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.

In Limbo

One of the biggest blessings that came with our move from Texas was the fact that we were able to sell our house. We felt very blessed that sold our home quickly and didn't loose any money on the deal. The one hangup that came with selling our house was the fact that the buyer wanted to close 10 days before Colby finished residency. So we spent our last ten days in Texas being homeless.  We were so grateful to our friends the Fluhmans and the Campbells for letting us "live" with them during this time.  (Especially since they were both also getting ready to move.)  We had so much fun , and the kids loved having so many friends around. 

Rudy's BBQ... like a little piece of Heaven.

The "grown-up" table at Rudy's.

Jason and Colby and Maddy.

Logan and Abbi playing the iPad.

The kids eating peacefully outside....

Oh yeah, did I mention that we locked them out there?

That's a lot of kids,  and a lot of fun.

One last trip to the city waterpark.

 We spent the last few days of our "homelessness" at the Marriott hotel.  Living in a hotel is not nearly as fun as it sounds. 

Owen hanging out on the dirty hotel carpet ;)

The highlight of any hotel stay in Texas... Texas shaped waffles!

Continental breakfast anyone??

Needless to say,  by the end of the 10 days, we were eager to leave the great state of Texas!