february. 2012

We were extremely blessed in January to get an offer from a company that Jarom had been doing contract work for, to work for them full time. We were given the choice of three locations…Orange County, CA…Denver, CO…or Arizona. It was an easy choice for us, as two of the options weren’t even options for us. On to COLORADO!

We packed up our house in Georgia, not missing the house or city, but missing our dear friends and ward we had grown to love. We said our good-bye’s on Tuesday, February 28th, for our 24 hour journey to Evergreen, CO. If you know me at all, I don’t do non-stop drive-through’s. We decided to do 8 hour days, and make it there by Thursday evening. We also thought of a couple things we wanted to see along the way, but not too many, we didn’t want to extend the trip by much. It worked out perfectly!

The first day we headed through Tennessee, and stopped at the Parthenon, built after the one on the Acropolis in Greece.  Built for a fair, they intended to tear it down afterwards.  Same story for the Eiffel Tower.  Thank goodness it was decided to keep them.  We stayed at the most beautiful Marriott we’ve ever been to, when we arrived in St. Louis, MO.  It was an old train station converted to a hotel, and the intricate work inside was absolutely beautiful!

Wednesday morning, we got a late start, but had to stop at the Arch, the bridgeway to the West.  Wow, what a beautiful landmark!  As we were leaving St. Louis, Madison asked, “Have we left misery yet?”  Oh our sweet Madison, she is hilarious!  We drove four hours, made it to Independence, MO, just in time to go to the LDS Visitors Center, and to Liberty Jail.  What a wonderful experience to see and share with the girls.  Stayed the night in Kansas City.

Thursday, pretty much Kansas…all day until we reached Colorado.  The most boring state to drive through I’m sure!  We finally made it to Colorado, and Nadia said, “But where’s the snow!”   We had talked it up that we would get to ski when we got to Colorado, and that had stuck in her mind!  We started skiing as a family when Nadia was 18 months old, and she loves it!

We made it to the house, dealt with the movers for two days, in freezing cold 60-80 mile winds, a house at 40 degrees for two days, a hot water heater not working, then the heat on one floor stopped working…not to mention I thought I smelled gas and we all had to get out of the house…but it was all just kinks from a new house sitting for awhile.  Thank goodness!

We wake up in a clearing in the middle of the mountains every day, surrounded by beautiful mountain peaks covered with pine trees.  It’s dreamy and beautiful!  We are very blessed and grateful to enjoy this beautiful area!

The road trip begins…happy the house is packed, uncertain at how three days driving will go.

Cool huge boat we saw on the freeway…

Nashville, Tennessee-the Parthenon 

Tacky idea of what Athena is supposed to look like…nothing like the real thing!

Made it to St. Louis, MO the first night…old train station made into a hotel…absolutely gorgeous!

The beautiful Arch…Gateway to the West…

Independence, MO…LDS Visitor’s Center…Pioneer exhibit…

Liberty Jail…where Joseph Smith and four others were kept for four months in these horrible conditions…the pic of the girls looking through the window is the only opening in which light and fresh air could enter.  They were kept down there all the time…

Gold Plates…replica of course…but still neat to see.

Leaving Kansas City, our last day…we just have to drive through Kansas at this point, and we’ll be to Colorado!  Nadia and sock monkey are super glad about that!

Me, still sane!  Looking forward to our new home!

The view of the Rocky Mountains-where we are headed!  We live West of Denver, in the foothills…where it’s green and beautiful!

Where the Buffalo roam…

This is our back yard and the view from our back windows!  It’s so beautiful here, I can’t believe it!  What a change from where we have been so long out East for the past 12 years!   Can’t wait for hiking, biking, fishing, and supporting Jarom in all his marathon events he wants to run!