We're here in Ft. Collins!

We left at exactly 10am Saturday like we wanted. It was a tearful farewell as all our family came to see us off and say one last big family prayer.

{Chris is a master genius at packing}

{notice the lantern and RICHARDS sign?}

{Last photo as a fam in front of our Mesa house}

Me, my mom, lil' sis Jenny, 3 kids, and 2 dogs were in the van.
Olen drove the scion.
Chris and Ammon were in the big movin' truck.
We all followed Chris to Flagstaff and it was slow going and at this rate the kids weren't going to last. So I drove at normal speed so that I could stop at our next meeting place and the kids would have all the time they need to run around. Great plan except I had the dogs which meant my mom and sister had to wrangle the three cabin crazy kids by themselves and I walked the dogs around. It took us 9 hours to get to Albuquerque and the boys arrives close to an hour after us. Chris's mom put together a treasure box for the kids to pick out toys or movies from during the long drive. BEST FREAKING I IDEA EVER! It only caused a couple fights but it didn't take much to start those when two little girls are sitting right next to each other all day.

As we were entering the city the girls went CRAZY over the lights of Albuquerque (which I finally just spelled right all by myself for the first time!) which made me feel good cause some are mocked for being excited about little things. But for those who have entered Albuquerque at night know the coolness of coming down the hill and seeing the beautiful lights.

I had a head cold so when we met at the hotel in the Big A I told Chris I couldn't handle dogs and kids. The dogs were great it was just taking all methods of persuasion to keep the kids under control. They LOVED staying the night in the hotel, running everywhere, jumping on beds it was a party house.

The boys decided they better leave super early 5am (4 am AZ time) to get a head start. Uber smart! They got to Ft. Collins by 4:30 and all the way unloaded at 6pm. Me and my mom took our time leaving the hotel (10:30am) and stopped in at Garden of the Gods in Co. Springs and made it home at 6:30pm.


So far there have been a few casualties. A mug, a glass, a pot we bought in Mexico and Asher's crib. We're still scratching our head about the crib cause it was on of top of everything in the truck. Oh well. Looks like he's going to be sleeping in his big boy bed. Eek! And there's not a move without trying to figure out where the heck some things are. Like the power cord to my printer, or my mouse.

Awesome things about this house I didn't notice before. 2 sinks in the master bath! A sweet awesome HUGE dishwasher that gets everything clean. 3 LAZYSUSANS! What is a girl to do with 3 lazysusans!? I have my washer and dryer inside, right next to each other!! (my house in Mesa washer was inside and dryer out. No Good.) I HAVE A JET TUB and it's huge and so wonderfully relaxing!

The not so awesome, the fridge is TINY. And only one of the side shelves on the door are left allowing us to shelf 4 items there. We have a piddly shower head and with curley hair that's a bad thing. My washer is leaking and I can't get my clothes to dry because the hose thing is too cramped. (easy to figure out I hope) Waking up in the morning my room is so bright I might as well be asleep on a tramp in the backyard. For my I want it to be like I wake up in a cave. So I sleep with my blanket wrapped around my head, so now when I wake up I'm like a big sweaty mummy.

Well, this is it for now. I'll be posting pictures of rooms as I finish them. Today was Chris's first day of work and we'll be busy tonight hanging curtains and other fun house things.

Coming soon, interviews from the kids and a home tour video style.

It is done.

And we're freaked out of our MINDS!!

Day Two

We spent the day in Palmyra, New York doing all the church history and it was an amazing overcast day. We did sealings in the temple then Hill Cumorah, Joseph Smith Farm, and a stroll down downtown Palmyra. It was a VERY memorable day to say the least.



Tomorrow is the wedding we are here to photograph in Fabius, NY (Highland Park?) We're excited but SOOOOOOooooooo sore!

Niagara Falls

This is me going to touch the falls. It was pretty much amazing and one of my most favorite places I have been of all times now!

We will be here tomorrow.

I'll be here tomorrow.

