It was the best of times....

"Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for a while, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same."

We moved to Salt Lake City the beginning of 2006. We had just gotten married in November of 2005 and Gregg was going to be starting school at the University of Utah. We knew Gregg had spent much of his active duty Army time visiting me in Minnesota on breaks and knew we couldn't pay for out of state tuition at the Univ. of MN. So, off to Salt Lake City, UT it was to get a good deal on tuition at a good school and be closer to his family for a while! Little did we know, we would meet the most amazing people, develop friendships that would last a lifetime, and make memories that we will cherish forever.

So as not to play favorites!... had to post one of our favorite pictures of all time...

I was lucky that even after Kaylen was born, Carissa would come over, get some good Kaylen time in and then stay and hang out with me to have a little girl time on nights that Gregg worked. She is remarkable. The kind of person who I will always miss and cherish because she can't help but give more than she gets. She's a giver... and she gave me the kind of friendship I'd always wanted and needed.

Anthony... Gregg's BFF. He has been there through the thick and thin and always will be. They really are two peas in a pod. Anthony is also pre-med with the same major and minor as Gregg and just a semester behind, he will be applying to medical schools for the next school year really soon. They support each other through it all and Anthony is like family now to all of us.

Anthony is so great with Kaylen. He spent a lot of time at our apartment and always gave so much attention to Kaylen. He considers her family and to her, he is Uncle Anny. We're going to miss getting to see him so often, so we're grateful for Skype as she loves getting to sing to and talk to Anny every chance she gets.

Casey and Carissa have always been so great to us and to Kaylen. They are truly amazing people and we could not be more grateful to have them in our lives. We know they're going to be the kind of friends that make an effort to see us and the kind of friends we can always visit.

Ali, Jason and Dane. Jason was one of Gregg's first friends in Salt Lake. They met at the gym and soon enough, Ali became one of my best friends, too. They're such great people with such good hearts and after Dane was so close after Kaylen, it made our friendship so much more well rounded. We were friends as families. We definitely miss all our family excursions with the Hart family.

Kaylen and Dane :-)

Max, Gregg and Jason. Max and Heidi were also friends through the gym and again... two amazing people. We were lucky to get to see them whenever we could. They're daughter turned one around the time Kaylen turned two.

Me, Ali and Heidi

Gregg was lucky to work with some really good friends. Gregg and Anthony were health techs, but he got to work with some great nurses and doctors. Mato (on the left) was one of those great people. Always a friend to workout with, take us whitewater rafting, and even help Gregg move ALL our stuff here, he always gives anything he can. His wife and family is incredible and we're so lucky to have them as friends.

With Blogger, you can't go back and move a picture once it's in there, so the next two pictures belong further below on this blog.... but I had to get them in, so here they are!!

While getting to live in Utah, we were able to make it up to Gregg's Dad's hometown, Turner, MT and spend time with Gregg's Uncles' families and Kaylen got to meet her Great Grandpa. Kaylen is his first great grandchild.

Each summer, we do what we can to make it home and the last two summers, Kaylen and I were able to make it to Minnesota to spend time with my side of the family. As shown below, I am bound and determined to give Kaylen the water bug that I always had. Loving being on and around water is something engrained in me and I hope she'll get it, too!

Kay, still on friends. This is the picture I had to post of some of our friends, together for a birthday dinner of mine last year in 2010. The reason for my choice of this one is I couldn't manage to find a picture of Reina and Tyler together! They're on the left, second and third up! Gregg had class with Tyler and we were lucky to become friends as couples. They're such good people and just this year, had a daughter of their own, Ruby! (What a great name!)

Again, could've done a little better with this placement :-) Gregg became friends with Mark while working in the VA ER as well. He moved about two years ago to South Carolina, but we've managed to keep in touch with them through Facebook, etc.

Gregg has few mentors in his life. His Dad has always been one them and another Gregg was privileged to meet while working at the VA. Dr. John Masaryk, aka Maz, has been so incredible in the friendship, guidance and help he has provided to Gregg. Their whole family loved Kaylen from the start. Even one of their daughters, Iris, became one of Kaylen's very few babysitters!

Polly, Gregg and Maz

I love quotes, so I'm going to throw in a few of my favorites in this blog...

"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes." ~ Henry David Thoreau

An special treat to living closer to Star Valley, WY was not only getting to see Gregg's family whenever we got the chance, but also getting to see Gregg's best friend from high school, Colby, who lived close in Provo. It was fun to meet up with Colby and Ginny when the boys found time in their busy schedules. They probably won't be the types to stay in one place long, but it's great to know, no matter where we all are in the world, true friendships have no boundaries.

