Saratoga Springs, it Was Wonderful.

*Note to the reader:


This is an extremely personal, sappy post. Lots of pictures of friends and personal notes about those friends. These pictures were taken at a little gathering of close friends. This post may bore you, but I do this blog for my own benefit, for my family, for my posterity!


I have many wonderful friends in Saratoga Springs. It would have been a huge and exhausting farewell party for all to come. 


This is a sampling of the wonderful people I've lived with for the past 6 years. I am grateful to ALL of you from Saratoga. Just because you're not pictured below, doesn't mean I didn't appreciate you and your friendship and learn from you. 




We have the most wonderful friends.

Really. It's true.


The week before we left, our dearest friends gave us a good-bye party of sorts. This was to be the same day as my last day working at the temple. It was a hard day, to say the least. That morning as I was getting ready for the day, and anticipating all that was going to be happening, it was almost more emotion than I could take. I had to wash off my makeup and then reapply my mascara because of all the tears. Saying goodbye to these people has been one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. These are some of the best people the world has to offer and I've been surrounded by them for 6 years.

How do you say goodbye to that?

This is Amy. One of my dearest friends. Her son, Asher,  is Connor's best friend. I have learned some great lessons from this woman. She has so many qualities I would like to develop. Soooo many. We also share a common love: browned butter. And, we talk too much when we're together. Sometimes we get into trouble for it.

I want to be like this woman someday, too. Gayleen is an awesome mom to her 4 boys! She was awesome in Primary, and now she is the ward Relief Society President.  She is always wearing great jewelry!

This is Brian Bergmann. He is one of the greatest guys I know.....and he's married to one of the greatest ladies I know: Kelly

Amy telling us all a story. Notice Maryam in the background stirring at the stove! She's always working while the rest of us are goofing off-- or talking!

Kathleen-- one of the sweetest ladies I know and a mother of TWINS!

This is Natasha. This is the party-planner extraordinaire! We have been to many fun parties planned by this lady! She also would give you the shirt off her back. Really, she would. And she has an awesome toilet in her basement that is ready for use.

Shar the photographer!! This lady is the photog queen! She is amazing and has a quality we call "Shar-magic". The pictures that we had taken this year were taken by this fabulous lady! She is mom to Olivia and Owen who are great friends to McKay and Makenna. We have had many a fun night out with Shar and her hubby laughing the night away.

This is Cindy. I've learned a lot from this lady! She helped me feel better about moving to San Antonio. Her husband is retired military. Every time I talked to her about moving I felt so much better!

Joy is one of the sweetest ladies I know and when she does something, she does it all the way! What a wonderful quality. Brook is also a mother of TWINS and one of my biking friends. She is sweet, giving and kind. She is mom to Elery who is one of Makenna's great friends.

I served in YW with all these ladies. They are some of the greatest and loving women I know. The all are full of faith, compassion and testimony of the gospel. I love them all.

This is Jeremy and Alisha. Some of our greatest friends. Alisha is also a mother of TWINS and I absolutely adore her children. They call me "Camirush." It's all one word. Alisha and I have bonded over twin talk and we both have "gifted" older children. I have learned so much from her and I adore HER! 

These guys are great. I have ran with these guys, biked with these guys, laughed and ate with these guys and they've all helped me out in one way or the other. They are great husbands to their wives who are my greatest friends.

This is the group gathering for a special gift for Brett and I

This is a book that was made for us of pictures submitted by everyone of our time in Saratoga. It is a beautiful book that is on my dresser that I see every night before I go to bed.

A special present for Brett as he was the "doc" in the neighborhood for all these people, and more! And can you tell I love that book!

That wonderful BOOK!

One of my dearest friends, Kelly. We moved to Saratoga around the same time and hit it off from the beginning. Her children are wonderful friends to all my children and some of the best-behaved kids I know. They are such good examples to my children. I love Kelly. She is kind, sweet, giving and fun. We've had many a good camping trip with these guys!

This is Nicole. I was scared of her when we first moved to Saratoga and I went to book club for the first time. She hated the book choice and I was sure she was going to hate mine! I was so happy when she liked the book I chose. Ha! Now she is a great friend. We ran together for a while and have had great talks. Our kids loved going to her house during the summer and reading to her little kids. What a great arrangement!

This is Lesa. She is a gem. This is a biking buddy. This is a 100 mile bike race buddy. This is a Ragnar buddy. This is a complain-about-Ragnar buddy. This is a Powell buddy. This is a boating buddy. This is a talk-about-infertility buddy. This is a talk about parenting buddy. This is a wonderful woman! She is a great mother and wife and a great example to me of faith. I look up to her in many ways.

