Farewell to Boise; a top 10 list

It's finally time to bid Boise farewell, and I can't stop the tears from falling. Living in Boise since I was 3, with a few years exception, means there is a lot to leave behind. So here is my 10 ten things that will be missed. And believe me, there are way way more than 10!

10. I heard once Boise is the largest city per capita for Restuarants. You all know my obsession with food. Farmington, NH doesn't even have a McDonalds. Farewell Cheesecake factory, nacho's from Johnny Carino's, and burgers and fries from GoodTimes. Maybe without you all I might finally loose my extra weight.

9. Good bye to Valley View Elementary. The teachers were fantastic, the PTO rocked, and the parent involvement is amazing. And carpooling with Laura Wilson worked out so well, how will I replace you, Laura?

8. So long summer programs in Boise and Meridian. For the past 2 summers we have enjoyed eating FREE lunch in the park everyday. The Idaho Food bank provides free lunch for children 1-18 years of age, all summer long. You can't believe how much money I saved in the summers. Last year we discovered Movies in the park, in Meridian. With Shannon and her kids, we spent most Fri. or Saturday nights watching a movie projected onto a giant blow-up screen. The kids stayed up past midnight, eating popcorn, and laughing at the family friendly movie picked that week. Good Times!

7. I will miss having so much family close by for all the holidays throught the year. Frankie's house at Christmas time is amazing! The annual Christmas pageant at my Mom's will definetly be missed. The easter egg hunt, the BBQ's, and the birthday Bashes that put my house at Capacity.

6. "Good bye, Maple Grove Ward." I have loved being a part of such a wonderful ward that cares for each other the way ours has. When we first moved in I was pregnant with the twins and when they were born I was showered (not sprinkled, but showered) with gifts and acts of charity, from the ward. I always felt welcome in any circle of people and I leave behind many friends, who's lessons will stay with me always. I love you all.

5. I am going to miss having all my favorite stores within a 5 mile radius of me. Everthing is so close together and I can hit a lot of stores in a short amount of time. Grapples on Thursdays, Newberry street, Children's place, Target, and the entire Mall.

4. I will miss being around my Mom and her amazing ability to make my house sparkle. Whenever my parents come over for a visit my mom starts doing the dishes or folding clothes. At first it really bugged me, "Mom, just sit and visit, I will fold those tomorrow." "Put down the Windex Mom," But now it is the opposite of bugging me. I can call her whenever and she will stop by and pick up the slack. Everyone knows I am such a "mamma's girl."

3. Of course Sunday night dinners at my families house. I love having lots people around and Sunday night at my Mom's always helps me get through the week.

2. The Peterson family! They are wonderful. I love chatting with Frankie about Movies and books. Tom is always chasing my kids around, and nothing will ever top Halloween at Uncle Jeff's! Plus the Utah Peterson are just a hop-skip-and jump away.

1. And Lastly, the hardest part about this move, is leaving my little home. I can't believe when we walk out of the door on Monday, it will be for the last time. We will get to see our family and friends again, but we must say goodbye to our home. We have so many memories in this home and I know that it will be hard to leave it behind, but we have to move on. Right?

If you read this whole post thanks, I think it has been my longest one yet. I love you all and thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers that you have sent our way during these past few months. It will be a week or two before I get to post again, but then WATCH OUT! I promised my family daily post about our New England adventures. Just till they get used to the idea of us gone.

Farewell Boise...the city of trees.

Peterson house this week

So the count down is on (8 days) and I am too busy to think about the emotional side of the move. All the boys head to the cabin tomorrow and that will leave the girls to do the packing. Elliot is not much help in this area, she just empties boxes as we fill them. I already have been packing here and there, but now it's time to do it all. We started in the boys room yesterday and packed up everything! They have no toys, except the 10 I let them pick out for the trip. So now I am realizing I have too much stuff, and I wish I could run everything I own to D.I. and just buy new when we get there.

A new look!

Since the 4th is right around the corner, I thought I would jump the gun, and enjoy a new background for a while. I love the 4th of July and this year we are going to attempt to spend it in Boston, watching the fireworks over the harbor. I have never seen it on TV, but Mike assures me that it is going to be a big deal.

Anyway, I love the 4th, the BBQ's, and staying up late lighting fireworks. Plus my favorite color, RED, is everywhere you see. Waving proudly with Blue and White. I love our Country!

The Air up there.

One of the neat things about Miles being in the GATE program is, they get to do a lot of extra things most kids don't get to in a regular class room. One of the things he did at the end of this school year is make a hot air balloon. They used tissue paper, which I was sceptical about, but turned out to be the perfect material. So the day they had the "launch" we arrived to school a few minutes early and the balloons started flying. Some were "duds" and didn't get very far, but one kids balloon made it out of the school yard. Hope the neighbors don't mind. I am so glad Miles got this opportunity and I know we will all remember the Hot Air balloons!

Caleigh Lou's 1st sleep over.

I loved sleepovers when I was a kid, but when the lights went out, I was always the last one to fall asleep. I could lay awake for hours listening to the sleeping sounds around me wide-eyed hoping morning would come soon. So for this reason and a few others I put off sleepovers. Since Caleigh might not, (it's too sad to say will not) see her friends after we move I thought she deserved a sleepover. So we shipped the boys to Grandma Marie's and we had our own girl pajama-jam.
This is the girls the next morning.
Finally they all fell asleep.
They had so much fun running thru the sprinklers

We had a jump rope contest and I think Caleigh was the last one to win. She was pretty good about it.

When we dropped the girls off the next morning Caleigh cried. She is going to miss all of her wonderful friends that she won't get to see for a while. One of the girls said when we were settling down for the night, "this is the best day ever." I know Caleigh would agree.

A new home

I just wanted to share a photo of the house we will be renting in New Hampshire. We were so lucky, with a little help from some friends, to find a real house to move to. I am so glad we won't be moving to a scary apartment were we don't know anybody. We have already made some contacts with some people in NH, "Hi, Emily and Chelsea!"

The kids have been asking that our next house have stairs, I was so glad to be able to find something that does! I don't know why they wanted stairs so badly, maybe it makes it feel like a BIG house. Right now though we are trying to do everything we can think of to make this move easier for them. Anyway we leave in 3 weeks and two days, I am getting nervous and excited. Anyone have good suggestions for the 5 day car ride? Especially for Elliot.