We made it! and The Money Pit

We made it!! I was very worried about the getting here part, and it ended up not being a problem at all. The kids (and the dog!) did great on the plane. We got "home" about 1am, and the kids did a quick few laps around the house before settling in their new rooms. They both love their rooms, Matt did a wonderful job on them, and they were very happy so see some stuff that they recognized.

Matt had Tuesday off, so we did some grocery shopping, a little sight seeing and just general settling-in. Wednesday Matt went to work but we met him for lunch. When we got back the front door was open! I had put the chain on the door, but it was open to the chain and the door frame was detached from the wall like somebody had tried to muscle their way through the door! Scared me to death and Matt immediately came home from work to look through the house. He took the rest of the afternoon off for us to change the locks and reinforce the door frame. That was almost a week ago, and I am still looking around corners before I enter a room, and looking out into the dark in the backyard to see if I can see anybody. It's amazing how quickly your sense of safety can be taken away from you.

Have you ever seen the 1986 movie "The Money Pit" with Tom Hanks and Shelley Long?

 

If you haven't seen it, you should. It is hilarious. But doesn't seem so funny when you are living it. We thought our new house was in good shape when we bought it (granted we only saw it twice before we signed the papers), but it also got a clean bill of health from the inspector. We have found out differently since moving in. Things are just falling apart every time we turn around. Screws are missing in things, cabinets and windows don't work right, doors are falling off their hinges, etc, etc, etc. We have heard from the neighbors that the previous owners were not very good at taking care of their stuff, and unfortunately we are suffering the consequences of that.

The washer and dryer were supposedly in working order, but with my first load of laundry I noticed the washer smelled bad and the dryer screamed like a banshee. We decided to just replace them. Granted I get pretty new machines, but we were not counting on that expense.

On Saturday night we were just getting the kids in the bathtub when the water started running BLACK! YUCK!! About 15 minutes later we had NO water coming out of the faucets! Apparently nobody in the plumbing/well field works on the weekend, so we were up the creek for the weekend. We got to know our neighbors really well as they let us use their shower and fill our toilet-flushing buckets from their hose. Today the well guys came out and pulled out the pump. It was corroded and filled with gunk and not sucking water anymore. 

 

$$$$ later we have a new pump and wiring, and running water again. Whew! The first thing I did when they pulled out of the driveway was run the dishwasher and then take a shower! It's still a little brown, so we aren't drinking it yet, but it's better than not having water at all!

Another horrible thing is the MOSQUITOES!! I have never seen so many in my life!! We have all been eaten alive! But it doesn't stop the kids from wanting to play outside (although it stops me!). You know it's bad when a church makes fun of the situation ... the marquee down the street says "Noah should have swatted those two mosquitoes!"

On the positive side the trees are beautiful! And they say it will get even better ...

(sorry for the power lines)

CC's hair is ADORABLE! The humidity and her agree very well.

On Sunday, when we were unshowered and grumpy, the kids had started to pick up on the stress and so we needed to get out. We went to one of the many springs in town to fill our water bottles...

...And then to a park to run around, stretch our legs and just have fun.

Since we didn't have water to cook or wash dishes with, we ate dinner out and did some more walking around town.

We are very close to Vermont, so there are many Ben & Jerry's stores around...

Then the community park to chase the ducks...

Sunday night some sweet neighbors stopped by to introduce themselves and see if we needed anything, and a family from church did the same about 5 minutes later. We had dinner with them tonight, and K had the best time rough-housing with their 3 boys who are all around his age/size.

I have neglected to take any pictures of the hard-work that Matt put into the house. But I will hopefully do that soon if we are not too busy exploring and meeting new people!

Things can only go uphill from here. Right?!?

Back Online!!

Wahoo! We have internet up and running! After I unpack a few more boxes and catch up on my email I will try to catch you up on our exciting new adventures!

