We Found Our Friends

I know our moms will be happy to know we have friends in Colorado!!!

When we lived in West Palm Beach, there was a family who went to the My Gym there who we became really close with. We saw them at the gym all the time, babysat their kids Avery and Aodhan, had dinner together, and even vacationed to Idaho with them. Kyle and Jessica (the mom and dad) were actually the first people we told that we were engaged.

Before our wedding, though, the family moved to Colorado. It was a fast move, and it was hard to keep in touch. It has been over 2 years now since we have even talked to them. When we got to Colorado ourselves, we looked up their address. The other day we sent them a card in faith that they still would live there. Believe it or not, they emailed us the next day!

Turns out we are less than 30 min away from each other, and we will be getting together for dinner soon! Aodhan and Avery must be about 6 and 4 years old now. I can't believe that we found them! Out of all the states, we still ended up as "neighbors" again, and we are so excited we know someone here now. Even though they have kids, Kyle and Jessica were our friends. We can't wait to have someone to hang out with and learn the area better.

It Snowed!

Last night the weather report said "snow showers". Well, apparently those snow showers came through over night while we were sleeping. We didn't get to see anything until on our way to work this morning. There was left over snow on two cars that we passed. I didn't believe it at first, so we went around the block so I could take a picture... IT SNOWED! Right now it is just cold and very windy (you can hear it hawling inside My Gym). I think I need to go get some snow shoes/boots soon if "snow shwers" turned into this picture. Enjoy the warm Florida weather!

Warmer Days

The temperature has been in the 60-70s this weekend. It has been nice! Yesterday, we actually were able to go on a little bike ride. We also ate dinner outside – that’s becoming a more often thing for us. In Florida, you need either a fan or bug spray to eat outside. In Colorado, just grab a blanket and you are good to go! It has also only rained one or two days in the past two weeks. However, nothing is dry or dying from heat to need the rain. It is still beautiful… you should come see!

Speaking of that, we ARE getting visitors soon. We are so excited! Margaret (Thomas’ mom), Neil, and Natalie might come for Thanksgiving, and Sherry (Juli’s mom) is planning on coming the week after Christmas. We are still unpacking, but hope to have everything ready for everyone in a couple of weeks. We can’t wait to show them where we live, work, and what there is to do in Colorado. We are glad people are wanted to come so soon, and hope to eventually get you ALL here (ok, maybe I am not being reasonable, but it would be fun).

We Voted

Since we would not have had time to register to vote in Colorado, we requested a Seminole County ballot. We both sent it out in today's mail! I am excited because it is my 1st presidential ellection (Thomas' second). I won't get the "I voted" sticker, and will miss being at the polls in November, but at least my vote still counts... and some Seminole County, FL judges still got our vote, ha! Good luck to the rest of you when you go to the polls!!

Last Night...

Last night, Thomas grilled hamburgers and we ate outside on our patio (in the cold). It was nice to enjoy the air and watch our neighbors walk their dogs and push their kids in a stroller or waggon - it's a cute community. After dinner, we came inside to sit infront of the fire place and drink hot chocolate out of our snowman mugs (from Margaret). It was fun!

*The fire is really on in the background, you just can't see it in the picture because of the flash. It also is kinda a silly photo because it was taken with a self timer... quick "run, run, run FLAST"*

We have been waking up to about 27-29 degree weather. It warms up during the day, and then drops to the 30s or low 40s at night. Saturday night, it even flurried! We didn't get a picture of it because it was more like cold rain, but was a form of snow. The first ski resort apparently opened today, and some of the families who go to the gym are planning on skiing this weekend. I have been told it is usually snowing here this time of year, but I know it will come in time - it is better for us to adjust gradually. That's all the news for now. Thanks for reading!

Tiny Stop Sign

There are tiny stop signs in the parking lot of a Super Target here. We just thought it was funny.

Moving Adventures

More random pictures that I thought you would enjoy... they are from moving in.

The trailer of all our stuff once we opened the door... WOW!

Thomas' dad drove all of our stuff from Florida to Colorado in this trailer.

Thomas is getting the car out of the trailer.

Uh Oh, we had 3 broken plates and 1 broken bowl.

Our king size mattress was hard to get up the stairs.

My Gym Pictures

These are uploaded randomly, but here are pictures of our work:

Ball Pit

Storage Room

Looking from back door

Looking from front door

The outside - My Gym Arvada Owners

Bathrooms

Do you see the picture of Mymo on the wall... he is skiing.
The Lobby

Our sign on the wall

Just another picture of the paitings

Fall Colors

We Own A My Gym!

Cheers! We just popped a bottle champagne to celebrate our accomplishment. Today, October 6th, 2008 marks day one of owning the My Gym Children's Fitness Center in Arvada, Colorado! I will post pictures and more of an update later (it's 11:45pm, but I wanted you to share in our excitement before the day ended).

A Preview of Our House

The outside... (door on left, 5475). Yes, it's three stories.

The foyer (looking from down the stairs).

The door straight ahead is the front door, and the door on the left is to the garage.

View from the front door. Door on left is to our 2 car deep garage.

Living room and dining room- another set of stairs to 3rd story, electric fire place, and kitchen is what you see on the left.

View of the living room from the kitchen. The door goes out to our patio (in the front of the house - see 1st picture).

Kitchen - upgrades from our old house: the fridge opens all the way without hitting the other counter, the dishwasher can be open and someone can still walk into the kitchen, a built in microwave, and a disposal.

Half bath that is off of the kitchen and breakfast area (even though we turned that area into an office). This is the bathroom on the main level with the living room, then there are two other bathrooms upstairs. Another improvement from our old house, 3 toilets and only 2 people.

Master bath - 2 sinks! The color of the bathroom is also the color of our bedroom.

Master walk-in closet.

I will take more pictures of the house (including the two bedrooms, the other bathroom, and office) when we get all of our furniture and everything set up. Enjoy the preview, and hopefully one day you can see it for real!

We are home (Colorado)

Our day started this morning at 3am California time. It was then off to return the rental car and head over to LAX to fly out really early. I cried when the plane took off this morning and then again when we landed. I think it was just the reality that we were not going to land in Orlando. We are in Colorado now... our new home. Once we got to our townhouse here, though, I was excited. We have almost everything ready to go to take over the Arvada My Gym on Monday. Thomas' dad will actually be getting here tonight (or maybe early in the morning) with all of our stuff and our car. I love our new home, and I can't wait to decorate it for people to visit (hopefully soon). I will post pictures of our house once we get everything in it's place and of the My Gym once we take it over. Instead, here are some thoughts and pictures from our 13 days in California...

Things we did not like about L.A.: TRAFFIC, intersections that looked like an asterisk, 7-11 everywhere that don't have gas, and parking on the streets because they don't have enough room for all the cars

Things we did like about L.A.: In and Out Burger, My Gyms everywhere, the zoo, and their mountains....

L.A. Zoo

Sunday we had the day off so we went to the L.A. Zoo. Here are some pictures from our day: