Ah....this is the hardest thing of being in the military for us--saying "good bye". I know we should be used to it by now, but it's still tough.
This time around, unlike after Japan, we had a lot of British friends to say good bye to. Of course, we have made friends through church, but I have also made friends through the kids' schools, through Robert's work and by living in our fabulous neighborhood. I don't have pictures with all the friends I will miss. In fact, some of those friends moved to the states at the same time as we did and I am still hoping to see them very-very soon. But these friends are staying in England for now... and I am quite a bit jealous, to be honest.
My friend Victoria and I. Victoria is my Ukrainian friend who lives right next to the Brampton School. I don't even remember how we met, but she has three wonderful kids and a husband and has been living in the UK for almost 20 years. She has helped me out many times with kids' school pick ups! She and our other friend Natasha have gotten to know each other well and we were so happy to go out for lunch sometime and talk all things Slavic.
The Conways, our British friends who have four adorable (and very obedient) little girls. Anna is a wonderful musician too. We had lots of fun together, especially the last few months in England. It turned out they like mystery dinner parties:)
And this is my sweet friend Liz. She is my FIRST British friend. I'll never forget her as she helped me so much through the first months in England when the transition was tough and I had no idea how to do the whole British school thing. Mark and Hannah were in the same preschool (playgroup) in Bury our first year there. Even after I moved away to Brampton and she stayed in Wistow, we got together almost every month to catch up. She is going through some really rough time right now and I wish I were closer to her, but can still text through iPhones which is nice, but not the same.
We had a ward farewell party for us at the end of July. Our wonderful friends, the Ericksons hosted it and invited people from church. I miss the Ericksons so much....Linnea and I became really good friends from the moment they moved here. If I could I would have taken them on our every trip in Europe as they are so fun to be with and they loved traveling as much as we do. Our kids are great friends with their kids and they miss them so much.
This is Alex and Sam. They have become such good friends over the last two years. They love their army guys and history battles and all those boy things. So grateful for friends like this.
Katya has made a lot of friends in the ward and at school and in the neighborhood. This is Ella, one of her friends from church. I love this natural picture of Katya:)
This is Sister Jones who also was moving back to the states with her husband after serving a mission in England. She is my older wise friend:). She was also my racquetball partner a few times that we could go to base and play.
And here are a few shots from our farewell party. Lots of British friends.
Andy (Robert's running mate), Josh (Linnea's husband), Eric and Robert.
Our Bishop Wade and his wife Emma, and the Garrick boys:)
Ola, Jo, Lesley, Liz, the girls and Dawn.
Just a few more--Bethany, Patrese, Tammy, Jill and Linnea with a few girls sprinkled in between.
We had to make a special stop in Hemingford Abbots to see the Tholstroms of course.
They are such a wonderful vibrant family and we'll miss them as well (Tad was Robert's boss).
Of course, this is not all of the friends we'll miss.
We are grateful for each one of the people who'd crossed our paths. They made our experience in England that much more enriching and fun.
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