Time Flies

Time seems to be passing so quickly right now. I don't realize how long it has been since I've posted until I look at the date. Most of our time has been getting settled into our new apartment, unpacking, and shopping. I am happy to say I only have 3 boxes left to unpack and it is mostly just filled with pictures. Hopefully, this weekend Dwayne and I will buckle down and take the time to get all our pictures up. I still have a counter full of misc stuff and papers I need to go through and either get rid of it or find a home for it. Because this place is so much smaller, I'm going to have to work really hard to keep the clutter down. I can't just set it aside to deal with later because I'm going to need that space for something.

I'm very grateful to say that we have already found a church that we are comfortable with and are attending regularly. We visited one just down the road from us the first weekend we were here. As I was glancing through the bulliten I noticed that they were having a newcomers dinner that very night. After talking to Dwayne we decided to go ahead and attend because what better way to find out about the church? After meeting some of the pastors and listening to the reasons why they do some of the things they do we decided we were comfortable enough to just sign our names as members. I really feel like it was God's hand at work because I really wanted to make connections quickly since I'm so far away from my friends and family. It is a HUGE church. Every weekend regularly has 3000-4000 attendees between 4 services. Dwayne has a huge heart and loves working with children so he is planning on volunteering for the children's ministry. I just don't feel the calling to do that. I never have. Luckily, they have a fairly large bookstore and coffee shop and I will be attending some training this weekend to start volunteering my time there. It will be so great to continue utilizing the skills and knowledge I picked up while working at the Christian bookstore in Washington.

We've already toured the town pretty good and checked out the local library. We received our tax refund last Friday so this past weekend Dwayne took Friday off and we finished getting things done with the cars like registration and new license plates. We also took the time to upgrade and transfer our cell phone service. So it's official now we have Colorado driver's licenses, registrations, phone numbers and Colorado license plates. Does that mean we are Coloradans (sp?) now? Friday evening we went shopping for a new TV. We finally have a tv that doesn't have lots of lines running down it. The picture quality is so much better. Saturday we went and got the brakes done on the van and went to look at mattresses. Dwayne has been complaining about our mattress for quite a while. We went to only "look" but I knew we would be financing and buying a new bed. That was my Valentine's gift to him. With his new raise, I was able to justify doing that for him. The mattress was delivered on Monday and we are so enjoying having a good night's sleep with actual back support. In just the few night's we've slept on it his snoring has reduced tremendously as well.

Sunday morning, Dwayne gave me the morning alone. I took the time to go do some serious shopping. I decided to get some new bedding to go with our new bed. Our quilt was looking pretty raggedy and literally just falling apart. Because I was alone I was able to take over an hour just going through all the different bedding options and really take my time. It was wonderful! I also was supposed to go shoe shopping. I didn't find any I really liked but was very excited to find a really nice pair of waterproof winter boots for only $12. They are nice enough that I can get away with wearing them with my every day clothes too if the weather requires it.

I also went ahead and purchased Sam's preschool program this past weekend. I'm pretty excited to start working with him a little and I'm sure Evie will be tagging right along. In fact, the FedEx guy just delivered it so I'm going to dive into all our new books as soon as I'm done with this post. As you can see, we are keeping ourselves busy and trying really hard to lay down roots quickly. So far, we are really loving it here. I didn't think I would feel so comfortable so quickly. People have been so nice and welcoming. It is weird having so much sunshine. I see the sun and think it is going to be warm but one step outside and its a little chilly. I also miss the trees. I feel very exposed here but I'm sure I'll get used to that. I miss my family, of course, but it isn't as bad as I imagined it would be. The hardest part is having Sam and Evie ask to go to Grandma's house and having to explain that we can't because it is too far away. I don't think they really understand. Overall, we are good though and I'm glad the move is done. I hope Dwayne's job stays stable for a while now. I really don't want to do this again anytime soon. Besides, I'm liking it here. :)

Arriving in Denver

Wednesday we woke up and got on the road around 8. This stretch of Wyoming is even worse than the day before. The towns were few and far between with lots of desolate defunct gas stations or convenience stores. Things started to get interesting as we crossed over a small mountain range approaching Cheyenne. All of a sudden we were in grasslands and we could tell we were approaching the beginning of the great plains. I've never been on the plains before so I found it fascinating. Now that we live closer I look forward to discovering this new ecosystem. At Cheyenne we turned south towards Denver. We were making excellent time and would be in Denver by 2:00. We wouldn't be able to claim our apartment until Thursday but we thought that since we were arriving in town so early and our moving truck is waiting for us, we went to the apartments and got all of our lease signing over with. That way we could claim the keys first thing in the morning and get the movers there ASAP. However, as we were approaching downtown, traffic got really really congested. It was a little strange considering it wasn't time for any work traffic.


As it turns out the North side of the freeway ended up being shutdown completely. As we drove by we got a good view of the investigation team setting up cones, snapping pictures, etc. When Dwayne saw just a shoe sitting in the middle of the freeway with a cone next to it we knew something serious had happened. We found out later that a pedestrian decided to cross the freeway and of course, didn't make it. He was struck and killed by a semi. I was thinking to myself, "What a welcome to Denver." We finally made it to the apartment a little late but still able to sign the lease. Grabbed a local hotel, went to Red Robin for dinner and went to sleep. The next morning we were at the door when they opened the office, grabbed our keys, and claimed our apartment. We also called the movers to let them know we were in. Sam was so excited to finally get his toys back.