Sweet Disposition

So what do you do for your LAST Saturday in Mesa? For Chris and I all we really ever did was go see movies and since we were moving somewhere with no family for babysitters we decided we better go see a double feature. Chris picked a boy movie and I picked a girl one.

{This is what I would look like if I had plastic surgery. I was trying to smile and hold the straw in my mouth.}

I picked {500} Days of Summer and it was amazing. The more I think about it the more I just need to watch it over again. The music was so amazing I ended up buying the album and listening to it all day today instead of my usual Pandora mix stations. Here's the song that I have on repeat the most. I'm such a huge alternative fan, and not just any alternative satisfies me, the kind that has me needing to just lay in bed and stare at the ceiling and listen. I love it! This isn't the official music video for the song but the one the band made is LAaaME.

Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap

So what songs get you in the reflective mood?

Engagement Story

September 12, 2002

{From Chris}

I have never been a competitive person, but give me a challenge and I will go to some pretty ridiculous lengths to win. That is why it is a quarter hour into Sunday and I am still up. This is also my excuse if any or all of the following post makes no sense.

So nagging aside I would like to talk a little about Katie, my lady. And the Day, and a question. Who knows when something like this starts. I know that some people keep track of the first kiss and first to say I love you. Me, I am more of a big picture feeling kind of kid.

I was never scared or nervous. I never really understood the movie thing of people getting cold feet or totally freaking out about the thought of getting married. Never got that. What I did get was the way she made me feel. I had several chats with my Dad, who is an expert about loving his wife. He told me that I would know that I loved a girl when I know that no matter what would follow her to the Siberia. I would have bought my ticket that night.

I can't remember when I bought the ring, I don’t remember the day, or what we talked about to inspire me to go to the shop and look at the ring. I don’t remember what I wore or what color the sky was, but I am sure it was blue. What I do remember is being happy. And as the sales dude was talking about the gem quality it was all I could do to keep myself from screaming and spinning around the room while bubbles floated from the ceiling.

I do remember having a plan. Pretty lame, now that I look back on it. It involved roses and a park and a fountain. The only bad thing was that the park, roses, and fountain was not today. I have never been a good waiter. So I went to plan B, which included some shells, a truck, and sweaty palms.

So I picked Katie up for a date, can’t remember what she was wearing but she looked awesome. My family had just gotten back from Mexico and I had brought some seashells over for Kate’s mom, that I had strategically forgotten in the truck. So I picked her up and while in the truck I remembered that I had forgotten the bowl of shells that I wanted to give.

I had a secret shell for Katie I told her that it opened and that when we found it there was an octopus in it. Not a smart thing cause unknown to me Katie had an earthly fear of cephalopods and got very nervous about opening it. So instead she just shook it and made me tell her that she would like what was inside.

I think at one point she started to put the pieces together, and when she did and finally opened the shell time slowed down. My heart slowed. She saw the ring and she made a face that she hasn’t made since.

Here we take a quick break for a memory of when I was a young boy and was on the edge of cliff about to jump. I had an uncomfortable harness girded to my loin all tied to a rope, the cliff really was only about ten feet, but it might as well been 3 trillion feet cause I was terrified. But there is a point when you just have to take a deep breathe, try not to pee your green scout pants and jump. I would like to draw attention to the first three to five seconds when you realize that there is no ground under your feet and you feel like this is end. And then you take that breath and your pants are still dry and enjoy the ride down.

You may ask yourself where this cool antidote of Chris’ childhood comes in and what does it have to do with the big question. Well I tell you it has everything to do with it. Cause the moment that she put on the ring I felt the ground fall from under me. But it was ok, cause she said yes, and I had someone to fall with. Someone to get back to my feet with. Someone to cry with, laugh with, stay up with, learn with, forget with, watch bad movies with, someone to love, and live and be with till the end. And hopefully a little longer than that.

