Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Colorado. Show all posts
Saturday, September 24, 2016
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
We Moved
So, we moved. Again. Evy's only 19 months and she's lived in 3 different houses. But, we did move for a real job so we're pretty excited about that.
Brad had a couple of different offers so I went to check out both cities. One was up in Greeley and the other was down in Colorado Springs. We really wanted to stay in Colorado so we were happy with both options keeping us here.
I loved the office in Greeley. They're called "The Smile Department" and are themed around fire departments complete with real fire trucks outside. Then I went over to Windsor and met up with Brad's would-be-boss's-wife at a playground. Micah is super nice and was so sweet to let me know about the area. And our families are kind of eerily similar. Like both of our husband's are named Brad who play the trumpet and tennis. We're both LDS. And we both have a kid with autism. It's been so nice to have Micah to get recommendations and let me know about services. After that we ran over to see the temple in Fort Collins. It was really surprising to me driving around to see how many little lakes there are around here. It's really beautiful and the mountains aren't too far away from Fort Collins.
The very next day I drove to Colorado Springs. It was so beautiful! So close to the mountains. We drove up to the Garden of the Gods which was amazing. I drove around to a few other places in town to see how we liked the city. The practice also looked pretty nice, but it wasn't in a great part of town.
After that we were so back and forth about our decision. We really kept changing our minds about which we liked better. But in the end we've very happy with our decision to move to Fort Collins. We decided to move to Fort Collins 2 weeks before our move. It really was crazy timing. My mom flew out to watch my kids while I was supposed to go to Girl's Camp for the week. But then I got sick. So while we were still making up our minds, my mom was packing up our house while I lay on the couch. My illness did allow Brad and I to be together and make a decision. By the end of the week we decided to move to Fort Collins and we put in an application for renting our house.
Brad's actual practices are in Greeley and Ault. Both are a 30 minute commute. So why did we move to Fort Collins? Well, the school district here is great for special needs and the community board (how we access county services) is better in Fort Collins. And we really like Fort Collins. It's also kind of special since Brad served part of his mission in Fort Collins. In fact, we're in the same ward Brad served in 11 years ago.
We love our location. We're so close to everything. It's only 10 minutes to Costco, 5 minutes to Sprout's (my favorite grocery store, I know, a little nuts to have a favorite grocery store, but I really do love it,) 10 minutes to Cafe Rio, Nate's school is 2 minutes away, we walk to church every Sunday since we're just across the street, and we can see the temple from our house. It's an amazing location. The house itself, well, let's just say the landlord didn't even do a walk through of the house after the last tenant left. And he doesn't want to fix anything. So, we're really motivated to start saving for a house!
But just as long as we can stay in this area. I really really like our new ward. It's a good mix of families though everyone is a dentist, doctor, or a engineer. We're had 3 new Mormon families move in on our street since we're been here. And all of them have kids the same age as ours. It's great! And this ward is very special needs friendly. The bishop's brother has down syndrome so he's been so supportive and welcoming. He's calling a special helper for Nate for sunbeams. And there's also a few other kids with special needs in our ward so Nate's quirks really aren't that unusual. We're also really liking Nate's preschool. Bacon Elementary has been recommended to us by so many people. It's the district's special integration school for kids with autism. So they're especially versed in autism care, but they still let these kids be fully integrated into regular classrooms as much as they can. In all I've read about classrooms for autistic kiddos, integrated classrooms have the best outcomes for all of the children involved.
And Brad's been liking his work. The Ault Office was closed for some renovations before Brad started so they did a Grand Re-Opening party and also welcomed Brad to the practice. They had a cake with Brad's name on it and even had "Welcome Dr. Packer" goodie bags to hand out. The whole staff is wonderful. Brad's Greeley office is also undergoing some renovations and they will be putting in some operating suites for Brad to work in so he can start doing sedation and oral surgery cases.
We're really loving this move. We love the beautiful area. We love being close to the temple. We love the friends we're making here. And it's so nice to feel like we can put down some roots. For our entire marriage, we're known how long we're staying in one place before we're going to pick up everything and move again. But we're staying here for the foreseeable future. We are hoping to buy a house, but we'll stay in the same area. We won't have to leave familiarity and friends behind. So life is good. Life is really good.
Brad had a couple of different offers so I went to check out both cities. One was up in Greeley and the other was down in Colorado Springs. We really wanted to stay in Colorado so we were happy with both options keeping us here.
