We made it!

We arrived in Highlands Ranch on Sunday around 5:30 pm. The total trip lasted about 30 hours, but not all spent driving! I drove the van, my brother Mike drove the Civic and Babe the Uhaul. We all had walkie talkies so that really made all the difference in the world to be able to communicate with each other the whole way! We left Phoenix at 12:30 pm on Saturday after packing up the rest of the Uhaul. We decided to drive up to Payson and through to Gallup. Dan Werwath opened up his home in Santa Fe for us! We rolled in around 1:00 am and stayed at his beautiful Adobe home! I wish I could have spent more time seeing Santa Fe, but Dan said we can come back anytime! Sunday we finished up the last leg of the trip through New Mexico and Colorado! It was a beautiful drive...everything is SO green right now!! We caught wind of a major storm headed for us from Colorado Springs, so we pulled off at a truck stop to wait it out. While there, Mike checked the weather on his phone and saw there was a 2nd storm cell headed straight for us. So, despite the tornado warning and hail storm; we hopped back on the road and braved our way through it! The kids really did well for being in the cars for 2 days staight! That's not to say it didn't have it's challenges, but all and all I was so thankful to have a couple good road-trippers in tow!

We are so relieved to finally be here after months of planning and preparations! Thank you to everyone for all your support and I'll post some pics when our computer is set back up. Hopefully we'll be moving into the new house by next week! I'm gonna head back to work on Thursday so I don't blow through all my PTO! We unloaded the Uhaul Monday into the garage, so we're not having to haul around that 30-foot beast of a truck anymore! YEAH!

Ready or Not - here we come

We've essentially finished packing up the house, but today we found out that our new home will not be ready for move in on Monday as previously planned. So, we're ready to go, just not quite sure where we are going....

Tomorrow is my last day at work for a couple of weeks while we make the transition to Colorado. It will be hard to say good bye to all the friends we've made!

My brother Mike flies in tomorrow to help us load the Uhaul and we've invited a ton of our friends over too! Whatever we aren't able to load up tomorrow we'll finish on Saturday morning along with cleaning! Then we're off.

We are going to stop in Santa Fe on Saturday night to sleep a little (if the kids will let us) I can't imaging after being in the car for 8-10 hours that the boys will be able to sleep, but we're gonna need to at least rest our eyes from driving all day long.

Sunday we plan on finishing up the trip to the Denver area. We know Sunday night for sure, we'll be staying with my brother Bill and sis Sara, but since we don't think the house will be ready for at least a week; we're not sure where we'll be staying.

Should be interesting!

Sunnyside Street

We are excited to share that we have finally found our home! As of Monday June 29th, 2009, we will be moving to Sunnyside Street! We found a cozy little home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado & plan on driving out to Colorado next weekend! It's been quite a ride trying to find a home from 1000 miles away, but soon it will have all paid off! This weekend Phil & I plan on packing the house up so that when I get off work next Friday, we can load the Uhaul and take off! We finally feel okay to start getting excited about our move & the new chapter we will be starting!

Lobe Reunion '09

Phil's band gets together once a year in Flagstaff! This year was a blast, just as every year past!! It is always great to see our closest friends; too bad it only rolls around once a year! Over the years we've become like family, and it always so hard to say goodbye! It was gorgeous weather up in Flag over the weekend! It really makes me miss the mountain!

Parker J. loves jammin' on the drums....future drummer??

You never know!

The Blongs & Greenwades were all in town for the show!

We have been blessed having become part of their families!

The Blongs

I love this picture of the two of us!

BFF's

The guys were really into the show! It was a blast!!

Ian & Meggy with their momma

Wabi

The girls posin'

Sambatuque opened for the Lobe show. They sounded really tight!

Sunday afternoon we headed out to Donde Park to visit Matt & Stephanie...soon to be newly weds! They have a great place with a ton of land out there! Parker loved feeding the goats and chickens. He found an egg in the hen's house. When the goats were finished eating they started chasing him around their yard. He really enjoyed jumping on the trampoline and playing on their swing set!

After eating dinner at San Felipes we headed up the hill to watch the sunset. On the trip up to Snow Bowl we spotted a heard of elk eating their dinner.

It was so cold up there! We were all wrapped up in blankets while we watched the sunset.

We'll always have Flagstaff!

I am so glad we decided to watch the sunset!!

I don't know when will be the next time we are able to enjoy it!

Family Time

Parker and Grandma Robin playing checkers at Cracker Barrel.

Braden really likes when Parker pushes him on the bike!

I love how Hannah and Bozlee are just sitting there watching!

Parker saying goodbye to cousin Maeley after their unexpected week long trip to the Valley. This is one of the cutest pics of these two together!!

None of the kids were really feeling picture time, but I wanted to be sure take at least one before Derek and Melanie went home since it may have been the last time we see them for a while. We'll miss you guys!!

Poor Ms. Zoe was so sick all week! We were so thankful when they released her from the hospital and Derek and his family were finally able to go home.

We love you little Baby Zoe!

My, what a difference a week can make!

Great news!! Today we found out that the bank has decided to move forward with the offer we put on the Highlands Ranch home! Phil & I were seriously considering renting last night, for a few months just so we can get out there, but now today it looks like we may have found our home. Funny because last night I posted a Wanted ad on Craigslist advertising that were are looking for a short term sublet that would allow two dogs and the four of us! I spoke to a couple people today about the possibility of renting their condo/apt, but guess that was all a waste of time. By the end of today; our realtor called and said congratulations!! So once we are through the inspection and other fun hoops I'm sure we'll have to jump through; we can celebrate our new home. It's small, but like I said before, there are a ton of amenities offered with living in HR!!

So my last day of work will be on Friday June 26th, & I will be allowed 2 weeks of paid time off to settle into our new lives in Denver. Then back to work on the 13th of July! Woo Hooo!! Colorado here we come!

Move Update

Wow!

What a busy couple of weeks it's been since our last post! We still haven't heard back on the Littleton house we put an offer on (no surprise, since it's a short sale). We decided to bid on a much smaller home in Highlands Ranch, but again it's offered as a short sale, so we're not going to hold our breath! The Highlands house would be a better long term investment than the other since all it needs is some carpet and paint and Highlands offers a ton of amenities, but I worry that there isn't enough square footage, and we just simply won't fit! It's hard to say since we haven't actually seen it, but our realtor and my sister-in-law Sara have, and they assure me it's small.

Now for the good news....when I put my two week notice in at work, my boss proposed the possibility of keeping my current position and transferring to Colorado!! Wow - what an amazing blessing! I've posted for nearly 20 jobs within the company in the last 2 months (ever since we decided to move) and have not received one phone call, so today my boss and my bosses boss pulled me into a meeting and announced that the president of the company bought into the idea of me working remotely from Çolorado, so it's official;

I HAVE A JOB!!!!

Now we've conquered one huge mountain, and we've got one even bigger to go; finding our home!