Someone once said that love is like being temporally insane and the cure is marriage. Amen to that! Marriage has not always been what I thought it would be, but Katie has never disappointed. She is still the spontaneous girl who helps me remember what is like to be alive. She keeps me guessing but I can depend on her steadiness. I love all 7 of her laughs and her 13 different smiles, 6 is the best. So there ya go, I win.

You may be asking your self why I have divulged so much of my deepest darkest places and exposed myself ; I guess sometimes there just isn’t enough rooftops to shout from.
{10 minutes after proposing}


{60 minutes after proposing}


{Happy Birthday, Grandpa Eddie!}

a naggy explosion

These are actual words out of Chris's mouth when asked if he wrote his version of our engagement story (that I asked him to do yesterday while at work since he was complaining of being so bored since he doesn't even have a full week left of work). I posted my version last year and you've been listening to me go on and on about our dating story that I thought a perfect way to end the saga would be to hear it from his side. We'll see what he comes up with, but for now the-chris-better-write-something- pretty-dang-romantic-engagement-story is.... coming soon!

Needing to feel fallish

I changed my blog background. Shabby Princess was having a 25% off sale on all their stuff and I bought two kits so I could feel more Septemberish. I've been hammering out several projects the past couple days and it feels good to be all caught up and have nothing to do but hang with the kids and digital scrapbook. If anyone is wanting a header or whatever just 'holla!' and I'll make you one cause... I {heart} you.

We Picked...

HOUSE #4
(aka Green Gables)

We wanted to wait to post our official choice til our application was approved and everything confirmed (which it is now!)
Someone pointed out how this house had the shabbiest yard BUT it had the best insides. Now, I didn't want to seem obtrusive walking through all the houses taking pictures inside so I didn't take any. I'll tell you ALL about it though!

You walk inside the front door and there's a living room with beautiful wood floors, to your left is a staircase that leads you to 2 bedrooms upstairs, a bathroom and a master bedroom with a walk-in closet and large bathroom (with separate tub and shower!) There is wallpaper in these rooms but it will actually work with my decor anyway (except the boy room I'm going to see if I can take the ugly blue trim paper down!)

Back downstairs if you keep walking it will bring you into the large kitchen with bay windows (AND WINDOW SEAT!) breakfast counter and TON of cabinets. The view of the backyard is breathtaking. While standing on the red wood deck we see beautiful flower bushes, garden trellis and an open field. Back inside from the kitchen you take a few stairs down and you're in the family room with fireplace. Around the corner is the door to the garage, linen closet, 1/2 bath and laundry area. (This area will mainly serve as the mud room)
Next to the linen closet there is a door that leads you down into the basement where there's two more bedrooms (ROOM FOR VISITORS! Hint hint!), I think another bath but I can't remember and a LARGE playroom.

Amy and I were running through the house giddy, it was PERFECT! Total there is 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 3000 square feet, large kitchen and best of all we're allowed to keep our dogs and the rent is WAY cheaper than our current mortgage!!!
Chris fought the name green gables at first but it stuck when we were comparing the houses and didn't know how to differentiate between all of them.

For those of you who had your little hearts set on any of the other houses here are our notes on them.

House ONE: From the outside this house looked the best, and it had a huge shady yard. The bad thing was the people still lived there so the house was a disaster to walk through, the kitchen was TINY, there was no master bath (which automatically knocked it off the list) and it had scary stairs.

House TWO (aka Yacht house): This 4 level house, if it allowed pets it would have been our second choice. The kitchen had ugly cabinets but nice enough, the yard was TINY but the family room and downstairs were wood paneled in a gorgeous wood. Upstairs had decent sized rooms but had a scary drop from the TINY loft that made me concerned about my crazy boy killing himself.

House THREE: MONSTER HUGE, Seriously huge, in fact the basement was so massive I wouldn't have even known what to do with the space.

House FIVE: Had the BEST looking neighborhood, a laundry shoot from upstairs directly into the laundry room. Tiny kitchen and no fence. I LOVED IT but we didn't know what to do about the fence.

