Six years ago, Chris and I packed up the last of our belongings, left secret treasures with the kids in hidden corners of their rooms, and drove down South Brenton Knoll for the last time as residents. Then I cried and cried and cried. If I had been at the wheel I might have turned us around.
Houston was our first home away from home. Provo was a 4 hour drive from "home". The perfect distance for blessings and baptisms and birthdays but far enough to be our own. When we first got to Houston, our expectations were very low. We had only heard horrible stories, where the adjective of armpit was used a lot. Yet we were excited to go off and do our thing, it was sure to be a temporary adventure. I guess a good lesson to learn was that when you have low expectations, they're usually exceeded and ours definitely were. We fell in love with our Houston life. It was our first home, our first job, our first family ward, first paycheck, etc.
So when we left, it was with every intention that we would come back a lot, every month, every few months, every weekend:-). Not every 5 years. That's what happened. We waited one year to go back. I really struggled our first year in Dallas, it would have been to hard, and to soon. Then fast forward life and schedules and vacations and 5 years have past.
With a few weeks left of summer I decided to take the kids. Chris was working and couldn't make the adventure. As I drove through our old neighborhood, I was beaming from ear to ear - sometimes even laughing. It was pure happiness to look back and remember the good ole days, simpler days, one car stuck at home kind of days.
The house: I still remember knocking over the "available sign" in the front yard and thinking, am I really this lucky that I get this house. It was so fun to make that house a home, throw our personality into it and start the decorating experiments. Mallory never lived here but how could I kick her out of the picture.
My two Houston babies in front of the hospital.
The beautiful Houston temple. I remember packed session, I mean jam packed, on our ward temple nights. If you got there late, you'd have to do sealings - also packed with other ward members who came late. We were all so young and enthused and committed.
Friends: Here are just a few of the favorites. It was so fun to see some old friends. I don't think 6 years have passed because this is exactly how I remember everyone. When I first met this group below there were 8 kids between the 5 of us. Ten years later there are 25!!! Four hours together is all we got, but their goodness is contagious, and I left happy with my tank filled.
Our -way to quick of a visit- with the Berry family that we love. Sarah was such a sweet friend to me when I lived there - I just love this family so much.
Speaking of - way to quick of a visit- the whole trip was. There wasn't enough time to see everyone. We would have loved to have stayed the weekend and gone to church. Next time - it won't be 5 years away.
I'm so sad that I have no pictures of our friends, the Hawkins, who were so kind to let us crash at their new house, keep their family up late and eat their food. They're more friends that might as well be family - we had our own late parents night, laughing at all the best you tube videos we could find. It was so great.
