Farewell Open Houses

 I knew for months that I wanted to have some sort of party so that I could see as many as we could before we move. Last weekend was all about open houses for that very reason. On Saturday we did one for friends, most of which were from our old ward. Curtis counted it up later and says we had 41 people come to that one. It made me so happy to see so many come! We served cheeses, meats, crackers, apples, oranges, meatballs, a veggie tray, homemade guacamole with chips and smoked ham. (I told you Curtis is addicted to smoking 😂). I had decided that we didn't need any dessert items after all the sweet stuff we had for the holidays. I was able to get a picture with most of our friends that came but not all. 

Alice with her friend Layla.

Charlotte with her friends Alice, Brooklyn and Bryston. (Brooklyn and Bryston were our old neighbors)

Kathy Tuck, me, Georgia Turner, and Brother Tuck - from 37th ward

Sharlene Nickell with her two boys, Rhett and Jens. I don't know why I wasn't thinking, Jack should have been up close in this picture, not in the background! Rhett and Jack are friends. (From 37th ward)

Matt and Cindy Barrus with their kids. Charlotte was friends with their son, Tyson. (From 37th ward)

Mark and Joan Hamilton from 37th ward.

David and Donna Fitzen. One of the few remaining long time 37th/7th ward members.  We moved in after they did and lived in the same neighborhood. Nikki is friends with their son, Logan.

Vicki and Whitney Johnson (mother and daughter - friends since I was little)

Kay Haney - another long time 37th/7th ward member friend who also lived in the same neighborhood. I served as her 2nd counselor in the Primary presidency right before we moved.

Julie and Scott Gibbons - a friend from Curtis's childhood. (I had a crush on his younger brother, David, in middle school 😆)

Trey Bledsoe - a friend of Garrett's from 30th ward (our current ward). He is also in band with Garrett and was a drum major in marching band.

Bryan and Laura Rovig with their kids - Jenna, Ari and Kai. Also friends from 37th ward.

Rick Tuha - our friend from 37th ward but he's in the new Tonga branch they started last spring. One of the nicest guys you'll meet.

Romar and Sarah Karl - friends from 37th ward.

Jack with his best friend Porter Ballantyne.

Heather and Tracy Ballantyne - friends from 37th ward. They came late and played a new game called "Throw Throw Burrito" with us. Curtis is holding one of the burritos. It's a fun game that mixes "Spoons" and "Dodge Ball" together. Tracy is the one who went to Washington with Curtis New Year's weekend.

Right after church on Sunday from 2:30-5:30 we had an open house next door at my in-laws with the Butterfield family where they had a nacho bar. Shauna and John were over there before we got there. Our niece Sarah came and then Jeanie and Glen. Wendy and Steve showed up with their two youngest boys, Ethan and Wyatt. I expected more but that was all that were able to come. I only got a few shots of the boys playing "Throw Throw Burrito". That's Jack's new favorite game, that he gave to Garrett for Christmas.

Ethan, Garrett, Curtis, John, Jack and Wyatt.

Later, Charlotte joined the boys.

John and Curtis having a burrito duel. Walk three paces, turn and throw the burrito to see who gets hit first.

Garrett and Wyatt having a burrito duel.

They had a lot of fun playing the game and I'm glad Jack got them to play it. Nowadays, we just sit and visit at Butterfield family gatherings, so it was nice to see them play a game together, especially the boys.

All of the family left around 5:00 but then another family from church came and brought us cookies. She knew we'd be next door since I talked to her at church. It was Ruth Hansen (the primary president) and most of her kids, Brendan, Calvin, Logan, Hailey and Kyran. Garrett is friends with Calvin and Logan and went on his first date with Hailey. Unfortunately, I did not get a picture taken with them. I was lazy about it on Sunday. Jack got 4 of them to play "Throw Throw Burrito" again with him and Garrett. I think Hailey beat all the boys. Ha ha

After the game was over, we went back to our house to refill our supply of veggies. We took our leftover guacamole and chips and the veggie tray to our in-law's and then to Grandma Norton's house for our 3rd and final open house, this time with my family. Grandma made some brownies and Dad brought cookies, hot chocolate drink mixes and pop. By this time, Jack was ready to work on a puzzle. Grandma has been doing puzzles lately and Jack likes to work on them with her. They got out a puzzle of downtown Salt Lake with the temple. When we got over there, Debra Norton (Jack's wife) and Aunt Joyce were over visiting with Grandma. I hadn't seen Deb in years. Her husband, Jack, passed away last spring but she is now living in Nampa. I wasn't able to attend the funeral. She left after we showed up but Joyce hung around. Tamara's family, Melissa's family and Scott's family all came over. The younger kids played downstairs while everyone else visited or worked on the puzzle. Thank goodness Laverne insisted on getting pictures or I might not have done it here either.

Us with Aunt Debra

Livvie, Melissa and me

Visiting

Tamara had a mouth full of apples. That was her dessert since she can't have gluten or dairy. You can see the guys working on the puzzle in the background.

Curtis and Chris

Me relaxing and visiting.

More visiting.

Livvie, Melissa, Nathan, me, Curtis, Scott, Hawkins, Jill, and Scotlyn.

Butterfields and Floyds

Us with Laverne (Mom), Grandma Norton, Aunt Joyce and Dad.

One more so Charlotte can be silly with her sweatshirt.

It was a great weekend visiting and seeing so many friends and family, all loved ones! I consider it an early birthday gift to me since we're leaving right before my birthday. I had hoped to be here in Idaho on my birthday but because Curtis has a work meeting up in Washington next Thursday, it just made more sense to move the weekend before so he wouldn't have to do so much traveling. It's not how I imagined my 40th birthday would be but then again, I didn't plan on moving out last summer right around our 20th anniversary either! Talk about timing. Oh well, it is what it is. We are now getting serious about packing more things up and getting ready to move this weekend. We'll pick up the U-Haul truck Friday morning and then a couple of guys from a moving company we hired will be helping us load the truck while the kids are in school. We'll load everything except mattresses, bedding and suitcases (so we can sleep on them one last time). Then we'll head out Saturday morning to Kennewick, Washington. Scary and exciting but on to our new adventure!