This is Kara. A dear friend. We didn't exactly hit it off when we first met, but we bonded over a girls trip to Park City (planned by Natasha). She is one of the most giving, loving people I know. She is a very sweet person who doesn't really know how great she is! I am so glad to know her!

This is Fred and Marilyn. Some of the most wonderful people ever and our next door neighbors! How blessed we feel to have these guys as our very next door neighbors. I served with Marilyn in the RS presidency and came to love her so much. She is so loving and kind to everyone and would do anything for anybody. I served with Fred on the HOA board and I was amazed at his knowledge and ideas. He was such a great leader. These guys were also some of my kids best friends. When we'd have cake and ice cream for their birthday's, they would want these guys to come over. It was the best. They were also the twins primary teachers and just so wonderful to them! Knowing them has been such a blessing to our family.

These guys are great people. I already talked about Shar and Rich and how fabulous they are, so now to Fred and Maryam. Fred and Maryam are some of our greatest friends ever. We have memory after memory after memory with these two and their four cute girls. Wether it's Dr. Laura, naked mole rats, the Tabernacle Choir concert, a High Note dinner, splitting garlic from Costco, me carrying (cooking) wine down the street,  Maryam carrying Ava down the street while she was choking, Maryam as a witch for Halloween, the girls movie night, cotton candy, science fair with the older kids, taking off Tessa's toenail, the 4th of July BBQ and neighbors getting injured at said BBQ, teddy bear man, meeting Nie-Nie at a bakery....the list could go on and on. Our memories with the Chaney's are filled with good food and laughter....and maybe the occasional injury! Fred and Maryam are some of the most giving people I have ever met. I cannot count the times they helped my family and I, especially through these last few years of school. So generous!  It would be too hard to number the times. We have spent many a night laughing the hours away with these two. Maryam is the best cook I know. She has taught me so many wonderful things about cooking and she introduced me to browned butter. :o) I love this woman. She is funny, kind, compassionate, humble, giving, faithful, smart and I could go on and on. I am so grateful that we have a wonderful friendship. We cant wait till they come and see us here.

The "Other" Kami. :o) This girl is fun. She is spunky. She is faithful. She is the bishop's wife and added 2 sweet baby boys to her already 3 boys while her husband was the bishop! She is amazing! Our kids love playing together. I am so grateful for her example.

This is Shellee. She is amazing. She is another biking buddy-- a 100 mile biking buddy. She is also a Ragnar buddy, but she never complained! She is fast, Fast, FAST!!!!! She is like a robot--  never gets tired! She is one of the sweetest, most caring people I know and always is crafting something cute! She is creative and has a great sense of style. She is deaf, but doesn't let that define her or stop her. She recently taught a free, neighborhood sign-language class which McKay and I took together and loved. I have learned so much from this woman and I love her. 

I guess the hardest thing about leaving Saratoga was leaving the wonderful people. I was surrounded by fabulous, wonderful human beings. They say that the best way to become a better person is to surround yourself with people who you want to be like. I was blessed to live in a place where there are many, many people to look up to and emulate. I learned from them every day. I am so thankful I was able to call Saratoga Springs home.

Love to you all!

Our First Week Here

Life in Texas has been really good to us. We are all adjusting well to this place we now call home. Our ward has been super friendly and wonderful. The first Sunday we were there, the Elder's Quorum president invited our family over for a Super Bowl Party. We went and had a great time and met some great people. The second week, some really nice people invited us and another couple over for dinner. I was so shocked, and so happy to have such friendly, nice people.

Our ward is a great mix of everything: we have many converts, many transplants from Utah, many older people and many younger people. There are lots of military people and lots of medical-military people. The thing that surprised me is that all the military people are just like me. I guess I need to start classifying us as a military family-- we just don't seem to fit the stereotype I had in my mind. And neither to they. They are all just normal people and families like us. I am pretty humbled by all these wonderful people and their families who serve medically in the military. This is our first super humid day. Come to find out, most days are "super" humid. It's just the norm, here. This is what humidity does to Makenna's already curly hair. I just gets cuter.

Look at those ringlets!

Here we are at Chuy's-- a yummy mexican place here in San Antonio. (Shar, please don't mind the horrible photo skills here. I didn't notice the big, red, shiny cup was right in the front of that picture! Hideous!)

Don't ask me what McKay is doing here......Not sure.

This is a picture of our church. It is the Stake Center.

Here we are at the River Walk. No, that is not bird poop in my hair, I am wearing a headband!

This is the Spanish Governor's Palace, built in the 1700's. We went inside and were sung to by these guys:

A Mariachi church choir! It was awesome!