We, of course, didn't have the beds set up yet and I figured Evie would just skip her nap for the day but we discovered her little body had other plans.

So we finally made it. We were lucky the weather held for us and God was with us on this trip. The kids handled it extremely well and we were able to put in full days of driving without too much fuss. All of our stuff arrived like it was supposed to and on time. Nothing really came out broken or damaged so we had no horror stories about the moving company. The kids just seemed happy that we weren't traveling anymore and had all their things again. The hardest part for us has been trying to juggle our things into a smaller space. Even after all the purging we have already done we have taken another van full to the local Goodwill. Dwayne seems to have settled into his job just fine and he comes home so much happier than before. I didn't realize how stressed he really was until I have seen him unstressed. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and support during this transition. I hope to send out Easter cards this year to everybody with all our new information. We are always on Facebook too so I'm sure you'll catch us there from time to time.

Tuesday's Drive

Tuesday was probably the most boring day of our trip. I tried to find interesting things to see outside but unfortunately, there isn't a lot of change in that part of the country. Most of it looks pretty much the same. Especially in the middle of winter. We left Boise before the sun came up so we got to see the sunrise. It was very pretty peaking over the horizon and very sudden too since there weren't any mountains to block it. One moment it is dark and the next it is not. There was no gradual sunrise like in the NW.

Driving through Eastern Idaho was probably the most dangerous part of the trip. We were very blessed to have good weather pretty much the whole time and we were lucky not to have gotten caught in any storms or snow. The roads were a bit icy and the big trucks were kicking up so much slush and dirt it was hard to see through the windshield. After slipping a couple times I realized I needed to slow down. You don't really realize how fast you are going in on a straight boring stretch of road.

After stopping at another McDonald's Playplace in Northern Utah for an hour's lunch break we turned east once again rather than continuing south to Mormon territory. The Rockies were starting to make themselves known even though we were still only in the foothills. Also, further south they become much more rugged and dangerous to cross. Still looking ahead at the mountains it was hard to believe a major freeway was finding its way through this small pass. It was a tight squeeze and had several sharp curves but we popped throught the other side and very quickly found ourselves in Wyoming.

Now Wyoming is a state I can't imagine myself living in. Especially the southern part. If you aren't a rancher or a trucker there is absolutely nothing there for you to do. My mom reminded me that the whole state is probably not that way but the part we drove through was boring beyond boring. It was flat. Very flat. I was looking forward to seeing an old school friend who lived near Rock Springs but she called to say that her kids had strep. As we were approaching the town though we did see start to see a few interesting natural formations. If you ever wondered "What exactly is a butte?" Well, the following is a picture of one.

We stopped in Rock Springs around 4 pm again and found ourselves another hotel. Even though we weren't meeting my friend anymore, after checking the map we realized there was a whole lot of nothing coming up and Rock Springs is the only town with any significant size for several more hours. The kids were starting to fight again pretty bad anyway so I knew it was time to stop. We went to a local Chinese buffet (not that great) for dinner and then came back and threw the kids in the pool again to get out their wiggles. We then went to bed early again.

Monday's Drive

This is a picture of our room at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. It really doesn't do the place justice. It is a gorgeous hotel and the rooms were definately old and classic. Not a place I would recommend for little ones though. But perfect for a romantic getaway.

All I can say is thank goodness for electronic toys and that we were able to set up our laptop as a DVD player. Otherwise this would have been an even longer trip than it was.

We woke up pretty early Saturday morning because I was anxious to get on the road. It had snowed overnight in Hood River but it was just a dusting and not too bad. Most of this day was pretty uneventful. We had all our toys ready to go and since it was the first day the kids were pretty good. We still had a few moments of them fighting over a toy or hitting each other but this is normal everyday stuff whether we were in a car or not. My goal was to make it to Boise the first day and I'm happy to say we made it. This was even with an hour stop at a McDonalds PlayPlace for lunch so the kids could burn off some of their pent up energy. We also made sure the hotel we stayed at had a pool so we could take them swimming in the evening to help with that too.

Now lest you think this is a picture of nothing, let me assure you it is something. In a portion of Eastern Oregon before we hit the last mountain range before hitting Idaho we hit a patch of fog that was incredibly thick. I've never driven in fog that thick before and Dwayne and I were debating on if we were actually driving through low lying clouds since we were in high enough elevation for that. Needless to say, I'm glad it was daytime and it only lasted about 10 minutes but it was a bit scary to go through and not see anything around you.

If you look right in the middle of this picture you can see the clouds/fog we had driven through.

This is a small video of Evie rockin out to some music we were playing. She was boppin and dancing but, of course every time she noticed Daddy taking a picture she would stop. She was also chomping on a mouthful of jerky which is why her mouth is so full.

