Mattea's 3rd Birthday

Mattea turned 3 on Sunday. I can't believe our baby is 3!!! We had a very nice, low-key day. Grandma Carol & Grandpa Pete were in town, so they went to Church and breakfast with us. Julie, Kevin & Trae joined us as well. After breakfast, we went shopping for some new dresses for the birthday girl. When we got home from shopping, Mattea tried each of the dresses on and we had a little fashion show. It was so much fun! Later, we sang Happy Birthday and had birthday cake. We had celebrated with a party a couple weeks earlier so that Daddy could be there, so we didn't have a big bash on her actual birthday. It was a fun day!

Jeff started looking at houses in Colorado this past weekend. We found a realtor out there that seems to be friendly and helpful so far. We are finding that we'll never find a house like ours for the price we paid. We'll either be making some compromises or renting for a year so we can save more money to get a bigger house. Only time will tell.

InPulse at Paul Norton and Jeff's first day at CSA

InPulse is one of the country's most exciting a'cappella vocal bands and they performed at Paul Norton today! The boys came home from school very excited and told me all about it. The group is touring Iowa right now and performed at Loras College on 11/3/07. We listened to some of their songs on their website... they are really great!

Jeff started his new job today at Career Service Authority (CSA). I talked to him after he put in an 11-hour day and it sounded like it was a great start... he's going back tomorrow! ; ) His day was full of meetings where he made a good impression to most. He sat back and listened and provided feedback when asked. It sounds like everyone is very happy to have him on board.

Mission Complete!

I am happy to report that the deck project is COMPLETE!!! For those of you that spent time at our house this past summer, you know what the deck and the exterior of the 3-seasons room looked like. The paint was chipping and peeling. We hired a couple guys to side the exterior of the 3-seasons room and they finished up on Friday. Jeff power washed, scraped, sanded and then stained the deck. I finished up the deck with the detail work staining the benches, trim and spindles. I just finished up this afternoon. I must say, it looks SOOOOO good! I wish we were going to be around for another summer to enjoy it.

Yesterday, I made great progress in the garage and the front of the house. I cleaned out the garage and was able to clear enough space to get the trailer and ATV back to their stall in the garage so I could park the Yukon in the garage! I also raked the yard, trimmed the bushes and put down new mulch. It was a very productive weekend!!

Jeff's temporary address in Denver

9123 E. Mississippi Avenue
Unit 11-301
Denver, CO 80247

A note from Joshie to Daddy

Dear Daddy,

I am sad that you are gone. I am going to send you pictures everyday. You might get 2 in the mail. You might get 4 in the mail. You might get 3 in the mail. You might get any number in the mail from me.

(Mommy typed this for me.)

Love,
Joshie

Jeff heads west!

Well, Jeff headed to Denver, Colorado this afternoon around 1:00pm. He will be driving for about 8 hours and then will crash in a hotel in whichever city he encounters at that time! He'll be up and moving pretty early because he needs to be at his new apartment in Denver by 1:00pm to check in and start moving in. Luckily, Bryan Trumm is in Denver for a clinical rotation, so he'll be on hand to help Jeff unload the U-Haul trailer. THANK YOU, BRYAN!!!

Up until he left today, Jeff busted his butt at the house getting it ready for sale. He ended up with some extra time off work and he definitely took advantage of it. It was also great for him to spend time with the kids that he wouldn't have normally been able to do. I think that helped him with leaving today even though I know it was hard for him.

The kids did pretty well with Jeff leaving. Josh, outwardly, took it the hardest. He spent a lot of time last night drawing pictures of his family and many pictures were just him and Jeff. He's been crying off and on about missing his Daddy already. Lucky for us, Kevin hooked us all up with web cams, so we'll be able to see him when we talk to him. We are all looking forward to that! Alex keeps things a little more to himself, but he is sad about the situation, too. Both of the boys gave Jeff their 8 x 10 school pictures to take with him. Mattea didn't really know what was going on, but gave Jeff hugs & kisses and "steamrollered" him for a while this morning before he left. (She learned that last night!!! Remember that??? STEAMROLLER!) Mattea knows that we are moving to Colorado... just ask her! She will tell you that she is going to ski and hike in the mountains! It's pretty cute!

Well, that is all for now. I thought this might be a nice way to document our new adventure. Stay tuned!

Love ya!