This is my goodbye post to Kansas City. I don't even know where to begin. We started out as wide eyed naive newly weds. Seven years, 2 kids, handfuls of close friends, a degree and a little more wisdom later, we are forever changed.
I'm totally rehashing the past, so if you don't want to go down memory lane with me, than stop reading this minute! There is your warning.
This is how we started. We drove to Kansas City in a moving truck with no place to live. I had never moved to a different state and Trav was an Air force brat, so I thought he knew what he was doing when he told me that we didn't need to have a plan when we moved. Yeah, I learned that maybe that plan isn't my style. But it worked out because we found a great place in Overland Park, Kansas.
And shortly after, we became friends with the Oman's.
It was amazing how similar we were with them. We were all the same age, had no kids, Sarah played softball at UVSC, Jim was obsessed with BYU athletics and we all loved playing dorky strategic board games. It was a match made in Heaven, and normally you would find us hanging out with them on a Friday night.
Shortly after that, I met Amy Elmore and my world was rocked. I had no idea what I was getting into with her. I found out she liked to run, so when she invited me to go running with her one morning I thought it would be fun. I think the most I had ever run at one time was 8 miles. I'm pretty sure that first week of running with her we did a 14 miler. Amy taught me how to run. We had the funniest conversations. She was hilarious, spontaneous and a little crazy. I love my Amy.
By the way, she loves green, can you tell?
We found our little niche in Overland Park and had loads of fun with our friends.
We also became friends with a couple of med students and their wives. First, we met the Hastings. They lived in Riverside, so for the first 2 years we would see them sporadically.
Brandi was seriously the total opposite of me. And Jim was pretty much the opposite of Trav. But something just clicked and we became way good friends. She taught me a lot! The Hastings make the best out of life. They celebrate every holiday and event in the funnest ways. Brandi is very talented! I think that's what made me like her so much; she was good at all the things I was bad at! We went on camping trips with them. We celebrated holidays with them. We always had a great time with the Hastings.
We also became really great friends with Alisha and Orson Bangert, lovingly called "The Orson's."
The Orson's are from Wisconsin; they have the accent and everything. To know them is to love them, that's really all I have to say about them. They are two of the best people I have ever met!
Two years into it, we decided to move to the Riverside, Missouri town homes, 25 minutes north of Overland Park. We were living in a one bedroom apartment and I was pregnant. Rent was cheap in Riverside and it was loaded with tons of medical and dental students. So again, we packed up our stuff and moved.
One stormy night, we got a knock on our door. A sweet girl who lived two doors down had just heard that we had moved from Utah and wanted to give us a heads up of what to do if there was a tornado warning. Trav and I just smiled and listened. She didn't know that we actually lived in Kansas for two years. I just wanted to thank Jana Johnson for saving our lives! The Johnson's were another huge part of our lives in Kansas City. Mostly because Chris talked and Travis listened. We pretty much lived at their house. They were the type of friends where you could just pop in for no reason and hang out. They had the same perv level as us, which is hard to find in couples. There usually wasn't a weekend that went by where we didn't sit around and either play games, watch ridiculous things on YouTube or just talk. Its gonna be hard without them and that's for sure!
We made a ton of great friends, but Brooklyn and Avery made more. There wasn't a day where a kid wasn't knocking at our door.
Jane and Norah
Nathan aka Chief, they sure had a love/hate relationship
Johnson kids. We sure can't wait till Avery and Jack get married, and then divorced.
Oh Romney kids, it makes me so sad to see these pictures. You guys had all kinds of adventures. You were 3 peas in a pod. We will miss you so much!!! Even you JR, Avery was kind of hard on you, but I know she loves you!
Gabby. You were my favorite babysitter. Every time you came to play I knew I could just kick my feet up and relax because you were the most mellow, easy going kid! We are gonna miss you so much! You taught Avery so much!
Brody and Brooklyn. So stinkin' cute!
Evie! Every time we planned a play date, Avery would be so excited! I'm so glad we got to hang out with you for your first week of life! Sorry Travis played so much Halo and made you think we were living in a world full of aliens.
Not only did we fall in love with the people, but I fell in love with the city.
I don't know why, but I was obsessed with the Shatto milk farm tours. I probably went at least 4 times. I think it brought out the country girl in me. Oh and the free samples never hurt.
Open gym at The Edge. I'm sure we brought home many diseases, but it was well worth it.
The duck pond. We saw a scary snake once and were chased by a goose, but other than that, this was one of our favorite places to walk to.
The Riverside pool
Our neighborhood. We spent a lot of time playing outside.
Avery claimed a tree in our front yard. I think she climbed this tree every day.
The Royals games... if only they didn't suck!
The Royals games... if only they didn't suck!
The QT. I think we spent 100 thousand dollars there, no joke, it was just too close! This was our last venture there. Sad!
The Red X. No explanation needed.
Deanna Rose farm. I lost my first child there for 20 minutes once, and yet I still kept going.
The YMCA. No offense to anyone or anything, but I think I'm gonna miss this place the most. I think I cried the day I had to cancel my membership.
And lastly, they say money can't buy happiness, and here are a bunch of pictures proving this statement right. We were all a bunch of poor students, but I don't think I have had more fun doing the most random things.
Cinco de mustache
Halloween progressive dinner
Races
Lip sync, ugly sweater party, LOST parties, birthday parties, neighborhood Olympics, etc
Girls nights, one of my favorites
Just hanging out
Moving to Kansas City was probably the hardest but best thing for me as a person. I had never been out of my comfort zone. I had to be friends with people I probably would have never considered. I had to do a lot of things on my own. We grew as individuals and we grew as a married couple. When we had fights, I couldn't run off to my parents house, I had to deal with it. When I was at the end of the rope with my kids, I didn't have family there to help me out. At times I wish I had those options, and I would take living close to family in a heartbeat if I could. I'm just saying that maybe in the beginning it wasn't the most ideal circumstance, but looking back, this is what I needed to grow. I love Kansas City. I will never forget! I will miss everything.
...phew, glad this one is over!
