A day to remember

A few months ago, through the magic of Facebook, Carley found our brother , Clay, with whom we'd lost contact with many years ago. We were all so excited to have found him and immediately, we all began to get to know each other again through texts and messages on Facebook. We also got to know our sister-in-law, Katja. When we found out we were moving to Colorado, I was completely excited that I'd be close enough to really get to know them. Then, with the Hansfords surprise visit, the timing seemed perfect to round everyone up for a BBQ.

Here's our family pic with everyone except Mike who was sleeping before work and Ben who had another commitment. This was taken just before Mark and Carley needed to leave. Clay and Katja have two kids- Anaka, who's 11 and Cameron who's 10. They are both great kids and so much fun! They fit right in.

Grams and Papa with all their grands:

My bro and me:


Mack was pretty overwhelmed with all the commotion and she kinda stuck with the other kids until Uncle Clay and Aunt Katja were about to leave. Then she ran after him , grabbed his leg and squeezed. Clay is 6 ft 5 in so you can see why she'd be a little intimidated at first:

The Hansfords are coming!

Ben surprised Nikki and the kids with the news that they'd be traveling to Colorado for Memorial day weekend! We had not seen Taylor and Cole for almost two years and were beyond excited to see them!

Taylor and Mack going on a walk to the mail box:

Nicole and Taylor. I am loving seeing all these toothless grins around here! Currently Brook, Taylor and Cole are all missing one or more of their front teeth!

Mack hanging with the boys:

Count it!

My dad manages an auto shop that also crushes " junk" cars. As he works, he collects coins from the cars that are to be crushed and saves them for the kids. Each Sunday they are together, they count it out and put it in their banks. Mack is happy to be apart of this tradition:

As they were counting, Brooklyn said " What's two plus two?" Mack quickly and proudly responded " Four!" leaving Papa a little surprised!

Girls gone wild...

I spent most of last weekend with my good friends Samantha, Cass and Jenny celebrating Cass's upcoming wedding at a fantastic tea party bridal shower. It was so much fun to be together again with out the sadness of saying " Good-bye" at the end of it. Instead, there was lots of excitement over upcoming play dates and mom's nights out!

Take two....I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but it made us laugh:


The beautiful bride:

Jump time!

Mackenzie has been talking about Grams' trampoline since our visit last summer. She could not wait to kick off her shoes and bounce to her hearts content!

Mike took this picture - Nice form, Mack~!


Making oatmeal-sprinkle-chocolate chip cookies is the perfect way to regain your energy after a good bounce session:

They were a bit heavy on the sprinkles:

What IS that?

My creepy-crawling loving girl has had so much fun learning all about the bugs and animals of northern Colorado. She quite often whispers " What IS that thing?" in an awestruck voice.

It has been raining so much here and my dad was able to find this salamander for Mackenzie. I think he's kinda cute...in a sticky, gooey kinda way:

I found this little toad while planting some flowers. He got a rude and early awakening from his winter's nap.

Mack is lucky to have two grandma's who aren't afraid to get dirty!

We learned the Brooklyn is also quite the bug lover so the three of us set out on a bug hunt. Before we could even spot the hidden bug, Brooky had swiped it up and put in our catcher! She's so fast and quiet experienced in this area of study. If there was a bug she was afraid to touch, she called in back up and Mackenzie was on the job, placing the bug in it's temporary home.

We hadn't been settled long before the sun poked out and we could help my mom plant her garden. Equipped with her gloves and bug catching tweezers, Mack went straight to work:

Gus watched us as we worked, plotting the future demise of the buffet we were planting just for him:

We made it!

After two long days on the road, we finally turned right onto county road 39. As we caravaned toward the house, we blared our horns and shouted. My mom, Carley and the kids were there to greet us and it felt good to finally be " there".

My parents bought their house ( though the original is long gone, twice replaced by newer , more accomodating houses.) and the 10 acres it was on in 1988 and have lived here ever since. It's been the place that saw my sisters and I grow and now watches our kids blossom. Over the years the scenery has changed but there have always been farm animals and a garden. These are two of Mackenzie's favorite things about " Codorado".

In fact, Mack thinks that Codorado is Gram's and Papa's. If we make the 10 mile ( in either direction) drive " into town" , Mack asks when we're going back to Codorado. She now understands that we are far from Michigan though there are many ways to bridge the miles.

Mackenzie loves having Brooklyn and Kaleb to play with and learn from. The three of them come up with all sorts of fun things to do. Being near Brook and Kaleb makes us miss Nicole, Ben and cousins Taylor and Cole:

My mom's dog Buddy is quiet the character and makes a great greeter:

And it's always good to be welcomed back by my mom!

