September

Once we knew we were leaving in 4 weeks there was so much to do. Mostly lots of people to see and soak up as much sun as we possibly could. We had movers and packers coming so we had to do very little in the way of preparation but things definitely started to change. This post is not necessarily about change, just our happens between hearing the official word and our move date.

Kelsey played and swam a lot with her friends in our final weeks in Avondale. While she was gone, Madison started getting really good at playing quietly. One day I was able to capture this moment. She had gotten the game out by herself, set it up and was "playing." I tried to play with her but she wanted to do it all by her self. It was adorable.

that precious moment was then followed by this moment when I said it was time to read stories. Hands down my favorite picture of Madison.

One weekend I drove Kelsey up to Sun City to say goodbye to the girls. We were going to do this anyway, but a few nights before it was planned Kelsey just broke into tears about having to say goodbye to the girls. I have never seen her cry so sincerely over such a "grown up" heartache. It was heart breaking. "why do we have to go. I love them so much.I'm so happy here. Why do we have to go?" We both cried as I explained that we will make new friends and now have friends in two places, but she just needed to be sad. The day that we went to say goodbye, Kelsey packed up a tea party to share with them. She brought the food, the dress up, the table and chairs, and accessories. She wanted it to be just like when they lived next door.We spent from breakfast to lunch with the Randells. It was really hard to say goodbye to such amazing friends and neighbors.

The weather had only cooled a tad but we made one last trip to the zoo with our pass. It was cool enough in the mornings that we were able to make a fun trip out of it.

Obviously we spent every free second with Aunt Kay. We went to ice cream, visited the office, made a few Blue Aprons, built pillow forts, played with Reo, looked for pomegranates,  and pretty much talked about anything but moving. Saying bye to Kay was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do. She meant everything to our Phoenix experience. She was a friend, aunt, mother, and grandma depending on the need. She just knew what shoes to wear depending on the circumstances. We are so lucky to have been close to her for such a short time. We will always cross paths because we love Aunt Kay but hopefully we can live close again some day.

One night while we were all making our Blue Apron meals, we realized we hadn't heard from Kelsey in a while. From the bathroom, we hear Kay shout, "I found her, and you will need her camera." I walked in and found Kelsey applying every last ounce of bronzer that Kay owns. Come to think of it, I probably should pay Kay back for all the bronzer Kelsey used. But boy did Kelsey have a fun time. She was loving the big mirrors and make up. Look out future. We have a girly girl. (and I am so glad)

One of my favorite pictures of all time

In the stress of moving, I got really agitated with the girls and quiet often. I am not pleased with how I treat my girls when I am stressed. They do not deserve that. One day, Madison was going crazy for whatever reason and instead of holding her, I just lost it which obviously made her cry and the embarrassing part was I didn't even respond to her tears. I just walked out. I don't think that I need to respond to every tear my toddler sheds, but this was one I could have had sympathy over.
Anyway, not 10 minutes later, I heard singing from the room. Kelsey had scooped up Madison best she could, got her milk from the fridge and was singing her songs in her, Kelsey's, bed to calm down Madison. Kelsey has such a tender and kind heart. I could really learn a lot from both of them.

In the last weeks we were in AZ I was really getting sad of all the wonderful things a warm climate bring you namely
Beautiful sunsets and rises

Some of the best tropical fruit selection (and displays) I have ever seen
      I'm still super bummed about missing pomegranate, grapefruit, artichoke season

 And warm weather

Not related to anything, but this is probably the most beautiful bouquet I have ever seen. I couldn't buy it because we were leaving so soon, but boy did I want to

Ethan got a cute send off at work complete with cookies and this awesome poster!!

And for the sake of time and my fingers, we wrapped up September with a weekend trip to Seattle to find housing. It was the most stressful 36 hours of my life. Diana was able to come up to be with Kay and the girls and was so willing. I am grateful for a wonderful mother in law who treats me as one of her own.
We looked and looked and looked but just couldn't find anything. The only fun part about the trip was that Amazon paid for everything so we were able to buy and eat anywhere we wanted. We left Saturday evening feeling very discouraged and hopeless. Little did we know that 3 days later we would get our "tied for first" house. We were very blessed in our housing en devour. Blessed to ask the right question, look on line at the right time, contact the right people and so on. I know that the blessings don't always look the way we think they should, but they are there.


When in Seattle (don't worry everyone! Its a chocochip milkshake and hot coco)

We found this CRAZY place called XXX, but it was super fun

This is me losing all hope with wet feet, cold hands, and pouring rain, while Ethan is checking scores to games. He literally can find sunshine in a rain storm. Literally

Here's our cuties not missing us even kind of