FoCo in NoCo: Our New Home

We're HERE. After months of figuring life out, weeks of prepping what we figured out, and days of actually transitioning, we are here in our new home. We are so excited to explore Fort Collins!

On Monday we spent time together with all the Miners, Ali and I got a haircut, we fit in some last minute family pictures, and then the three couples went out for shaved ice after we got all our kids down. On Tuesday my parents left early with us for Colorado! It's a little longer of a drive than Fresno to Cedar, but it felt pretty similar. A day of driving is a day of driving. And it's a MUCH prettier drive.

We got into our house that night, and I feel like we just had a wave of kindness. Some little kind details from the sellers (in the pictures), a basket of groceries and milk in the fridge from our realtor, meeting multiple nice neighbors, and just feeling so grateful for my parents' help. We all climbed into sleeping bags and had our first night in our new home.

The next day we unloaded the truck by about noon. Michael's friend from high school helped for an hour and that was so kind. Then, unpacking and getting settled, slowly but surely! We're leaving our kitchen in boxes throughout our dining room, and taking apart our cabinets to paint them before we unpack. I knew it was going to be a lot of work. I wish I could just pause mom life for a few days and bust it out quickly. But I know that I'm going to love a bright white kitchen, and it will be worth it in the long run.

We broke up unpacking with a walk to Westin's school (such a cute path to the playground), visiting a neighborhood library box, Chick Fil A, Chipotle, walking around Fort Collins City Park, yummy unique tacos at DGT, Michael took care of all the annoying car stuff and I took down all our cabinets and my mom washed them. We unpacked about 85% of our stuff and now the rest is hinging on projects or purchases to get fully settled. My goal is to have this place feeling really livable by August 1st and then just doing a project at a time after that that doesn't affect our day to day life much.

Our neighborhood is so cute and we love our trees in our backyard. I specifically just love the aspens by our back deck. They feel so homey to me. We have met so many nice people already. It's hard to move and not be able to go to church or know what's going on with school. I just haven't been able to visit all of that fully in my mind yet because it feels like there's so much to get done before we're there. 

On Saturday Michael and I went on our first date in months and months. We got some Thai takeout and took it to the CSU Perennial and Annual gardens, where there are countless beautiful plants and all of them labeled. They were really fun to see! Then we picked up frozen custard and brought it home to eat with my parents during their last night here. I love them so much. I don't think I fed Camden a meal for days and days, just was able to get so much done while my mom helped him out, and my dad took off so many cabinet hinges with me. Michael went and got both our cars ready to get registered here and even cleaned them both too. Westin and Bennett threw a lot of clothes down our laundry shoot. They love it as much as I do.

We're excited to get to know all the new! At home, in the city, neighbors and friends, everything. 

It's hard to believe we're finally here.

Moving. And Chocolate Milk.

This week. Such a blur. We loved slowing down on Monday night for our last dinner with the Ryans. Emily was so sweet to have us over -- they're moving just days after us so it's not like their life is any less crazy than ours. But she fed us and we always love being with their sweet family. The kids always put on an entertaining play after.

Westin and Bennett have been working hard helping me pack and clean to earn some "moving buddies" (Buzz and Woody). We ended up getting the wrong kind at Target for them -- apparently Westin was super into having Buzz's wings pop open and he was really sweet about it, so we ended up returning them and ordering the others online. They were set to be delivered the morning before we left, so I was hoping they'd make it in time. Luckily they showed up a day early and those two loved having buddies for that final moving stretch! They watched the movie that day during my last packing and cleaning stretch, and it was just fun to see them sitting with Buzz and Woody, watching Andy move.

My parents picked up an empty moving truck in Vegas and drove it to Fresno for us, which saved us almost $2000. Oh California, we won't miss your prices. They went a day early and checked with Penske to see if the truck had been turned in yet, and if they could have it early. Penske was fine with it so they ended up driving on to Fresno instead of coming the next morning. It was so lucky that worked out because it took the whole day to load the next day. We were also so grateful for our friends the Hintons for letting our older boys come play that day and feeding them Happy Meals for lunch. 

Moving is craziness! I'm pretty sure everyone always vows to get rid of all their stuff AND to never move again when it's happening. I thought we'd fill half of our huge moving truck and it was completely full. But we did it! My parents came out and helped so much with the kiddos and loading, and Michael was the brains behind packing that whole 26' truck. The missionaries helped him with some furniture for 90 minutes but otherwise we got it all in between us. 

