The last few days have had their ups and downs

Friday the three of us went up to Bakersfield. Shawn played golf with the guys while Inara and I had lunch with Nina. It's the first time I've been able to sit and talk with Nina since her mom passed away 3 weeks ago, so I was glad to be able to spend some quality time with one of my best friends. Inara was so good and slept while Nina and I had a 2 1/2 hour lunch. I love good long conversations like that, especially with such an amazing friend. That night we went to dinner with a big group of our friends: Mike and Nina, Carlos and Sasha, Irish and Clay, Jeff and Bree, Kimber and Scott and his brother. Sitting there at the table I got choked up because I knew it would be one of the last times we'd get to hang out with some of these friends before we move. I got super sad but hid it pretty well. Saturday morning the 3 of us went to visit Carol, Shawn's old boss. She's one of the nicest ladies I've ever met. She even had a gift for Inara and had posted Inara's picture up in her restaurant. We had a great time chatting with her. We then went to see Greg and Tracy's new house. I'm so excited for the two of them. Their house is really spacious. Yes, it needs a little work but I can see the beauty that lies underneath all that floral wallpaper. Afterwards, we headed over to my cousin's house for my aunt's 50th birthday party. I was totally shocked to hear the news: my cousin Kim is pregnant!!! Holy cow!!! That was a big surprise and I totally cried because I'm so excited that our family is growing. But then I got sad realizing that Inara and Kim's child won't be able to see each other as often as I'd like. I think the big move is really starting to set in. Saturday night we then met up with Jason, his parents, Thane, Kristi, Avery and Kristi's parents for our annual Christmas dinner. We went to Kristi and Thane's afterwards to open presents. We truly have the best friends. Jason made me a portrait of Inara that is so adorable. He and his mom Diane also got Inara some super cute outfits and monkey toys. I do love monkeys! Tonight I hung out with my other two best friends Sierra and Elizabeth. We saw Sweeney Todd (which by the way was very good) and did our gift exchange. I totally cried as I looked through the photo album Elizabeth made for me. I'm going to miss my friends SOOOO much. I know I will see my parents for sure but it's always harder for all the friends to make it out of state to visit and when we come here I can only hope people will be able to take a break from their busy schedules so we can visit them. I'm so very luck to have the friends I do and I hope they all know how much I LOVE THEM!!!! If I could only convince them all to move to Colorado though. Sadness...