Goodbye NC...

It's been over 2 weeks now since we packed up the Uhaul, said goodbye to our friends, and made the 52-hour trek to our new home in Alberta. I have loved being closer to family and old friends, but I have to admit, a piece of my heart will always be in North Carolina (and the east coast). This is a recap of the last couple years of our lives!

First of all, this is our beauty of a car that took us on many of our trips. She may not be much to look at, but she was a very reliable car!

These are the teachers I worked with the closest. We had a lot of laughs together, and worked fantastic as the "A-Pod" team! I'll miss these ladies! Thanks to Meredith, I can now say I love collard greens. :)

I'll also miss all of my sweet students. Being called "ma'am" was so cute, and I even found myself dropping the occasional "ya'll" from time to time. :)

I loved this little neighborhood in Kannapolis...there were a couple great little restaurants there.

We were fortunate enough to be in North Carolina during the election! Since NC was a state that could go either democrat or republican, there were an immense amount of rallies. We loved every one and were able to see Obama, Biden, Palin (from a distance), and McCain. What an experience!

The sights to see in NC or the surrounding states were amazing! Whether it was hiking on the Appalachian trail, seeing the Biltmore Estate, boogie boarding in the ocean, seeing the statue of liberty, or sightseeing in Savannah and Charleston, we never ran of exciting weekend trips!

I will always be grateful that we had the opportunity to live so close to Amber and Stephen...which was 10 hours away. To most of you, that may seem far away, but our trips meeting at half-way points always flew by because we knew we had such fun times awaiting us. We realized that we actually met up 10 times! Amber and Stephen are truly such an amazing couple...I love them both and already miss them!

A highlight of this past year was taking an incredible trip with Roger and Renn through the Maritimes and down through Boston. We spent a full 9 days together and saw a lot of cool sights and ate some delicious food (case in point, the lobsters above). Saying goodbye to Roger and Renn was not easy for me at all...they have been such wonderful friends, and the kind of friends you know will last a lifetime. After each time we hung out with them, we always looked forward to the next time we would hang out again. Love you guys!

Another great memory was when my whole side of the family met up in Minneapolis to hang out and watch a Vikings game! The game was pretty incredible, but the best past was getting to hang out with my family all together! We had a lot of good times while traveling down the east coast from NC through Florida with Jon and Tara, going to Charleston with my parents, and watching Skyler play baseball in Richmond. It was so nice that Rachel, Jon and Tara met up in Richmond too!

We also had a lot of fun adventures with Darcen's side of the family too! Last summer, we went traveling with Trevor and Cheryl to NYC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington D.C.! We saw so many sights and had a great time! It was also nice to have the whole family together when we met up in Atlanta for a weekend...we did a hike up Stone Mountain and toured the city too. It was great!

Lastly, it's this group of people here and helped make our experience in North Carolina so wonderful. This photo was taken the evening we left. I have so many good memories with these friends, and each of them made such an impact on my life.

Well, goodbye NC...these past two years and have been some of the best of my life!