May

The beginning of May, we went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving point. It was our first time and we really loved it. The flowers were absolutely stunning. Bekah had a sweet set-up in the back of Eliza's stroller, where she got all the shade. 

Xander had a puny umbrella stroller that offered no shade. This was not acceptable to him. So I improvised. He actually preferred this makeshift shade. 

There was an area with fish and food you could purchase. Grandma and Grandpa spoiled Bekah by buying her multiple handfuls to throw down to the fish.

These purple and orange flowers touched my heart. My favorite color is orange, Chelsey's is purple. We had so much fun, so many good times, so many close times over the past four years living as neighbors, friends, and sisters in Logan. I felt very nostalgic since it was only a matter of days before we were moving away from each other, not likely to ever be neighbors again. I took a picture of the flowers to remind me of my friendship with Chelsey and all our good times together.

We ate dinner at Dynelle's house all together. I absolutely love getting together at her house. She always works really hard to make everyone feel loved and special, it's a quality all the Brinkerhoff women have and one I admire. Bekah was feeling especially grand as she posed for my photo.

The next day, family started coming up for our graduation celebrations. We partied hard! First thing we did was take people on a tour of our lovely campus for the very last time.

Unfortunately, I have no photos on my computer of our graduation, I only have copies given to me by our mothers, so I can't share them with you. But they're great! I promise....

Anyway, on the morning of May 3rd, we took lots of pictures on campus of us in our graduation robes. We took lots of pictures of us with our kids to remind people of that extra awesomeness with regards to us making it through school. It was a really exciting day, one that I wasn't really expecting to happen for me. I got a bit emotional a couple of times. Not because I was sad about being done with school, but because I was overwhelmed by the love I felt from so many people. There was also the sadness factor of us moving from our favorite city ever in just a couple of days and moving away from our next door buddies, the Watkins. (Just so Jess and Brett don't feel left out, we spent a lot of time, especially near the end, reminiscing about all of our good times in Logan and many of those times included you two. The "Logan family" was so special to us!)

My parents stayed at my house, which means that Bekah got lots and lots and lots of stories read to her. She loves requesting stories, and Nana loves reading the same stories to Bekah that she read to me when I was little.

In high school, Erika and I were the queens of selfies, so I had to make sure to get one in.

On Sunday, my family helped us hurry and pack a lot of boxes before they all had to head back to Vernal. After that, it was just us. We really got down to business and got all packed up in the next couple of days.

Tuesday the 6th, Chelsey and Cody were up early to see us off. It was excruciatingly hard to say goodbye to them. Garrett took Bekah in our enormous moving truck and I had Xander in the car with me. I had a very heavy, dull, ache in my whole body as I drove away from Logan and the Watkins. It sucked. 

That night we stayed the night at a hotel in Vegas before finishing our trip to Arizona. Walking into our new house was so exciting! It was HUGE! I loved it! It was beautiful, it had a garage, it had a pantry, it had a master bathroom with a walk-in closet. I was so excited! The kids and I really had fun this summer, despite the intense heat.

We had a stunning view of the Superstition mountain range and all the cactus we could want. Blue skies everyday, rabbits, quail, scorpions, tons of flowering bushes. It really was beautiful, and I realized that I don't mind the heat too much. It was only unbearable for a little while, other than that was just stayed inside and enjoyed the cooler, or played in the pool, where a cool breeze would come through and make the heat bearable again. I know some people don't believe me, but I loved it there. It was gorgeous. 

Garrett had some time before he had to start work, so we took the kids to a museum one day and the  Phoenix zoo another day. They really enjoyed themselves, but Xander got overheated a bit easily. Bekah was lucky to be old enough to just sweat all the time! She would say, "Whoo! I'm getting sweat!"

We also took some time to go see the Gilbert Temple. I'll admit, our first thought when we got on the grounds was, "GRASS!!!" There is a shortage of grass in that area of the world. Something about it costing to much to water it all day, every day, just to keep it alive. So we were excited and immediately took our shoes off and walked around feeling the bliss of the cool, green, blades on our toes.

Bekah said, "Mom, take a picture, we're friends!"

Every morning in May we took the stroller out for a jog that ended at the nearby mini-park. On our way back home, we sometimes passed this bush. Bekah had to get out and touch the beautiful petals every time. She loved this bush!