Reno right? WRONG. Five days--thats right, FIVE days before the moving truck was suppose to come, the Reno project went south FAST. A bunch of people got removed from the job including Zac and the project ultimately got canceled so I am glad we didn't end up in Reno without a job. Instead....we took a chance on North Carolina. What. in. the. world. Here's the deal. After the Reno job ended there was slim pickins for work with Rosendin in Arizona. They had a big project in North Carolina that needed a project manager on it stat (working on building an Apple data center). So we thankfully didn't unpack a lot of our house from the Reno debacle, and took a chance on Charlotte, North Carolina. Zac and I came in March to look for a place to live, we moved the first week of April, and Zac started work the next week. Check out the highlights to this point:
JANUARY
That right! BSU in it's 3rd Fiesta Bowl appearance. We got free tickets and so Stan and his friend Rick came down to sit with us at the game.
As you can see from the score, it was a nail bitter but we WON!!
Steph came again shortly after the Fiesta Bowl. She was with us during Serbian Christmas and yes, she got the quarter. It was so much fun having Steph come and I'm still impressed she does what she does.
My buddy Rachael got one of those Razor off road vehicles so naturally, we piled the kids up to go on a back road adventure. I miss our adventures together.
Oh here is one of Cru's favorites. This is Brother King from the ward who has a couple horses. He has invited us a couple times to come and ride his ponies. Cru and Zoey love it and he is so nice.
This place just got built right in time for us to leave. :( Top Golf is one of the COOLEST ways to hit some golf balls out there. We went on a triple date with Cindy and Mike Johnston and Janae and Nate Hawkins. I would go again in a heart beat.
Since the Reno thing went bust, something had to change. That something was my hairs. I think it was almost 14 inches and I mailed it in so some bald kids could have hair...well, they'd have to combine mine with a ton of other hair.
FEBRUARY
This is the kids first hockey game with the Arizona Coyotes. They really don't understand that most people don't get to sit in luxury boxes during professional sporting events.
We went to the park with Michelle one day and she had her camera and snapped a bunch of pictures. She is good.
See.
Cru also started baseball! He is on the Grasshoppers. His season would be cut short though because of the move. Zac helped out at practice and it has been fun to watch him get in there.
MARCH
When Zac and I went to North Carolina to look for housing, grandma and grandpa were scheduled for a trip to Arizona so they watched our kids for three days. They LOVE grandpa and his teasing.
Grandma always spoils them and takes them to the dollar store for way too many treats.
We also got one last Phoenix golf day in with Dad. It was a really fun course with some great views of The Valley of the Sun.
We also celebrated Cru's 5th birthday before moving. All he wanted to do was go to the park and play games and eat cake and popsicles. So we did just that.
ALSO, that day Cru got to go to a spring training baseball game with dad. Lucky kid.
That night was the Ostrich Festival and you better believe we went. It was the first year these two really enjoyed going on the rides and were so excited for it all.
BFFs
We had to leave preschool a couple months early and it was a hard thing to leave behind. Cru had so much fun with his classmates and learned a lot. Mrs. J was such a wonderful teacher for him and we will miss her so much.
We also got to go on Rachael's newly purchased boat before leaving. Why couldn't they have bought it sooner! It was so much fun being on the water again.
APRIL
These are our buddies the Johnsons. Our kids play so well together and we got one more trip into TopGolf before having to leave. They are such nice people and we MISS them!
This picture makes me a little sad. Cru is saying good bye to one of his best friends Xander. This is Rachel's son and they became such good friends these past couple of years. I hope we get to see them soon.
We had to live in a hotel for 5 days and this is about what life looked like during that time.
I miss being so close to a temple. This temple became very special to me after taking part in the cultural celebration. This was the last time I drove by it.
Our new state flag!! The first state to declare independence from the British during the revolutionary war... Yeah! Lots of history here in these parts.
This is a farm just up the street from us. This is such a picturesque place.
This is our house! This house is twice as big as our last one and I love it so much. It is probably too big but we are enjoying it.
Back yard. We live on 3/4ths of an acre and have a forest in our back yard. And a garden with a sprinkler system. It's gonna be hard to leave.
One of the cooler things--I have a friend Kerri from high school who lives in Huntersville and when we found out we were moving here, I messaged her to ask her about the area and now we live 1.8 miles from each other! She has a son that is Cru's age and they were instant buddies.
Humidity.
Our first visit to "Charlotte City". Such a rad cityscape.
One of my favorite places to be is the lake. We live in a 20 mile radius of three but have no friends with boats. Ughhh!
In May, our little Jake got married in the SLC temple. He bagged a good one with Kaylee.
It was cold and rainy but we had a great time.
See.
We got to stay with the Hunns who live in a GIANT house in Alpine. Their son is very wealthy and so I got to take my picture by a Ferrari and Bentley. Zac got to drive the Bentley and I got to roll around in a Range Rover. It was so much fun.
Family pictures!
We also went to Idaho after for a few days for the reception and more family time. This is Zoey with her cousin Rider taking over grandpa's yard.
Hiking is a little bit different here. It is always shaded and quite flat.
I love this picture. Just relaxin in a hammock by the lake.
Some of the BEST ice cream is at Kilwins. Oh my goodness.
Jaitz the lamb.
This freak came and visited us in June with her family. It was seriously a riot! Hep lives in Virginia (about 4 hours away) and came for a weekend jaunt. Her girl Mylee and my kids have so much fun together.
She wanted to be cool like her brother so she got all her sports things on.
We found a mini golf course not far from our house and our kids LOVE it. Especially Cru.
