Ragged Mountain

What a blast! We spent a full week in a cabin at Ragged Mountain in Colorado. The children loved it and I didn't have much to get done besides taking care of the children so I was able to really enjoy them. It was exactly what we all needed.

We are off!

We are headed to the best place on earth. We'll tell you all about it upon our return.

Thanks to the Summers

This awesome family let us crash with them for a week while we waited impatiently for our new house to close. Not only did they provide us with exceptional food, a comfortable bed, our own bathroom, but also first class entertainment for our children. Check out some of the fun times our kids had while staying there:













It's no wonder the kids keep asking to go back to the Summers house. After that week everyone was worn out!




Thanks Summers! We owe you big!

I miss my kids

Okay so a recap of our lives recently:

December - Hugely pregnant/ Unable to move

January - Emergency c-section/ newborn baby boy

February - Recovering/ Get house ready to sell

March - Keep house perfect for showings/ Sell house

April - Pack up the house/ Basement floods

May- Graduation/ Colorado vacay/ Move to California

June - Wait for new house to close/ Start new job / Move into new house

I'm so ready for a normal routine. I have been telling my kids "not right now, I will later, just a minute..." for way too long. I'm ready to sit down in my unpacked, new house and play with them all day long forever. I feel like I've missed out on my baby's first 5 months because I've been so preoccupied. I hate that. I'm going to try to do better because dang it, my kids are awesome and I love 'em.

Things we WON'T miss

Okay so I think we've blabbered about Iowa long enough. Promise, this is the last one. It's for our personal history. But just so you know, Iowa isn't perfect. Yes, that is right. There are a few things we won't miss. Here they are.

1. Ice storms



2. Below zero temperatures and wind chills


3. Ticks




4. Flooded basement



5. The rainbow house next door with its "kissing toilets" that we got to stare at every time we looked out the window.



6. The smoker ladies. With the hospital across the street being a smoke free environment, the smoker nurses would come across the street to smoke by our house. Lovely!

Things We Miss - Part 5 - PEOPLE

The most important of all our Iowa series is this one. Mostly we miss the PEOPLE. We have made so many amazing friends there, we are already missing them like crazy. From vet school friends to playgroup friends to our wonderful Boone ward friends, the people in Iowa are awesome and we love them!!!

Things We Miss - Part 4 - Midwestish Stuff

Just some random things we loved in Iowa:

1. Hawkeye/Cyclone Rivalry. With no professional sports, this rivalry is BIG in Iowa.
2.Totally dorky, but we loved John, Erin, Ed and Keith! :)



3. Thunderstorms and tornado warnings. Exciting, and seriously crazy thunderstorms out there.


4. Meat. Iowa has seriously good beef and pork.



5. Fireflies. Loved watching those on warm summer evenings.

7. Seas of corn.

8. The red cardinal. They have a beautiful song we will miss.

9. Soundoff. These guys are hilarious. I didn't even care about the sports, I just loved watching them.

Things We Miss - Part 3 - PLACES

So I've written about some of our favorite businesses and events, now it is time for places. When we first moved to Iowa we weren't sure we'd find any "cool" places like you find in Colorado. Turns out we did find a few. I'm not sure if they are still there, with all the crazy flooding we were lucky enough to just miss out on, but here they are.

1. Nauvoo- Okay so this isn't even in Iowa, but we will never live so close to it again. We took full advantage of living so close to it by going there 5 times. We loved it. I've already blogged about that though.

2. The Bike Trail- My favorite place in Boone. There was a perfect 6 mile loop I loved to run. I rarely saw many people on it. It went through a gorgeous park and through some wooded areas. The foliage was so thick it was like running through a tunnel of trees. I saw deer there often. Good 'ol Drake and I had some good times on this trail.

3. The Ledges - Just 10 minutes away was the Ledges State Park, probably the prettiest place in all of Iowa. It actually had some impressive rock and curvatures in the land (okay so maybe not so impressive if the Colorado National Monument is your childhood playground, but amidst all the corn fields, it is pretty impressive.) It has a stream running through it that the girls' LOVED to play in more than anything. They would constantly beg to come here. It was the perfect depth for them to play in even at a very young age. We went there for summertime barbeques almost weekly. Sadly, I'm sure this place is all underwater right now. It will dry out though.

4. Kate Shelley Bridge, Des Moines River - We floated down this very shallow, slow moving river (usually) a couple times. Mostly girls' loved to play on the "beach" as we called it. It was fun to watch the trains go by overhead and sometimes the conductor would lean out and wave while blowing the big train whistles.

5. Mt. Pisgah - Click on the photo to learn what Mt. Pisgah is. We only went there once, but it was a very peaceful and special place. Many people died there and there are unmarked graves. We learned about "divining" and it really does work. When you walk over an area of land that has been messed with (like there is a grave there) the metal rods cross in your hands - it has to do with the earth's electromagnetic fields. That is what I am doing with the metal rods in the next picture. It is a little freaky, but totally cool. You can also see ruts in the ground where the wagons went by.

Those are some of the special places in Iowa we miss.

Just trying to keep up

Okay so I've not been the schwammie on blogging lately! I'd take a picture of the inside of my house to show you why, but that would be too embarrasing. Nothing is where it should be, including furniture. There are open boxes everywhere, "stuff" all over and toys sprinkled sporadically around the house to add to the chaos. The baby wants to be held ALL the time lately, if he is asleep my mischevious 2 year old decides to iron the carpet or some other crazy shenanigan and poor Miss B is neglected anyway what with her demanding younger siblings. I'm trying to say I haven't gotten very far with unpacking and it is driving me crazy. I'm craving some organization and it seems so far away still. Then there is the fact that I am so behind on some of the things I've been meaning to blog about. I want to finish up writing about our little Iowa then move on to more recent things. I will get around to it soon.

Home at last!

KC here. We're finally in our new home. It's been a long journey to get to this point but it's been worth it. It has been an emotional roller coaster. We're excited for the future and all the opportunities that it holds.