We made it to Boise at about 4pm in the afternoon after a full day of driving. I decided I wanted to get to the far side of Boise to avoid any kind of work traffic congestion in the morning. It was about perfect timing since the kids' fighting was escalating from being in the van all day. We found a decent Best Western, went to dinner, threw the kids in the hotel pool for 45 min or so, took our baths/showers, and all of us went to bed. Unfortunately, the kids wouldn't go to sleep unless we did too since the lights and TV were on. Even though I wasn't ready I went to bed early so they could go to sleep. I must say it was probably a good thing for me to get a good night's sleep but I was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at about 5 am just waiting for some signs of life in my family so we could get up and get on the road.

Weekend before we leave

We left Washington Friday night after Dwayne got home from work. After the decision was made to head down to my mom's before we had to leave on Monday I was anxious and ready to go. I did my best to have the house clean and things ready to be packed but the kids were a little demanding of my time and attention because they were so bored. I kept popping in various movies into the laptop but they were anxious because the house was empty and they didn't have their things. Despite the distractions I managed to get the place cleaned up. Our things weren't exactly packed well though. Somehow, Dwayne and I squeezed everything into every little nook and cranny in the van. If we had gotten in an accident it would have been really bad with stuff everywhere. Luckily, God was with us and the trip down to Oregon was uneventful.

Saturday was pretty decent weather for an Oregon winter so we decided to visit the Portland Children's museum. In all the years we had lived there we never visited. We all thought the kids were at the perfect age to enjoy it finally and so we loaded up and went. Because of the boys' enjoyment of trains we decided to take the Max up to the zoo and avoid all the parking hassels. They thought that was great fun and fascinated the whole time. Especially going through the "big tunnel." Of course, walking by the train at the Forestry center required a stop so the kids and Aiden especially could get on it.

Inside the Children's museum was a stage where children could put on performances and pretend they are in a play. Sam found a couple of drums, parked himself front and center and played and sang away for a good 10 minutes. He would have kept on too if I hadn't forced him to move on to something else.

We then checked out a large train set that had the boys fascinated. Luckily, nearby was a pretend bus that kept Evie busy while she drove Daddy to school. The kids spent the most time though in a large dig pit. It consisted of chopped up sponge plastic pieces. Kind of like the bottoms of shoes. They dug and dug and dug while all the parents just sat around relaxing, just relieved the kids were busy and we didn't have to eyeball them so hard or chase after them. Every parent in the area had the "phew" look on their faces.

Sunday we went to visit Dwayne's grandma and saw Dianne again one last time. We then completely emptied the van and repacked everything the way it should have been done in the first place. We were still extremely full but at least not bursting at the seams as much as before. By the time this was all done I was getting anxious to get on the road. Especially knowing that Mom and Melody get up so early for work. I didn't want to prolong the goodbyes and make them late and deal with cranky kids who got woken up to early. So we decided to leave about 5pm Sunday night. My idea was to get a hotel in Troutdale so we could avoid the Portland Monday morning work traffic. We made such good time though that we went all the way to Hood River and stayed at the Columbia Gorge Hotel. I had heard a lot of good things about it and I'm very happy to say I was able to stay a night there. To be continued........

We are here

I know it has been 10 days since I've posted anything. As most of you know we have arrived in Denver safely. I have been busy trying to get our accounts switched over and unpacking. By the time evening comes, I'm not usually in the mood to type up something in the blog. I have pictures from our drive over and from the last few days. I'll try to post them for you soon. This is just a quick note to let you know we have arrived in Denver and are safe.

Packed and Ready

Well, our stuff got loaded onto the truck today and is on its way to Colorado. I must say I was a little surprised by how long it took. Apparently, the two previous households were underestimated and took up a lot more room in the truck. Because of that, they had to really jigsaw our stuff into the truck to make sure it all fit. The guys did a really good job and I was delighted by how respectfully they treated our things. It also sounds like our stuff will be arriving the 28th when we do so I don't have to go any days at all without our things. The Lord really answered my prayers with that one. It is hard enough without our stuff in territory we are comfortable with. I couldn't imagine trying to do it in a state and city I know nothing about. That will also give me the whole weekend with my husband to get some major unpacking done before he has to go to work. Please pray that the good weather continues to hold and our drive to Colorado will be uneventful.

Tomorrow we will be getting rid of our washer/dryer, making a dump run, and cleaning the house. Dwayne will have to pop into work to get his items shipped so they will ready for him when he gets there. Melody and Mom were going to come up this weekend and we were talking about spending a day in Seattle but it turns out Mom has caught the flu and feels pretty miserable. I could tell she was really disappointed but was trying to hold it together. I'm not really feeling like spending 3 days in an empty house trying to keep two toddlers entertained so I think we are going to go down to Oregon for the weekend. We'll just quaranteen my mother and let her see the kids a little and hear their laughter. It will also be nice to start our trip from Oregon. We are hoping to make it to at least Boise the first day and starting in Portland will cut off a couple hours from our trip. Having the house completely empty should make it pretty easy and quick to clean up. I'm getting excited now and ready to get on the road.