I loved the office in Greeley. They're called "The Smile Department" and are themed around fire departments complete with real fire trucks outside. Then I went over to Windsor and met up with Brad's would-be-boss's-wife at a playground. Micah is super nice and was so sweet to let me know about the area. And our families are kind of eerily similar. Like both of our husband's are named Brad who play the trumpet and tennis. We're both LDS. And we both have a kid with autism. It's been so nice to have Micah to get recommendations and let me know about services. After that we ran over to see the temple in Fort Collins. It was really surprising to me driving around to see how many little lakes there are around here. It's really beautiful and the mountains aren't too far away from Fort Collins.
The very next day I drove to Colorado Springs. It was so beautiful! So close to the mountains. We drove up to the Garden of the Gods which was amazing. I drove around to a few other places in town to see how we liked the city. The practice also looked pretty nice, but it wasn't in a great part of town.
Goodbye Aurora house!
Brad's actual practices are in Greeley and Ault. Both are a 30 minute commute. So why did we move to Fort Collins? Well, the school district here is great for special needs and the community board (how we access county services) is better in Fort Collins. And we really like Fort Collins. It's also kind of special since Brad served part of his mission in Fort Collins. In fact, we're in the same ward Brad served in 11 years ago.
We love our location. We're so close to everything. It's only 10 minutes to Costco, 5 minutes to Sprout's (my favorite grocery store, I know, a little nuts to have a favorite grocery store, but I really do love it,) 10 minutes to Cafe Rio, Nate's school is 2 minutes away, we walk to church every Sunday since we're just across the street, and we can see the temple from our house. It's an amazing location. The house itself, well, let's just say the landlord didn't even do a walk through of the house after the last tenant left. And he doesn't want to fix anything. So, we're really motivated to start saving for a house!
But just as long as we can stay in this area. I really really like our new ward. It's a good mix of families though everyone is a dentist, doctor, or a engineer. We're had 3 new Mormon families move in on our street since we're been here. And all of them have kids the same age as ours. It's great! And this ward is very special needs friendly. The bishop's brother has down syndrome so he's been so supportive and welcoming. He's calling a special helper for Nate for sunbeams. And there's also a few other kids with special needs in our ward so Nate's quirks really aren't that unusual. We're also really liking Nate's preschool. Bacon Elementary has been recommended to us by so many people. It's the district's special integration school for kids with autism. So they're especially versed in autism care, but they still let these kids be fully integrated into regular classrooms as much as they can. In all I've read about classrooms for autistic kiddos, integrated classrooms have the best outcomes for all of the children involved.
And Brad's been liking his work. The Ault Office was closed for some renovations before Brad started so they did a Grand Re-Opening party and also welcomed Brad to the practice. They had a cake with Brad's name on it and even had "Welcome Dr. Packer" goodie bags to hand out. The whole staff is wonderful. Brad's Greeley office is also undergoing some renovations and they will be putting in some operating suites for Brad to work in so he can start doing sedation and oral surgery cases.
We're really loving this move. We love the beautiful area. We love being close to the temple. We love the friends we're making here. And it's so nice to feel like we can put down some roots. For our entire marriage, we're known how long we're staying in one place before we're going to pick up everything and move again. But we're staying here for the foreseeable future. We are hoping to buy a house, but we'll stay in the same area. We won't have to leave familiarity and friends behind. So life is good. Life is really good.
Thursday, August 13, 2015
Rocky Mountain High - Part 5
On our last day we went to see Bear Lake. We had our lunch right by the lake and Nathan liked to walk out on a rock and scare mom and grandma getting too close to the edge.
My family wanted to go on a short hike to a waterfall and I thought we could probably do a short hike. How had I forgotten the lesson I learned earlier in the week? Was I crazy? We put the kids in the carriers to go on the hike, but about 5 minutes in we knew it was a no go. Nathan was having another fit in the carrier so I hiked back up the mountain. At least this time we were able to get back a lot sooner. We played in the car for about 30 minutes until papa and Adrianne were back from the hike.
While we were at the lake, my dad started talking to a park ranger. He told my dad about a dirt road that had been closed for 3 years, but that had just reopened two weeks earlier. The park ranger assured us that it was really smooth since it just reopened. There is only one paved road through the park so we were ready to see something new. It took us the back way up to the top of the mountain. There were a lot of glaciers, waterfalls, and even a few lakes.
And then it was time to go home. After 2 weeks of being away, it was really nice to be home, back to our schedule, and see Brad everyday. But we sure miss our grandma, papa, aunties, and uncle Byron!
