Going Away

Tonight, Katy and Landon hosted a Going Away Party for Ben, Noah and I at their home {thanks again guys!}. It was so great to spend a little more time with our other military friends, before we leave tomorrow morning. It's a little surreal to think that we won't see most of them for at least several months, if not longer. Though, I did make several of them promise to stop by in Texas during their upcoming moves.

My little Grant-y. I'm going to miss that boy!

Matt presenting Ben with an official going away gift: Coke reward points {Ben's favorite}.

Greg and Noah - what a great picture!

{Usually I get a funny face from one of them.}

Katy, Grant, and Landon - we'll miss you guys!

Matt, Kristin, and Noah - doesn't Noah look like he is scared of Matt? {hehe}

The Boys. Both of the boys decided that they needed to hold a part of Noah - they are so crazy.

Angie, Noah, and Me.

I'm already ready for October {or November}.

I already miss it.

As much as we complained about our place {really, the management}, I already miss it. Maybe it's because most of mine and Ben's married life has been spent in that apartment. Maybe it's because when we brought Noah home, that's the home that we brought him to. Whatever the reason is, I cried when we handed over the keys and locked the door for the final time.

Saddleback Church

There are so many different things about living here in LA that I will miss. One of those things is our church - Saddleback. The past 7 months or so, we've mostly been attending church by watching it online - gas prices and Noah being the main reasons. But since we knew this would be the last chance that we would have to attend Saddleback in person for quite a while (or maybe ever), we decided that we would go to main campus today for service. The drive was great {Noah slept the whole way} and the weather was really nice {which was good since we sat outside}. I'm already praying that we'll find a church that we love just as much in Abilene.

The main stairway/walkway entrance....
which leads to the main worship center.
Noah and I enjoying the great Southern California weather.

Noah and Ben posing in front of the main worship center - I love the glass windows: they're etched with Bible verses!

The new Student Center: The Refinery. The inside is AMAZING! I {almost} wish that Noah and our future children could grow up using this building. The best part: the church took on NO debt to build it AND when we first started attending Saddleback, this was the parking lot where we always parked.

***

After church service, we spent some time with Josh, Michelle and Ella, a family that we just adore from our Small Group. It was great to be able to just sit back, relax, and enjoy a {great} hamburger while the kiddos played. Too bad I forgot to take a couple of pictures before Ella went down for her nap. I have a feeling though, we'll be seeing them again soon in the near future. ;)

Getting Prepared.

This afternoon, we ate lunch at Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles with Greg, Tamieka, and Christian - it was so tasty and great to just spend time with them.

Me and the Little Man. I just love his cheesy grin!

Noah and Greg - he couldn't wait to take him out of the highchair!
Tamieka and Noah - she was practicing with Noah for the new little baby they'll be adopting on Tuesday! :)

***

We spent a majority of the rest of the day today getting everything together for the drive. And the evening was spent with Angie and Greg: eating dinner, playing Euchre, and laughing at the boy's silly antics (especially once they had a few drinks).

Some of our boxes that are sitting in their kitchen... we didn't want the mover's to take them so we are storing them at their house until we get the U-haul.

Angie and Noah playing peek-a-boo.

He loves Angie!

***

And a VERY Happy Birthday to BB!! We love you sister!!

An Empty House

The moving truck came today and loaded up all the boxes. I'm still in disbelief that we are moving... even with the completely empty house.

All packed up.

The pictures say it all:

OMG.

Oh my goodness. My house is, well, a wreck.

We picked up all my classroom things {plus some Christmas decor and other things} from the storage unit and they are now all sitting in the living room. Ben and I keep imagining the packers faces tomorrow when they walk in and see it. Some moments it's shock and laughter, but mostly we think it will be annoyance. We even have so little extra room downstairs that we took a good portion of what we are taking with us over to Greg and Angie's house for safe keeping. Maybe we'll just move in with them instead.

