This weekend was General Conference weekend. We were invited to a wonderful breakfast with the Liddell family which we very much enjoyed! We then came home and enjoyed watching conference over the internet (don’t have Dish with BYU TV yet) in our new home!
On Saturday, we went and purchased new appliances (refrigerator, washer and dryer). Today, they finally got delivered! We have been really needing those three things bad! 🙂 Now we can have some non-microwavable stuff and we won’t have to go over to the Liddells to wash our clothes!
The washer and dryer are almost the exact same model (Electrolux) that we had in Illinois, only they are a year newer, have some new functions, and the dryer is electric (no gas line upstairs).
They’re silver and not white, so they look cooler too! 🙂
The kids got their way and we ended up buying the refrigerator that they really wanted. We spent probably more than we wanted to as well, but we really like what we got. It’s a french door (side-by-side with freezer on the bottom) LG and it even has a front beverage door that opens (Zach and Ben call it the “secret storage place”). 🙂
It’s really big and will fit all of our stuff well. I love that the controls are all electronic and the girls LOVE the ice and water dispensers. Funny how we can get so excited about appliances. It’s probably because we have been without for a week now and our old fridge in IL stunk! 🙂
Today was our first Sunday in our new ward. Church starts at 8am here and it was a little difficult to get up due to all the unpacking and we were tired! 🙂 We have a feeling that our new ward will be awesome! It was Easter Sunday today and church was great! Everyone was so welcoming and lots of people reached out and said hi. There were also a lot of people gone to visit family as well so the ward seemed really small, although it’s really not.
We were invited over to dinner with a family in the ward (Sprouls). It was really a blessing for us since we have a stove but no fridge! 🙂 They are a great family and we really appreciated their kindness.
From what we hear, our ward is growing fast, so we shouldn’t feel like the brand new family for too long!
Today the movers came and got everything off the truck! By the time they were done (all the food storage was last), they were absolutely exhausted! 🙂 They were GREAT movers and what a great experience we had with moving end-to-end! If you want a great mover, go with Armstrong Relocation! The are AWESOME!
It’s our huge task to start unpacking the hundreds of boxes that are all over the house! We made a good dent today in the work, but we still have a LONG way to go. The good thing is the the movers set up all the beds and placed all the furniture so we at least can live. 🙂 The awesome thing is that we only had one piece of furniture damaged but it wasn’t a big deal! Everything worth anything came though just fine! We’re very grateful for that!
Well today we made it official! We closed on our new home in Castle Rock, CO! We are really excited and were amazed at how much easier real estate transactions are out here. No attorney was required, people are more laid-back, and things couldn’t have gone smoother. We now have the keys and our stuff should be arriving tomorrow or Saturday!
We went straight over to the house after the closing, so the kids could see their new home! It was funny watching them try and figure out who would be the first one through the door. 🙂 Zach won.
We’re excited to get moved in, get the landscaping complete, and really make it our new place!
Well, today starts a new adventure! We got up early and left Oscarson’s (and Illinois as residents for the last time) and drove out to Castle Rock! As I’ve said before, was hard to leave, but I know we’ll love it out in CO! The 16 hour drive went pretty fast and before we knew it, we were there! Wahoo!!! The Liddell family is out of town and so they said we could stay in their home until we closed and all our stuff arrived. They’re great!
Our house in IL closed today but we got held against the flame for a bit! The family that bought our house did the final walk-though and came back and said that we put in the wrong water heater size and that they wanted us to pull it out and buy a new bigger one. They also said that they decided that they didn’t want the entertainment center I built in the basement (after they never said anything on the contract) and wanted us to pay to pull it out. They also said that the smoke detector in the basement that was working the day before didn’t work anymore and wanted us to replace that. Needless to say, our agent was livid and we were stuck because we were driving in the middle of Nebraska and we close tomorrow! After going back and forth and thinking we might not be able to close, we just gave them $500 to cover what they needed and were done with it. What stupidity! Everything was fine and they tried to shaft us and be unethical at the closing. 🙁 Oh well, we closed and the proceeds hit the title company this afternoon so we are good to close tomorrow! 🙂 Yea!
I can’t believe we’re here! It’s really beautiful and it’s great to be in (or near) the mountains again!
