Winding Down

It was January 17th when Katy and I started driving out to Oregon to begin this adventure. We left from Virginia after spending the weekend saying goodbye to family. Now,  fast forward 10 months and we are getting ready to leave Virginia again, this time to head to Denver, Colorado. The past three months have been a wonderful experience and we will certainly miss being close to so many of our friends and family, but we are excited about the next chapter in this adventure.

Over the Halloween weekend our good friends from North Carolina, Ashley and Chris Sellers, drove up to spend a few days with us. On Friday night we hung out with a group of people and as crazy as it sounds we enjoyed visiting with everyone while watching the snow fall! Between Friday night and Saturday morning we had close to four inches of snow! In October! So that messed with our plans for the weekend as they evolved around hiking and visiting some wineries. However, we did not let the bad weather deter us as we still visited King Family Vineyards, drove to the parkway (didn't make it because it was closed, but found a somewhat scenic pull off none the less) to drink some champagne, visited Blue Mountain Brewery, and ate dinner in Charlottesville with some more friends.

On Sunday we had Kylie's baptism. My grandparents from Pennsylvania drove down for the special occasion.

That night we participated in Trunk or Treat at the church. It was a full weekend, but filled with lots of good times.

On Monday Seth and I spent the day with Grandma and Grandpa and then went to Josh's apartment for dinner that evening.

Tuesday we were back down in Staunton as we went out to breakfast with our Grandparents, and then Thursday the whole family gathered together for dinner before Grandma and Grandpa headed back home.

That Friday Seth and I spent the day cutting and splitting wood, raking leaves, and clipping the chicken's wings. After a full day of work Katy and I hit the road to drive to North Carolina to visit with Ashley and Chris (two weekends in a row!) in Raleigh. We went to the UNC vs. NC State football game on Saturday and then spent that evening hanging out with friends. It was nice to see our North Carolina crew one last time before driving back across the country.

The next weekend Katy's grandmother, Billy Dell, came in from Kentucky for a visit. Katy spent Friday night with her parents and Billy while Seth and I had some guys over to the house to watch basketball, eat pizza, and hang out. David Heinrich, a friend of our's since kindergarten was over, and he was finally able to meet Kylie.

Saturday we did an early "Thanksgiving" with Katy's whole family, since we will be eating turkey out in Denver this year. 

On Sunday we went to the opening UVA Men's Basketball game (a blowout win against South Carolina State).

That night we went into Charlottesville to grab dinner with Katy's parents, her grandmother, and her brother, Ron. It was a nice evening, but sad as we were seeing Katy's dad and grandmother for the last time before heading to Colorado. We will see the rest of her family again, but her Dad will be in Kentucky driving Billy Dell home. 

On Monday I spent the day working with Seth and Britanny at their rental house in Staunton, and then Tuesday I went to the UVA basketball game with my close friend Scott. It was nice to be able to hang out with him one last time. While I was at the game Katy was out with her co-workers, enjoying some drinks with them before her last day on Thursday. 

And so it begins...another round of goodbyes. The hardest might be saying goodbye to Kylie, whom we have become so accustomed to seeing every day, and whom it seems changes right before our eyes. It will be hard to leave her knowing that when we see her again in six weeks she will have grown so much. Despite the sadness surrounding leaving, we feel extremely blessed to have spent these three months being able to be a part of Kylie's life on a daily basis and are excited to watch her grow and to continue to be a big part of this beautiful girl's life.