Grandma Joanie Visits Gallahadion

Right after the 4th of July, my mom flew to Denver to come see our new house. Of course, she had been with me when I came the very first time and picked it, but considering we spent a total of 10 minutes inside it, it was fun for her to get to see all the new changes we'd made in the meantime!

I put Grandma to work right away, making her bake one of her famous rhubarb pies with fresh rhubarb harvested from my garden. It was sooooo good! The inside kind of looked the color of raw meat, and Jon said, "it looks disgusting, but tastes amazing!" 

We spent the next few days organizing, rearranging furniture, decorating, shopping, and working on projects. We got burgers one night for dinner at Culvers, which we'd never been to and it was yummy!

Our biggest project was working on finishing this dresser I'd bought last summer while visiting Selah, WA. I found it in an antique shop and it was covered in a goopy black paint with red knobs. I loved the shape of it, so Jon's dad sanded all the paint off for me and fixed some of the drawers. I had my mom help me stain it, paint it with chalk paint, sand it, wax it, hand paint the designs, and pick new knobs. I LOVE how it turned out! It looks shabby chic and fits perfectly in the new house. 

My mom helped me do a "grouping" above the piano. Now I just have to decide if I want to paint it a different color.... Whitney says pianos HATE to be painted and just want to be left alone, and she would probably know considering how much time she's spent in front of one.

My mom also helped me figure out what to do with all the random space above the living room and dining room. I think those ledges look so much better than being left empty!

She helped me do this collage for our upstairs hallway, which I love!

And also helped me pick new knobs for Lucy's new desk, as well as recover the old ratty fabric on this chair with new, bright cute fabric!

She also helped me mount and frame our "Amish Country" artwork for our bedroom (in the newly and beautifully painted room thanks to Whitney-- it was originally lavender paint with olive green carpet, BLECH, so we picked a silvery gray paint with charcoal gray accents for the bay window). It's such a nice relaxing room now!

Our first family picture after church outside our Gallahadion Lane abode. Home sweet home!

Just before we left to drive to Boise for some much needed R&R, Grandma made us an amazing dark chocolate bundt cake Sunday evening, and Zachary was absolutely in heaven. Sweets are that guy's happy place. It was so fun to have Grandma Joanie come stay and see our new house! Hopefully next time she gets to stay longer than 3 days!

Fourth of July Weekend

The Fourth of July holiday kind of snuck up on us with everything else going on with the move and trying to get settled in to our new house. Jonathan began working for his brother at his dental practice called "Clocktower Family Dental" about a week after we got to Colorado. 

One of the perks of being a general dentist is being wined and dined by all of the specialists hoping you'll refer work to them--which means getting freebies like concert tickets to the Zac Brown Band at Coors Field on July 3rd!

Jeremy and Kylene were able to find some babysitters for their 2 kids and our 3 (since we were no help in that department), so once they were taken care of we headed to downtown Denver for the show. It was an outdoor concert and the weather was fabulous! We had floor seats, and look at that backdrop!

It was so much fun to be on a double date, and have a few minutes to relax and just have fun amidst the chaos of the last month. Being at an outdoor concert in Colorado inevitably meant exposure to legalized marijuana-- and let me just say, that stuff was EVERYWHERE. Towards the end of the night it was literally hard to NOT breathe in pot smoke, as there was a fog above the stadium. To each his own, I suppose.... We ended up leaving early because we were all a little nervous to be on the roads with all those high junkies-- but Zac Brown was awesome!!

The next morning we took the kids swimming with their cousins at Jeremy and Kylene's HOA pool. They had a blast playing in the kiddie pool and cooling off!

Miss Wee Wee is a water bug and loves to swim! And her swimsuit was a perfect nod to the ol' red and white and blue!

My Zach-O with his toothless grin.

Later that evening we'd planned to have a barbecue at our house with Jeremy and Kylene, but the weather decided not to cooperate. About 5 seconds after we put the steaks on the grill, a monster thunderstorm blew in and swamped the grill. The rain and lightning eventually passed over and my sous chef Jon was able to salvage the meat.

We had quite a spread! Grilled meat and veggies, patriotic flag Jell-O's, fruit, chips, and a caprese salad.

The rain evaporates really quickly here, so by the time we'd finished dinner we were able to go outside and start lighting off fireworks-- just the daytime ones, we saved the best for the main event when it got dark. This is Leah dressed up in her most patriotic garb!

Ooooh, Daddy helping with the ever-dangerous sparklers! Don't poke your eye out!

Just before dusk Jon made a bonfire for us in the backyard to roast marshmallows with. We had some amazing s'mores for dessert which really hit the spot. My favorite!