My view

This was my view for all 1216 miles between Michigan and Colorado. It wasn't an exciting view unless there was a strong wind or a narrowed lane which sent our little Focus a little fishy.

We were able to watch the space shuttle take off before we set out on our second day. This is a cute picture because Mike really loved space related things when he was a kid and Mack just loved learning about it as they watched.

It's that time...

I really hate good-bye's . To put it bluntly, I stink at them. The worst part of any trip or having a visitor has always been the good-bye. I get anxious and emotional and I am not a pretty crier so I try my hardest to hold it all together. That's why, as our days in Michigan began to dwindle, my anxiety over our having to say our farewells grew. I have learned that, though I hate good-byes, it's unfair to deprive others of their chance to say it . Through that, I've realized that there is something about letting someone see that you are torn up about leaving, too. So here are a few pictures of our last encounters before we left.

We met Angie , Hannah and Mia at " our" park . The girls were stoked that there had just been a rain shower, leaving behind a nice puddle:



Saying good-bye to the Wilson crew was one that I was dreading. We love them so much and they have become family to us. We went over for a final b-b-q at their house and I nearly broke down several times, especially watching Mackenzie and Olivia going off together to play.

Mike and Will have been friends for so long, they don't even have to call each other to coordinate outfits any more!

Erin has become such a good friend to me, one of my dearest, and I cannot imagine how my life would be with out her.

Aunt Janet took Mike, Mack, Grammy and me out to dinner at Ruby Tuesday's. She has been so much fun and a great resource for me. We miss her so much already!


The good-bye's for Aunt Meg and Grammy were a little too emotional for me to even think about using my camera. But we miss them so much and hope they can feel our long distance hugs.

If only.......

Anyone who has moved with in the last 6 months ( after that, you tend to forget what a colossal pain moving is) wishes moving could be just this easy:

There were a few times I wished someone would stick me in a box ( with a hefty dose of Benedryl ) transport me to the desired destination and unpack me when things were calm again.

Mother's day

In the midst of our move, Mother's day took both Mike and me by surprise. In lieu of presents

( and in light of our big move to Colorado) I enjoyed a nice break from packing to take some pictures of Mackenzie. I had been waiting for those sunshine-y dandelions to burst into bloom and when they finally did, I couldn't wait to get Mack out there. Visions of the perfect pictures paraded through my head only to be trampled on by the reality that Mack does not like flying insects. When she encounters one, she instinctively covers her ears with her hands and leaves them there until the threat has cleared. Though the shots I got didn't mimic those that were in my head, I realized that the perfect shot is one that captures the feeling and the true essence of what that moment held- a great lesson learned. I'd love to put these in a collage so they don't take up so much room but my computer has yet to be revived after the Great Move.

Getting dandelion bouquets is one of the sweetest sign of endearment for the recipiant of such a treasure! (And I think they are the best Mother's day present ever)

Later, Grammy and Aunt Meg came over for dinner. It was a nice evening and I tried everything I could to keep my mind off the fact that this would be our last dinner of the sort. While there will be plenty of visits back and forth to come, I can't just call them both up for dinner. Future events will take a lot more planning.



After dinner, Grammy read Mackenzie a book that was one of her favorites as a baby/ toddler.

Update

We are still alive! But we are BUSY. We've managed to pack up about 90% of our home. The other 10% is things that can't be packed because we are either using them or they won't fit in boxes. You know me and you know that I do not live well with out routine and organization. This has been the fastest yet still the longest two weeks over my life living in limbo. I find myself jealous of those living their normal lives and angry with myself for not enjoying life more, even when it seems mundane. I am so ready to establish a new sense of normalcy, whatever that may be.

In other news, we found out that we can, in fact, rent out our condo. That is EXCELLENT news since that means we could make double payments over the course of a lease and unload this condo for a *hopefully* nice profit and be in a home of our own this time next year. Of course,with this realization comes uncertainty and for me, that's an easy leap to make. Jay, our realtor , will be coming over Monday to talk about that. if we don't decide to rent our home out, Jay will list it and we'll see what we get.

We will be picking up our truck this Saturday morning and , with lots of prayers and hard work, will be unloaded in Colorado 5 days later. Mike has to report for a drug test on the 19th and has orientation on May 23rd. No rest for the weary, he'll jump from one life into another. So in all of this, please continue to pray for us. God has shown us that HE has a plan for us and we know that won't change. Prayers of peace are always appreciated.

I'll update again soon! I am really missing my camera and am thinking of all the fun pics I can take when we land in Colorado.
Mx3