Packing Day

I think this whole moving thing is finally hitting me today. I've been frustrated, anxious, and cry at the stupidest things. The kids are feeding off my energy and fighting, screaming, arguing, and misbehaving like crazy. I can honestly say I have not been a model parent today. I will be happy when we are on the road and on our way. Tomorrow is finally packing day. We have a crew of people coming into the house to put everything they can in boxes and Thursday they will be back to actually load the stuff into the truck. Thursday night or Friday morning, Mom and Melody will be up for one last visit over the weekend and to help me clean the house and tie up loose ends. Monday we will be on the road towards Denver. I've been wanting this day to get here but now that it is I feel like I'm not ready. It will be interesting to keep the kids entertained with limited toys and a laptop. I think the kids and I will be fighting over the laptop. LOL. We did set aside some children's DVD's to play for them on the laptop as I am not ashamed to say my kids are addicted to the TV. I also have some activities, books, and toys set aside. Having Mom and Melody here for the majority of the empty house time will certainly help tremendously. I think we are planning a trip to the zoo to help pass the time. I know it is in God's hands and things will be fine but please pray that everything falls into place like it should and he helps ease the anxiety I'm feeling about this whole thing.

Great Wolf Lodge

Just down the road from us, literally about 15 min away, is a large beautiful hotel with giant water slides coming out of it. Since it has been built, it constantly flashes to us from the freeway all the deals and specials and fun it is supposed to have there. We have looked into the price of an overnight stay, wince at that price, and tell ourselves, "Well, maybe some day." That someday finally happened this weekend. Dianne wanted to have one last mini vacation with us and booked a room at the hotel. Right before we left, Dwayne came home with a unexpected bonus check so we were able to help her offset the cost.

We walked into a huge lobby. It was very nice and gorgeous. Huge soaring ceilings, a walkway from another floor crossing in front of us, a giant tree, a huge fireplace with animatronic animals, and two restaurants off to the left. All of this with the first views. Only people who stay overnight at the park get to play in the waterpark and check-in isn't until 4:00. However, you are allowed to come in at 1:00 and let them know you are there and play in the park until your room is available. So Dianne and I loaded the kids into the van with all the stuff we needed for an overnight stay anywhere with toddlers and headed to the hotel with the intention of doing just that. Unfortunately, Dwayne had to work but would join us later. When we got there we lucked out and our room was already available. This was a huge relief for me. I would much rather change into my bathing suit in the privacy of my own room than in a public restroom. After changing we entered the park and looked around. There was a huge fort with bridges and ropes and all kinds of things that sprayed, shot, and dumped water. We also passed a large wave pool. Off in the distance we saw a pool set up for playing some basketball. And soaring high above us were staircases leading to the water slides. Off to the right, we finally found the little kid section and played there for a couple hours. Sam was excited at the idea of going swimming but really really hated get sprayed or wet unexpectedly. He likes to have fun on his own terms. (It sounds an awfully lot like his mom.) Evie was a little daredevil and was climbing on all the things available, sliding down slides, and shooting everything she could. It soon became very apparent that we needed to put a life vest on her because she was so busy it was hard to keep up with her and keep my eye 100% on her. There was also a lot of little kids running around. Without my glasses, I'm pretty blind and it was interesting trying to keep track of which brown haired little girl was mine.

We pulled the kids out in time for a snack and checked out the HUGE arcade on the 2nd floor. I also browsed a little in the beautiful gift shop and ended up getting the kids some more stuffed animals. Like they really needed another one of those. Oh well. Dwayne was able to get off a little early so we grabbed him and went to WalMart for a couple items and then out to dinner. The kids and I had rough night sleeping in the room. There were kids running around in the hall till well after midnight and the room was just too hot for my comfort. Evie woke up several times in the night and Dwayne finally just put her in bed with me and crawled onto the pull-out couch with Sam.

This morning, we went out to a nice breakfast and came back, checked out of the hotel and then went back into the water park for several hours. Even though check-out is 11:00 you are allowed to stay and play in the waterpark the day of departure until it closes at 9:00 at night. You just can't have your things in the room. Evie and I had a hard time being together today. I think it was lack of sleep on both our parts. Once she was with Daddy though things got better. We set the kids up with Grandma and a couple of snacks and Dwayne and I ran to do a couple of the really big slides while we had the chance. Those slides made the whole trip worth it. They were quite fun and they were really what I needed after a frustrating and tiring night. We decided to call it quits around lunch time and headed home. I was so greatful that in this case, home was only 15 minutes away.

The lodge and waterpark is a lot of fun but definately a place I would recommend for kids just a little older than ours. Check out their website at http://www.greatwolf.com/grandmound/waterpark .We had fun but I think we would have had just a tad more fun if I didn't have to keep such a close eye on the little ones and could take advantage of the big rides a little myself.

Sam's Birthday

We went down to Oregon again this past weekend to throw a joined birthday party for Sam and Aiden and to also say goodbye to all the friends and family we probably won't get to see again for a while. We had quite the turnout so I'm grateful Melody's friend Jennifer allowed us to dominate her house. My mom's house would have been way too small. We kept it pretty simple since we didn't have a lot of money. Everybody was kind enough to bring some finger foods which was perfect and we just did some cupcakes for the cake. I managed to find a pin the tail on the donkey game at Dollar Tree. It was really nice because it used stickers for the tail instead of pins. So even the littlest ones could play.

The Mahar boys dominated the game and won a couple coloring books for prizes.

After the game we did some cake while we waited for the last couple of guests to arrive. Sam totally understood the whole birthday thing this year and was so joyous when we were singing to him. It was so beautiful to see.

After cake we opened presents. With Evie's help of course.

