Going, going, going, going...GONE!

 Back in January Tyler felt very strongly inspired that we needed to put our house up for sale an entire year early.  Seemed a bit crazy and was pretty stressful at the time, but we were definitely blessed for following that prompting.

Our Realtor sent a photographer to take pictures of the house in February.  I stress-fully got the house in perfect shape, frantically kept the kids out of his way and then...he did a pretty horrible job! So, I ended up taking them myself (and the Realtor chose my pictures over the professionals to put on the website, one of the rather frustrating hiccups).

More hiccups? (Truthfully, hiccup 1: I am a skeptical stress ball.) 2: Tyler was studying HARD for his Boards, and staying late for reviews with the Attendings. That means I was exhausted from being alone and on duty most of the time but---I still had to get the house ready myself EACH time it was shown,  find a way to keep the kids from wrecking my efforts while I was finishing my efforts and then find somewhere to be for a few hours.  3: Of course, half of the showings occurred while E was VERY sick in March 4: And the other half happened while Ty was at his week long review out of town (Nope. No showings while our house was empty for 2 weeks and spotless from running around packing and cleaning like a crazy person up until the moment we left for Boise).

 Guest room

 Girls' room

 Coleson's room

Master

 Master bath

 Loft

 Living room

 Family room

 Dining room

Kitchen 

 Front

 Backyard

That was a lot of complaining, I know--but here's where the miracle comes in and all of those hiccups seem worth it: that last showing, while Ty was out of town, turned out to be a Realtor looking for properties for a rental company that is trying to expand its business across the US. By the end of June our home was sold (for only $1,000 less than asking price--amazing in this market!) and we had signed a rental contract to rent our own home for a year.  House sold, heavy burden lifted, no extra moving involved, and no stress of selling our home as we are trying to pack up and move to wherever Ty ends up finding a job.  Thank goodness for a husband that is worthy of receiving Spiritual guidance and inspiration for our family and then is willing to act on that prompting.  We will really miss our first home when the time comes to leave it behind...

We will NOT miss this disgusting creature that decided to move in with its family under our deck as soon as the home was no longer ours though (nor the cockroaches that suddenly appeared!!) YUCK!  I think its a way to make us feel better about selling our home and moving out of this warm and damp climate--which we love--but so does EVERY other living creature apparently! Not good!

HOT (and not rainy) summer day!

The Saturday after Father's Day was our "official" father's day for Tyler.  I was feeling pretty sick on the actual day, so we chose to make that the day Ty celebrated his dad (since he was actually with us)...and then celebrate Tyler the following weekend.

 What better way to spend the day than to run through sprinklers and play (dadd'y new) outside games??

We sure LOVE daddy around here!

a HUGE accomplishment

 Hip, hip Hurrah! Tyler passed the Radiology Boards! Phew!

Thanks to Liz coming for a visit, we were able to get dressed up and attend his graduation from residency dinner.  So glad he worked "satisfactorily" for the department all these years...really?!? They couldn't think of anything better to say after all of his time and sacrifice over the years?!? I realized that he spent 4 years in undergrad, 2 on a church mission, 4 years in medical school, 1 year at his internship and 4 years in radiology to get to this point. AND during that time frame (not counting his moves, jobs, etc while single) we moved 7 times, had 5 beautiful children, and lost one dear son (and sooooo much more; which is quite a bit more than any of his fellow colleagues dealt with during that time).

 Oh well! Even if they can't praise him properly ;), it's still an amazing accomplishment!  I am so grateful for his dedication to learning, his hard work, and his ability to still make family his top priority. It's been a VERY long and trying journey for us! Thankfully, we have grown closer and have helped each other become better and stronger people. One year of fellowship left and then we are off to a new adventure...

 Tyler didn't get the dark suit memo and kinda matched the walls, but he looked pretty handsome when he was out in the natural light :)

 Liz was a bit exhausted the next day though...

 The kids played non stop togehter.

 Just as usual, with all the chaos of kids and chatting and enjoying time together, I didn't capture many pictures.  It was so nice to have her around for a couple of days before heading off to meet her family!

fun with grandma and grandpa

 We came home to a few more presents for Ally-ooper's Birthday in our porch.

 Evaleigh LOVED reading books with grandpa.

  And the kids enjoyed creating (or at least watching g and g create) a scarecrow so we could have more tomatoes this year (but it rained SOOOO much that we didn't have many anyway).

Coleson was trying to imitate the scarecrow's pose.

"It's always fun, for everyone, when grand(parents) come!"

PS-We found out that scarecrows DO NOT scare away rats.  This was the "baby" rat, there was also a large "mommy" rat..SICK!!! We had to use other methods to "scare" them away--with NO way of returning--YUCK!

a little trip

Well, it didn't seem little, it seemed rather epic.   1-we had not made a trip to the mountains since spending that heavenly weekend with Beckett before he died, 2- grandma and grandpa watched kids so we could go up a day before them (1st time getting away for a night without kids since summer 2010), 3-Tyler had only days before gotten back from his HUGE Radiology Board oral exam in Kentucky (which he had been spending a LOT of time studying for since about January, and some time studying for all the months before that)

 Which gave us time to go on a few grown up hikes (to find a bunch of hidden and beautiful waterfalls like this one).  And to eat without using all of our extra limbs and energies to keep kids fed and quiet and happy in a restaurant :).  It was really relaxing.

 The next day they joined us and we spent more time hiking,

celebrating Addellyn's 6th Birthday!!!,

 visiting and touring a cool mansion just off of the blue ridge parkway,

 walking around the beautiful lake that sits below the mansion giving them some gorgeous views, 

 feeding ducks, 

 playing in streams,

 riding in the back pack (being fed constant snacks to stay happy), 

 exploring,

 finally escaping confinement, 

 celebrating Addellyn some MORE, 

 soaking in the warm hot tub (or small swimming pool according to the kids).

It was nice to get away and enjoy the beautiful mountains again.  Even if we had to enjoy the mountains without our little man, it was a good place to find peace and feel that he is still watching over and a continuing part of our family.