This little guys was hanging out in our attic!

He wanted to show us that he was a friend, not a foe.

The kids loved playing with him before we set him free.

Things have been wonderful here. We sure do miss Saratoga Springs, our family and our friends, but we know this is where we are supposed to be and are having experiences that are making us better.

Getting There and Our New Home

Hi!!!

We finally made it.

We now live in Texas.

We are residents of the great state of Texas.

It wasn't easy getting here. Especially with a cat.

Ever try traveling with a cat?

I do not recommend it.

Joel, who is Brett's dad and we call him "Frampas", and Brett's brothers Greg and Jeff made the 24 hour drive from Saratoga Springs to San Antonio, TX. I think they have earned their way into heaven by this single act. Bless their souls!

This is Tiggs the day before we left. She knew something was up. She was very skittish and hiding everywhere. My mom was helping me pack and walked by the bookshelves with a face staring at her from behind the books. It freaked her out.

The morning we left Tiggs was going crazy and trying to get out. We had a departure time of 6am sharp. As we were getting ready that morning, we knew if we let her out she would bolt and be gone for a while just to "get away from it all." So, we kept her inside. She was going nuts as we tried to pack the van up with the driving stuff we needed for the long trip. Brett decided to let her out on her "leash" that we would hook around a tree trunk. You can guess what happened: we came out to get her and she was gone. Her collar was still attached to the leash, there was just no cat.

The kids and I were devastated. Brett had to leave to go get our moving truck weighed at the dump. When you opt to move yourself, the military allows up to a certain weight and then they reimburse you dependent on you meeting the requirements on that certain weight. It was a horrible time for him to leave. I was supposed to leave right after him and go pick up his brother Greg and meet them at the gas station by the dump.

Tiggs was no where in sight.

All we could do was pray. Cats don't come when you call them.

We prayed and we prayed. I had the feeling to go drive around the neighborhood and look for her. At 6  am in the morning.....in the dark......We pulled out of the driveway and I had the impression to shine my lights in an empty lot across from my parents house.

There she was. Tiggs was crouching down in the dirt right there. I got out and went and got her. We were so happy to have her with us!

The next miracle was that she walked right into her kennel. No fuss at all. We felt the tender mercies of the Lord over us through out the whole trip.

Here we are, well on our way, with Tiggs in tow.

I had to take a picture of Brett's dad's feet. He hardly ever wears shoes anywhere. He only wears shoes if he absolutely has to. This is how he looked most of the trip....even when we went to eat at restaurants or stopped at gas stations.

After driving for 15+ hours, we stopped that night in Roswell, NM. Connor was bound and determined to find a UFO, but no such sightings.

McKay got to sleep in his very own bed in the hotel room. The only stipulation was that he had to sleep in the same room as Frampas-- who snores super loud! 

Kenna also got her own bed!

There are alien and UFO things all over the place in Roswell. This was right outside our hotel entrance.

This is what most of TX looks like as you enter in from the north west side.

We drove for about 11 more hours the next day. We entered Texas and everyone got excited. But, we drove and we drove and we drove FOREVER!!

Finally, we pulled up to this:

Our new home

The boys built these garage shelves the day after we got here. I LOVE them!

This is our kitchen. I love all the counter and cabinet space. I'm trying to organize and decorate. It's fun to have lots of space to fill up!

Eating area and a new painting we got for the wall. I love it. It reminds Brett and I of the Tree of Life

Living area-- new couch pillows that I love. Also, this area is so huge! Any suggestions on what to do here? We are like 10 feet away from each other and company as we sit on the couches and visit.  The void seems very wide.

New painting I picked up for a splash of color

Connor/guest room. Connor is more than THRILLED to have his own room. But he knows when guests come to visit, he is kicked out! 

McKay's room. The bunk beds are for when cousins come to visit!

Kenna's room

Entry way

Right off the entry way-- our office area

Piano room

Another view of the office

"Catch-all" room for now

Master closet! LOVE IT! Any of you who know how big the master closet was in the Saratoga house will know how happy I am to have this much space!

Another view of the closet

Master bedroom

Colors I'm working with for our bedroom-- my good friend from Saratoga, Shellee, inspired me with her color choice.

View of dining area from living area

Kids out for a ride in shorts the 2nd day we were here

Jeff, Brett and Greg after a few LONG days!

Texas life is wonderful. These last 2 weeks have treated us very well! We have a wonderful ward and we love our home. The kids are adjusting well to their new schools and are being treated like celebrities and already have many friends! We are grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord that always about in our lives. We are grateful for this new opportunity.