My family wanted to go on a short hike to a waterfall and I thought we could probably do a short hike. How had I forgotten the lesson I learned earlier in the week? Was I crazy? We put the kids in the carriers to go on the hike, but about 5 minutes in we knew it was a no go. Nathan was having another fit in the carrier so I hiked back up the mountain. At least this time we were able to get back a lot sooner. We played in the car for about 30 minutes until papa and Adrianne were back from the hike.
While we were at the lake, my dad started talking to a park ranger. He told my dad about a dirt road that had been closed for 3 years, but that had just reopened two weeks earlier. The park ranger assured us that it was really smooth since it just reopened. There is only one paved road through the park so we were ready to see something new. It took us the back way up to the top of the mountain. There were a lot of glaciers, waterfalls, and even a few lakes.
And then it was time to go home. After 2 weeks of being away, it was really nice to be home, back to our schedule, and see Brad everyday. But we sure miss our grandma, papa, aunties, and uncle Byron!
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Rocky Mountain High - Part 4
AKA: the best part because Brad was able to join us! We had really been missing daddy after being away for so long. We were so glad he was able to switch around his call schedule so he could come on vacation too. We took him to all our favorite spots in the park, including the friendly chipmunks. And we even saw a giant moose right by the side of the road!
Rocky Mountain High - Part 3
We spent another great day driving around the park. My dad and sister went on a hike, but since I had learned my lesson, I politely declined joining. We did get to pick them up at this gorgeous lake.
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Rocky Mountain High - Part 2
Or the day we learned to never ever take Nathan hiking again. It started out great. You could take a ski lift to the top of a hill and then hike or ride back down. Nathan loved the ski lift. He sat so so still. We decided to hike back down. We didn't think it would take that long. Well, 3 hours later, I was regretting the decision to hike. Nathan did great for the first little bit. He loved walking down the trail, but after about a half hour he didn't want to walk anymore. So I put him in the Ergo. Well, he didn't want to be carried either. So the thrashing began. And the hitting mom in the head. Oh that was a long hike. It was a pretty hike when you could enjoy it for a second. Next time we'll just ride the ski lift over and over since Nathan wanted to go again once we were down.
We decided to hang out at the pool in the afternoon. Nathan loved watching Auntie G in the pool. He was getting so excited he was shaking. Nathan actually loved watching Adrianne so much he got in the pool with her. Which for a little boy who HATES bath time is a big thing. We just have to keep telling Nathan bath time is splash in the pool time and he's game.
We decided to hang out at the pool in the afternoon. Nathan loved watching Auntie G in the pool. He was getting so excited he was shaking. Nathan actually loved watching Adrianne so much he got in the pool with her. Which for a little boy who HATES bath time is a big thing. We just have to keep telling Nathan bath time is splash in the pool time and he's game.
Monday, August 10, 2015
Rocky Mountain High
So after a week in Utah, my family came for a week in Colorado. We rented some condos outside of Rocky Mountain National Park. Our first day we went for a drive through the park. Our first stop was to Adams Falls. It was a short hike, but Nathan only wanted mom to carry him. It was an omen of things to come on our future hikes. He did calm down once I was carrying him in the Ergo.
We continued our drive up into the mountains. The road climbs quite a bit, but the views are quite spectacular from 12,000 ft!
At one of our stops there were a million chipmunks. And they loved people. They would come right up to you. There was one guy who just sat super still and he had them climbing all over him.
We did go on one more hike that day. We hiked to the top of a mountain. We're just that adventurous. Really you could park really close to the top and then walk up the rest of the way on a paved trail. I took Nathan with me in the Ergo. He loved telling me to, "Giddy up Mommy!" and have me gallop away. It wasn't too bad going up, but once you turned around to go back down the wind was in your face and we were frozen. Poor little Nathan kept burying his face in my back to try and keep warm. We did get to see a some pretty amazing views so it was worth it.
We continued our drive up into the mountains. The road climbs quite a bit, but the views are quite spectacular from 12,000 ft!
At one of our stops there were a million chipmunks. And they loved people. They would come right up to you. There was one guy who just sat super still and he had them climbing all over him.
We did go on one more hike that day. We hiked to the top of a mountain. We're just that adventurous. Really you could park really close to the top and then walk up the rest of the way on a paved trail. I took Nathan with me in the Ergo. He loved telling me to, "Giddy up Mommy!" and have me gallop away. It wasn't too bad going up, but once you turned around to go back down the wind was in your face and we were frozen. Poor little Nathan kept burying his face in my back to try and keep warm. We did get to see a some pretty amazing views so it was worth it.
If you look closely there are 3 lakes
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