Birthday Snapshots + a Bittersweet Goodbye

This month has already been a whirlwind!

So far I can say that July has been a month of change and anticipation {mostly great, some difficult}. We celebrated a couple of weekends ago with my family, and then on my actual birthday {which was a Monday this year... damn Leap Year! :)} I worked from home, met friends for lunch, and S and I went to an ah-mazing Mexican BYOB for dinner. It was such a nice day. :)

Steve & me 

Grilling with the family

The fruit pizza I made for our get together... definitely making this again. SO good!

Birthday dinner with the boy

The restaurant we went to... delish

Dinner at the Tortilla Press... salmon with mango barbecue sauce, chipotle mashed potatoes, and mixed veggies

Switching gears... this past weekend we {once and for all} moved mom out of the house. The place that I grew up in. That we grew up in. My whole family, really. My husband, even. The memories we have in that house are countless, fill my heart up, and make me feel so lucky to have lived so many years in such a great place. I know that a house is just a structure, but that place was home, you know? So... it was hard. And I think I tried a little too hard to justify why it shouldn't be hard. But of course it should be. I think anyone would be lying if they said it wasn't difficult to say goodbye to their childhood home. But the sweet outweighs the bitter in the "bittersweet" of it all. In the end, it is a good thing in many ways. It really feels like we're flipping the page and starting a brand new chapter.

Goodbye girly pink room with the worn grey rug that I loved so much!

And goodbye view from the screened porch where we spent so many evenings.

Goodbye 68 <3