Who knew we could take a trip to Minnesota in under 4 hours. Actually, we drove across Grand Mesa with Laura and the top is pretty much like being in Minnesota, maybe colder. It sure is pretty!
It seems like she was little so long ago. Yet, it was like yesterday.
Meleah took this picture, it is hard to see. It says, "Cute as a bug." I don't have many pictures of her as a baby but she was my big girl baby. Eight pounds of sweetness. She was really a good baby. She had two interactive toys that were totally unpredictable and kept her entertained and still do to some extent.
Here she is telling me that she thinks I should pull her up the mountain. I tell her she is six now and she is big enough to climb the mountain herself. She huffed and puffed up that mountain and got to the top and said, I can't go down till my legs stop feeling like they are moving. She then plopped herself down and rested.
It was a lot of fun, a lot of climbing but still, a lot of fun. We went crazy fast down the slope.
This is the Master Bedroom. The color is called Song of Summer. It is very yellow and in the afternoon it looks very warm. I would suggest that if you pick paint colors, you should pay attention to certain hormone levels. We picked all of these colors at the "wrong" time and I was disgusted with all of them at first. They all turned out brighter, I would have preferred a little more subdued colors but once you pay for them they are yours. The colors are growing on me. Don't forget to check your colors in those little boxes at Home Depot that show the colors in various types of light. The boys room looked orange/pink in the afternoon at first.
Mudroom/Laundry room, it is very hard to get a picture of it.
Here is the diningroom, the livingroom is to the right..jpg)
Meleah was so happy to have this toilet installed. It still isn't hooked up to running water but at least we don't have to go out to the outhouse when it is snowy and cold. Meleah made sure to tell Russell Bell that she loves him because he put the toilet in.
Really, the light does some crazy things with the color. This room is Bob's office and it is the same color as the livingroom. It is a smaller room so it looks like a completely different color. It is called Rejuvenate. In this light it looks a little sickening. It is the same color as the picture below.
Here is the diningroom/livingroom. (I don't know how to change the orders of the picture without starting over.)
Here is the Master Bedroom again from the opposite corner of the first picture. The doorway on the right is the closet. The other is obviously the Master bathroom. It also has a door to the kitchen. The door leads to the kitchen also. There is a tiny closet, not shown, to the left. It is more like a coat closet but most likely will be Bob's or part of Bob's. Maybe his uniform closet or gun closet?
The boys room, just a classic taupe color. At first we were kind of concerned but it turned out nice. They probably won't get carpet until after we move in but in the mean time we found some rugs that will work.
Meleah's room is so bright. The furniture tones it down some. She loves it because it looks like she is flying in the sky. 
A rhino lover we know treated us to a trip to the Zoo while we were visiting in Arizona. It was a perfect day, few people and great weather. This was the best trip to this Zoo we ever had! Even if I don't think this rhino looks very pretty. Meleah says, "This poor rhino doesn't have any family. He looks sad."
Travis had a great time. I heard Travis exclaim, "Hey, guys! Come and look at this mouse!" I guess when surrounded by all the wildlife a mouse is unique.
Travis was hiding from this Llama. I think I would be more afraid of the goats. I have never liked them. They did try to eat Meleah's shirt. This llama was just downright pushy.
Meleah says, "He was about to touch me with his gigantic tongue! Aggh!" Travis didn't even want to try. I guess he is better with lizards and mice.
"What 'cha doing" Meleah says. I think I am trying to decide which one is the wildlife.
Duane is telling Meleah that he has given her a lot of rides on his shoulders and now it's her turn to carry him.
Meleah talked Kathy out of her vest right away. She was prepared with the safari hat. We picked that up at a thrift store the day before.
Travis liked these guys. At least they didn't try to eat your clothes. 
Meleah loved it! It was also about -10 to -15 degrees so it was hard to make snowmen. The snow was dry and like powder so it didn't stick together much.
Lots of shoveling involved. Thankfully, we bought our snow shovels the night before because there were shortages around town. This is an unusual amount of snow for Grand Junction.
When Meleah would get tired, she would just plop down into the snow and rest.
Schools were cancelled. Some businesses didn't open. People were snowed in.
What is more fun than dressing up to be a Firefighter? He looks a lot like Bob does when Bob wears the uniform. Travis wonders if they make midget fire gear.
Location, location, location. Globe willow next to the pond. We spent a week getting the house ready for drywall. The kids has plenty of scrap materials, screws and power tools at their disposal. So while I was worried about them missing school for a week they were busy measuring, cutting and creating something of their own. That week Cody spent a few hours every day in woodshop. He had the job of finishing one of the bathroom vanity cabinets. Travis kept pointing out that we needed a lever to get those nails out. What I am saying is that they were doing a lot of on-the-job training.
Cody built a cup holder and asked if he could bring some of his school books up there to read.
This is a shared fort. Homemade swing on one side, tree fort on the other. This was a combined effort. All three of them worked on it. The only problem was that any time I needed the ladder, they had run off with it. The screwdriver would walk off with the hammer occassionally. I finally started asking them first if they knew where the missing object was before I went searching and they usually did.
The recruits were given their station and shift assignments.
We did have to restrain ourselves during the Graduation when they spoke of the physical fitness trainers having "high expectations" and the guys met them. Travis leaned over to Jeannie Larsen and said something like, "Yeah, and they almost killed him!" My thoughts as well but he has the badge now and God worked everything out.
It sure is a pretty area for Fire Fighting. The Bookcliff Mountains look beautiful with the snow. Bob said they have had some deer walking 10-20 feet near them a few times in the last month. 
They had a few days of running in snowy conditions. These pictures just make me so glad that this is over. Bob is like a new man yesterday and today. Smiling, joking, and back to his old self. He has quite a challenge in the coming months of balancing his previous experience and this Dept.'s way of doing things but I think he is up for the challenge. Bob spoke at the Graduation on behalf of the recruits, he summed up the recruit's address by saying, "And most of all we would like to thank God that this is behind us!"
This is looking from the kitchen out to the Mud Room/Laundry Room. Bob's office is the door to the Right. The Basement is the door to the Left and the Master Bedroom is to the left of that. There is the Master Bathroom door that has access to the kitchen next to the M. Bedroom door. Here is what the kitchen looked like Wednesday afternoon. It is amazing what someone can do when they know what they are doing. It does look so different and yet a bit smaller since you can't see through the walls anymore. I am very pleased with it all. The kids were amazed too. I think that for the last few months they all described it as our "junky" house we bought. It is going to start looking nice to them and they will be excited to live there.
They were playing hide-and-seek.
This is the before. I still have to work on getting them in the right order.
Here is the kitchen when we started. It makes me shudder just thinking of the smell. The kitchen window, I even had to bend over to look out. That is pretty bad.
The wall to the left was removed and those cabinets on the right, the ones you had to walk around to get down the hallway, we moved that wall back so now there is a straight hallway. Those economy grade cabinets will have to go back in for a while. I am looking into the cost of new doors. They are that plastic type material, I am not sure of the name. I tried painting one and it looked terrible. That was after the Kilz primer. Nothing sticks to it. If you have any good ideas, let me know. One person suggested the vinyl siding paint. There is some kind of chemical reaction that makes the paint adhere. We shall see. Maybe we will just take the doors off? 
I love mommy!
It was fun at Legoland with Laura.
We fought Darth Vader really good.
It made me tired.
Michelle had a party for me. It was fun. I love her spiral staircase and loft. It is awesome!
Some of my favorite people were there.
We played Mad Libs and laughed so hard.
I have fun with my cousins, really fun with Alex and Aidan and Alli and Me.
