Critters anyone?

Once upon a time (seven years ago) Brandon and I had no children. We were at church and met a new couple with their cute baby. Being childless and always up for a fun get-together, we invited them over for dinner. Little did we know that this would be the start of a lifelong friendship. Jason and Summer Gollhofer and their cute baby Anika came over and we all hit it off. From then on, we were stuck in late nights of our favorite game Critters. We would go to their house, put the baby to bed, and stay up until 2am playing the domino game.

We've come a long way since then. The Gollhofers moved twice. They started probably two blocks from us, then moved a block closer, then closer again. Then, they bought a house all the way across town. We thought that was far, little did we know where we would one day move. We've also added to our families. The Gollhofers had another girl Taylor, we had Koby, then Spencer, then came Lexi for them and Jackson, next up for us was Clay, then their finale was Carter. We still get together whenever we can (not as often as we would like) and try to keep the kids under control so we can pull out the dominoes.

The point of my post...

Friday night was the Gollhofer/Hansen family farewell party. Saturday night was the couples date night, with all the children (minus baby Carter who came with us) playing together at the Gollhofer's with Jason's oldest girls (Lauren and Cailyn) babysitting.

Here we are at Hu Hot's where Summer's fortune cookie told her that someone would come into her life and be her new best friend! (I se how it is)...

That wasn't enough, so we had them over on Sunday for dinner. Nope, still not done, we just couldn't end the party. But, were we going to let strep throat and pink eye stop us? No way, we had a sleepover on Thursday night and braved the infections.

All the kiddos getting cozy for a movie just before bed...

The familiar sight of our get togethers...The loser and winner of the last game before we moved...We LOVE this family. They were the first to show up on Friday (with lunch) and the last to leave, helping so much with moving and cleaning. Then, here come the tears when we finally say goodbye. The tears continued for a while in the middle of Wyoming thanks to a card and cd from them. I know this will be a friendship that we can't get out of by moving out of state. In fact, between their girls and our boys, we are already arranging marriages! We will forever play critters with the Gollhofers...

Many goodbyes...

Our last week in Greeley was a busy one. Thank you so much to everyone that helped our farewell feel special. Sherri Arscott had a small open house at her home on Monday. I didn't get pictures of everyone, but I know that more of you had a hand in this.

Melanie Hoesch, Me, Vicki Miller, Sherri Arscott...
Me and Natalie Morgan... Summer Gollhofer and me...
Tuesday night the Morris family came over for a bit to play and say bye. We have been friends with them since we lived in Fort Collins (I think it's been nine years now) Me and Jeannette...
Brian and Brandon...
Wednesday I had lunch with Bridgette Morgan and Courtnee Clymer (Bridgette is our awesome Jazzercise instructor - I will miss her)...

Wednesday night was spent out to ice cream with the Krammers and some of the old Young Women leaders - I love this group. Sara, Candice, Meagan, Courtnee, Anna Hopwood and Me...
Thursday was Koby's last day of school, so our whole family crought cupcakes to his class. Here he is with his teacher, Mrs. Miller...

I wish my farewell get togethers could have gone on another week, there just wasn't enough time and notice. But, thanks to all who called and cared and helped. I love you all and will miss you lots!

Alright, I cave...

I think I have been tagged three times in the last week or so. The first one was from my sister Kim and I refused it. Then my cousin Stef, and now Jenni. So, I will finally go along...

10 years ago I
1.Got engaged (in February)
2.Got married (in June)
3.Moved to Colorado (see #2)
4.I think that's a big enough year...
5.

5 things on todays "to do" list
1. Wash all the sheets and towels in the house.
2. Pack
3. Clean
4. Pack
5. Have our last harrah with the Gollhofers (for the fourth time in the last week...we just can't say goodbye!)