We were able to find another baseball team to put Cru on and he got to play with his buddy Sam. It was a great experience and he seems to really enjoy it.
He also got his first chance to play golf at a golf camp. He LOVES golf and has a pretty good swing for a five year old.
We also got a treat this month because Baba came for a visit! We had lots of adventures while she was here.
This is the first time my children have seen the ocean together and I'm glad I captured the moment. They were in aw by the massive-ness of it all.
We had so much fun at the beach. The water is SO warm in the Atlantic and we stayed in the super shallows because there had been a record amount of shark attacks on these coastlines this year. In fact, a kid was attacked on this very morning six miles away from where we were.
A guy even caught a shark from the pier and let us touch it. Super crazy feeling!
Baba and kids in Charlotte City.
JULY
Oh man she is a true American beauty. Happy 4th of July!
I made a goal and I accomplished it. I decided I wanted to try and new distance in the tri world and raced in an Olympic distance triathlon. The swim was 1500 meters, the bike was 27 miles, and the run was 6.2 miles. It was super hard and super wonderful. It took me longer than anticipated but I was just glad to finish feeling good!
These are our buddies Hadley and Oliver that we randomly met here in NC. Their family was here working at the same assignment as Zac and me and their mom Heather met me in a kid community event and realized we were both from Arizona and became friends. They were only here for the summer so we took a train adventure to Raleigh together.
This was the science museum. Check out the size difference!
We decided to go to Pinehurst because it is about two hours from us. There is this tournament every year for kids so we went to watch some 7 year olds who could beat me any day of the year. It was a grand time.
For my 32nd birthday we went to this pizza place in Moorsville and it was AMAZING.
I have a kindergartener? It was a crazy feeling to realize I have a child old enough to go to school.
We found a dance class for Zoey! She LOVES it and asked every day if it is time for dance class.
I did another tri in August at our YMCA. It was a sprint distance and very fun. I like the sprint distance tri's. It was a 750 meter swim, 18 mile bike, and 3.1 mile run. My kids got to watch me do this one which was a good time.
We built a fire pit.
Cru and Zoey also played soccer together this summer. I think Zoey will be better next year (still a bit whiney) and Cru has a very good field sense and anticipates where the ball will be. It was fun watching them play together.
SEPTEMBER
And look at this! My little is in preschool! She goes twice a week and absolutely loves it. She goes to a forest school where she learns though playing in nature. It has been so good for her and I LOVE the school.
We went apple picking in the NC mountains and it was amazing. So beautiful and lots of delicious apples!
Zoey turned 4 and wanted a superhero/princess party. She already has tons of friends and is quite the social butterfly. All the boys say they want to marry her. :|
She is a pretty little thing. And four is the magic age for Zoey. She is really a wonderful child who is so much quicker to obey than she use to be. We are grooving nicely together and I can honestly say that I enjoy her. It was a hard time with this little one and I am so happy that she is figuring out life.
Also documented--our first family campout. We have a 3 person tent and shoved 4 of us plus the dog into it. It was a ward campout and it was pretty fun.
OCTOBER
First field trip was to this place called the "Lazy 5 Ranch" You ride around on a carriage and feed all kinds of animals from it. It was hilarious.
We had some more visitors this October! Mom and Dad made it to the CLT for a visit. They had a really good time and I think having a bigger house helped so dad could escape if he needed to.
This guy.
I also took a trip back to Boise because my BF from high school Megan got married. I am so glad I went.
I invited Kristie and Holly to be my guests since I went by myself. This is all friends from EHS that were there. It was seriously so much fun and I'm glad Kristie made the trip from Utah to be there.
Classic IPC picture. This lunch was a riot. We found out everyone except Stephanie and dad have alter ego's (so we made one for them) and heard all kinds of funny youth car stories. I love my family.
Halloween was a good time this year. We went to Sam's neighborhood where they do everything big. Cru is batman and Zoey is batgirl if you couldn't tell.
NOVEMBER
For our 11 year anniversary, some rad friends of ours the Schramms invited us to their in law's beach house. So of course we went. Courtney is a real good photographer too so she snapped a few pics for us.
Courtney told me to go run through the surf to get an action shot. Seconds after this I tripped and fell into the water. It was classic.
Running from the waves with our friends the Sornsens (Heidi Leavitte's kid).
Hammock on the patio? Yes.
Cru played flag football this fall and didn't have enough players on the team so Zoey got recruited. They were a great pair and Cru does well on defense.
We also went cosmic mini golfing with the Gardners and had way too much fun. I really like those kids.
We also took a trip WAY up north to State College PA for Thanksgiving with Mack and Ashley and Odessa. We thought Ashely might give birth while there but Hazel waited another week before arriving. It was fun to be together.
DECEMBER
I forgot how much I love fall. This was at the beginning of December after our trees finally gave up the rest of their leaves. The kids loved jumping in them.
Ugly sweater party.
The rest of the crazies. This is a real fun group of people from our ward.
The kids got to meet Santa at Latta Plantation equestrian center this year. They got a pony ride after and seemed to really enjoy it.
Chester cheeser.
This picture makes me hungry. Keepin the KFC tradition strong in this family.
As you can see we had a very eventful year. Other events included Zac getting laid off from his job in August/Septemberish. Thankfully we had a good emergency fund (thanks Dave Ramsey) and got a nice severance package so Zac was able to reset before jumping back into the job market. Work is lame. All in all looking back on 2015 has been a joy for me. I really like the highlights of this year and I am glad I remember the sweet times.
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