Loving Our Neighborhood

A little over 5 years ago, we moved into this neighborhood and we loved it. The neighbors were great and the ward beyond amazing. I slowly started to realize something that I hadn't given much thought when we bought the house since Jake was only 6 months old then. There were no kids around. None. There were plenty in our ward, but they all lived down in the bigger part of the ward and we're up in this little, almost peninsula of the boundaries.
Over the past 3 years though that has changed and we love it here now even more than we did then. In that time we had boy/girl twins that are Jake's age move in just two doors up, a family with 4 kids including a girl Jake's age and a boy Coop's age 4 doors up, and most recently a family moved in right next door with 4 children as well ranging from almost 2 to 7. I especially love the newest neighbors because the mom is the real deal, not phony, not "perfect", but fun, sarcastic, and REAL! We've gotten to know each other well since she is here pretty much on her own a majority of the time. (Her husband is a physician and still working in their old state as he works on getting all of his licensing moved to Utah, which is apparently quite the process.)
It is so much fun, almost reliving my childhood as I watch all of these kids run from house to house playing with one another. There really are no words to describe it. As mom's, we've spent the summer doling out popsicles and kool-aid as the need arises. I feel so blessed to have such great neighbors knowing that we're all watching out after these kiddos together, and especially that my kids will grow up making some awesome memories with such a fun group of kiddos.