Finally the last couple of guests arrived and we could do the pinata. I managed to find a small one at WalMart for only $10. But nobody could break it. It was really stirdy. Dwayne finally had to step on it to break it open. I had a bag full of toys and candy that wouldn't fit into my tiny little pinata. You got to love the dollar store! Here is Kristopher with his family looking on giving it a good swing.

Evie, of course, couldn't be left out.

After the pinata broke, the party broke up pretty quickly. It was short and sweet but I'm so grateful I got to see everyone one last time. The kids had a wonderful time and everyone was so gracious.

Finally Some Progress

I finally feel like we are making progress on this whole move. This morning we received the money we were supposed to for misc. fees, etc. so we can turn in our application for the apartment. I also received a phone call from the moving company. After talking to the gentlemen, I feel much more confident about the move and allowing them to pack for me. I might as well take advantage of the professionals since Dwayne's company is paying for it right? I'll probably continue to do some on my own but the majority is going to be in their capable hands. It looks like we are going to travel out on the 25th with an arrival estimate of Wed. the 27th. We only have to travel a minumum of 500 miles a day so I'm going to take advantage of that and take our time considering we have two small children. The moving company will be meeting me this Thurs to give an estimate on the house and take a look at what it will all entail. I can hardly believe that we are only going to be here a couple more weeks. This whole thing is happening way too fast.

Since we are moving forward pretty confidently, I posted our place on Craigslist today to try and find renters. Our landlord will only let us out of our lease if we do the advertising and legwork in trying to find a new renter. I've already received two calls and this is the first day. I'm praying really hard that we will find a renter quickly and that will be one less thing on our plate.

Hurry Up and Wait

Well, we are at a waiting phase again. I thought with all my new found information that I was happy to receive would actually mean progress towards our moving adventure. Well, that hasn't necessarily been the case. I did have someone to contact but they went on vacation for Christmas. So I decided to wait and take Christmas week off too. It was nice to not stress about the move for a few days and visit with family. Early this week I contacted who I needed too to get some money transferred to us for fees etc so we can get our apartment application turned in. At this point we don't even have the place for sure yet. We just found a place we would like to live. He also said he would contact the moving company and we should hear from them soon so that we can start that process as well. By Wednesday, I hadn't seen any money or heard from the moving company. I contacted John again and he said it should be early this week that I see both things happening. So it has been a waiting game for pretty much two weeks. It is driving me crazy because now that it is January I can see the clock ticking. Feb. 1st will be here before we know it and we are not ready. I haven't even really started packing because the moving company is supposed to help me with that. I don't know what that entails, what to expect, etc. I'm waiting to hear from them to get that started. On the plus side, my last day of work was Dec. 30th. I finally feel like I can get stuff done around the house that has been neglected and then I get sick with some sort of viral thing. I'm feeling back to myself today but Dwayne has been hit. I really really hope the kids don't get it.

In other news, I got a food dehydrator and apple slicer/corer for Christmas. Let's just say I have been enjoying myself immensly making dried apple slices for snacking and storing. Evie loves them as much as me and eats them no problem. Sam emphatically informs me that he does NOT like old apples and could he please have a new one? I know he likes them just fine but I think it is the texture that is getting to him. I'll keep working on him. I can't wait until we are settled into our new place. One of the first things I'm gonna try is to make some jerky.

Also, just a reminder to everyone, that we are having a combined birthday party for Sam/Aiden as well as a goodbye to everyone this coming Saturday the 9th at 1:00. Melody has the address of her friend who has offered her home for this use. Call me or her if you don't have it already. It will be a potluck type thing for snack or drink items only. We aren't doing a full meal deal. Just finger and snack foods. We will provide a pinata, cake, and a couple of games for the kids. Call or facebook me if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to seeing you there!

Christmas

Christmas Eve we drove down early in the morning to catch Dave and Charlene before they went up to her parents. The kids were very excited to see everyone and they totally got the idea of presents this year. It was more exciting for me as a mommy too to see them enjoying themselves. We then went to my Mom's house to hang out the rest of Christmas Eve. My mom has a tradition of opening all gifts to each other on Christmas Eve and then doing stockings and Santa gifts Christmas morning. They were very blessed even though everyone was tight financially. Sam was excited because he got some new tracks for his Hot Wheels. Evie got various princess type things and Melody gave her some beaded necklaces, bracelets, and earrings which she wore all day and then promptly lost or broke. LOL The joys of Christmas.

Christmas morning they played with all their new toys while we waited for Dianne and Stephanie to come over. We then opened all our Santa gifts and the stuff from them. We spent the rest of the day hearding and supervising children while they played with all their stuff. After a nice meatloaf for dinner we decided to just drive home so we could all sleep in our own beds. The kids crashed on the way home and slept through the night after all the hard playing. Overall it was a very fun weekend and one I think we will remember for quite a while.

Good News

Yesterday afternoon we finally heard from Dwayne's new boss about his salary for moving to Denver. Instead of offering him a raise they offered him a promotion. With the new promotion comes a huge pay raise. We will be making $15,000 more a year. That is huge and almost doubles what I was bringing in with my little part-time job. This news has been a huge relief and has lessened so much stress for us. So it looks official that we are going to Denver. We still don't have a set time line yet for moving but it looks like we are still heading for Feb 1st to be out there. Considering this is Christmas week, it will be next week before we can start lining things up with the moving companies, etc. I've also let my work know that next week will be my last week working. That will leave me available in January to get moved and packed and do all the things I still need to do.

