forth...Well today they informed us that they warehouse is no longer an option and so we have to live in a furnished apartment. The rent is $2,600 per month and they will be 60% and they want us to pay 40% so $1,000 is what they are asking us to pay. We were so excited to be able to save a lot while we are there and now we are throwing more money away to rent. It makes me sick to think of how much money we have lost through this whole process. We could have made money moving our own things, but we thought it would balance out by not paying rent for 6 months. I really do feel sick to my stomach!!! Anyway, the only plus is that we just signed a contract stating that if we do find a house before the 6 months are up, they will pay the entire rent so that we can make house payments. It just makes me so mad that this is all their fault and we are paying for it. If they would have told us to bring our own furniture we would have planned accordingly! I guess they have done this in the past but only with single men and a one bedroom is a lot cheaper. Anyway, sorry for the boring post. It has been therapeutic for me to write this all out and get it out of my head. I am reading a book about losses in life and how you just have to let go of things and this is just another one of those things in life. What is $10,000 in the grand scheme of things!

11 months old

Hayden is 11 months old today. We are having a really early birthday party for her in a couple of days with some of our close friends before we move. Hayden is becoming more and more fun each day and I love all the new sounds she is experimenting with. Yesterday she said, "wow" over and over again. She continues to love to mimic and will brush her hair and teeth just like mommy. Hayden also loves sticking her pointer finger in anything that will fit her little finger. She continues to have problems with textured foods although she will now eat Gerber puffs, crackers, and bananas. Hayden's favorite food is probably peach yogurt at the moment, she chows down on the stuff. She continues to sleep 11 to 12 hours at night consistently and either has one long nap or 2 shorter naps each day. Her favorite toy right now is anything shaped like a ball and her favorite activities include swinging at the park, taking baths, playing with her tongue, and dancing (or should I say bouncing and swaying side to side) to her favorite tunes. We cannot believe it has almost been a year. People told me that I would not be able to picture my life without her at some point and I don't know that I believed them, but it is true. We can't picture life without her.

Hayden with her cool new sunglasses from her friends birthday party. She loves looking through them.

This also makes me laugh, when I open the fridge she sprints for it and grabs one carrot for her mouth and two for each of her hands.

My new nurse

Last Friday Paul accompanied me to my allergy clinic because he is going to give me my allergy shots!!! My doctor said because I have never had a bad reaction and have done well with the shots I can administer them to myself at home since we are moving. I guess if I switched allergy doctors they would make me do the testing all over again and start to shots from square one. I am finally on maintenance phase so that would have been real depressing. I was way more nervous about the whole thing than Paul was, but he learned how to give me my shot and did a pretty good job. No bruises, but my right arm was sore for a couple of days. This will be so convenient in Indiana to get my shots at home instead of dragging Hayden to the doctors office with me.

Buddies

My friend and neighbor Susannah blogged these photos and what she said is perfect so I am just going to quote her: "They probably won't remember what great buddies they have been over the past year, but they always get excited when they see each other, and play great together. Hayden loves to swing so much. It is so cute. We sure are going to miss going on evening walks with them."

Family continued...

We have been so lucky to have so many members of our family come to visit the past two weeks before we move. Paul's mom came out this last week and we had a great time together. She left early Tuesday morning and got to Cheyenne around noon. We went to Outback that night and Hayden enjoyed looking at all the servers. The next day we went swimming in Fort Collins at a really fun pool. The only problem was that by the time we got there the clouds came in and it was cold! Nonetheless Hayden loved swimming on her back, she is becoming quite a little fish. There is a pool at our apartment in Indiana so I plan on taking her a lot!

I took Hayden down the water slide and I was quite shocked at the landing!

The next day we went to downtown Cheyenne and walked around the little shops and had lunch at Jimmy Johns, awesome sandwiches!!! This is Hayden in her new umbrella stroller, so much more convenient to have in the back of our car.

These boots are all around Cheyenne and especially the downtown area. This particular boot is two antelopes playing cards.

Anne's last morning we went for a bike ride on a very windy day in Cheyenne. Anne said she would never complain about the wind in Tooele, UT ever again! It was a good workout because of all the resistance. Our last bike ride was awful due to rain, so Hayden was not a happy camper on this ride. I think we traumatized her a bit. It was raining and halfway through the ride we realized that Paul's tire was flipping water right at her and we went off base so I think the increased number of cars passing us really scared her. Hopefully she will learn to like it again.

Anne and Hayden before our bike ride. We miss her already and we are so glad she could come and visit with us.

12 month pictures

Because we are moving in August we had Hayden's year pictures taken a little early. To see a preview go to:

http://staceyjphotog.blogspot.com/

I think they turned out great and we are so glad we could have Stacey take them before we move.

Family

My family decided to come out and visit before we move to Indiana at the end of this month. They came out last Tuesday and stayed until Thursday night when they left to visit my sister Michelle in Colorado Springs. We had a really fun time visiting with them. One day we went bowling and as you can see, Hayden had so much fun playing with the bowling balls and watching us bowl. Paul one both games!

My mom and Hayden

Ian on the left and Sean on the right, they are getting so tall!

One morning after breakfast at the Egg and I, we walked over to the state capital and took some pictures. Here is the famous Wyoming cowboy.

We also went swimming, on walks, and to Culvers twice to get custard! It was great to have them here. Hayden loved being surrounded by all her family and loved getting spoiled by them. We will miss being closer to family!

Nose Picker

So yesterday Hayden discovered the little holes in her nose and also discovered her finger fits in perfectly! I probably should not have laughed because it just reinforced her behavior, but it was hilarious to watch!

I almost forgot

Before Michelle and Jared came out, Hayden and I went with the Sanders to the Air Show where the Air Force Thunderbirds put on a big show. It was a little rainy and cold but we still had fun. I have not been able to go to this part of Frontier Days because I always worked on Wednesdays, so it was fun to finally see it this year. Hayden and Payton have become such good buddies.

Little America

Each year during Frontier Days, Little America puts on a nightly barbecue the whole week. We have made this a tradition and go every year. This year Michelle and Jared ended the busy day by going with us. It is a little pricey but such a fun atmosphere. They have an awesome salad bar that also includes yummy desserts. They also have a country singer in the background. Hayden enjoyed playing with this Sprite while we enjoyed our dessert.

Rodeo

After Hayden's morning nap we headed out the the Rodeo, "The Daddy of em' all" it is the largest outdoor rodeo in the world. This was our 4th time going but Michelle and Jared's 1st. There were lots of injuries this day which is always sad to see.

Michelle and Jared enjoyed watching the the wild horse race. They get a whole bunch of teams and try to saddle and ride a completely wild horse. It is crazy to watch.

Hayden did pretty good for her first rodeo. She got a little antsy and we had to go walk around with her in the rodeo park, but for the most part she did well. While walking around Michelle and I bought an awesome kitchen tool that will mince garlic, whole nutmeg, ginger, lemon zest, etc. we were very excited about our purchase. Everyone who saw Hayden at the rodeo commented on her beautiful blue eyes. Seriously everywhere I go she draws a crowd, she is just too cute for her own good!

Frontier Days Parade

This is our 4th Frontier Days but our first parade. My sister Michelle and her husband Jared came out for the weekend so we had a very busy day. This was also Hayden's first parade.

Hayden did seem to enjoy seeing the horses and big trucks come by but at times enjoyed her peach puffs and the dirt more.