The Great Outdoors

We live in a pretty place and although little can compare to the beauty of the Wasatch Mountains, the skies in Colorado are spectacular.  Since moving here, our lives have been turned upside down in so many ways, but one of the biggest changes is that we are apparently an early rising family which also means that we are an early to bed family too.  I know shocker of the world...Romney and Alecia are in bed by 10:00!!

Since Christian and Lauren's bus comes at 6:58 AM...(yes...6:58 AM), we have been waking up early and enjoying some of the most spectacular sunrises I have ever seen.  We woke up to this yesterday.

Another fun aspect of our new home is the wildlife.  Falcons, eagles, hawks and dozens of bird species are constantly flying above us.  It is like a free aviary every time we go outside.  On our first or second night here, Thomas also discovered that frogs/toads come out at night.  He caught three of them and did his best to make a life for them in shoe box in our garage.  They were really cute and about the size of a silver dollar.  After a few days, we convinced him to let them go.

Yesterday, Sophie and I were returning from the grocery store and she told me that we had a frog in our garage.  I walked over and there was a huge frog sitting in the bottom of an empty garbage can.  It turns out that Christian had found one the night before and was trying to keep it in our garage as his secret pet.  Hilarious. Once he got home from school, that poor thing was bathed a dozen times and dropped on his head over and over.  I hate to admit this but he would actually kiss it on the lips.  By last night, we told him that it was probably time to let his new friend go home and he was devastated.  

Christian was having a really hard time letting him go, so the only way we could get him to do it was after he asked us if he could spray paint him so that he would know how to find his friend.  Since we don't have any "frog friendly spray paint," we told him that he could write his initial's on the frog's stomach.

Out came the Sharpie pen.

With all the strength he could bear, Christian took his little buddy outside and let him go.  Here is a picture of him on his way back inside.  He was devastated and in true paparazzi fashion, he tried to shield his face from the camera.  It was very sweet! Poor kid.

Other than frogs, birds and sunrises, we are enjoying ourselves and had fun this past weekend enjoying the pool in our development.

Thank heavens for dads because this was my way of enjoying the pool...quietly enjoying a great book.  Thanks Romney!!

A Job, a Move & Stability

Colorado State Flag

So, we have moved...again. How can it be that 3 moves ago, I vowed that I had one move left in my body and mind and yet, here we are again? We have dozens of unopened boxes in our basement and my kids are once again the "new kid" at school.

Romney has always apologized that he is a gypsy aka an entrepreneur. But somehow I thought that at the end of our amazing Boston experience 6 years ago, we would be able to settle down and grow up with our kids...in Utah. We were there, our family was readily available, easy lunches with high school friends, cousins around the corner, Sunday dinners with in-laws. We had it pretty great....except  the job situation for Romney was far from invigorating and certainly not an ideal situation. So when the opportunity was presented to Romney that he could be the president of a promising start-up with funding and revenue Colorado, I began to understand why Romney apologizes for being an entrepreneur.

Romney took the job working at a company called Lautriv Systems. It is a software company that provides an essential solution for insurance companies. He commuted for a few months and came home on the weekends to help me prepare for yet another open house. The limbo was killing all of us. The housing market in Utah was stagnant and we could not find a home that fit our family's needs. I was wondering if the move was actually going to happen. But we felt the Lord's hand guiding us as we took the leap of faith. We found a perfect home to rent and then, two days before we moved, dreamy renters signed a two-year lease for our home on Kensington Avenue.

Our Home

We now live in a newer subdivision just northwest of Denver. The kids have adjusted incredibly well and thanks to a fantastic ward, we are quickly adjusting to the changes that have come.

They have all made friends. Here are pictures of them on the first day of school. Lauren (4th grade) and Christian (1st grade).

Thomas (6th grade) on his first day. (He was a little reluctant to get out of the car.)

It was such a treat that my parents and my sister Kara and brother Christian were able to come to Denver last weekend for a few days. Months ago, they had purchased tickets to the Denver pre-season game. And much to our surprise, a distant cousin Karen Shuman who lives here in the Denver area, called me a few days before and offered me two tickets to the game. So, Romney and I were able to attend our first NFL game with my family. It was a treat and we all had a great time.

My sister Kara and I have always loved purses. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to purchase another set of purses together from a vendor in downtown Denver. LOVE IT!!

We painfully miss our family in Utah, but know that the closeness we felt while living there will continue, but with just a little more effort. I look forward to sharing our Denver adventures with you and I hope this blog will help tighten the gap that is betweenp us.