I probably won't write again for a few days as we are traveling back to Oregon this weekend to spend time with family for Christmas. The kids are so excited to open all their presents. I'm so grateful we were able to do things for them this year and get gifts for each other. God has definately had his hand on our lives. Though it was a little tough there for a while. I think it makes the other side that much sweeter. Please pray that our transition will go smoothly.

Colorado It Is

Dwayne and I flew out to Denver Wednesday morning. My cousin Talia was very kind in babysitting my kids for two days while we went out on our scouting expedition. Sheri was able to drop us off at the airport and our plane was on time. Though we did get a little confused about which gate we needed to be at. Because it wasn't labled well we almost missed it but it worked out in the end. Getting through security is much easier than it used to be too. I haven't flown since shortly after 9/11 when everything was so ridiculous on what was allowed or not allowed. We read up on the regulations before we flew and had everything ready. I was even allowed to take my embroidery scissors through without even a blink of an eye.

We arrived in Denver to clear sunny skies and brown coloring wherever you look. Winter in Denver is not pretty. There wasn't even any snow to give it a winter wonderland kind of feeling. We got our rental car and with me clutching the map and attempting to be the navigator we proceeded into our new prospective home city. Luckily, we found the hotel without too much trouble. ProBuild put us in a Hilton in the tech area so it was a nice place. The hotel gives out free cookies in the evening and a free newspaper in the morning. We felt a little out of place but it sure was nice to be doted upon a little. And Dwayne and I hadn't had alone time in quite a while. After a quick bite in the hotel restaurant, Dwayne went off to his meeting while I dinked around the hotel. He came back so much more relaxed and calm. It was nice to see him not quite so stressed about the whole thing. I was a little frustrated though because they still haven't given him a firm deadline or salary. After a little talking though we decided that no matter what the money offer is, we will be moving. The choice before us is a for sure job with company paid moving expenses, or no job and only 3 weeks pay as compensation. With the job market the way it is right now, it just doesn't make sense to give up a sure thing. Dwayne's boss took us out to dinner at an expensive restaurant that evening. Company paid of course.

The next morning we woke up and got ready to run around town with the realtor. She had a few places lined up but there wasn't much available in our price range in the areas we wanted to look. The culture is a bit different in Denver than we are used to here in the NW. Because Denver is such a city of professionals and Denver is a city where many corporations have their corporate offices, the city is more "upper crust." Money is a bit more available and people have more of it. There are very few middle class houses available for rent. You can either afford a really expensive and nice house or you own a condo or live in an apartment community. There isn't many places for the people in between. The suburb that does have them, we found out, is considered the "ghetto" and not the place we would want to live. And until we lived there a bit and discovered the bad places on our own, I wanted to make sure we would be fairly safe. So we found a really nice apartment in the town I had my heart set on living in called Parker. Apparently, 80% of ProBuild workers live in Parker and it was highly recommended. When I visited the town website, I got excited as well. The town seems to be very nice with lots of community events. It is considered a suburb of Denver but far enough away to still have a small town feel to it. Douglas county also has the best schools in the state. I figured if worse came to worse and I had to send the kids to public school, I wanted it to be in a good area. Dwayne will only have about a 15-20 min drive to work.

Our realtor was from Seattle so she was very helpful in answering our questions and what we could expect as northwesterners coming to live there. The elevation will take some getting used too. People get a little bit of elevation sickness. I felt it a little while I was there but it wasn't too bad. Browsing throughout the day rather than large meals and lots and lots of water takes care of the worst of it. Also, Denver is very very dry compared to the NW. She said that was the hardest part to get used to. So I'll need to make it a habit to use moisturizer more often to combat that dryness. But the plus side is that I get over 300 days of sunshine to enjoy. Looking around was a bit weird for us. Everything is so open and spacious. I'm used to trees or hills or mountains or shrubbery blocking my view of things. You get the Rocky Mountains on one side and nothing on the other. People seemed very open and accepting the idea of my homeschooling the kids out there. Even the state-created welcome to Denver book had a section on homeschooling as a viable education choice and resources to help you get started. After some research, I found out that Colorado's schooling laws state very clearly that the parents are responsible and have the right to choose whatever education they feel best meets the needs of the child. Because of that, all of the schools in the Denver area have an "open" policy. You can pick whichever school you want for your children to go to, pending room of course. They have a wide variety of private, charter, public, online, and homeschooling options available. It is refreshing to talk about my choices without feeling defensive about my decision or feeling like I have a stigma attached to me as one of "those" parents. The state is largely Rupublican with Denver of course being more Democratic. But being a "big business" type of city it doesn't seem to be too far left. At least from what I have perceived so far.

Friday was spent traveling. We went to the airport far too early not sure how security was going to go. Our flight was uneventful and we even arrived in Portland early. We quickly grabbed the kids and headed home. Today I spent working all day while Dwayne caught up on laundry. So that is where we are at the moment. More decisions really can't be made until Monday and even then many people won't be available as it is Christmas week. I have a sinking sensation that we will be on pause for a couple weeks and then it will be a hurry up and rush kind of January. Please keep us in your prayers that we can find renters for our house quickly to help us get out of our lease and that our moving will be mostly uneventful.

