Saying Good-bye, Going Away...

A new job.
A new town.
A new state.
A new house.
And most importantly, a new baby!

When things like this happen to a brother and his family whom you love very much, excitement abounds! Still, we were so sad to see Ryan and Celeste and their beautiful children move away from Helena after getting to spend six years with them living so close.

I've tried not to regret all them times that we didn't set up play-dates for the kids or go on a double date or invite them over to play games, etc. "Could-have-beens" aside, we do have good memories with their family and I'm so grateful for all that we did while they were here.

It seems like Celeste and I were often pregnant at the same time, so our kids are really close in age and I love it.

My Samantha is 6 months older than Maryann.
Ryan's Isaac is 3 months older than my Logan.
My Luke is 2 months older than Olivia.
My Rebecca is 5 months older than Hyrum.
My Timothy is 9 months older than Ella.

In the last few days before they moved in August, we got to spend some really fun time with them. We went out to see Ryan's kids at my parents' house while Ryan and Celeste were at the hospital bringing baby #5 into the world. (Well, Celeste was probably doing most of the work.) ;o)

All the kids played hard and loved much that day at Grandma's and Grandpa's. For fun, I took and texted the following pictures and words of encouragement to Ryan and Celeste at the hospital. How cute are these Lay kids? Adorable!


Maryann (who wrote her own sign)


Isaac and that cute toothy grin


Sweet Olivia


Hyrum (This may have been about the seventh or eighth picture I took of him. He was a more challenging subject! But the expression on his face here really makes me laugh.)

The next day we went to Lockey Park and met Grandma and Grandpa and Ryan's kiddoes there. It was a beautiful day, but hot. Ross went and got a big bulk package of bottled water for all of us. We got some fun shots and I hope it's a day not soon forgotten.


I guess I like the "Show me your muscles!" shots because I seem to have a lot of them!


It may look like a tender hug from Isaac, but I'm pretty sure Luke was actually playing the prisoner in this game. Ha. I love boys.


Maryann and Samantha


Samantha and Rebecca at the top of the tube slide


Livvy peeking through the bars


Papa Lay and Becky


Swing time, Baby!

Speaking of swing time, I dare you to watch this video and not start to giggle yourself. Hyrum is so cute! (I love the part where he starts saying my name!)


After the park we got to go to the hospital to visit Aunt Celeste and our brand new cousin, Baby Ella Kate Lay. We got there after 5:00 PM on a Saturday and realized the main doors were already closed. It was pretty hilarious to parade all nine kids around to the back of the hospital to be able to get in the Emergency Room doors. The kids were troopers. Ross and I might have whined a little bit...

I thought our little procession down the hallway was darling.


Rebecca meeting the soft, sweet, brand-new Ella


Grandchild #22 meet Grandchild #23 (Aaawwwww!)

That night I sent Ryan a text that pretty much sums things up. It said:

Thanks for letting us come and see your beautiful new baby girl. I have always loved being with my older brother Ryan and it's amazing that that now means squishing 14 people into a hospital room to celebrate a new life. Love you all so much.

The following Monday two things happened, although for the life of me I don't remember in what order. My mom and I went to a park out by the fairgrounds here in town. We took my kids and Isaac, Olivia, and Hyrum. (Maryann was being mother's little helper with the new baby, I believe.) The kids got to run around on the playground first and then we took them over to the duck pond and fed the ducks and geese the few food items that we had. Mostly french fries and Cheetos, I think!
The Lay kids also came to our house to play during all the packing and cleaning that was going on at their house. A look at our fun that day:


Little Mommies Becky and Olivia


Samantha joins the fun with her Chipette Brittany (This was another picture I took numerous times and could NOT seem to get all three girls to look at the camera at the same time!)


Here's the boys bonding over video games


And here they are again bonding over Transformers


Note the popcorn all over the floor. They obviously really enjoyed their snack! (And how cute is Timmy peeking around the corner here?)


Challeeeeeeeeeeeenge!

The following video again makes me laugh and laugh. Sweet Olivia's stance versus Hyrum's relentless attack is so funny! I just wish I hadn't cut off Olivia at the end when she turned to me and said, "I'm done!"

(Note: Click on the title of the video, which will show up if you scroll over the top, and watch it on YouTube. For some reason Blogger is cutting off the right half of the video and you can't see what Hyrum is doing. It's not as funny if you can't see him!)



On Tuesday, Ryan, Celeste and family finished their packing and headed out to their new home. Celeste's wonderful mother was along for the ride to help them get settled. They stopped at my dad's office to load up a few things they'd been storing there, so I took Logan with me so we could go say one last good-bye and I could drop off a lullaby CD that I'd made for Celeste.


I'm not sure I can adequately express how much I LOVE this picture. They are such darling buddies and Logan truly misses Isaac!

I also love this shot because it's of Logan saying, "Take me! Take me!" (And what an amazing packing job there, Ry!)


Ryan and I used to live in the same apartment complex before I got married and so I got to spend a lot of time with him then talking and bonding probably more than we ever had growing up. I wouldn't trade that time for anything. He has always been someone to look up to and admire. He's a big tease and funny and strong and passionate about what he does.

It was always funny to see girls look relieved when they found out I am Ryan's sister and not competition. :o) But can I just say how right for him the girl he married is? Having met a LOT of the girls who were madly in love with my brother, I can honestly say that none of them ever compared to Celeste. I remember a time that I believe was before I even met her when Ryan talked about her to me. In addition to being beautiful (Seriously, have you seen this woman? Just look how great she looks in the top picture mere days after having a baby!) and having a fun personality, he said something like he loved how spiritually mature she was. That may not sound like a romantic quality, but if you'd seen the look on his face, he was a man smitten. She is fantastic! I love being able to comfortably converse with her and share thoughts and feelings on the Church, life as a mommy, family and friends.

I was trying to think of what to title this post and finally the song "Saying Good-bye" from the movie "Muppets Take Manhattan" came to mind. I am a huge fan of the genius of Jim Henson and love that movie a lot. When I listened to the song again, it seems to fit this post.

Saying goodbye, going away
Seems like goodbye's such a hard thing to say
Touching a hand, wondering why
It's time for saying goodbye

Saying goodbye, why is it sad?
Makes us remember the good times we've had
Much more to say, foolish to try
It's time for saying goodbye

Don't want to leave, but we both know
Sometimes it's better to go
Somehow I know we'll meet again
Not sure quite where, and I don't know just when
You're in my heart, so until then
It's time for saying goodbye

Somehow I know we'll meet again
Not sure quite where, and I don't know just when
You're in my heart, so until then
Wanna smile, wanna cry
Saying goodbye

We love you, Ryan, Celeste, Maryann, Isaac, Olivia, Hyrum, and Ella! We are so happy for you to be where the Lord wants you to be and we can't wait to see you again!