Walking...Running through A Winter Wonderland to Get to the Warm Car

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!

FYI-If you need to use the outhouses up there it would be wise to sit on your hands or as Meleah has learned, let someone else go first to pre-warm the seat.

Meleah is six!

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.

She wants to stay little. Travis did too. Cody was straining always to be old. Well, I don't really want them to get big too fast either.

Meleah is really like my little shadow. She wants to be or do whatever I am doing. She also is very active. She has been practicing her gymnastics. Her big present for her birthday is some gymnastic lessons. She has been waiting these last six months for them. Since they no longer have the homeschool PE we want to keep them doing something.

Meleah decided to go sledding for her birthday. We took a holiday for school and headed up to Old Powderhorn. We ended up visiting with a nice family of kids, they happened to be homeschoolers as well.

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.
We topped off the sledding with some hot chocolate at a diner near the slopes. It was a great day.

House Update

Here are some pictures of the house. Most of the paint colors sound like a warm vacation spot, it was below zero when we picked them all out. We have painted and next week we should be getting the hardwood flooring installed. I am not sure if it will match this room or not but we are debating just installing the same flooring over this because right now this floor is level with the subfloor of the kitchen, so there will be a step down of 3/4" into our bedroom.

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.
The kitchen, Meleah's room, and the mud room are all painted in Coastal Mist.

Here is the kitchen. It is about 12' x 17', which is much larger than the original kitchen of 10'x 10' approximately. We decided that the floor had a higher priority than the cabinets. At some point we will have new cabinets but in the mean time these laminate cabinets will work. They don't look too bad. The kitchen sink base cabinet is nice.

Here is the diningroom, the livingroom is to the right.

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.

That is where we are now. The flooring will change the look of everything. That mistake on my part that caused us to pay rent for January will actually mean we get to have flooring. We are putting oak flooring throughout the house except in the kid's bedrooms. They are the only ones that will have carpet.

It is looking more like a home everyday. Now to just pack and move. What a job but we all will be ready to settle in.

A poem by Travis

What is Christmas?

By Travis Hedrick

Jesus' birth brought happiness and love.

Angels singing, "alleluia", praises to the Lord.

Gentle shepherds amazed at the angels.

Three, wise kings followed the star.

The star guided to the King of Kings.