I guess it's really Goodbye... over 2 months later.

I have always hated goodbyes, and have tried to avoid them like the plague. On my mission I didn't even tell my last companion that I was going home, until the day beforehand, just so that I wouldn't lose my focus and have to talk about and dwell on it, and say goodbye to everyone and be sad.  It was always a weird feeling at the end of each college school year knowing that once I left, the next year would be different with people missing, and only fading memories of the fun times we had remaining. Unfortunately I know that I have a horrible memory too, and every time I close a chapter, and a new one begins, that I won't remember things like I want to from the previous ones. I guess that being in the military isn't going to help with this either with all of the moves.  Though I'm excited and anxious when there are adventures, new opportunities and people around the corner, and even sometimes eager for something new- I'm melancholy thinking of fond memories of wonderful times and friends that are now in my past, and all I can hope for is that we keep in contact, and can hopefully meet up in the future- though I don't want to admit it would be different.

Goodbye Vegas.

Goodbye water shows.

Goodbye beautiful Bellagio displays.

Goodbye affordable activity pools.

Goodbye Claim jumper and Townsquare.

Goodbye being near enough to family to get lots of visitors.

Goodbye Lied Children's Museum

Goodbye to having nearby cousins.

Goodbye camping with Vegas friends.

Goodbye feeding the carp at Lake Mead.

Goodbye pump it up, and bounce u.

Goodbye Red Rock.

Goodbye cool hikes.

Goodbye fun times with the Fairbanks.

Goodbye Vegas shows.
Goodbye houseseats where we got good deals.
Just for the record, I don't want to forget what shows we saw, so this is going to be long.

Music

Lion King 

Jersey Boys 

Producers

Mamma Mia

Barry Manilow

U2

Recycled Percussion

Lenny Kravitz

Magic

Magic and Tigers of Dirk Arthur

Superstars of Magic

Super Duper Magic Show

Jackpot Bird Show

Lance Burton

Nathan Burton

Impressions

Gordie Brown

Other

Blue Man Group

Matsuri

Tournament of the Kings

Indoor Skydiving

Wax Museum

Gondola ride, Paris

Sam Boyd

Monster Truck Rally

Football Games – UNLV football and Locos football

Thomas and Mack

Walking with Dinosaurs

Cirque de Soleil

O

Mystere

Ka

Museums

Children's Museum

Liberace

Natural History

Spring's Preserve

Movies at the District, Red Rock, Lake Mead, Hoover Dam,

Henderson Ampitheatre, parades and events, good parks, Mt. Charleston,

Drive-in movies, Jazz at the Lake...

Goodbye school friends and get-togethers.

Goodbye Lis and Mindi

Goodbye birthday fun.

Goodbye ward friends! You guys are so fun. I miss many other SVR girls too.

Goodbye Nelsons. Goodbye free ride day at Buffalo Bill's and Christmas lights at Ethel M's.

Goodbye  to our kid's friends.

Goodbye girl's dinners.

Goodbye laughing all night in St. George.

Goodbye Claudia and Ira.

Goodbye Laitinens.

So here we are, making new memories now. I just focus on keeping busy and having fun, and then I don't have time to dwell on the good old times I guess. Xander & Will both started school and preschool at the beginning of August, so that keeps me busy. I've already been to a recipe exchange, and been invited to a few girl's nights with different people, and I have a pedicure friend.  We have a couple of playgroups we go to each week. Blair's Internal Medicine department had a cookout and crawfish get-together, a shrimp boil at the beach, and I guess a fish fry is next on the list :) We're lucky that we have a good ward with plenty of great church people around.  We went to Baton Rouge a couple of weeks ago and stayed overnight with some friends that we knew from before. We went to the temple there, and it was great. Only 2 1/2 hours away- I can't believe that's the closest one!

Hello nice neighborhood.

Hello Mr. Turtle cutting through our front yard.

Xander & Will love their new fish.

We went to Gulf Island Water Park a few weeks ago and the kids loved it. 

Check out this slide.

