The Shields: 2016 Came In With a Bang!

Right before we left for Christmas, we found out that Michael was given a six month work assignment in ROMANIA and we were all going with him! They were wanting us to leave as early as the end of January, so when we got back from break, we QUICKLY started getting everything in order to sell our house and most of our belongings so that we could pack up and leave. We went back and forth about what we wanted to do with our house. Michael's company is paying for our housing in Romania so we didn't need to sell. But overall, we decided it was best to sell so that we didn't have to worry about anything while we were gone.

Victor had a few days off still after Christmas so they decided to come to Phoenix for a few days! How cute are our matching boys?

Annie's first tim tam slam! I'm so proud!

Loved having the Castro's with us!

Our sweet little girl became a sunbeam. We love her class and their incredible teachers!

She even shared a scripture in primary and said the opening prayer!

Her teachers sent us this picture of our angel!

We won't forget this happy guy who refuses to miss out on anything if he has any say in it!

My phone started filling up with photos like these of our things we were selling or donating.

We had a few more preschool days before we left.

Including trips to the airport and S Scavenger hunts.

Grateful we got to see Great Grandma & Grandpa Ostler before we left.

We took a trip to St George thinking we'd be gone soon. (We also went back in February but that's a different story.) We loved having Will, Melanie, Camille, Liam and Grandma & Grandpa Shields there with us. We bought our St George Villa to have our families there so it was a dream come true to fill it with family!

Will's probably going to be on a mission by the time we get back! How crazy!

Michael ran a 1/2 Marathon in St George! I ran the 5K.

We had lots of playdates with so many wonderful friends.

We were able to participate in a ward service night and other church activities.

Thinking it would be our last week in Phoenix, Michael's mom came down to help us pack and get to the airport. However, it wasn't our last week. So we got to celebrate her birthday, pack, play, and do some hiking. If only our self timer was just a few more seconds.

Because things got delayed we were able to do a few more things. Including a great, quick trip to Vegas with my roommate and her babies. Of course, the only pictures I have from the trip are our awesome Serendipity ice cream moments!

Meanwhile... Harrison had two teeth pop up.

Packing was a slow process but we kept moving forward hoping that we would hear soon when we would fly out. Sometimes a few stowaways tried to sneak in.

Packing was easier some days than others....

I had to say goodbye to a wonderful job that I have loved this year. I was music teacher at a local private school and it couldn't have been more perfect for me. I was so grateful for the opportunity I had to be there.

I was a lot sadder than I thought I would be to say goodbye to my calling in church. I was primary chorister. On my last Sunday, each child gave me a flower! So sweet. So wonderful.

Although I was getting antsy to finally get our take off date, I was grateful to check off a few bucket list items before we left the states. Including this guy's birthday! What a wonderful year it has been with him in our lives.