All those cute cousins (+ our next door neighbor Savannah) cuddled up on the blanket ready to watch some fireworks.

TA-DAH!! We had quite a show from pooling Jeremy and Jon/Zach's firework selections, and we finished the night off with a bang with this enormous one Jeremy bought. Happy Birthday America!

COLORADO OR BUST! Plus Some Visitors and a Birthday!

We left for Colorado on the afternoon of Tuesday, June 16th-- with our GPS saying we had about 24 hours of driving ahead of us. Let me just say (and say again and say again and say again....) that moving is HARD. Change is HARD. Starting over in life really does a number on your identity, your self esteem, your body, your relationships, you name it. But darn it if it doesn't make you realize how much Heavenly Father is involved in our lives! We had so many moving pieces to this cross-country move. I kept comparing the process to dominoes-- if one fell down, so would all the rest. Everything was time sensitive-- sometimes even down to minutes and hours. For example, we couldn't leave until Tuesday afternoon, but we HAD to be there to close on the house by Friday afternoon. The moving truck wouldn't be there with our stuff until July 1st so we had plenty of time to get carpet installed, and then suddenly they were coming June 22nd! Etc. Etc. Etc. We experienced soooo many tender mercies along the way, it truly is a testament to how He knows us, and knows exactly what we need!

We drove through North Carolina and Tennessee that first afternoon and evening and the kids did AMAZING. They watched movies, colored in their coloring books, read stories, played with toys, and ate snacks. We finally stopped in Nashville to stay the night which was about 8 hours of driving under our belts.

The next day we worked our way north into Kentucky and then over to Missouri.

There's the famous St. Louis arch peeking out there just through the window! I guess this counts to check it off my "bucket list," right?

Crossing over the bridge from St. Louis, MO into Kansas City, MO, and then onto Kansas City, KS. Seriously! So confusing.... 

We stayed the night in Kansas City, MO and then pushed super duper hard to get all the way to Parker, Colorado by Thursday night, dinner time. Wow. Let's just say Kansas is a beast that almost ate us whole! There was lots of corn and waving wheat but not much else. Zach did his best to follow along with the geography of where we were headed and could not figure out why it was taking so long to get through Kansas! The kids were elated when we finally crossed the border into Colorado and FINALLY made it safe and sound and mostly in one piece! 

We stayed at a hotel in Castle Rock that night and let the kids swim to burn off three days worth of pent up energy in the pool the next morning. Good morning Colorado!

That afternoon Jon let me pick where to get lunch and naturally I chose Cafe Rio! We had the Final Close meeting on the house that afternoon, so after dropping the kids off with Auntie Kylene, we headed over to meet our realtor and officially became first-time home owners!!

We couldn't believe we FINALLY had the house. We had some serious road blocks along the way (like USAA suddenly refusing to give us the loan, and missing deadlines left and right thanks to using a VA loan)-- and I think Jon and I were both holding our breath waiting for just about anything to happen. We got to sleep in our new house that very first night, and while the kids ate breakfast the next morning I took our first official picture of the "new house."

 Jon's parents drove all the way from Washington to bring us some furniture-- including this beautiful picnic table that also folds into two benches. We have LOVED having somewhere to sit and eat outside this summer!

They then spent the next two weeks helping us clean, unpack, fix up the garden and back yard, and most importantly, watching and entertaining the kids so we could get to work uninterrupted, since our stuff came just 4 days after we got there!

After one of their excursions to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, they brought us back some famous "Voo Doo Donuts" (a Portland chain that just opened in Denver). And after days of unpacking and cleaning, man, a donut never tasted so good!

On Friday June 26th, I celebrated my 32nd birthday. I woke up to a HUGE surprise from Jonathan (we'd agreed no birthday presents because I wanted new carpet for the upstairs) of new mountain bikes for he and I, and a trailer to pull Leah in. Let the family bike rides begin!

My sister Whitney (who very generously flew in to help us get settled) made me a delicious pancake birthday breakfast, and Lucy picked me those flowers from the garden.

Later that day we went to IKEA, one of my favorite stores, where I had my very own slice of chocolate birthday cake. Yum!

And of course, my birthday wouldn't have been complete without dinner at Cafe Rio, where I devoured the whole burrito (literally) and then we got to see the new movie "Jurassic World" with Jeremy and Kylene while Whitney babysat and got the kids to bed. It was a fantastic day!

I don't know that I'll ever be able to repay Whitney for all the amazing, kind, generous things she's done for our family. My kids love her, she always brings a very needed sense of calm to any situation, and the girl painted like a MANIAC for three days straight. I don't even think you could call what she did slave labor. It was worse! She was up on ladders, covered in paint, basically redoing the entire first floor. LOVE YOU WHITNEY!

