Our year in photos

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 =)