{Life Happens}

Wow - I cannot believe that summer is almost over and it's nearly September. I am so excited for fall and all that it entails... sweaters, leaves changing colors, apple cider, football, crisp days, soup, and of course moving into our new house. Ooo - I can't wait!

*** Warning - this is a SUPER long post. I am mostly writing this for us, as a record of the crazy summer we survived. I'd love to have you read it but my feelings won't be hurt if you want to just skip ahead to browse through the pictures. Just tell me you read the whole thing and I'll never know the difference ;-) ***

This summer was probably the most stressful periods of my entire life thus far, but also one of the most exciting. At the end of May we found out that Casey got the job he had applied for in Boise - we couldn't have been happier! Just a week or two after he found out Case was on the road to Boise with me to follow about 3-4 weeks later with the kitties and all of our belongings. Because there was still a lot of packing and cleaning to do my mom planned to fly down, help me finish things up, then drive up to Boise with the cats and me.

So Casey started his new job and I finished up mine while applying for my old job back at St. Luke's. We hated doing the long-distance thing again - reminded us of the days when I was in school up in Seattle and Case was in Boise. But we managed to survive :-) We got to see each other in Seattle though in the middle of June at my best friend's wedding.

The happy bride and groom.

Now just so you know, I have been looking forward to Nicki's wedding since we first became friends almost ten years ago. She is such an amazing person with so much love to give and she definitely knows how to throw a party so I knew her wedding would be wonderful. Once she met Donny and they became engaged I knew it would be absolutely incredible. I took the whole week of her wedding off and flew to Seattle to participate in all things wedding. It was so much fun to spend that week with Nick. We got a lot accomplished but we also stayed up late laughing hysterically and sharing our hearts with each other. I also got to see a bunch of Nicki's family that I haven't seen since college. They are like a second family to me and have always counted me as one of their own. Because Nicki and I have lived apart since our college days I hadn't really had the opportunity to spend too much time with Donny yet so it was great to spend some time with him and with the two of them together. Casey flew up for the weekend so we got to see each other here and there when I wasn't performing my very important Maid of Honor (aka Best Woman) duties. It was so nice to be together again. Case is truly my better half and I miss him so much when we're not together.

One major Matron of Honor duty: keeping that train clean and beautiful.

The wedding itself was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever had the honor to attend. Nicki was absolutely radiant and the whole affair was so well thought out and executed. She and Donny were so genuinely happy and loved celebrating with so many friends and family. Here's to many many happy years ahead for the Heatons!

First dance as man and wife.

Casey and I had fun together at the reception - I even got him to dance with me! Our time together was short but sweet as he flew back to Boise the next day though for another friend's wedding.

Once I got back to Scottsdale from Nicki's wedding I kicked it into high gear to finish up the packing. Thank goodness for Netflix or I may not have survived that many hours with cardboard boxes and a tape gun and stayed sane! We were so blessed to have professional movers load and drive everything for us. Thank you St. Luke's! We were hoping that would happen but thought there was no way due the current state of the economy. Yay for being a nurse :-) At the risk of sounding like an ingrate it was rather challenging to arrange all the details of packing, loading, and moving all of our belongings from one state to another. I can't tell you how many phone calls were made and texts and emails exchanged in order to coordinate everything. I was still working full time, trying to pack up (while keeping track of what went into storage and what went to the rental), coordinate all of this, and we were trying to find somewhere to live once we actually got to Boise. We had several leads on rentals but they seemed to keep falling through. Eventually, though, it all worked out and we got a sweet deal from one of our camp family friends. (We are living in a rockin' senior community cul-de-sac. It's fantastic and worthy of it's own post - hopefully I'll write it up soon because it's truly been a memorable experience.) Oh, and our annual family trip to McCall was planned for that next week too. It was crazy! Or so I thought...

I finished my last shift at Chandler Regional on Friday and the plan was for my mom to fly down Sunday, spend a few days helping me tie up all the loose ends and then drive up to Boise with me. I would then head up to McCall with the family for a few days, then fly back to Scottsdale to supervise the movers and have a going away party with my work friends. Then fly back to Boise, be reunited with my husband, and live happily ever after. Oh if only life were so simple.

Instead, on Friday night as I was driving home from work I got a heart wrenching phone call from my mom. You know it's not good news when she's crying but won't tell you what's wrong until you pull over. My mom had been up at camp and had slipped down some steps - resulting in a horrific tib fib fracture (both bones of the lower leg). She was at the hospital in Sun Valley and was heading down to Boise that night. She was told she'd have to see her surgeon on Monday to plan surgery. She was crying for a lot of reasons - because it hurt, because she had just started getting back to normal after two surgeries to repair her patella (knee cap) on her other leg over the last two years, and because she felt bad she couldn't come help me move. Leave it to my selfless mother to worry that she couldn't help me when she herself is in the midst of a crisis. So instead of packing on Saturday I hopped on the first flight I could get to Boise. My mom actually ended up getting admitted to the hospital Saturday morning because of such severe pain. She had surgery and spent five long days in the hospital. Todd and I took turns staying overnight with her and dozens (yes dozens!) of friends stopped by to see her during her stay.