Last CO post

This is our last week in our Thornton house!! The movers come to box up our stuff on Tuesday and the moving truck comes on Wednesday. Matt is here this weekend to help get everything ready for them to come and it has been so good to have him around! From the moment we picked Matt up at the airport the kids have been attached to him. He now knows how missed he really is! :-)
I have been in moving limbo for the last few weeks. There wasn't much to do, since I couldn't start packing things or really tearing apart the house to get it ready. That is what Matt is home to help me with this week, and now it is really hitting home that we are leaving this house. :-(
It is SO bitter-sweet to be moving. I know that we are doing the right thing, and that we need to go where the jobs are, but I have just been so happy here in my little Colorado bubble. We have such wonderful family and friends so close, a cute little house, and I just love the beautiful state of Colorado. I know we have many adventures ahead of us in New York, but I wasn't quite ready to move on yet. It's so weird to think that literally two months ago we had no intention of moving, and now here we are in our final days.
Sigh. It's all a good thing.
We will be here another 3 weeks, living with my folks. So hopefully we will still see many friends before we go, but this will be my last CO post before the computer is packed up.
Thank you Colorado for being so good to us! We hope to be back someday.

Trip to the cabin

We had a very special visit from Grandma and Grandpa Porter a few weeks ago! They were home from their mission for just a week to start bringing things home in preparation for their return. We all went up to the cabin for just a night, and we had a blast.
Keegan was best buddies with Grandpa the whole time. His favorite thing was going down the mountain with him to do some shopping and ice cream eating.

There were just a few ripe raspberries around, and CC quickly figured out how to pick the good ones. She is showing me that she is eating raspberries.

This is where we put the kids that misbehaved. (not really)

Lovin' on Abby.

Keegan brought a fun project to work on with Grandpa.

CC loves to be read to and Grandma was happy to oblige.

It was such a treat to see them and we are so grateful that we were able to before we left. We will miss living in the same state as them!

Back in July

Somehow these pictures got lost on my camera ... These are all from right before Matt left.

We had to be out of the house for an open-house and it was naptime, so we drove up to Estes Park and did a little bit of sight-seeing.

We also took one last trip into Boulder to see our favorite sites:
Boulder Creek

Pearl Street - 3 of us got new sunglasses. :-)

The day after Matt left they came and picked up his car. Keegan was fascinated.

Just some cute kiddo pics. I'm so glad they love each other. :-)

Look at those baby blues!

Silly face.

Going to the Fair

Last weekend (I know I am a week late) we went to the Adams County Fair with my folks, and we had a GREAT time!

The kids loved looking at all the animals!

We got up close and personal with a lot of them. :-)

Keegan even got to hold the harness on this one! It was a prize winner from the day before!

We walked around one corner and saw these guys ... Keegan goes "look dogs!" They weren't dogs, but I can see how he was a little confused.

Cadence even got a kick of all the animals at her level. I'm sure glad none tried to nibble her fingers!

Matt's mom tells a story of when he was about 5 years old and he was showing a large white turkey at a 4H competition (or something like that). She says that as he was showing it, the turkey puffed up its feathers and strutted around the ring with Matt at his side, and I'm pretty sure he won a big prize. Anyway, this picture is for Matt and his family!!

... and this is what Cadence thought of the turkeys ...

The biggest pig I have ever seen in my life!

After lunch we ended our day at the fairgrounds where the kids got to ride the carousel ...

... and check out the Weinermobile!!

It was a fun day! Thanks for joining us Mom & Dad!

Misc. Pics.

We have been super busy with moving "stuff" and I have completely neglected the blog. We have been up to a lot of things, checking things off our list of "what to do one more time."

We took Aunt Holly to the Zoo and we rode the train for the first time.

Cadence was not too sure of the statues.

But she liked the giraffes.

Hanging w/Aunt Holly.

All of the cats were really close to the glass and it was very cool.

Yeah, that's real even though he looks stuffed. :-)

We went and saw a "mad scientist" show, but the kids lost interest pretty quickly because she did more talking than experiments.

At the show...

For my birthday, my yard was "heart-attacked."

Keegan finished his swim lessons with flying colors. He went from being terrified of getting his ears wet to ...

... THIS!!

I hope we can find some classes pretty quickly in NY so that he doesn't lose his momentum.

I finished my stint of watching my friends kiddo Peyton. This is the best picture of the 3 of them that I could get. :-)

We were playing at the mall and I thought this was so stinkin' cute because really soon Cadence is not going to fit under the bike-rack without ducking.

And of course my wonderful/classy husband ...

We spent a Friday night at the Louisville Street Fair. It was the kids first time. We had a lot of fun dancing to Hazel Miller and The Charlie Daniels Band. Keegan was in awe of the instruments.

Because we knew one of the organizers we were VIP's, which meant that the kids got special stamps on their hands which allowed them to go on as many of the bouncy-castles/houses/slides as they want for as long as they wanted. They took full advantage of it!