I helped finish up the loading of two moving trucks (we loaded another one last month) and tomorrow the trucks are headed for Utah.

Mark’s finishing his contract with his new employer, the physical therapist who purchased the practice Mark was in, during the month of May. Then, come the beginning of June, they’re taking their family on a vacation to Disney World.

We’ll see them for a few days here in Vegas after their Florida trip, then they will officially be moved to Utah for Mark to start his Ph.D. program at BYU.

They’re staying with Amber’s mom in Heber City for a while until they get situated, Mark begins his coursework and they find a home of their own somewhere in Provo/Orem.

It does feel a bit like a part of our family is now gone. We’ll miss the daily contact with them, the Sunday dinners, birthday and holiday celebrations, and trips to Capistrano Beach during the summer.

We certainly wish Mark well in his studies and their whole family all the best as they make a new home for themselves.

He has been accepted into a doctorate program at BYU and will begin his full-time studies this fall. He plans to be done in three years then get some a high paying gig with a university, teaching physical therapy.

Mark and I have been friends since we were seven, growing up in Houston. The main reason we moved to Henderson was because we saw an opportunity to live near the Coglianeses, just seven doors down, and for our families to be together.

We have gone on summer vacations together, celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and holidays together, and had Sunday dinners at each other’s homes nearly every week.

We’ve known for a while that this move was coming. Today was the first day it really set in though. The Coglianeses won’t be seven doors down for too much longer. We’ll sure miss them.

Here’s a photo of Dominic dancing with Mijken (who’s three weeks older than him) this afternoon while Mark and I loaded the moving truck.

On another note: Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone! Isn’t it nice that we have a day to remember those we love?

We celebrated with the kids this year, dinner at Pei Wei and dessert from The Cheesecake Factory. Plus Vickey got me a box of See’s chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

I went around a couple blocks with Eliana and Dominic in tow along with the Nelsons. Then I had to come in for a break. About 15 minutes later the Coglianese clan showed up for our pick-up truck ride around to friends and church members who live in other parts of our subdivision.

We drove around for about an hour. Our kids ended up with a plastic grocery bag completely stuffed and overflowing with candy. Mark said he puts as much candy as will fit in a gallon Ziploc bag for his five kids and takes the rest to work. I can’t take our extra candy to work because there’s just a few of us and I’m trying to cut down on sweets these days.

Eliana was dressed as sleeping beauty (AKA Aurora). Dominic was supposed to wear Ellie’s 2 year-old unicorn outfit, but he didn’t like it. He ended up dressed as a cowboy. He wore the cowboy hat my mom bought a while ago and a leather cowboy vest Vickey brought back from her Pampered Chef conference in Dallas a year or so ago.

They were cute and very excited to participate in trick or treating. Ellie got to double dip since on Tuesday the week before she went to our ward’s trunk or treat and came home with a big bag full of candy (that’s the night Vickey and I were en route back from Philadelphia).

I’m amazed at how many homes go all out with decorations for Halloween. It seems like it’s a bigger draw than Christmas.

It was a fun Halloween even though work has just been insane since I returned from Philly.