Time to say goodbye {again} to Scobey and Hello {again} to our new home, sweet home in Columbus!

Well, here we go again.  It's time to move again.  Not that I like doing it again.  But we really felt it was in God's plan for our family...again.  I really didn't want to leave our sweet little Scobey.  Saying goodbye to the lifestyle and a community we'd come to love was hard.  Just before leaving and driving through the town after saying goodbye to some of our best friends, the song "Time to say Goodbye" by Andrea Bocelli & Sarah Brightman came on.  I just couldn't hold back the tears.  It's been rough.  Though it's only been two years, this community has come to mean so much to us.

We will so miss the autonomy the kids have experienced and having a safe place to explore.

We will miss the library with all its great programs and giveaways and great book suggestions.

We will miss the slower pace of life.

We will miss the lilac trees blooming all over in spring and the scent that carries all over town.

We will miss not having to lock every door all the time or not worrying about packages being stolen.

We will miss our great neighbors who walk right in just to say hi.

We will miss the community and school spirit - GO Spartans!

We will miss the clear air and beautiful skies.

We will miss everyone waving to each other on the streets, in the car, outside.

We will miss going to any of our hometown stores and knowing nearly everyone there.

We will miss the dedication to the arts and community involvement.

We will miss how big the hearts of Scobey is.  If there's something that needs done, everyone pitches in and gets it done.

Most of all, we will miss the kind, friendly faces and people that make Scobey so great.

Dave finished up here at DMHC.  There were lots of tears, smiles, and well wishes.  They planned a fun surprise going away party for him. They invited us and it was nice.  People keep joking around that we should stay here and send him down, haha.  They had drink, meat, cheese and cracker trays and cookies.  A few gave some thoughtful speeches and they presented him with a fun picture of the old wall paper the managers all signed, along with the old and new logo he helped design.  It said "Out with the Old, In with the New!"  We had a fun dinner for him that night and the kids made fun signs to put all over the house.  The week after he was done, he got lots of texts, calls, and visits, letting him know how much he is missed.  It's been a ride, that's for sure!  Don, the interim, keeps saying how he can't believe how much had been done in two years.  Dave's done wonderfully and we are proud of how hard he works for us!

We were able to have a few get togethers with some of the people we have become great friends with here. They were blessed to have the great friends they did.  We also got together with all the Anderbergs again, and then the Coles, Geottles, and Williams families held a BBQ party for us.  Such great people we've been grateful to have crossed paths with them. The kids fit in all of the play dates they could before we left though moving got crazy and I forgot to take any pictures.  Cal had lots of buddies coming over to see if he could play one last time - Aydan, Kolten, Torsten, Carter and Seth.  Cov and Cal spent lots of time with neighbors Nate and Blake and unfortunately, Lucy with Brooklyn and Kaila and Chloe, all of Emma's friends were out of town the week before we left, but she was able to video chat and send messages back and forth.  She made a cute painted pot for her bestie, Ivy, with ivies in it, she loved it.  They were blessed to have the friends they did and plan to continue to keep in touch.

The kids wanted to hike up to the R after church in Redstone our last Sunday.  Our Branch President Ben Fund was right behind us coming home from Church and passed us.  We pulled off the road to take some pictures of some of the other views, and he turned around and came to follow us.  Then as we pulled off later to hike up to the R, he pulled over to see if we were okay.  I love that about our Branch and our family was talking about that.  They didn’t ask if we or others needed help, they always just jumped in to do what was needed.  For example, President Fund was always grabbing a bag for us as we were coming or going or helping with the baby or kids.  Sister Sherie Anderberg was always coming over to check on us and to talk, bringing us goodies, helping to serve when we were doing projects, or helping clean as we were leaving.  Sister Marla Stevens was always sending messages when I needed them most, being inspired in her new ministering program to help us all become closer to the Savior, visiting even when she had to come a long way.  I was telling our kids that’s how it’s done.  We don’t wait for people to tell us they need help – we see a need and we fulfill it.  What great examples we’ve had amongst us.  We will miss our Plentywood Branch a lot! 

The last few weeks in Scobey, we fulfilled a few things on our bucket list that we had wanted to do.  We hit up the parks one last time and went swimming and went hiking and went to the library when we could.  Then we spent a lot of time packing and loading and cleaning.  The kids were huge helps this move, which made it nice. 