We learned our lesson last time we moved and kept Kitty shut in a bathroom during our final loading stretch. I'll never forget those two hours after being completely packed up and ready to go in Indy, except we had to track down a runaway Kitty... So, we loaded her into her little kennel that she only sees every four years (it's a two-person, scratch-heavy job). Then we sent Michael on the road as early as we could Tuesday morning, because he needed to pick up the trailer for our Corolla in Vegas by 5. We also thought he'd be really slow in that huge full truck. Turns out he's not too much slower than us... :) 

I gave the floors a final cleaning, my dad finished loading my van, my mom got the boys ready to go, then we were off to follow Michael. I took a last video tour of our home. When I locked up I just lost it. Could not control my tears -- that home was my refuge. It was my space during Michael's late nights and boys' early bedtimes. We brought two babies home there. I bawled when I did my last walk through and saw our closet, which had a baby in it almost the entire time we lived there. The backyard where I watched my boys play and play. The kitchen we ate so many meals in and saw Westin really grow up in. The boys' room that will always be full of books and bedtime stories in my mind.

I won't miss Michael's hours, and I won't miss Toby the Loud German Shepherd. But man, I will miss a lot of that sweet stage and that sweet home. There is a beauty in simplicity.

So, off we drove, and we all caught up in Vegas and put the trailer on the car to tow our Corolla and pick up my parents' car they'd left at Penske. We spent that night in Cedar, then made day trips to Zion the next two days to meet up with a few of Michael's sisters who were there. Alison and my mom kept Camden there with them those two days since I'm finally just nursing him morning and night (and night, and night -- oh Cam Cam, you need to learn to sleep!) and it was so fun to hike with just our big kids! The first day we played in the Virgin River with cousins and the next day we hiked the Narrows.

After our Zion time, my brother's family came down and all the Miners were together for the first time in a long time. Michael hasn't been to Cedar in a while. I've been dreaming of a Hanford vs. BYU chocolate milk taste test for some time, and this was our last chance. So, the Boones brought chocolate milk from the BYU creamery, the Miners brought some from a creamery in Idaho, and we brought some from Fresno. Then we made ballots and had a blind taste test that was honestly quite committed. Hanford and Idaho were closely matched, with Hanford being a little creamier and Idaho a little chocolatey-er, and BYU was a definite third place being the sugary sweetest. It was so funny figuring out everyone's preferences and how they all compared. And yes, there were potato flakes in the Idaho chocolate milk.

I'll put other specific moments from the weeks in the photo captions because there is just too much to remember!

Just a snapshot of moving chaos with a hint of toddler.

We love you, Ryans! Texas is so lucky to get you!

I'll miss mornings in that house. Listening to the boys play, hearing them laugh,
then climbing into bed with me while Camden sleeps in.
It's really not fair that Camden gets to sleep in :)

Moving Buddies!

Moving chaos plus baby

Westin LOVED these shoes. They had holes completely through the bottom.
I'd asked him to throw them away multiple times, over multiple days.
I almost threw them away myself when I thought about how he's going to need to learn how to part with things.
So I asked him to thank the shoes, think about how much fun he had with them,
then throw them away feeling happy they did a good job.
He came back in the house still carrying the shoes, and I thought he was going to hide them.
Then he said, "Can you take a picture of me with them?"
So we did, and then he went and threw them away. Such a cutie.

They LOVED waking up to that big truck!

So. Big.

My Fresno bestie. LoRane. I will miss her so much.
She watched my kids weekly so that I could go to physical therapy.
She taught Westin Sunday School. Her husband had such a special bond with Westin.
She's just connected to our family and I love her so much.
She helped me clean and brought us dinner our last night, and we will just always love her.

This is about when we realized we actually DID need all our truck space,
and Michael had to crawl back over stuff and start using the vertical space we'd left.

Bye Mr. T! You were the best turtle!!!

Mr. T is living with Shea and Colt and Henley now and he'll be happy with our friends :)

Colt gave Westin a photo book of their good times and it just melted my heart.
These two just loved each other.

Shea and Bennett. So sweet.

I decided Michael should have a picture with his shoes too.
I'm not sure he told them thank you before throwing them away, but he should have.
They saw a lot of nastiness at the hospital the last four years.
They were not allowed past the garage.

Final morning! Camden slept in. Again.

Ice Cream for breakfast. #movingday

Goodbye little Fox Glen home. You were so good to us.

Loading up in Vegas

Deer buddies in Zion

Wear your mask, people.

Had to wake these cuties up for day 2 of hiking.
What a busy week!

Breakfast Burritos before the hike!

Zion is forever one of my most happy places.
These rocks feel like home.

Oh my goodness, I miss Elise so much.
It's so hard to be away from babies who change so fast!
She is so stinkin cute.

An ice cream cake for old time sakes!

This chocolate milk taste test was legit. And so much fun. And very interesting. And delicious.