Goodbye (for now)

I'm not quite ready to sit down and write a recap of the marathon yet and since running the race on Monday, we have officially left New Bern, so I thought I'd recap our last days/weeks there.  The girls and I flew into SLC yesterday after some final goodbyes.  To say that it has been one of the more eventful weeks of our lives is a huge understatement.  We've driven through 10 states (up along the whole east coast) and flown across the country.  Everybody is tired and out of whack and I'm not sure it has really sunk in yet that we are now Utah residents. 

We'll miss a lot of things about New Bern, but as with most goodbyes, it's the people we will miss the most.  A few weeks ago, some of my sweet friends planned a goodbye dinner.

We also said goodbye to Brooke, our babysitter who was with them almost every afternoon while I work for the past year-and-a-half.

I went on one last run with my buddy Cailin.  We have covered a lot of miles together since we started running together when the girls and her son Reed were both about five months old (very flattering sweaty post-run picture). 

And, on our last night there, we had one last dinner with the Hall family (at least for now!).  The Halls were the first real friends we made after joining the Marine Corps.  Patrick and Josh were in the same OCS and TBS class in Quantico, VA, our very first duty station.  Kenzie and I were two lost souls who were, quite honestly, kind of miserable.  I knew when I met her that I would be okay in this community - as long as there were more people like her.  We moved apart for several years for different flight school duty stations, but luckily we came back together in New Bern.  It was very hard to say goodbye, but we know we will see them again soon. 

And then we went by and said goodbye to our house.  It was so weird to walk through it and know that someone else will be living there.  It's the house we brought the girls home to, so it's hard not to feel some sentimental attachment to it.  One last shot in front of it, with that huge yard Josh wanted so badly.  We won't be doing that again. :)

Goodbye New Bern!  Thanks for a great five years! 
Hello Utah!!!