Well, the movers came yesterday and packed up the truck and everything! We didn’t think we would fill a 52 foot truck, but we did! 🙂
The movers were REALLY tired after having moved all of our food storage. 🙂
Brittany’s friends came over while the movers were there and said their final good-bye’s. She was very sad. The mailman also stopped by to say good bye as well! 🙂 He is such a great guy and has been so nice to everyone, especially the kids! Every day they would wave and he would stop and say hi. Not sure we’ll ever have a mailman like that again. Brittany wanted her picture taken with him also so we did. Her friends thought she was WAY STRANGE!
Today was all about cleaning! Some sisters in the ward came over to help and that really was a great act of service they did for us! We had worked hard to get things straightened up, but when they were done, the house looked amazing! Thanks to everyone who helped! Shortly thereafter, we left the house for the last time. We took pictures of all the empty rooms and it was crazy to think we would never set foot in that house again. 🙁 We had complained a lot about little things with the house in the past, but it was still hard to leave.
Tonight we were homeless so we went to the Oscarson’s, some of our best friends and ate dinner and stayed with them. We will sure miss their family. We have had some great times together! The boys sure are going to miss “Uncle Dan” a ton!
Tomorrow we’re leaving early to drive out to Colorado and get things set on that end! Thank you SO much to everyone who made the last 18 years in Illinois wonderful ones! We will never forget all the memories we have made with you and for the friendship you extended to all of us! 🙂
Today was our last Sunday in the Naperville 2nd Ward. 🙁 There were many tears shed and we are so sad to leave all our friends behind, but we know that we’ll make some new and wonderful friends where we are going. Today Bishop Brown came through with his promise that I would sing in Sacrament Meeting with the Bishopric before I moved. There were 6 of us singing (Dan Brown, Chris Stradling, Christopher Severn, Dustin Thompson, Steve Bird, and me). We sang I need the Every Hour. I sang bass next to Steve Bird which helped because he’s really good. According to everyone in the congregation, it sounded AWESOME! I’m sure it wasn’t because of me. All those brothers are very talented. 🙂
What a crazy moment for all of our kids! Today was their last day of school in Illinois! They are excited to go to Colorado, but they all came home wondering why we were doing this and really wanting to be more with their Illinois friends! Spring break starts this week, so I’m sure they will want to spend as much time with their friends as they can before we go. Also, yesterday was Zach’s last Cub Scout activity with his Den before leaving. They went on a trip to Citibank and learned all about how banking works.
Today the girls had New Beginnings at the church. It was great but bitter sweet for Brittany and Kirstyn at the same time. It really will be a new beginning for them. They were born in Illinois, grew up here, and this is all that they have ever known. It will be good for them, but I’m sure they will struggle a bit.
Today we had our new home orientation with the builder! We couldn’t come (obviously), so Bonnie Liddell and our Agent Dan Park attended in our behalf. Things went well and we are very excited to get out to Castle Rock and move into our new home! 🙂
Today Sarah flew back to Provo! We’ll miss her. She won’t have much time after school gets out before she goes into the MTC, so we have to enjoy as much time as we can with her. When she gets done and comes back home, she’ll be coming back to a different house, a different ward, different people, etc. That will probably be really strange for her… 🙂
Today, Sarah had her “Missionary Farewell” talk in Sacrament meeting. She did such an incredible job and we are so proud of her! She has come a long way since her first 2 minute talk that she gave when she was 12! Kirstyn also got to speak as well and did an outstanding job also! I got released from the Bishopric today which was very sad, but because of that, I got to hear the girls speak from in front, and not behind, so I could hear them better! 🙂
Tonight Alan and Julie Thompson threw us a going away party at their house for all the ward members and friends to come. There were a bunch that showed up, and it was great to see the love that our friends have for our family (or maybe they just came to see if it really was real that we were moving and can’t wait)! 🙂 We will really miss our friends! That is the one thing about Illinois that is great which we will miss the most. The people here are wonderful and we have felt so at home. After all 18 years of knowing people really gets you attached to them.
It’s really hard to think about moving right now, although we are super excited to do it. Everyone has a new chapter in their lives going on right now… Sarah going on a mission, the family moving, others in the ward we found out may be or will be moving, etc. It’s crazy! We just hope that we can stay in touch with many of them. 🙁 Sniff sniff…