House SIX: All you have to know is the kitchen was Salmon. SALMON! I loved the floor plan but every room in the house was so horrendously wallpapered I couldn't live there. I asked if I could take it down and paint and they said no. Oh, ok. That's why this house hasn't rented yet.

House SEVEN: Cat pee, no master bath and someone lives in the attached apartment. NO THANKS!

House EIGHT: It was in a cookie cutter neighborhood, every house had the same floor plan, terrible carpet and unfinished basements.

We saw a couple other decent houses that I forgot to take pictures of but overall they either didn't allow dogs or it had a weird layout.... or cat pee.

August 8, 2002

Yesterday was a bad day so I didn't take the time to tell you about what happened this day 7 years ago (plus I posted my awesome Colorado post). But seven years ago Chris came home from Mexico, it was probably the longest day of my life! What should have taken 8 hours took 13 to drive home. Then he had to help clean up the vans and he got to my house pretty close to 11pm (it was a Sunday).
While he was away Ammon was in charge of checking on the house so I asked him to let me in so I could decorate Chris's bedroom. I had recently read the book "Guess How Much I Love You" to my nephews and it got me all choked up cause I was REALLY missing Chris and I realized just how strong my feelings for him were. So I bought the book, some glow in the dark stars and fishing string. I hung stars all over his ceiling and with the sticker stars wrote "I LOVE YOU" on the fan (which is still there to this day I think). I was so paranoid his mom was going to be annoyed I put holes all over the ceiling and stickers on the fan, thanks to Ammon for freaking me out.
When he came over I awkwardly told him in person that I loved him and it was just fantastic to be with him again. "To the Moon and Back" became our little love motto and I even engraved it on Chris's wedding ring.
The report I got from his family is that Chris spent the entire time on the beach or laying on the couch listening to the CD I made him. They could tell he was "katie-sick".

40 hours in the car

We just got back yesterday evening from our 4-day weekend trip to Fort Collins to find out home. It was an adventure and we're so glad we took our BFFs (and my future daughter in law) with us to laugh and have one last horrah with!

THE DRIVE UP
We left at 12pm and arrived at our hotel at 3am.

We had dinner in Gallup, New Mexico at this navajo place. Chris and Ammon got a navajo burger. According to them it was amazing. I got a lame taco salad with the spiciest guac EVER!



THE FIRST DAY
We were just going to sleep in the car but the boys asked the hotel clerk if we could check in early and he say yes! (Hallelujah!) Chris and I got 4 hours of sleep before we had to be up to see our first scheduled house. Saturday was filled with scheduled showings every 30 minutes. Here are some of the houses I remembered to take pictures of. We saw a total of 15 houses between Saturday and Sunday. One of these houses is the one we picked. Go ahead and take a pick at which one you think it was or which one you would pick from the front.


That night we ate in old town Ft. Collins at this pizza place. It was super yummy then we got some pumpkin ice cream and headed off to the hotel and slept.

SUNDAY

We took a great trip up into the Rockies to the Village of Estes Park. Everyone else in Colorado decided to do the same thing so we never got to walk around the cute little shops because there was not a single parking spot open. We did have a nice picnic in our van since it started raining but the view was amazing!

(These two were constantly flirting)

We headed back to old town to find a place to eat and ate at Spicey Pickle, it was AMAZING! (hint to those who are thinking of visiting us, we have great food places there!) Then we had a cookie from a little cookie shop. (They had candy stores everywhere! AND A CREPE PLACE!) In the cookie shop they had ice cream sandwich cookies, or cookie dough you could eat.

There is also a little water play thing there that we had a lot of fun playing with.


And on our way back to the van we took some pictures in this awesome alley. Too bad my camera is crappy.

THE DRIVE HOME

We left Ft. Collins at 2:30am Monday morning and got to Mesa at 6:30pm (thanks to the awesome holiday traffic coming into town) We stopped in Santa Fe to eat breakfast at a place that was on Triple D. It was yummy!


We have some busy days ahead of us, and hopefully we survive the insanity of it.