Hard work pays off

The day we got the keys to our new home, was the day we started working!

Day 1: Demolition & Laminate installation

Phil's studio (bedroom #2)

We ripped out all the carpet and hardwood

Kitchen

My nephews Billy and Cody preparing the

Living Room

for the new floors.

We had to rip out all the old carpet, and every tiny nail we could find!

What a chore!

This is the view from the front door looking into the living room.

view from our hallway

Hall to our bedroom

This is what we found underneath all the hardwood in the kitchen!

Very tempting to just stick with the old laminate, but decided against it at the last minute!

Wink Wink!

Looking from the studio into the living room and down the hallway to our bedroom.

It was over 90 degrees in the house since we don't have AC or a fan

It was pretty much fend for yourself with mommy and daddy so busy!

Finally after hours of demo; it was on to the fun part!

Braden was a big help as you can see!

Babe was already getting sick of measure and cut...measure and cut!

Braden is going through a stage where he likes to find anything he can wear as a hat!

Cody made a fort for the dogs, but the boys enjoyed it much more than the dogs did.

Parker has busy playing and exploring outside in the backyard since we got here!

He finally decided to come inside and help dad out a little.

Startin' to look good Babe!!

Bozlee was just glad to cool his belly off a bit!

We all had a slumber party in the basement the first night!

We were so tired!

Day 2: Installation cont....

and

Dogs are over it

Home Sweet Home

We were hoping to have been able to move into our new home Monday after we arrived, but we spent nearly the next two weeks 'killing time'.

It was nice to take some time and visit with my brothers and their families!

My niece Nicole and her man Josh will make me a Great Aunt in December!

Congratulations to the both of them!

We can't wait to meet baby Carston!

Brian has a new pad in Golden right off the river that feeds right into the Coors Brewery!

Phil's got some competition now in the cooking department between Brian and Josh.

Josh is a culinary school graduate, and Brian just is a fantastic cook!

Billy and Parker busy playing video games. Parker especially likes his race car game!

After what felt like an eternity, we finally got the keys to our new home!

2 days and 1000 miles

We've done some road trips before, but none quite compare to the Big Move to Colorado! If you make the drive straight through you can get it done in 15 hours, but we are gluttons for pain, and decided to stretch it over two very long and exhausting days of driving. Thank goodness my brother Mike insisted we stop off at Wal-Mart and pick up some walkie talkies! I will never do another road trip without them! Mike drove the Civic and I was in the Van with the dogs and Braden while Phil drove the Uhaul while Parker was his co-pilot. We were able to chat with each other the entire trip, and it honestly made so much more enjoyable!

After the first day of driving through Payson, Heber, and Albuquerque; we stopped at Dan Werwath's beautiful little pad in Santa Fe.

This picture of Phil and I is after the first 14 hours of driving.

Gorgeous I know...

Braden wide awake at, oh, I would say 3 am. chowin' on some cheerios.

Even after Parker was fast asleep, Braden was ready to go!

Everyone reluctantly rolled out of bed and were greeted with a wonderful overcast morning at Dan's house Sunday.

The fountain in Dan's pond is made from one of the original sinks out his old Adobe home built in the late 1800's

The dogs were especially amused by Dan's chickens. Parker was pretty interested too!

After breakfast at McDonald's (BTW - I don't care if I never eat fast food again) we fueled up and headed out for the last leg of our trip.

Parker was still pretty into the road trip, and well, Phil...you can tell how excited he was!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this sign!

FINALLY - WE MADE IT

About an hour and half away from 'home' we heard on the radio there was a tornado warning and severe hail storm rolling right through Colorado Springs. We pulled off the road to wait out the storm, but Mike looked online to see there was a second storm cell headed right for where we were parked, so we pressed our luck and went for no wammies!

This doesn't even compare to the black sky we drove right into.

Straight ahead is the Uhaul

Well, we made it! 2 days and 1000 miles later!!

Our Goodbye's

It was bitter sweet leaving Arizona, but the hardest part was saying goodbye! We met some really awesome friends during our three years in the Valley. Not to mention the wonderful family members we were able to spend so much time with while there. Thank you to everyone that came to our home to help us load our beast of a Uhaul and prepare the house to leave.

Love this pic (from Kari's blog) of the guys! We all went to Mimi's Cafe for a goodbye breakfast with Kari and Marc! We'll miss you!

Cesar and April would scoop Parker up and take him home if we let 'em!

We'll miss you!!

Ms. Annie and the kids came to our house our last night there to pack up the house and hang out one last time! (Until next time :) Ling and Luff say goodbye! Thanks for coming - We'll miss you! Me and my Momma (Not ready to say goodbye) Love you Mom!!

We miss so much already!

4 generations of mommas!

It was really nice that Grandma Irene could make it, so we had a chance to say goodbye! It will be a lot tougher to see Granda Barbie since she has never and will not ever fly.

We'll have to make it back to AZ soon!

These guys sure are going to miss their Gamma Robin!

Update from Colorado

Hello friends and family! It has been nearly a month since we've updated our blog. Honestly, we just haven't had internet access, but even if we had I am not sure we would have had the time to blog. This move to Colorado has by far been one of the biggest challenges for our family, but now that we are here, and slowly settling; I can comfortably say it was ALL well worth it!!

We miss all of you so very much, and we want you to know that we are working very hard on making our cozy little home a nice place for everyone to visit!! Tonight is the first night our internet was set up so just a short post, but many pictures to follow!!!

Good Night