so long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu

we said goodbye to our very good friends/cousins, Jonathan & Alyson yesterday

i may have cried many times this weekend leading up to the final goodbye

we helped them pack, moved some of their things to our apartment to store and sent them off with lots of hugs and a huge bag full of cookies, chocolate, and red vines
enough for an 8-month pregnant woman driving 15 hours across the country.

since Jonathan and Alyson have been married and moved just a few doors down from us, we did everything together.
we would have spontaneous dinner parties, watched countless movies, watched BYU football and basketball games, lots and lots game nights, lots and lots of eating, set off fireworks, helped welcome our new baby home, and became obsessed with the Bachelorette together.

Jonathan is Adam’s cousin and his partner in crime along with his other cousins since they were wee babies. they’ve blown stuff up, started forest fires, invented BLG, played video/computer games for hours on end, blown stuff up, “sold” security systems in obscure towns in the Midwest, watched every movie ever made & can quote them, and blown stuff up.

 
[Adam, Jonathan, Brandon, 2007]

Brandon left us last summer, and now it’s Jonathan’s turn to leave. so now all Adam’s got is me… and i don’t really blow stuff up.
so he’s already going through withdrawals.

Alyson was my next door neighbor when i lived in Illinois and one of my first friends when i moved. i moved in the middle of my junior year of high school. it was already a really hard transition, leaving friends i had known all my life, and it was even harder when i found that i didn’t get along with a lot of the girls in my ward. granted, i was pretty bitter about the move and it flung me into a huge funk. i remember calling my friend Holli often crying about how much i hated the place and wish i could be in Arizona again.

enter Alyson.

 
[i love this picture! Alyson came to visit my freshman year of college. things to note: of course Alyson’s wearing my sweater, Alyson is always eating, i’m pretty sure i’m wearing something of Alyson’s, Alyson is really pretty, oh yeah i dyed my hair brown once and Adam hates it, we’re super cheesy]

Alyson was so sweet and kind to me and always made me feel welcome. she didn’t ever make me feel like i was nuisance and loved hearing my stories from back home {or at least acted like it}. she wanted to be my friend and did everything she could to make me feel like i was just as much a part of the ward as those who had been there their whole life. she even went as far as to stick up for me [many times] to other girls (she of course told me this later, i didn’t know it at the time).
i will forever be grateful to Alyson for the love and compassion she showed to me when i felt so alone

and now she’s having her own little baby that i’m not going to see for a while…which makes me cry. but  it’s pretty cool we’re related now.  so i know i’ll get to see her and her baby soon!
{family reunion 2012?!}

WE WILL MISS YOU GUYS!!
thanks for being our very best friends

so long, farewell
auf weidersehen, goodbye

:::p.s. Alyson and Jon love Sound of Music just like us. so it was only fitting to use that song :)