We moved out of our yellow house on A Street on July 6.  The kids were saying that our first house, our tiny condo in Ogden was the bun, as it was a beige color, our duplex in Spokane is the burger, as it was brown, our house in Rawlins is the tomato, as it was red, our home in Scobey was the mustard, as it was yellow, and now we are on to Columbus, where we will have our ketchup home.  We had so many kind visitors and words and help the last few days, which we were grateful for, as things were pretty stressful.  There were some tears shed and also feelings of excitement.  Our last day in Scobey, we went and had pizza at the Silver Slipper and then got ice cream at Burger Hut while we talked about good memories made.  We snapped a picture at the entrance, where we took a picture over 2 years ago when we first got to Scobey.  Dave took the kids to see the Incredibles 2 while I shampooed the carpets and mopped.  We slept on the floor of our empty house the last night. I told the kids to tell me how they felt about moving as I took a picture of them our last night.  And then we loaded up the last few things in the morning, took out some trash and did a few last minute cleaning things and were off.  The drive went pretty well, though I accidentally took a wrong turn in Circle and went on a 20 mile detour.  Dave and the girls waited for us in the moving truck up the road for a while and we caught up though.  I will actually miss the pretty prairie views.  We made it to Columbus Saturday evening.  On to our next adventure, and while most of us are excited, a few of us are kind of sad.  Emma and Cal have broken down a few times saying "It's no fair!" or telling us how they don't want to leave their friends.  Many times I've wished the answer we received as a family when it came to moving was to stay in Scobey.  But the Lord guides our paths and we are ready to take that path down this new road!

Then and now.  2 years later.  Visit us again soon?  Yes we will!

Dave started up work on June 18 at Stillwater Billings Clinic.  So far, so good and as he and his buddies in the business always say "new place, same problems."  But mostly good problems, like running out of space and needing to expand and needing more staffing and things.  His staff is very engaged and seasoned and that is nice.  It is a way nice facility and actually is a Billings Clinic facility. We stayed back in Scobey to get things finished packed and cleaned for a few weeks.  Then it came time to close there and our house still wasn't done (so much for June 1, then 15th, then 29th, then July 6), so the kids and I headed to Utah for a few weeks.  Dave stayed with the Landons, a family in our branch, and then at the house the hospital owns for traveling physicians or locums or those who need it.  On July 6th, we were supposed to move in, but it still wasn't ready.  The McCally's, a great family in our branch invited us to stay with them for a couple of days while we got stuff moved in.  They were so sweet to feed us and take us in and entertain us and love us.  We had Harry Potter marathons, played games, did a giant slip and slide and water fight.  We were very grateful!

 After we got our stuff moved in a few different garages, the kids and I headed to Utah for a few weeks.  The kids were excited by this prospect.  So we went to Utah and enjoyed being with family and friends.  Dave stayed back to work and then to work on the house in the evening.  He did most of the trim and other projects by himself.  We got to pick out almost everything except the layout and the kitchen cabinets, which were already ordered.  He was also there to pick out materials and colors and everything.  Of course, he consulted with me, so that was good. It was fun to get updates of the pictures he sent of our house.  So when we came back to Columbus the end of July (so much for a June 15 drop dead done date), the house still wasn't done...needed to finish up metal ultra batten on the outside that took forever to ship and the deck and a few other items.  The inside still needs a few things like mirrors in bathrooms, a few knobs, etc. But we moved in and some days it sounds like a war zone with all of the sounds and vibrations, lol.  The kids really have loved watching the contractors working on the house.  Cov has asked a million questions and thinks their tools are so cool and Lucy likes to talk to them to and has made friends with one of their daughters, Emma, who came to play one day.  The whole first week consisted of trying to unpack and get settled.  But wait, there's more!  So the drywall/paint person did a horrible job and our head builder is not happy at all.  So he's getting a new guy to come fix it and repaint it all, doh!  Someday it will all be done.  But it is beautiful and turning out so nicely!  We are blessed!  Besides unpacking (blah!) the first week, we made a scavenger hunt list of things to do to get acquainted with our new town - pick out a picnic lunch from the store and go to the park, get a library card, visit the Yellowstone river, sign up for water/sewer/garbage, get the deets on the pool, go on a walk around town, etc.  We did that and got back into a schedule a bit and also had a friend invite us to go hang out with them at Itch-Kep-Ke park, and had Charles, a new friend from church between Cal and Emma's age come play one day.  The kids have been troopers and good helpers too.  We made candy bar posters for those who have helped us.  The branch here has been awesome with helping us move and get settled and so welcoming and kind.  They joked that they help people move here, but they don't help people move away, hehe!  It seems like a great community and so beautiful!  We went on a bike ride on the trail by the river, and boy, is it pretty!  Right in our own backyard, lovely!  We are glad to be in Columbus.  We are here to stay.  We FINALLY closed on August 16!  Yay!  It's been a long road but we are glad to be home, sweet home!  Pictures once it all gets put together and finished!