My kids were dying to have a lemonade stand since we finally had the "perfect" location-- a house right on the corner, so Whitney and I helped them make up some lemonade and cookies to sell.

How could you NOT want to buy lemonade from them?? All in all, thanks to a few generous souls, their "free" lemonade stand made about $10. Not bad for an afternoon's work!

That night Zach was dying to get his hands on some fireworks since firework stands were popping up left and right before the 4th of July holiday. He took his half of the lemonade stand money and talked his Dad into buying about $50 worth of explosives to ring in our first holiday here in Colorado with a bang! He is ALL boy.

Whitney finally had to leave us to go on to bigger and better (and less strenuous and exhausting) things, so before I dropped her off at the airport, we stopped for dinner in downtown Denver at The District. We started with a bacon appetizer featuring things like duck bacon and siracha glazed bacon. YUM! 

I got the fish tacos which were just okay-- I don't think I'd order them again.

But Whitney got the chicken fried steak sliders which were AMAZING. Talk about Southern comfort food, right there in Denver! Those hipsters sure know their food.

We decided to make our own little stop at Voo Doo Donuts for a quick dessert before heading to the airport to drop Whitney off. Parting is such sweet sorrow! I hadn't seen Whitney in over a year, since she lives in Arizona, and I lived in North Carolina. I'm hoping now that we're considerably closer, we can at least see her again sooner than that! We certainly got off on the right foot in Colorado thanks to our wonderful first visitors!

A Sad Goodbye to North Carolina!

And so it begins! The major Blogathon of Summer 2015 is officially commencing.... Fasten your seat belts and keep your arms and legs inside the ride!  

I've got to play some major catch up-- we've been blog-less now for about 2 months and it's time to recap our final days in North Carolina. Zach suddenly began losing teeth left and right. This was his 3rd or 4th tooth he pulled himself during recess. His teacher was so surprised she said, "You're going to grow up to be a dentist just like your daddy!"  Apparently he just beamed at that compliment. We love this little jack o' lantern grin!

Both Lucy and Zach's school didn't get out until June 11th, which felt like FOREVER. Once all of their end of year testing was finally finished, their teachers must have been just as sick of school as the kids were, so they planned lots of fun themed days. Lucy had a Pirate Day (isn't she adorbs??), Super Hero Day, Magic Tree House Day, and Science Day. She loved planning her outfits those last few days of school! 

Mr. Cardon had his LAST DAY EVER IN THE MILITARY on June 5th. It was monumental! Epic, even. He is now FREE from payback, commitment, obligation, etc. to Uncle Sam. We are officially civilians, which is terrifying but also exhilarating. I don't think he was ever more glad to NOT have to wear a uniform and combat boots to work again. Farewell, Captain (Major Select) Cardon, you served your country well!

Miss Lucy had her end of the year piano recital, and she did great. She played "Zip A Dee Doo Da" and she blew us away. She's a "Whitney" in the making! We are proud of her for practicing all year and working hard. And yes, Leah did wear Lucy's dress to the recital. It was just that kind of month! 

Jon took these snapshots of our little guys one Saturday morning while they were eating breakfast. We had great windows in our dining room which let in the beautiful morning sunlight-- and I miss those windows. I love all those little faces!

Our second to last Saturday found us FOR THE LAST TIME at Myrtle Beach. Our weekend paradise. You have no idea how it breaks my heart to see these pictures while I'm here in Colorado, landlocked with mountains and desert on all sides!! I love how these two water bugs could spend every second swimming in the ocean.

A happy last trip to the beach! (Sniff, sniff)

Lucy and Zach boogie boarding. Thankfully we had no encounters with sharks like some beaches a little farther up North...

I can't even tell you how much I miss having this place nearby. I'll sometimes forget and think, "I'll ask Jon if we can go to the beach this weekend," and then realize we can't anymore! The wind and waves soothed my soul many a time, and I hope my kids will also remember when we got to live by the beach, and engendered a love for the ocean.

Zach's class did a final research project where they picked an animal and go to learn all about it. We printed some pictures off the internet and he designed this awesome poster and wrote out interesting facts about tigers. He had a great year in Kindergarten and learned so much. 

His class awards day, with his teacher Mrs. White. She was really good for Zach! She was Lucy's kindergarten teacher too, and helped him catch up on reading and writing and counting, and kept encouraging us that he was just a "late bloomer."

