THE long-awaited, much-anticipated, family move!

We have been preparing to pack up our moving truck and move south.

And the day finally came....

But first, a little backstory about this move:

With Richard's decision to specialize in NUCCA Chiropractic (click HERE to learn more about the amazing way NUCCA is helping so many people), we knew we would have the possibility of doing a preceptorship (internship).

When an amazing doctor invited Richard to intern with him and possible join his practice, we knew we had to follow this opportunity.

AND...

So we did!!!!

A few memorable snapshots for the day...

Merrills (Jordan, Molly, Faith, Celeste, and Scarlett) We miss having you just up the street! Who is going to come and sit at the house with our girls while we go to the emergency room? Or come down and look at the Wii and tell me (Becky) that there isn't a game in there TO eject? (0:

The Colvins (Tanise, Kaushay, Kaia, cuz Destiny, and Kamari).

Richard has been their home teacher since we moved into the ward.

He was able to help them come back to church and the girls be baptized.

Beautiful family who we love and even wrote us an amazing, funny, sweet, silly, wonderful song to remember them by!

We love and adore you and miss you and, did I mentioned that we love you!!!!?!?!??!

~miss you~

One of the only pictures of the drive...

Sarah and Emma playing "Guess Who".

Our new apartment, made possible by Richard, Grandma Joy and Grandpa Lynn

AND

some fabulous and amazing men in our new ward.

So grateful for each of you (especially those troopers who carried my piano up to the 2nd floor apartment!).

Living amongst boxes...

Playing card games with Grandma Joy. So much fun!

St Patrick's Day

The girls found something green to wear!

Also, on St. Patrick's day, Grandma Joy did their traditional Easter Egg Treasure Hunt.

The girls LOOOOOOVE this!

They love to run and look in the fridge, the bathtub, on the front door...

... in the shower, under the towels, in books on the shelf...

...under the front door mat, under pillows, in the stove...

UNTIL...

The baskets are found and treats are eaten!

Oh, and then there is this...

... AND Richard and I make a fool of ourselves running around for our hunt and then put the buckets on our heads.

YEP! We are that awesome! (0:

Then it was time to say goodbye. The hardest part.

Group picture taken with the auto-timer.

LOVE you all!

"Why can't you stay, Grandma?"~Rachel

Sarah saying goodbye to Grandpa.

We love you miss you Grandpa and Granny (0: !

You are the BEST!

Our lives would be perfect if we could just live in your house forever and ever.

Thank you so much for coming and playing with us and helping us and hugging us every single day!

WE LOVE YOU!!!

Come visit us again soon!

PS Yeay for a direct flight to SLC!!! (0:

Friends!!!! and packing...

Lots of things going on...

We have the move coming up.

Sarah taking down her beloved decor in her bedroom.

She loves hanging up pictures of her friends and drawing she makes.

Looking at this wall reminds me so much of who my sweet 9 year old is.

Kind, fun, thoughtful, creative, silly.

A Great Girl!

So thankful to be her mother.

Also, we took a trip into Chicago to see some amazing friends and to go to the temple.

It was such a nice feeling day to be with dear friends!

The kiddos hanging out (I love little man hiding behind the porch railings).

There is nothing like a BIFF!!! I love you, my Keara!

We are grateful every day for our friends!

Our families are both embarking on new adventures.

Who knows where we will be in a year!

Can't wait until we hang out again soon.

We made it!

Our family at our new temple, the Nauvoo Temple

We made it! The last 7 days have been a huge whirlwind! We knew that moving would be crazy and we were totally right! We felt really strongly that we needed to leave on Thursday, Oct. 9th, instead of the Friday. So we pulled out of Highland, UT with Richard driving the huge moving truck, pulling the car behind him on a trailer and I was following with the girls in the van. Sarah and Rachel started saying goodbye to the mountains and then they were saying goodbye to everything. It finally turned into, "Goodbye to everything in the whole wide world except for (our new state)". It made me laugh! Kids just trying to understand the whole moving process.
It is such a blessing that we left on Thursday! The first day we drove to Cheyenne, WY and swam at the hotel and played! The next day we drove all the way to Des Moines, IA. The good thing is, the towns we drove through the day before were in a blizzard warning and we had missed that. The bad thing was, Rachel was throwing up and Richard was getting sick. We were blessed that Richard's parents were with us and his awesome dad, Lynn, could drive the huge moving truck. Thanks so much!
Before we moved, I picked up a couple of new movies in order to survive. One was "Barbie and the Diamond Castle" (which we watched over and over) and a new Veggietales movie about Huckleberry Fin and Tom Sawyer and about helping others. I think they only watched it one time and I didn't connect the fact that the movie was all about the Mississippi River and it even mentioned our city and a few other towns around. There is a song about the river itself and Rachel memorizes music really quickly and out of the blue, she started singing it when we crossed the Mississippi River the first time! It was so funny! Now she sings it all the time when we are in the van. So funny!!!

We got into town at about 2pm on Saturday and 10 guys from the Elder's quorum showed up and hauled their guts out for a couple hours and got everything into the town house. Thanks so much for our awesome new ward! It was so great for Richard to meet other guys who are going to his graduate school and to start getting great advice!

Yesterday we drove down to Nauvoo and had lunch, then Richard's parent's did an Endowment Session and then we traded. Richard and I were able to do a session together, which will probably not happen a whole lot in the future. We can try and trade off with other couples, but it also looks like we are going to take turns in the temple in the future. So we wanted to do as much together while we had the chance. The Nauvoo temple is so amazing and so beautiful! When I was working at the Temple Construction Dept., I was blessed to be able to work on the Nauvoo temple. It it such a beautiful temple with dark woods and spiral staircases and historical design. I love it! What an awesome opportunity to live so close to such an amazing place!

Today, Richard's parents went home. It was sad. We have really enjoyed having them here with us. Grandma Joy was getting out of the van and Emma kept saying "Grandma, I need you!". That is her new phrase, but, man, does it kill you to hear her say things like that! I think that Joy has been crying for weeks now and that was hard to hear. It was hard to watch Richard and his dad, Lynn. Neither of them is super emotional in public. Lynn is such a quiet and amazing man who I know loves us so much and will miss us so much! I think I have only seen Richard that emotional a handful of times.

We know we are supposed to be here, right now, at this time. I was in the temple yesterday and I knew that we were supposed to be here. I felt so strongly about it! We are so blessed to have the opportunity to have Richard in this amazing school and the Lord has been holding our hands all along the way. We love you guys and miss you! Keep us posted about what's up with you guys and I will get more pictures on asap!

Our townhouse!

PS My toe is doing much better! Not broken, just sore! Another tender mercy from the Lord for this move! And now I am watching out for attacking pumpkins!