And, even though we did a lot of "moving" business today, Noah somehow got some time on the floor {before it was completely covered with boxes} and managed to stay sitting up long enough for me to snap a picture! :)

Of course, he promptly tumbled over {with a little bit of cushion from me... he might be a boy, but he's still a baby}, but he's quickly becoming an independent sitter!

Our Small Group.

Tonight was the last get-together for our small group. We're {obviously} moving and so is the couple, Jim and Crystal, who host the group. We've really enjoyed being a part of this small group and have loved growing with and getting to know the other families in it. Amazingly, I made it out of Jim and Crystal's house without crying in front of them {it was tough}. We're truly blessed to know each of them and to call them not only our friends, but also family: our Brothers and Sisters in Christ.

Heidi and Noah - Noah loves to play with Heidi. :)

Crystal and Olivia

Marlus and Emmanuel

Penelope and Micaleh {my new diabetic friend} :)

Jim {behind the camera}

And, unfortunately, Doug, Michelle, and Gabriella were unable to make it {and Josh left before we really started taking pictures}, but we're hoping to see them one last time before we head out next week.

I promise.

I promise we're not a couple of lushes {is that a word?}. I have those things that when I see a good deal, whether I know what I'll use it for or not, I have to get it: scrapbooking supplies and fabric. And Ben has his:

And of course, Air Force tradition hasn't helped - we've received several new bottles as going away gifts.

This is ridiculous {and so is Ben's expression - he was being goofy and no, he hadn't had anything to drink}. And we're obviously going to need to get a locking cabinet once we get to Abilene.

Growing Up.

Our little baby is growing up. Look what he did for the first time today at the Commissary:

I've been wanting to try him out in the shopping cart cover for a while now, but I've been a little hesitant to try it when I'm by myself, just in case he either didn't feel up to it or wouldn't be able to sit up. So today, when we went to the Commissary, I told Ben I wanted to try Noah out in it, especially since he was with me and we didn't have much shopping to do {we are moving out of our apartment in like four days}. Noah did spectacular! He did slide over to the side a couple of times when he would grab the tabs {I forgot to attach a few toys} or if I took the turn too sharp, but other than that, he was quite the happy, sitting-up-like-a-big-boy baby the whole time! We've been practicing sitting up at home, but he still hasn't sit up without support for any length of time {rather, not any length of time that I could snap a picture of}. So this:

is quite a milestone. Oh, and that is the shopping cart cover that I made long ago while I was still pregnant.... hopefully soon we'll be able to try out the restaurant highchair cover too!

The Monkey Baby

Because Ben loves monkeys so much, I find myself drawn to them whenever I am in a children's clothing store. So when I saw this onesie and matching plaid shorts at the Children's Place, I quickly snatched them up. He's just now able to fit into them and I'm so glad I bought them - they look so cute on him!

Mommy and the Monkey Baby.

***

Tonight after some packing and then dinner with Kristin and Matt, we came back to relax and enjoy some Wii. We thought that Noah would be asleep, but evidently he wanted to play too. He enjoyed his new favorite activity: chewing on the elephant on his exersaucer!

Looks like he is really starting to cut some teeth now!

Bunco Babes.

In all honesty, when we moved here, I was dreading it (I think everyone and their cousin knew that). Because of that, I didn't expect that when it came time to move away from here, that I would be so sad to leave. We've made so many good friends here, so even though we're going to be much closer to family, it's still hard to say good-bye to them. Tonight was my last Bunco with my school group and I think I held up pretty well. But I sure am going to miss those Bunco Babes! (I wish I had taken a picture of our sign that says, "Bunco Babes Meet Here!")

Charyl told Noah that if he wanted to stay, he could.

And look! I won! Or rather, I lost. I had the most losses - 10 out of 12 rounds. Yippee for a Barnes and Noble gift card and having it match Noah (though all he wants to do with it is eat it)!

Jane and I - I'll miss you Jane!

Carmela and Noah - Noah really likes her!

Carey - words are not enough Friend!