Tribute

Warning: This post has LOTS of pictures and LOTS of sentimental hogwash ....so if that is not your thing.... you should stop reading...unless of course you want to know if I wrote anything nice about YOU!!

With only a few weeks left here in Maryland we are slowly saying goodbye to many dear friends that have been so wonderful this past year. One year is so short, and yet I know that there are people that I have met this year that I will never ever forget. Here's my tribute to Maryland friends. Each one deserves a separate post, but I don't want to embarass ya'll too much.

This is Chris who I've written about a few times before. Besides being a spiritual giant, an amazing historian and a fascinating storyteller...he has also been a great friend. He lives with more integrity than anyone I have ever met. We will truly miss him and his incredible example.

Aaron and Chris at a Baltimore Orioles game.

Don't you just love this picture??
I have tried to imagine what this year would have been like without the Harrisons and I just can't. I'm pretty sure, though, that we would have been bored to death. We were with these guys at least 3 or 4 times a week. They are the kind of friends that I could visit with while still in my PJ's, call anytime and ask pretty much any favor of. They left last week for Alaska and then their hometown of Hawaii. Since they left I've picked up the phone to call them a dozen times before remembering that they can't come play anymore. The kids had so much fun together and we are definitely hoping that they'll end up being roommates at BYU or something (BYU Hawaii of course). Thank you so much for everything Sanoe, Kaelene, Kiara and Maka.

These are our friends the Reese's. It is kind of cheating to put them on the farewell to Maryland post since Kenny has been a friend of mine since 7th grade and he and Aaron were highschool friends and college roommates. Infact we are such good friends that 6 months after we moved out here, they followed us and now are living in Virginia for a year or two (okay...maybe it wasn't ENTIRELY because of us). I just wanted an excuse to put up this fun picture of when we went to great falls last week. Thanks for being great friends in two states and we look forward to seeing you again when you return to Utah.

We will miss Lizzy's "grown-up friends" Megan and Asha. These guys were in the CRTP program with Aaron and lived in our building. They were so fun and Lizzy and Andrew loved giving and receiving visits from them. Megan is so generous and even babysat for us a few times so that Aaron and I could get away.
We also found ourselves to be the recipients of kindness from Megan's parents. They occassionaly sent little treats that the kids just loved. We finally got to meet them and Megan's mom (Diane) even came to the zoo with us today. She is one of those people that it only takes about 5 minutes of chatting before you feel like you are great friends. Thanks for a fun day and a fun year.

Last but not least, these are the girls. I put this one last just so that all of you bloggers would have to read my whole post before you could see what I wrote about you. (ha ha ha) This picture is from our last girls night. It was so wonderful to have a whole evening just to laugh and be silly and, for me atleast, come home so refreshed and ready to commit to the whole Mom thing all over again. I really have grown to love these women and want to thank them all for sharing their advise, recipes and friendship so freely. I admire them so much and have learned a lot from observing the way that they parent and the way they live. These ladies are also mostly responsible for my new blogging obsession...so thanks again. From left to right: Jackie, Moana, Tiana, Annette, Elaine, Michelle, Jenny, Kaelene, Becky and me on the far right .

I also wanted to wish a fond farewell to Heather, Scott and Pavlina who, unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of. We've loved getting to know you guys and I'm so glad that you blog now so we can see what is going on in your lives. Good luck with everything.

So that is the end of my enormously long post. If you read this far... you get a star for the day. I love you all and wish you all the best in whatever the future holds for you.