Well, I've been wanting to do this post for awhile but it took some time to find my photos so I could. So, this post is a belated "Farewell to Arizona" which is what that says up there--but it is so tiny you probably can't read it. I have been emotionally attached to Arizona my whole life. I once told my mom that I was homesick for Arizona and she said that wasn't possible since at that point, I had never even lived there. Now that I have spent eleven years of my life there, the emotional attachment is even deeper. So indulge me while I look back for a moment on how our family has changed over the past eleven years. (Or feel free to skip this, if you have no interest. I promise it won't be too long or sentimental!)This is a photo that was taken enroute from Boise, ID to Peoria, AZ in January of 1997. This was all our worldly possesions at that time, including our one child--Jumble. Well, I guess I should have been in the photo, too, so you could see the bulging tummy that was all that was visible of our six-months along in gestation second child. Everything we owned fit in that one small U-Haul truck and you can see the front of our one and only vehicle at that time, our beloved blue Honda Accord, that was being towed behind the van.

Here is a closer shot to show how cute Jumble was--not quite three years old at the time.

Now here is a photo of mostly all of our worldly possessions at the end of May 2008:

We've grown a little, haven't we? Now we not only have Jumble, but Minnie is visible--free and independent of my tummy--and we have added Jet and Atom as well. We have two vans (one is the largest you can rent and not possible to entirely fit in the photo) full of our "stuff" and our mini-van and pickup aren't in the photo at all, nor is our house. We owned no kind of dwelling at all at the time we moved to Arizona--we were renting an apartment.
Again, here is a closer photo so you can see how cute our kids are!

So now when I think of Arizona, I have eleven years of memories of three children being born and four children growing up. Almost all of our history as a family raising children from toddler to teen and infant to pre-teen are in Arizona. Almost all of our memories of new-born babies and first teeth and first steps are in Arizona. All of our memories of Joy School and first days of school and school concerts and Primary programs are in Arizona. I will miss a lot of things about Arizona--things like shorts and sandals nearly year-round, no coats or mittens to mess with, taking my kids to the park on Christmas Eve, the cacti and desert flowers, the wonderful life-long friendships we made there, visiting our family there and enjoying holidays and special times with them, swimming lessons and swim team, sitting out in the driveway on Halloween to pass out candy (wearing shorts), serving in the church there, the awesome schools, etc. I could also list a lot of things I won't miss--the top of the list being everything to do with the scorching, searing, summer heat that doesn't really let up much before October. (One thing I hated the most--unloading groceries and running errands which I don't enjoy anyway--but 115 degrees definitely makes them even more oh so miserable.) Arizona was very good to us. We were very blessed there and prospered. We were able to buy our first home there, and then buy a bigger home as our family grew. More importantly, we were blessed with three more children and were able to watch all four of our children grow and progress.

I feel good about where we are now, too. I think Utah will be good to us as well. We are enjoying a lot of new things and there is a lot here to love. I already see things happening here that are going to be good for our family--things I could not have anticipated even a few months ago. So we have landed where we belong and I am grateful, even though a big piece of us will always remain in Arizona.

But you know what I will miss the most? I'm not sure I can ever give up my Arizona Driver License. Driver Licenses in Arizona don't expire until the holder turns 65! I'm not sure if you ever have to go get a photo update. But if not, I would be able to flash this photo of myself when about 29 years of age until I hit retirement:

Now, it's not the greatest photo in the world--but not bad for a driver's license. And as the years have gone by, it is looking better and better to me! Only problem is, I might have trouble getting on a plane some day when I look too old to be the person on my photo ID. So eventually I guess I'll have to give it up and move on. :)