Does this look like a summer job for a teenager? As of last week, Sherman became the proud owner of some hay equipment and has a hay crew all lined up . . .

The Sights and Smells of Home

Load #2. Scott had a "back haul" to Colorado. My Uncle purchased this boat in OR, and needed to get it to his home in CO. What perfect timing as Scott was heading that direction. He is loaded up now and hoping to head West today or tomorrow - hopefully managing to dodge the pending snow storm.

The view from our house - Mt. Jefferson is in the distance. At our house in COS, we could see King Sooper, a hospital, and Lowes from the kitchen window. After being home for a day, Maren mentioned that she couldn't see any hospital from our house - probably because it's about 20 miles away!

It's going to take some adjustment for me - going back to rural living. It was a squeeze to corral these country bumpkins in a subdivision for as long as we did, but - you might hear me whine a bit from time to time . . .

The back of our house - we can't wait to tear into some projects now that Scott is going to be home for a few months. One of the bigger ones to tackle is finishing the basement and organizing our heaping mounds of stuff that we seem to have accumulated.

Appearing out of the fog . . .

Grandma Patty. Wow - it's great to be back with the relatives- they have to like you whether they want to or not! Poor Grandma Patty fell and broke her pelvis this Fall - but she's getting around pretty well.

We're Here!

1200 miles and a deep breath later . . . we have the dirt of 4 states to wash off our rigs.

Scott will head back Monday morning to get the last trailer-load. This load got some odd stares with the 3 four-wheelers standing on end. One man went around the block and came to take a picture of Scott's creative hauling technique.

When we reached our driveway, we let Danner out of the car and wondered if he would remember where "home" was. He immediately raced ahead of us and headed up the hill just like he used to. He found the kid's pool and got a quick sip and then rolled and ran and frollicked. I think I could almost hear him laughing.

Ok, enough of this Boo Hoo-ing . . .

You might wonder where Sten and Milah are in this moving process? They escaped the driving portion of this trip by flying to San Diego to spend a few sunny days with Aunt Shelly. Hang at the beach and get spoiled rotten or be cooped up in a car with a dog, a parent, and a sibling? They will fly to Portland on Wednesday, and start school on Thursday.

We stopped to say goodbye to my Grandma in Delta. She has just recently moved to an assisted living facility that is incredibly clean, cheerful, and bright. It was so nice, I would really have liked to cozy up in her bed for a snooze. She loves any chance to cuddle, so she didn't complain when Maren snuggled in her lap.

Hello and Goodbye!

We had a chance to say hello to August Tyler on the day we left! We were so bummed that we might not get to meet him, but he made a timely appearance on Wednesday -Hooray!!!!! We think he's a lucky little boy to have Darren and Kassi as parents - congratulations!

Jim was our beloved next door neighbor - Maren would rush out of the house if she saw him on his way to the mailbox or saw him working outside. He said he would miss us because we were "entertaining". Hmmm, don't know if that's good or bad?!

When we first moved to the Springs, I couldn't find Maren one afternoon - and I was about to be in total panic, when I spotted her in Jim's yard, sitting on this bench with her arm around this little girl. She was probably giving this concrete gal an earful.

Saying Goodbye to School Friends -

Milah and Mrs. Tucker

Milah's good Buddies - Ben, Derrick, CeCe and Sophie

Maren's Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Holiday

It was Maren's 1/2 birthday on her last day - thus the crown

Maren's Class

Grab the Kleenex and head to the Car!

Some things we're really going to miss!

New Friends - Spencer and his adoring fans
Milah and Mitchell

Garden of the Gods

Snow Days

Old friends . . . Toby, Patty, and Scott graduated from High School together and Scott and Toby started school together in the 1st grade! They live in CO and we are really going to miss them!

Packing Makes us Crazy!

Katie and Sten

Beautiful Pikes Peak . . .

New Friends . . . are these boys from CO or Minnesota? We had a potluck last night to say goodbye to our good friends that we've had the pleasure to meet while in CO. It's hard to imagine how attached you become in just a little while. We will miss you!!

Goodbye to District 20

The kids were fortunate to attend awesome schools while we lived in Colorado. It will be an adjustment to go back to their small schools, but they are excited to see their friends.

Skate Night Fun!

We discovered that Maren's swim teacher also teaches ice skating, so I had signed the girls up for some lessons in the month of January. (Sten didn't want to take them - I think he was nervous that he'd have to wear a sequined suit). Since we will be leaving, they only got to go to one lesson, but they had a blast. It was during a free skate time, so Sten was skating too-

Milah brought her friend, Cece


Old Pals from way back, Maren and Susie

Maren LOVED ice skating. She had a gigantic grin on her face, especially when she discovered the "bucket aids". She was just screaming around the rink as if it was a speed track - laughing the whole way. After her first round, she came up to the stands with a bit of a bummed look and said "I wish I could do that again!" When we told her she could go around as many times as she wanted, she raced down to grab her little stack of buckets and she was off!

We're Hitting the Oregon Trail

On Monday, Scott received news that he was losing his job. Soooo, we are returning home. We are in the midst of packing boxes, and we had a moving sale today. The weather was not too yard -sale -ish as it was blowing and snowing, but we did get rid of quite a few things. We have discovered that Scott runs a mean yard sale . . . I was bargaining with people and he gave me more than one dirty look across the crowded garage.

Our former babysitter and neighbor, Susie, flew from San Diego to help us with this monumental project. She had the week off before starting the new term, and volunteered (crazy person) to come to Colorado and work like a dog. We certainly didn't turn down her offer of assistance, and we will forever owe her a VERY BIG favor - thanks Susie!

Ahhh, our own beds!

We've arrived safely home and I should really take a picture of our living room since we have emptied the entire contents of the camper on the floor. Our poor laundry room is going to get some abuse tomorrow. I didn't do so well at taking pictures the last few days - but I am putting my poet's hat on and will try to tell you about it soon. We went 4300 miles and visited 11 states. We could've spent much longer at each place, but it just gives us something to look forward to . . .

We're certainly not NASCAR fans, but this famous speedway was just off the freeway in Alabama. The facility is immense, and Scott was amazed at all the portable toilets stacked, ready for use. We actually HAD to take pictures of portable toilets, but I'll spare you the excitement. Apparently it can hold 145,000+ people. Not my idea of a fun way to spend the weekend - sitting on hard bleachers with thousands of other people watching loud cars go in circles for hours.

Mrs. Johnson - piled with urchins - her favorite thing.


Mr. Johnson - cleaning his residence. Nice digs for an RV pad at the landfill!


Mark and "his" Shelly
Maren didn't believe that "our" Shelly even knew Mark. And she really didn't believe that Shelly had babysat Mark when he was younger.

Tanner and Conner

Sunset on the Atlantic?! Yes - at Hilton Head, SC