We Have Water!

We finally got water Saturday afternoon. It was such a relief after 4 days of no water. Luckily, Dwayne's boss let us borrow 3 7-gallon containers full of water. Dianne was up to visit and very lovingly washed all our dishes for us. I thought that was very nice. We managed to make her some cupcakes and give her a birthday gift since her birthday is today. Friday, I got to take a shower. Dwayne's work has a shower facility since they have a small workout room for employees. I managed to sneak in there and use it. It was great to be clean after 3 days. We also had the ProBuild company Christmas party to go to that night. There was no way I was going to the party without a shower so I was very grateful they let me use it.

The party was kind of quiet and had a desperate feel to it. They lost so many employees this year. It was definately smaller. They did have a few door prizes but not as many as years past. They had maybe 10 prizes total. We did win something though! (Of course, not the things I wanted.) We got a George Foreman quesadilla maker. When they said a George Foreman and then Dwayne's name I groaned. I knew that I would never use the sandwich maker. When he brought it back to our table though and we got to look at it, I got excited. I'll actually use the quesadilla maker. I like quesadillas and they are something the kids will eat but I don't make them too often because I overfill them so much and the filling spills out all over the pan. Now we will be having quesadillas often!

Just to let everyone know, I won't be sending out Christmas cards until after the holidays and we have moved. I was going to send some out because I didn't last year but with the transition to Denver, I've got so much going on right now. Once we get moved and settled in our new home, I will send out a family newsletter and let you guys know what is going on and where we are at.

I probably won't write anything more here on the blog until after we get back from our scouting trip. We leave tomorrow afternoon to take the kids to Talia's who so graciously offered to watch our kids for us while we are gone. We then fly out Wed. morning. We will be back Fri afternoon but have to grab the kids and head home that night. I have to work Sat. morning. Please pray that we find a great place to live and Dwayne gets offered a killer raise.

No Water

Well, yesterday we woke up to it being about 6 degrees outside and our pipes frozen. We so rarely have this freezing cold up in the northwest that I didn't think about the possibility of no water and didn't take simple precautions like letting a faucet or two keep dripping. But of course we are now regretting it. Our toilets are full of stuff we can't flush, the sink and dishwasher is filled with dirty dishes, I have to get very creative with dinner, and to the kids' horror, I can't make them any juice. Most of the advice we have recieved says to put a space heater in the crawl space and let the pipes warm up that way. Dwayne made a trip to Home Depot yesterday since that is one thing we didn't have. Luckily he was able to find one of the last ones available for about $20. We had it running under the house last night but it got so cold, I don't think it did much except keep the worst of the cold at bay. I'm hoping today it will get warm enough above freezing to unlock the pipes and we can see if there is any damage. I'm debating on whether or not I should call the landlord and demand she get a plumber out here to help us. As tenants we have the right to water, however, if we can suffer through it for a day or two, the forcast says it should warm back up to above freezing temperatures. I may just buckle down and buy enough water to at least get a flush or two out of the toilets and make the kids some juice. If I don't see any results by tomorrow, I'll probably be calling the landlord.

In work news, I finally started hearing from Dwayne's company yesterday regarding moving stuff. I was relieved to finally start seeing some progress but a little overwhelmed with everything that was being thrown at me as I received all the information within a couple of hours. But I have a contact person for everything relocation related and what is covered or not covered in Dwayne's policy. The realtor should be lined up today and we have our plane and hotel reservations. So it is official, we will be flying out to Denver next Wednesday for a company paid scouting mission. Please pray that things fall into place easily and it is very clear that this is the direction God wants us to take. Career-wise it makes sense so we are moving forward unless something tells us to stop.

It looks like we are moving.

Well, it looks like we are officially moving to Denver. Dwayne put in a counter offer to the company on Friday and didn't get a rejection out of hand but a we'll see what we can do. So we know we are going to get a raise of some kind. That is really exciting. We are flying out on the 16th-18th to do a scouting expedition. Thankfully, Talia has agreed to watch the kids those few days so we can go. It will be a good opportunity for them to get to see and know the kids before we have to take off for real. We should be getting a lot more information next week to help us line up some places to look at, the moving company we need to call, when we really need to be out there, etc. It is going to be an interesting juggle to get everything lined up just right. If worse comes to worse though, Dwayne can fly out and start working and the kids and I will drive out to meet him. My biggest concern is just going to be finding a place to live. Once I have a place to go, the rest of the stuff in my brain will work out no matter the timeline.

So I've been doing a little research about Denver. It should be a really nice city to live in. It is within a couple of hours from the ski slopes (though I don't ski), it has more city parks per capita then any other city, has lots of museums and other cultural stuff to discover, and the most important, a new zoo to discover! It also has one of the best pediatric hospitals in the country, you know, just in case the worst happens. Denver has on average 300 days of sunshine a year, though not all of those sunny days are warm. LOL I don't know what I'm going to do with all the sunshine. Melt probably. It does get snow but locals say that it usually melts pretty fast in the city. You might get only one or two storms a year that shuts things down for a couple of days but the rest of the time it is manageable and the city keeps on working just fine. Though the snow does stay and stick around obviously in the nearby mountains. The views are breathtaking and Denver works really hard on its pollution and clear air policies so you actually get to see those beautiful mountains most of the year.

