Catching Up

Here are some pictures from the past month with the most recent at the top.


Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...


Time to Move in


How did they fit all of that in there?


A Thanksgiving feast...yum


"Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker!"

Moving On

We're back! I know it has been a very long time since we have posted. But, to be fair I just got my internet access back yesterday. I feel as if I have been isolated from the world. SO much has happened in the past couple of weeks. This has been such a huge transition time for us. We moved out of Corpus the Monday before Thanksgiving. Thank you to the many who helped make our move from Corpus easier! We then spent Thanksgiving up in Sherman with the Larsen's. We had a great time and it was a nice break from all the packing.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving we began our journey to Denver and arrived Sunday afternoon. We closed on our new house Mon., Nov 26 first thing in the morning. Unfortunately, the moving company did not make it until Tuesday, so we hung out at the hotel and did what we could around the new house until then. The first morning in our new home we had a warm (or rather cold) welcome to Denver by awaking to a couple inches of snow. We quickly realized that we would need to make a trip later that day to Walmart to buy a snow shovel and ice scrapers.

The other big piece of news is that we closed on our home in Corpus yesterday. HOORAY! All the needed repairs were finished the day before and it is now official that we have sold our home. We are so glad to be able to move on from that experience.

We are now starting to get settled here and the boxes are whittling down. We are in the process of making the adjustments to make the house livable. I think it will feel even more like home when I don't feel like we are living in a fish bowl and we get some blinds. We are starting to meet some new people here, but I still miss Corpus and often wonder what is going on there. I guess that is just part of the whole transition. Anyways, it is beautiful here and I am enjoying my mountain view even though I am freezing right now. I guess that is just another adjustment to make, right?

SOLD... well, almost!

After a very long and painful 16 day option period, we finally signed a full contact on our home yesterday. The date set to close on the house is Dec. 6. There were several repair issues with our home that we have had to work through, and warranty companies sure work on their own time frame. Also, the buyers seemed to think that they needed everything in new or perfect condition when the home is ten years old. I think selling this home has been one of the most stressful events of my life. It has made me never want to move again. Our home has only been on the market just over two months, which is very good for the market that we are in. However, those two months sure feel like at least four months. In this market it is hard not to feel like we have been taken to the cleaners - I could go on and on. However, considering ALL the circumstances we feel very blessed that everything has worked out and little by little fallen into place for us.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAMONT!

The top ten reasons we love our daddy and husband:


10. He takes care of all our yard work.
9. He gets almost fanatical about certain things such as politics and college football
8. He is a fun game player and always up for a good game
7. He is a handy man and has fixed many things in our home including the kitchen sink
6. He is very orderly and keeps us moving in the right direction
5. He is frugal and keeps us financially secure
4. He is a hard worker and always puts forth his best effort
3. He is very dedicated to the church and fulfills any calling he has
2. He is a wonderful daddy and very devoted to our family
1. He is my best friend and always there for me.

We love you very much and wish we could be there to celebrate with you! Happy Birthday!

Family Time vs. Time Alone

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind for me. My family came to visit for several days just before Halloween and we had a great time going to the beach, Sea World, and the aquarium. I guess it was their one last "hooray" with me in Corpus Christi. While they were here Lamont left for Denver. My sister Melanie was a life saver and stayed another week with me. I don't know what I would have done without her! This past weekend we were able to head up towards San Antonio and Austin to spend a little time with the Larsen's and to attend Bryce and Katie's baby blessing. However, the trip was cut short due to more illness. Now as the time stands I am here by myself for about nine days. What a drastic change to go from so much family to just me and the boys. I am hoping to get some projects going to keep me busy - packing up being the biggest one. I am sure that the remainder of the my time in Corpus with will go by fast in some ways, but very slow in other ways. Here are some fun pictures of the past two weeks.


The Moretons at Halloscream at Sea World


Beach fun with Aunt Megan


The boys with Grandma Moreton


Visiting the Selena gravesite here in Corpus


Amelia's (Bryce and Katie's) baby blessing

Halloween

I know it has taken me a while to get the pictures up, but here are the boys on Halloween. After much deliberation, Carter decided on being a police officer and even had a note pad that he was writing tickets to others on. McKay wanted to be a frog and loved to "ribbit" and hop all around while wearing his costume. Halloween was a crazy day for us, with a large part of it spent in the Doctor's office with McKay who came down with bronchitis. We were glad Aunt Melly could celebrate with us, but missed Daddy trick-or-treating with us. The boys did manage to have a lot of fun that night and filled their pumpkins with TONS of candy.

New Ward in Colorado

I went to church in our new ward today. There are a lot of young families similar to us so it seems like it will be a good fit. They also just realigned the ward boundaries to even out the growth from all the new homes being built in our area, so there is a lot of people new to the ward. One interesting thing -- I got a ward directory and there are already two Larsens and one Lawson. Go figure. But one of them has four kids - all girls - so we are definitely NOT related.

Flying Solo in Denver

I drove up to Denver last Sunday and on Monday started my new job. I really like the people and it seems like it is going to work out great. The daily commute will take some getting used to though. I'm taking the light rail which sounds cool, but in reality it involves waiting out in the cold for the train, getting packed in like sardines, and all together takes about an hour. If I were to drive downtown it would probably be a little quicker, but I would have to pay $10-12 a day to park since parking is so limited. The train pass is $20 a month. I guess I just got spoiled in Corpus Christi where I had a 15 minute commute with zero traffic. Downtown Denver is pretty neat though. Within walking distance of my work is Coors Field (Rockies), Pepsi Center (Nuggets/Avalanche), INVESCO Field (Broncos), and Six Flags. On my first day, the whole area was swarming with Bronco and Packers fans for the Monday Night Football game. If I would have thought ahead, I would have bought a ticket. I did try and get a ticket to the World Series game that same night, but no dice, and of course the Rockies got swept.

I'm staying in a hotel since our house isn't finished yet. It has a kitchenette so I've got a nice setup, but its still nothing like being at home with Melissa and the boys. Its just for a few weeks thank goodness. I've checked on our home and its almost done. I'll head back to Texas the week of Thanksgiving to load the moving truck and then after the holidays we'll all drive to Denver, close on the house, and move-in. It will sure be nice to be done with all the transition.

Family Night Fun

On Monday nights we love to sing songs together as a family. Carter and McKay each have songs that they request each week. They sing the songs and do the actions with Daddy while I play the piano. We thought we would capture the boys in action... Enjoy!

Our New House

This past weekend we went house hunting in Denver. We were lucky enough to have Grandma Larsen watch the boys so that we could just focus for three days on finding a house. We looked at many homes (previously owned and new construction) and found one builder that was offering awesome incentives with unbelievable upgrades. It was located in a nice part of southeast Aurora and was just too hard to pass up. This will be a great home for us to grow into and stay in for a long while. We are excited to move in when the construction is finished next month.

McKay's Birthday

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Halloween From Years Past

With Halloween just around the corner, we thought it would be fun to look back on Halloween from years past.

Halloween 2003

Halloween 2004

Halloween 2005

Halloween 2006