Mrs. Williams was his very sweet, very nurturing assistant teacher. Zach loved her and would frequently go up to her and give her little hugs--which if you know Zach, he is only affectionate with people he really, really likes. That alone speaks volumes about what kind of teacher she was!

Zach wanted a picture with little Sarah Castelli and her assistant Ms. Ebony. His whole class loved Sarah, and during the awards program Sarah walked unassisted all the way to the teacher to get her award. It was the sweetest thing to see his whole class cheer her on!

Lucy got a classroom award too, for being a great friend and helping build class unity. What AWESOME kids!

Their last day at school, at West Pine Elementary. Even though it was far away (that was my biggest complaint), we had a really great experience there for Lucy (K-2) and Zach (K) with the teachers and staff, and I hope as they grow up they'll be able to remember little bits and pieces of it. 

I love this woman! She was magical. She did wonders for Lucy in 2nd grade. Lucy didn't have a great 1st grade experience, but Mrs. McFadden was able to rebuild Lucy's confidence and just instilled in her such a love of learning. She also got Lucy in the AIG program (gifted and talented) because she really believed that was where Lucy belonged. I wish all teachers were as good and noble as her.  

Zach's little kindergarten class all packed up and ready to go home on their very last day!

Meanwhile as the kids were busy finishing up at school, the packers came to load up our house. They were two older women, but boy could they pack! They had the entire house loaded up and labelled in 2 days. It was whirlwind of not knowing what to keep out, what to have packed, and when the heck we'd ever see our stuff again!

To pass the time with an EMPTY house (empty aside from 700 boxes of course) we drove up to Raleigh and spent the afternoon at Monkey Joe's. The kids were so good to just roll with all the punches and uncertainty and anxiety that comes from moving. They are troopers!

Bright and early Monday morning on June 15th the movers showed up and started the lengthy process of loading furniture and boxes into the truck. Thankfully there was a lot of them and they were able to get their truck down our steep hill to the driveway, otherwise they'd have had to park along the street and move everything up the hill first!

The South decided to give us one last heat wave before sending us West. When I came by to drop off drinks for the movers at noon, my car showed 106 degrees and TONS of humidity. Yuck!

To stay out of their way, I took the kids to meet our friends the Bassetts at Chick fil A for lunch. We spent many lunchtime playdates at this little Chick fil A in Pinehurst (too many to count!). This is Zach with his buddy Grant.

Lucy and her cute friend Jane. I wish we'd gotten to know the Bassetts a little better while we were there! They are such a nice family.

I decided to do a little driving tour and take some pictures around the area of things we might forget later on. This is our church we went to for 4 years, and where Lucy was baptized. 

And our gym at First Health. I miss this place!! We spent so much time here. I took Leah just about every day, and sometimes even twice a day if I had to teach a class. We had swimming lessons here, summer camp, swim team, dodge ball parties, parents night out parties, you name it. The older ladies in the Kids' Center loved my kids-- especially Leah. I started taking her when she was around 3 months old, and they felt like she'd grown up with them. On our last day they started crying as we said goodbye. Turning over my classes to someone else was so hard too! When I first started teaching the lunch hour (12:15) Body Pump class I was lucky if I got 5 people to show up. By the time it was time to move, I'd gotten 30+ people in my classes. It was awesome, and such a testament to the power of great group fitness! My boss said she'd never seen someone be able to quadruple numbers like that at an "off-peak" time.  

We got home just in time to see the truck take off-- with quite a few boxes not fitting in the actual truck and lashed onto the back. Ha ha. All I could do at that point was just hope and pray we'd see our stuff again in one piece!

Look at that empty house! As soon as everything was finally out, Jon and I started cleaning like CRAZY people! We scrubbed and scrubbed until probably 11:30 p.m. that night, trying to erase all the sticky fingerprints and dings and scratches in the walls and floor that living somewhere for 4 years with 3 kids leaves. PHEW. We wanted that dang security deposit back even if it killed us! I don't think I've ever been so exhausted, or so ready to get out of somewhere in my whole life. Once again, our kids were troopers, trying to keep the house immaculate, and entertaining themselves while we cleaned-- with no toys for them to play with.

Our sweet neighbor Ali, and her boys Josh and Luke, were so good to let my kids come over and play that week. Thank goodness for them! We have so many good memories of Josh and Luke coming over and knocking on the door to see "if Lucy and Zach could play." That was a very bittersweet goodbye because they were GREAT neighbors and great playmates for our kids.

The FINAL picture before we hit the road to Colorado. Goodbye 5 Beryl Ct.!! We have so many fond memories of life in this house-- the only house Leah's ever known, and lots of ups and downs and growing pains. We will absolutely miss North Carolina, and would be happy to go back someday and visit.