So there are many things to look forward to and I'm actually starting to get excited. I think I'll get more excited once a few more things line up but this should be a fun and exciting adventure.

Colorado!?

This last week has been fine. Just the same routine of cooking, working, harnessing the kids, etc. Then out of the blue yesterday Dwayne calls me and asks if I am ready to move to Denver. I was silent for a few seconds waiting for the punchline and nothing was forthcoming. "What? Really? Wait, what is going on?" He then told me that he would get more details in a half-hour or so when he was done with his conference call with HR. Apparently his boss has decided to accept a managerial position at a physical store. Because his requirements were to stay in the area because of his family, they allowed the team to stay on the west coast. Now that he is moving to a new position the rebates team will be relocated to Denver as the corporate office originally wanted. What this means is that Dwayne still has his job. They don't have any intentions of replacing him but he will be required to relocated to Denver. They have a very generous moving package to help us with that. If he decides not to relocate then all we get for compensation is 3 weeks of pay and some counseling to help find a new job. It's almost like if he would just quit the position. So technically, he isn't layed-off.

After the initial shock, my first thought was when do we have to move? I didn't even have too many questions on if we even should. I think we would be foolish to not take a position that is guaranteed and basically handed to us on a silver platter. Especially with the job market the way it is right now. I have too many friends and family who are struggling because they can't find any work. If we do this, it will be very very quickly. They anticipate having room for him at the latest Feb. 1st. So that gives me about 6-8 weeks to figure this out and get moved out there. I'm trying really hard not to freak out.

Dwayne is going to check out a couple local options today and then put in a counter offer to HR on Friday. They are offering to give him the same pay he is getting now. That would be 3 positions within the company that he would have not received any kind of raise. We are hoping to get at least $10,000 more a year because that will make up for the little bit I was bringing in with my part-time position. Please pray that they accept and we will be covered in that way.

So as of now, it looks like we are going to accept and be moving to Denver, Colorado in the middle of winter. How do I mentally prepare to move my family not just 2 hours drive away but two days? I will have to make sure we keep our communication lines open with the family. I'll do my darndest to keep up on the blog and I think I may check out Skype. Then the grandmas can talk to the kids over the internet and get to see them at the same time. Wow. I'm still in shock. I hope I know as early as the beginning of next week on what I need to do and whom to call. I hate not knowing my path and what I should be doing.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Mom and Melody came up to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had a great time. I spent Wednesday preparing all the baked goods I could ahead of time. I made Pecan pie, carrot cake for Dwayne's birthday cake and then I made butternut squash soup. As I was adding the last bit of cream into the soup and then letting it heat up, it started splattering all over the place. I go running into the kitchen to turn the soup down and pull it off the heat and a freak splatter managed to get past my big cheeks, up under my glasses and hit me in the eye! Luckily, my eyelid closed in time or it would have hit me directly in the eye. The soup was hot enough to scald the first layer of skin from my eyelid and just underneith my eye. The soup wasn't really really hot yet and if it had hit me anywhere else on my body, I think I would have just had a little pink spot. But because the tissue around the eye is so sensitive and soft, it scalded immediately. So now I have a nice red scabby patch under my eye and on my eyelid. But at least I have a great story to tell. The soup tasted great too!

Thursday morning, I got the turkey in the oven and started to prepare Thanksgiving dinner. One thing I always run into is the lack of oven and oventop space to heat and prepare all the variety of dishes I want to prepare. I ran across a couple of tips that made my life a little easier this time around. I prepared the mashed potatoes a couple hours ahead of time and then put them in my crockpot on the warm setting to keep them fresh for dinner. It worked out great! The potatoes didn't dry up or anything and tasted like I had just made them. I also, like I said, made many things ahead of time on Wednesday. The turkey has to sit a little anyway after cooking before carving, which leaves me just enough time to throw the dressing and rolls in the oven to bake for half an hour. I made sure the rolls and dressing were in their pans ready to toss in the oven the minute the turkey came out to help minimize the wait time for the hungry folks waiting on dinner. While those are cooking, I whipped up the gravy and then we were set. It was fun to cook for my mom and show her that I was paying attention sometimes when she tried to show me the fine art of cooking. :)

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I had to work. As most of you know, it is the biggest shopping weekend of the year for many retailers so I had no option on whether I had to work or not. Luckily, I didn't have to go in until noon on Friday so I got to visit a little before taking off. They spent most of the time letting the kids fight/play and braved the crowds to do a little shopping at Walmart. It sounds like Mom and Melody got some of their Christmas shopping done and Dwayne got the kids their first Santa picture. I don't think it turned out very well at all. They weren't very interested in sitting on some strange man's lap and I can't blame them.

So now I'm tired after working hard all weekend. I'm glad I got to see Mom and Melody and Aiden as little as I did but I really really wished I had more time with them. However, I am extremely grateful to have the job and it is so wonderful to have most of my Christmas shopping done and the money to be able to get them. Overall, I would say it was a nice weekend, and I look forward to heading down to Oregon around Christmas to see all the family again.