My sweet little Claire is walking all around now.  It is the cutest thing to see her come around the corner with her little dolly that she likes to carry around and take care of.

Getting settled in Mississippi

So here we are, and we're enjoying our newest adventure.  Who would have thought that we would end up in the South?  Well, I am surprised to say but it is really great so far, and it already feels like home.  There are the nicest people around (and I might note, quite a few members of the church in our neighborhood too, which I wasn't expecting), beautiful scenery, good parks and family entertainment, neat history sites and architecture, and amazing food (though if I keep eating the way I have been I will be doubling in size shortly).  So here are some pics from MS, and a tour of our house too.

Don't worry- it's not a real gator. We were at our favorite restaurant The Shed, with some neighbors and the kids found this.

Goodbye Nevada, and hello Mississippi. The kids were having fun with our old address labels. 

Family pic on the very closest beach to our house, just a few minutes away.

We went to and art fair in our neighboring town of Ocean Springs. Don't you love the fountain?

The Biloxi lighthouse. Only this and one other survived hurricane Katrina out of twelve lighthouses.

I love the old colonial houses along the beach.

It's crazy, but sometimes you only see a sidewalk and a plot where a house used to be because it was destroyed in the hurricane.

Or stairs leading up to a house, but no house.

Trees everywhere! Here is the street that our church is on.

Beautiful sunset over the back bay, right by our house.

Eating fried catfish (& biscuits, yams, coleslaw, fried shrimp, fried chicken, fries,hush puppies) at a yummy restaurant called Aunt Jenny's.

A picnic up by the back bay of Biloxi.  This is Marina park & it's on base, and a minute from our house.  Side note: we went to a BBQ for the new interns and their families here, and along with normal food items, they had 40 lbs of crawfish with jalepenos!

Marina park.  Do you see Will?

More of the marina.

Here's the view as we come around the corner from the main loop on base to our house...

...and here is our house!  The one on the right.  We're on a corner, so our neighbor's driveway and front door is on the other street, and the house is connected at the garage only.  Can't hear a peep.

and we LOVE our new neighborhood!  There are parks everywhere, and kids everywhere, and it's nice and quiet too.

...and here is our house!  Nice and spacious. 2150 sq feet to be exact. 

Anyone that came to our last home knows that we had the smallest little space on earth for our kitchen table, so this is a real treat to have lots of room to spare now!

Family room.

I finally have a front room! I always wanted one.

The boys' room

Claire's room

Our room. It also has a massive walk-in closet, and a bathroom with double sinks.

Extra room (Toy/guest/craft/music/study)- everything we want it to be!

Super excited to actually have a nice big laundry room now, with nice new appliances to match.

Downstairs bathroom.

Nice covered patio in the backyard.

Here are the boys with some of their things they made at the library, and art center here on base.  I think I'm going to have to find a place for dozens of painted ceramics, because every time we go to pick up a completed project, they beg to stay and paint another.

We love our new house! We just need to finish putting stuff up on the walls, and unpack the last couple of boxes, and we are done!

This was on a walk in our neighborhood, we were exploring one of the many docks on the back bay.

This is the hospital where Blair works, in the middle there.  I took a picture across the bay as we were coming back on the freeway from somewhere.

another angle

Captain Curtis wears his dress blues to work on Mondays.

Here's the view as we come out of the main exit on the base.  Beach Blvd is the street you have to turn on, and that is the ocean right ahead.

The kids love the beach!  Here we were with some neighbor friends.

Claire is getting used to the sand.

You can't beat a park with an ocean view either.  So tranquil.

A little water park in Ocean Springs we went to that reminds me of toon town.

My mom was here for just under a week, and helped us get settled a bit.  We went exploring and found a dirt road in Ocean Springs out to see  a less traveled view of the ocean, and the boys were checking out crabs scurrying all over. 

Here was my mom with the boys a different day back in Biloxi.

See the casino in the background? We can't get away from it! We're still in a gambling town. That's the Beau Rivage, owned by MGM.

Love it!