Well, tomorrow morning we board a plane for California. It was about 14 months ago that we moved out here and this is the longest period of time I have spent away from my home state. Knowing that I will finally be going back has caused me to think back on the last year and everything that's happened since that day we packed up the truck and headed east. Here are some pictures of the memories that have come to mind...(disclaimer: this will not be a comprehensive list by any means)
A few weeks before the big move we shot down to Yosemite for a quick visit. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed the long drive to process the upcoming move.
The week leading up to our move, thanks to an incredibly generous gift from some friends at church, we were able to spend a week in Hawaii. What a blessing!!
These were just a few of the friends that helped us pack that truck up with all of our belongings.
Thankfully someone thought to take a picture of us in front of the beloved house we got to live in for a few years.
Finally, the drive.
Siblings reunite in Moab, UT
Cousins reunite in Denver, CO
Roommates reunite in Madison, WI
Finally, we made it to our new home in Philadelphia.
Here are a few more memorable moments from the year:
My first day of school!
Gettysburg
Exploring Philly on bikes
Quick trip back to CA for this lovely girl's wedding
U2 concert (with cheesesteaks, of course)
Moved to Philly just in time for Kate's wedding!
Our first trip down to DC
Montana/Canada trip to visit my mom
Trying to figure out this crazy town.
Our first hurricane
Our first Penn State game with some fun visitors
Another fun visit
Apple picking for our 4th anniversary
Yet another awesome visit (I probably won't put all the visits up here but they were all meaningful to us)
Autumn.
Twin cousins reunite in Philly
My nursing school celebrated its 125th birthday.
Ben's 30th birthday and Thanksgiving down in DC
Christmas light show at the Wanamaker Department Store (aka Macy's)
Delicious food at Christmas markets in Europe
Sweet memories spending Christmas with family
Our snow-covered block
Spring Break on Long Island
M'Obama's visit
Wrapping up our first year of East Coast academics
Meeting this little peach and hanging out with her family
29th Birthday in DC
Twin cousins reunite in NYC
First Union game
MK retreat-Ben's first time as a guest speaker at a retreat
Another Millbrae reunion
A brief break during our move and the moment after we figured out how to get our couches out of the apartment, meaning we could keep them. Phew.
The Shore.
Marsh/Monkowski Reunion
Lancaster County
Barretts visit Philly!
As you can see it's been a full year!! We've been blessed by all the visits and the opportunities to explore the East Coast. We hope to do a lot more exploring in the next year. At first it was hard for me to believe it's been 14 months away from California, but when I look back at all these photos, it's easy to understand where the time went. This move was a tough decision to make, and it definitely came with rough periods of transition, but as a whole we've loved Philly and are glad we came.
But I'm not going to lie, I can barely wait another 12 hours to get on the plane to visit California =)
Kind of. We went on the Friday before so it's probably the closest we'll ever get to spending Christmas in New York. Ben hadn't really walked around the city before so we had an awesome, relaxed day of strolling around, eating delicious food and seeing cool stuff. Here are some of my favorites: (delicious bagels and coffee in Greenwich Village, Chelsea Market, relaxing on the High Line, Time Square, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, FAO Schwartz, dinner at Sauce-yes that is cheese on the plate in front of Ben).
