Fourth of July fun.

This year, we spent the Fourth of July with the Frost family.

I can't remember the last time we spent the Fourth of July in Utah. We thoroughly enjoyed being with family, having cooler temperatures, and watching fireworks in the crisp mountain air. 

Our day began with the traditional Frost family July Fourth breakfast.

Owen with Grandma Cisney.

I adore this picture of these three cute girls!
Abbi, Megan and Hazel.

Ammon and Carter had a great time with their cousins, Baileigh and Henry.

Cousin picture! Baby O was not thrilled about this one.

Owen with cousin Baileigh

Water fight!

After breakfast, we went to the Kaysville city parade. The kids loved the candy and I loved the "small town" feel. 

I can't remember how Owen ended up asleep and shirtless "watching" the parade, but he looks pretty darn cute.

Waiting for candy.

 We capped off the evening in Liberty watching fireworks. Once again, there was a great "small-town" feel to the celebration, and the view was fabulous.

Our little family, who sadly never cooperates for pictures.

The four Frost brothers together again after about 5 years.

Sparklers and Glow necklaces were a highlight of the fireworks.

Welcome to Utah!

We were so excited to finally arrive in Utah.  The first weeks of living here seemed like a vacation. Colby had a couple weeks off before he started work and we did lots of playing with family and friends. Our kids had so much fun getting reaquainted with their cousins. Here's the play by play...

Abbi with Grandma Frost and Megan.

The Frost family at little Nora's first birthday party. 

Hazel, Megan and Abbi.

Ammon, Carter and Baileigh.

Breakfast at Granny Annie's. Who doesn't love a scone the size of your head?

Seriously the sweetest baby on the planet.

Can you spy Abbi? This girl is the best shopping buddy!

Four wheeling with Grandpa Frost.

All the boys. Love that "Utah" view.

It's so nice to be back in the mountains.

Oh yeah, our first couple weeks in Utah we also did a lot of this..

It's so nice when the empty boxes start piling up! 

Road Trippin'

This is what it takes to keep four kids entertained on a 24 hour drive.  Toys and books and snacks and coloring pages and markers and electronic devices...

Blankets and pillows and headphones and stuffed animals.

We started driving at 4:00 am, hoping the kids would sleep on the first leg of the drive.

Waking up at the crack of dawn paid off when the back seat of the van looked like this...

After stopping for breakfast and changing clothes, we were ready to hit the road again.

Day two of driving started with lots of smiles. 

But with a couple hours of driving left to go, this little guy had had enough.

A big shout out to my amazing husband who drove the entire way (all 1,590 miles!) Colby always insists on driving when we go on road trips. I have yet to determine if this is because;

a. I'm a bad driver

b. He gets car sick when he's the passengar

c. He'd rather drive than be the one to wrestle the kids

d. all of the above

Whatever the reason, this guy got us safely from Temple, Texas to Layton, Utah,  our new "home."

Residency Graduation (i.e. possibly the most exciting day of our lives)

I can't begin to describe how excited we were for Colby to finish residency. The three years he spent at Scott and White were undoubtably the hardest years we have spent together. The early mornings, late nights, long weekends and high stress levels seemed to be never ending. That said, those years were also some of the best years we've spent together. Colby's intense work schedule made the time we did have together even sweeter. We made lifelong friends and great memories.  I am so proud of Colby for his hard work and dedication. Twelve years after he started school, he was finally finished!

So happy!

I had the best support system during residency.
I don't know what I would have done without these girls.

The graduating doctors.
Finally relaxing after three years.

Texas BBQ. Could this night get any better?

More great friends. Like I said, I wouldn't have survived without these girls.

Colby and Dr. Shibuya

Colby with Dr. Hudson

Dr. Lane and Dr. Frost

Tyler Jolley and Colby

My dear friend Meghan Lane. Her husband Dale
was a year ahead of Colby in residency so she
showed me the ropes.

Dr. Brust and Dr. Frost

To dress up in Texas, you just need to put on your cowboy boots.
This is the "dressy attire" the four graduating docs chose to wear.

Dale Lane is very talented at woodworking. He made these
signs for the third year residents.

The "Wolfpack." This is a great group of guys.

Colby and I with the Campbells, our great friends and future business partners.

 Congratulations Dr.Colby Frost D.P.M, M.H.A., B.S. ! (I tease him that he is mostly B.S. but I'm very proud of him.)

Moving

Moving is always an adventure.  Every time that we have moved I vow to be more organized, less stressed, start earlier, pack smarter, etc, etc. And every time I end up throwing odds and ends into a "miscellaneous" box (or four or five miscellaneous boxes) twenty minutes before we are supposed to load the moving truck. To make matters worse, our moves have always coinsided with major life events that have preoccupied Colby (starting school, graduating from school, finishing residency), meaning I'm packing solo. I wish I could say that moving has some redeeming qualities, but the truth is, moving is the pits. Our move from Texas to Utah was no different, but somehow as I look back through pictures of our move I have very fond memories of those weeks we spent living out of boxes and eating meals on a folding table. 

We spent days without furniture...

Little O checking out the disassembled dining room table.

Colby in his office after we sold his desk and packed up the filing cabinets.

Nothing says, "nice Sunday dinner" like a folding table and paper plates.

We made lots and lots of trips to Home Depot. (I always underestimate how many boxes I'm going to need!

Brynlee, Abbi and Owie helping me pick up boxes.

Brynlee and Abbi. Home Depot is even more fun with friends!

A home depot trip with Logan and Maddie. This one required two carts.

Had picnic breakfasts on beach towels...

And celebrated when we finally packed the last box!

And then our moving truck came (and there's a chance I cried).

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Before we knew it, the house was empty...

and the truck was full.

Me and my little ones with the loaded moving truck.

We made one last walk through our empty house, and I definitely cried. I'm a total sap, but I couldn't help thinking about all the memories we'd made in this house and everything that had transpired over the past three years. 

We signed the papers and made if official. 

Our time in Texas had come to an end. Although it was bittersweet, we were looking forward to the exciting changes we had in our future.