5 snacks I enjoy
1. Chocolate (any really, but peanut butter cups are a top one)
2. Air popped popcorn
3. Wheat Thins and string cheese (lots of times that is lunch)
4. Cereal (Frostend Mini Wheats is a fav)
5. Ice cream

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire
1. Shop - duh!
2. Own a beach house and visit it often.
3. Weekly massages, pedicures and facials.
4. Of course save for our family's future.
5. Have the best food storage and emergency supplies.

5 places I have lived
1. California
2. Utah
3. Idaho
4. Colorado
5.

5 jobs I have had
1. Telemarketer (yes, those annoying people that survey you over the phone!)
2. Retail Sales/Manager
3. Hair Dresser
4. Florist
5. Bank Teller

Okay, I did it. Sorry, I am kind of boring. Thanks for the tags girls!

Blogging All-Nighter

Brandon's sister Kelsey came over to spend the night with us tonight. I don't think any of us expected it to turn into the total nerdfest that it did...(yes, it involved popcorn and chocolate!)Kelsey had been wanting to create a blog, so we helped her get it started and got stuck working on our own blogs (notice my new, very ME background). Brandon was our Tech Support - he surprised me with his geeky knowledge of computer codes, etc. We love Kels and had a great night together. Now we can keep better tabs on her through her blog as we live far apart. Thanks, Kels, for hanging out and blogging all night with us - we love you!

Spencer says Goodbye

What a sad day it was when we had our last visit to Dr. Ryan. He has been the boys doctor since Koby was born and is the BEST! We had to say goodbye this past week (the first of many sad goodbyes) and couldn't pass up a photo opportunity with Spencer's buddy...

For Sale

My house! Yes, we are moving - to Utah. We have weighed all the options over the years and are finally ready and excited. We will be soooo sad to leave Brandon's family, but will be excited to be close to mine. Things were just made official this week and we will be gone in just a couple of weeks. So, we have our work cut out for us. We will all go together and leave our house with constant prayers to sell it. Meanwhile, we will rent in the Orem area. Wish us luck with both selling and finding a rental. Brandon will be working for a company called @Task and is more than excited to start this new venture in life. Of course, the boys were thrilled when we told them for Family Night this week. Here are pictures of our treasure hunt/puzzle to let the boys in on our secret...

It HAS been a whole week...

...since Spencer has been to the doctor. So, of course he needed to make a trip today. Our neighbors have some cinder blocks stacked up in their driveway and Spencer was walking along them. And fell off. And the top one fell on top of his leg. After our usual deliberation on what to do, we ended up at Dr. Ryan's office for four necessary stitches. He chose dad to go with him and Brandon said he was awesome (of course) and barely flinched for the long needle straight into his cut to numb him. He is a trooper. This is now his third time for stitches, making 15 total! And he is not even five yet! I think I will call and add him onto our supplemental insurance, what do you think?

Here are all the gory pictures...

Wet 'n Wild Baseball

We spent Labor day afternoon and evening with Brandon's family in Berthoud. It was a beautiful day that the kids spent swimming and playing hard. I thought I'd share some pictures of the main event. The kids all played baseball with a small pool as each base and a long slip 'n slide loaded with dish soap to slide into home! What a fun grandma and grandpa!

An 18 Year Old Friendship!

Laura Rife Buchanan and I met when we were 12 years old and were best friends from the start. She turns 30 September 2nd! Which means that we have been friends with each other for 18 years - way more than half of our lives! She lives in New York with her cute family - hubbie, 2 boys and 1 girl. But, we happened to both be in Utah at the same time in August, so we HAD to see each other. It is great that both our families still live there because this is the way we have seen each other over the years. She is an amazing sister, daughter, friend, wife and mother. What a great example to me. I love getting ideas from her blog as she posts about the fun things she does with her kids. She loves being a mom and it shows as she puts that number one in her life. Laura, have a perfect 30th birthday! Love you!

Here we are a few weeks ago with my sister Kim... And here are some embarrasing pictures from a scrapbook that Laura made for me when I got married...
We loved girls camp...

...and Education Week...