Goodbye House.

This was a hard post to write. And to be honest, I didn't think I'd be able to do it so soon. But it needs to be done. We said goodbye to our first house and home for the past 3 years, where Emery has grown up, where Macie and Harley came home from the hospital and have grown. It was really hard, we knew it was the right decision and had been feeling like we needed to do it for a while, but it was still hard. In the days leading up to the closing, and us needing to be out, I got very nostalgic about our memories there and started taking lots of pictures around the house. I never want to forget it. We put a lot of work into that house. It was bare when we got it, and we turned it into our perfect home. So here we are, our home:

Our entryway, I had a picture in my head of exactly what I wanted it to look like, and Jake made it happen. This quickly became one of my favorite areas of the house. 

My beautiful family on my hallway wall. 

By the time we had finished all of our projects, this was probably my favorite room in the house. Harley's nursery. 

Spent many nights looking over that crib at that sweet boy sleeping. And also many nights worrying about his breathing or latest cough. It's been packed away now, and by the time it comes back out he'll be way too old to sleep in it. It breaks my heart my baby is getting so big so fast. 

I'll never forget my sweet Emery making this decoration for her room. She painted it and was so proud when it got hung on her wall. She couldn't wait for Jake to come home so she could show him. 

 That big picture in the middle is probably my favorite picture of all time of these two sisters. This room has had more memories that I can ever recall. Macie and Emery have shared this room since Harley was a new baby. And they have grown to be best friends in this room. It started with 2 beds, which was quickly taken down to just one when they both refused to sleep in separate beds. 

Countless hours of story times have happened in these walls. Storybooks, scriptures, prayers. Then tucking these sweet sisters into bed, just to have them giggling and coming out 10 or more times for potty and to "tell you something". 

Where they played for hours. 

 And slept sweetly together. They can both hardly stand to be apart, and nighttime was no exception. 

My kitchen where we cooked and baked and did crafts. Family dinners, play times, everything you can think of. While decoration wise, this room was somewhat forgotten, it was my favorite because it is where I got to spend the most time with my family. 

Where all my little masterpieces were displayed for the world to admire. Every time one was finished they raced to the drawer to get some tape and hang it on our wall. 

 Where my babies stood to watch the rain, the snow, the birds play on the back porch. Or just to laugh at each other on opposite sides of the glass.  

Where we held our movie nights, played games, read stories, cuddled sick babies, and sometimes sick mom and dad. 

Even if they were just watching movies, there is a good chances these two were cuddling. 

 Man, these two kill me with sweetness and cuteness. 

Our last project that we should have done years sooner was this bathroom. I was in love with it, but didn't get to enjoy it near long enough. This room was another favorite, where my babies always took their baths. I tried to get them to go in their own tub, but they wanted mine. And I was okay with it. They all fit better in there anyway. 

Harley was scared of it, but these two loved their bubble baths with the jets in moms tub. 

After 3 awesome years it was time to go. And we packed and packed and packed for what seemed like an eternity. I'm not sure how we got all of our stuff out, but we did. 

No thanks to this naughty boy. He pushed an entire box of laundry detergent down the stairs on the last day we were there while I was trying to pack....

We finished mid afternoon on Wednesday April 20th. We took the kids back in one last time to say good-bye. I cried, of course, I knew I would, I always do. Emery really hard a time, and once Macie saw how upset Emery was she cried. And we all just sat in the living room and had a good cry. We talked about the memories we had there, but then talked about the future and the memories we would have at our new house. 

Then we went outside for one last photo session on the infamous front porch. I don't think I could ever count how many pictures we have here. They are so dirty, they pretty much had free reign of all the dirt in the yard to entertain them while we packed and hauled and packed. 

Our last picture in front of our "old" house. It might be my favorite one ever too. 

And then we officially said goodbye. Emery cried again, which made me cry again. Honestly I think if we were just moving straight into another house it wouldn't have been so hard. But we have a long road ahead of us before that can happen. I know the coming months aren't going to be easy, but I am hoping they will be worth it. The girls still struggle a lot, just a couple days ago Macie broke down crying and saying that she "just wanted to go home". It's hard to not have a home. We at least have a warm place to sleep, and a roof over our heads, but it isn't home. And it will be a while before we have one. And that is scary and hard, but I'm hoping it gets easier. These little kiddos have had a lot of change happen in their lives in the past month and they have been absolute troopers every step of the way. They are such good kids, I have to pinch myself sometimes to remind myself they really are mine. We talk a lot about our new house, I really hope we can get moving on it soon, but everything seems to be taking so long. Once we get in there, I think we will feel much better about saying goodbye to this house that has treated us so well. 

After said our goodbyes we all needed a little cheering up. So we headed out for burgers and Ice Cream. It did the trick. We also found out that the trailer we had been wanting was still available. So after some food we packed up and headed to Salt Lake to buy our new, temporary home. 

So far it has actually gone pretty well. While obviously there are things you miss about the conveniences of a real house, it hasn't been too bad. There are 3 bunk beds, we are just using 1 for storage right now since the girls prefer to sleep together they share one, and Harley sleeps on the other. They are really big so there is plenty of room. Jake and I have our own Queen Bed with a separate bedroom which is nice. One really good thing is we have had to simplify a lot. Not just in our belongings but in other ways too. The kids are doing a lot of playing outside which I really like. They rarely are indoors and if they are they are doing puzzles or playing games or something. So it has been good. 

So upward and onward to our next adventure. Hopefully we can get moving on our new house soon, once it is going up it will be more real to them. Right now it is just a field that they don't understand how a house for us to live in will ever be there. But it will be eventually, and it will be a really beautiful house. So I am very excited for that.