Casey was so awesome during this whole ordeal - he was so helpful and caring. If anyone needed anything he was on it. I remember one evening in particular in the hospital when he was helping my mom by putting her socks on. She was in the hospital bed and he squatted down and put her socks on just like you would help a little kiddo. It made me smile and reminded me of what a great dad he'll be someday.

The whole family was supposed to go up to McCall for 10 days a few days after she was discharged from the hospital. Those of you that know my mom know what a tough and determined woman she is. She decided she could recover up there as well as she could recover in her own house and insisted we carry on as planned. I won't go into detail, but it actually ended up going a little better than expected. We enjoyed some fireworks for the Fourth of July and I did something fun for myself and made a festive cake I had read about on a blog I frequent. It was a lot of work but it was fun to have a creative outlet. And it was cake - who doesn't love cake?

My festive cake...

...that looked like a flag when you cut into it!

Casey and I drove down from McCall early so that he could work and I could head back to Scottsdale to finish that darn packing. I flew back as planned and miraculously managed to get a lot together in just a few days. There was so much to do though - we had to pack up in three days what we had previously allotted six or seven days. Casey's new boss was so generous and flexible and let Casey have a few days off to come help me finish everything up and drive up to Boise with me. We slaved tirelessly almost all night before the movers came. I remember at one point we were working in the laundry room and Casey took something out of the cupboard, put it in a box, then took it out of the box and back in the cupboard. I knew at that point it was time for bed. I think we finally went to bed around 6 and then got up at 7 or 7:30. Not fun. It was so nice, though, to have other people load up all of our stuff though. First of all, we were exhausted. Secondly, it was 110+ degrees. Third, we didn't have to pay for it. Fourth, it was super hot. Did I mention that? That night we had some fun though at my going away party with my work friends. Yay! I had an absolute blast hanging out with all my Chandler ladies that night. They are so much fun to laugh with and are some of the best coworkers I have ever had. I miss them!

My Chandler girls + Nate :-)

The next day Casey and I loaded up my bug with our luggage, our file box, our bedding, and of course Alice and Scout. It was a tight, but surprisingly comfortable fit. We said goodbye to our next door neighbors and hit the road. We stopped for the night in Utah and finally made it to Boise the next day. It was the World Cup final that afternoon so we watched it with my mom and Todd before turning in for some much needed sleep.

It was one full bug!

A few days later our moving van arrived with all of our belongings. So far we haven't found any broken or damaged items. About half of our things are still in storage so we won't know about those until we unpack it in November, but I'm hoping for the best.

A week after we moved in Casey turned the big 3-0! I felt bad because his birthday seemed to get a little lost in the crazy shuffle. I threw a family BBQ for him at our new place, though. And we went tubing down the Boise River and BBQ'd with friends that weekend too. I promised him I'd throw him a rockin' 31st to make up for it.

Ridiculously oversized balloons - check!

I gave Casey a new snowboard and season pass to Bogus for his birthday.
Here he is with his mini me representing his gift.

So that's our summer in a very large nutshell. There was a lot going on - and I didn't even mention taking a frisbee to the nose from an adorable 4 year old flower girl, the freezer disaster at my mom's at 10pm the night before I was to fly back to Scottsdale, making a baby quilt for a dear college friend, or leaving my debit card at a Wendy's in Utah during our drive back up to Idaho.

But hey, life happens, and sometimes you can't do a darn thing about it. Sometimes you just have to smile and remind yourself that things will be back to normal soon. Whatever "normal" is :-)

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More pics just for fun:

Nicki's Wedding

Aboard the sunset cruise the evening before the big day.
(Roomies!  Johanna, Nicki, Angie, me, Emily)

Dinner at The Crab Pot before the bachelor/bachelorette party.

Bachelorette party!

Bridesmaids!  Avi, me, Chelley, Breanne, and Cass

My fam: Grandma, Case, me, Dad, Mom, Ben, Kim

Casey's 30th Birthday BBQ

Gram & Mom helping me cook

I actually managed to make our rental look lived in
and ready for a party less than a week after moving in!

Kass, Rick, and Harv

Cute Kate

Aunt Sessie & Uncle Stevie

What summer BBQ is complete without croquet?

Apparently Mr. Babendure was feeling pretty zen about being 30.

And because I feel slightly guilty for taking and posting this picture I placed it last, expecting a few less people to see how glamorous my mom looked during her hospitalization.

Sorry Mom :-(