the shafe's

so today's the day... we've known the day was coming for quite some time now, and we keep getting little extensions and delays of the inevitable... but today our dear friends, ben and whitney (and my two favorite little boys) pack up their belongings and prepare to depart for california. we've had friends come and go, and we've had friends move away... but for some reason, this one is different. it's far away. we're living in what used to be their apartment. and they've been a really big part of our lives for the last 3+ years.

when i moved in to the ward, i was assigned as whitney's visiting teaching companion. she was very pregnant with her first, i was newly married... and we were pretty much the laziest visiting teachers ever. i think we did go once in the four months we were companions (so we're not TOTAL failures), but we didn't know each other... we weren't friends. frankly, i don't think we even tried. we were just busy.

a few months later, we were called to serve together in the ward's relief society presidency. many months, many meetings, and many sonoma diet meals together later... we found ourselves the best of friends. she introduced me to yoga... and put me to shame even at 9 months pregnant. we did the sonoma diet together and sucked on ice-cubes during the ten days of hell without sweets. when burton was in DC for 3 months while i had to stay in provo, she and ben took care of me. made me feel at home. they saved me from the insanity that is loneliness. and just last month, we were assigned as visiting teaching companions again... and we did it! and totally redeemed ourselves! :)

and then there's their boys... what can i say!? the first time joelie said "nana"... i was in love. and the first time he called burton "monkey"... i knew this love was forever. :) and how can anyone not love kadin the cuddler!? the greatest little hugger in the world. it amazes me how much these two little boys have grown since they entered our lives... and it's exciting and sad to think how much they will grow before we see them again. that's the trouble with living far away... we all stay relatively the same (at least i keep telling myself that), but kids grow up.

and so... as the shafer's head off on their new adventure, i couldn't let the opportunity pass to send a little shout out to my friends. we love you. we will miss you. my motivation to go to yoga has already severly suffered. :) we can't wait for our first shafer/rampton family vacation on the beach! drive safe. call us when you get there!