Goodbye Texas, Hello Washington!

We didn't prolong our goodbyes at all, and the kids and I hopped on an early, early morning flight Sunday morning, the day after graduation. It was so hard to get on that plane- I love Texas! But I love our family too, so that helps! I already did my sappy post before we moved, so I'll keep it simple and make a list of the top 5 things I'll miss:

1. Friends- and all the fun that we had! Playdates, preschool, barbecues, potluck get-togethers, parties, and the social life that comes being surrounded by so many other young families!

2. Food- Embarassingly enough, before I consolidated food into one category, it made up much of my list! Dallas has great restaraunts, and we discovered many inexpensive ones that we loved finding reasons to go to. Babes, Spring Creek Barbecue, and Blue Bell Ice Cream are just a couple that come to mind!

3. Southern Hospitality- Call me old-fashioned, but I loved how respectful kids especially were in Texas. I am finally to the point where I kind of got used to being called "ma'am" and having teenage boys hold the door open for me when walking into stores. People are so friendly and a little more relaxed than other big cities we've been to.

4. Shopping- Enough said. Like the food category, Dallas's shopping is just hard to compete with.

5. Weather- Yep, it's true. A Washington native like me actually grew to enjoy 100+ degree temps in the summer. Now, I did not enjoy the A/C bills that came with those days, but there's nothing better than packing a huge bag full of water toys and snacks, and spending the whole day down at the pool.

Now, so I don't sound partial to Texas over Washington- here's my top 5 of why I'm excited to be here:

1. Family- It is nice that visiting grandparents isn't such a production anymore. Even though we don't have any cousins that live really close, we're close enough that it's at least driving distance, and maybe now our kids can play together a little more rather than just talking on the phone.

2. Beauty- OK, so I love Texas, but I am the first to admit it doesn't compare to the northwest in this category. Overall, it's been kind of gray and drizzly here since we moved, but it I remember correctly, spring and summer are beautiful! (That was supposed to be sarcastic. I have spent most of my life here, and I know it gets beautiful. I just have to remind myself of that on the rainy days!)

3. Friends- Even though we haven't spent time with a lot of people, we have more friends here than we initially remembered. Dan grew up in the area we're living in, and it's been fun to reconnect with some of them and their spouses, and to see their kids, some of which are the same ages as ours.

4. Work! Although we're still waiting on the state for the whole license thing, it's fun to see Dan get up and go to work every day. It will be even better when he can do everything he wants to. Dan has a lot of good connections with coaches and athletic directors in the area, and we're excited to see where that takes him.

5. Establishing roots- Ever since we've been married, we've known that wherever we were living was temporary. We always knew that in 2-3 years we would be picking up and starting over somewhere else. It's fun to think that we will be here long-term, and we won't have to say as many goodbyes as we have in the past!