As often as you might find me complaining about having to live in student housing, one of the many perks of our own concrete jungle was the opportunity to be around some really great people. Kaylen LOVED getting to go outside to the playground right outside our stairwell. She thrives on energy from other kids and is a true social butterfly.

Kaylen and Tanner, one of her favorites

We had to cover friends in this blog because it is truly amazing how many incredible friendships and wonderful people we found while living in Salt Lake City over the 5 years. When I moved away from Minnesota or Gregg moved from Wyoming, the easy part is knowing that it's home and you'll always be coming back. But with Salt Lake, it was our first move without the family ties. But the part we're so grateful for is that we made it home for us in those 5 years. The friends we made became like family and we will always have a reason to come back and visit.

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard." ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

But with those friends made, we also made some amazing memories and had some incredible opportunities. I have to finish this blog with some of our favorites though as it would be next to impossible to cover them all.

One of my favorite pictures of my two favorite people having a cuddle on the floor of our apt.

What an incredible opportunity to live less than 4 hours away from Gregg's family in Star Valley. We tried to make it home for every long weekend and have some quality time. Katie and Ian were adopted close to the time Gregg was graduating high school and joined the Army. Although a good deal of tuition was a selling point for Utah, the chance to watch Katie and Ian grow up was something that was very important to us. The chances in pictures of watching them grow is a fun way to really see just how long we've been together! But Katie and Ian are both two amazing kids and are becoming young adults before our eyes. The time we got to spend around them was priceless. Leslie also got her first teaching job in Logan so it gave us the chance to see her get her first job, meet her first serious boyfriend, and start a life for herself. Kaylen has grown so close to our families and will definitely miss Gregg's now that the visits won't be so regular. But we couldn't be more grateful for all the time we had.

Gregg grew up loving the time he had with his Dad camping and hiking. So, the summer of 2010, they got to go again and this time made even more special by being able to share it with Ian.

Warren's birthday always falls around President's Day weekend, so every year we made the tradition of going to Star Valley for the weekend to ski/board at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. It was always so fun and on a blue bird day, it was always one of my most favorite views doing something we all loved.

Being that my Dad still got to use his US Airways travel benefits, my parents were able to make it out to Salt Lake every couple months. It made the distance seem so much closer and we were so lucky my Dad still had those benefits. I can't even tell you how hard it is for me to be away from them sometimes, but getting to see them fairly regularly has made it so much easier on my heart. And Kaylen's relationship with them only gets closer all the time as there is never too much time that passes. They've even made it out to Portland once so far. They have just a couple years left of them and we're hoping to see them every chance they get!

Gregg loved a chance to go watch a Ute football game and we were lucky enough to have a gorgeous day to take Kaylen. I love this picture and wanted to include Gregg's love of the University of Utah!

And the day the hard work paid off, Gregg graduated!! It was a fun day to celebrate him with his family and friends. Not only was he pre-med with a difficult class schedule, but he got into a great medical school having to work full-time and be a husband and father! He has so much to be proud of and we are SO proud of him!

While we lived in Utah, we tried to take advantage of some of the surroundings like skiing/boarding the world class mountains and making it down to southern Utah a couple times and even took Kaylen the last time we went!

Along with trying to see some of Utah, we were also able to travel a bit of the world! It was important to us that Kaylen get to meet her grandparents and family in Australia, so we saved long and hard to be able to make the dream vacation happen! Two weeks in Australia between Sydney and Brisbane, traveling all over, seeing everything we could've hoped for and having so much time with family was more than perfect!

The opportunity for Kaylen to meet her great-grandparents who are in their mid-90s was something we'll be able to cherish forever. They are amazing people and the love they had for Kaylen right from the start was incredible.

This picture just made me think of the fact that this was our first (kind of) place together. We started out in a 2 bedroom apt, but when I was pregnant, we moved to a 3 bedroom. The student apartments grew on us. I swore we would never be there longer than a year, but it was such a good deal and it was so easy for us. We managed to really enjoy it there and will definitely be missed as it was our family's first place!

One of my favorite pictures of all time. This beautiful girl has been amazing from the start. You think when your child is born that your heart could explode with the love it feels as if it couldn't possibly feel more. But each day, we fall more in love with her.

The most amazing blessing to our lives happened when we lived in Utah... the birth of Kaylen. What a remarkable day.... 2 years has passed, but it feels like it was yesterday. The anticipation of her coming, the day that it took to get her here, and the joy she's brought us each and every day since. Our lives are forever changed because of this sweet angel.

In Utah, we became of family of three. Kaylen is the most amazing addition to our family. We were fortunate to have so many wonderful who became like family to us who loved Kaylen right from the start. To have family close and visiting often and the love of our friends was something we will greatly miss.

"Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetime, is certain for those who are friends." ~Richard Bach