We Have Walls

Mark went out to the house today and was surprised to see how much has been done this week.  

So they have the basement walls up and sealed.

But they haven't poured the basement floor...

The big snowfall that they predicted for this past week only produced about one and a half inches in the Denver area.  One of Mark's co-workers told him that April is usually the snowiest month of the year!  I hope he was pulling Mark's leg because as far as I'm concerned April days should be warm and sunny- not below freezing and snowy!  I guess that's another thing we will be learning about living in Colorado these next few years!

Progress…until tomorrow

Well it looks like there has been some progress since last week.  The walls of the basement are formed up and it looks like they are ready to pour the concrete for the walls and the floor.  I say we have progress "until tomorrow" because the site is ready to go but Denver is expecting 8-12 inches of snow tomorrow!  Somehow I don't think that Mother Nature has been informed that it is the middle of April right now! 

On another note- we have officially put our house on the market. Keep your fingers crossed that our home sells quickly!  

Indulge Me

Henley went for her transfer orientation last weekend at Tarletan and was able to meet some of the Purple Poo!  For those of you who don't know what that is- it's Tarletan's Spirit Organization.  Henley was delighted to watch one of the Purple Poo tackle a mother of an incoming freshman who stepped on the grass (apparently that's a big No-No there)!  

And finally- Delaney took Sir out for a walk last week and took his picture in the bluebonnets.  Simply adorable!

April Showers Bring Forth...

Seems like the days are moving by quickly.  We are about to put the house on the market but Mark didn't want to do anything until we had removed all of his firearms from the house.  He thought it might be a good idea to get them out before the Lookie-Loo's came into the house.  The moving company that we are using won't store or transport any weapons or ammo so that meant that we needed to find a way to get them to Denver.  I hope you realize that"we" means "me" because Mark simply doesn't have the time to come to Odessa right now. 

So I left out of Odessa on Thursday morning- bright and early since I was facing a 10 hour drive (transporting a veritable arsenal).  The weatherman had predicted high winds all day and sure enough- it was already blowing about 30 mph when I was headed out of the driveway.  By the time I got to Levelland, the dirt was blowing to the point of near brown-out conditions.  The winds picked up to about 40 mph by the time I got to Clayton, NM and soon after- the snow started.  The snow continued from Clayton to Raton.  Once I was over Raton Pass, the rain started and continued until I got to Colorado Springs.  From then on, the weather cleared, the wind died down and the rest of the trip was quite uneventful.

Mark worked on Friday so I spent the morning getting his pantry stocked and got some organization to our kitchen and apartment.  We live less than an mile from the train station so I walked there and caught a ride downtown so that I could eat lunch with my hubby.  Funny story…when I was leaving the apartment I walked by a lady who was walking her dog.  She looked at me and said "get some sensible shoes on" and then kept right on walking.  I had on flat loafers!  The sidewalks and streets were clear, there was very little snow on the ground and it was a bright and sunny day.  I just smiled and said, "uh..okay" and walked off.  I can't imagine what prompted her remark or why she was so concerned about my footwear!

Riding the train is simply the best way to travel around Denver.  You don't have to worry about traffic or parking (the worst!) and it's really easy to navigate.  You do get to see some *ahem* interesting things on it- like this lady who applied FULL makeup (including mascara) whilst the train was moving.  She is quite talented if you ask me!

BTW- The new Union Station is just about completed- they say it should be finished around the middle of next month.  

I spent a little bit of the afternoon walking around downtown Denver and was happy to see that Spring was trying its hardest to make its arrival.  

On Saturday, we got up early, and ventured to the mall to get Mark a few new pair of pants and a summer sports coat.  Anyone who knows him, knows that this was a small feat in of itself  in that I got him to:
1) agree to go clothes shopping and
2) actually try on said clothes and buy them.  



We spent the rest of the day driving around Parker and getting to know the area a little bit better.  Downtown Parker is really quaint and charming and is only about 17 miles south of Denver but it feels like it is a million miles away.  There are coffee shops, wine shops, a few boutiques and various other businesses that are on Main Street.  Of course there are the regular stores like Target, Walmart, Costco, etc. nearby too.  And the area that we are building in is very close to Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Sprouts, and other amenities so I should be all set once we get into our new home.

Of course we had to stop by the house to see if any progress had been made and we were pleased to find that they had poured the footers and were told that the basement floor and walls would be completed this week. 

The weekend was over way too soon and I had to return home on Sunday.  Basically the weather on the return trip was a repeat of the trip there only in reverse: rain, snow, a little blowing dust and a little more rain (fortunately there was very little wind that day).  All in all it was a great weekend and I can't wait to be in Denver full-time with my hubby!

Welcome, Kind Sir

Don't you think that this is the cutest puppy ever?  Well Delaney obviously did because she has officially made him part of the family.  She picked him up and brought him home yesterday.  

She has named him Sir.  

As you know, she will be graduating in May and has decided that she will remain in Austin and we are so happy that she has decided to stay in the Hill Country.  That being said, she has been wanting a dog for the past few years but she knew that she didn't have the time for one while she was still in school.  Her friend Breezy told her about this particular litter of puppies and Delaney fell head over heels for this little guy.  He is a pure bred German Shepherd and you can tell by the size of his paws that this puppy will soon be a huge dog!  He's smart, personable and is a great companion for her.  

Delaney and Sir are coming to Odessa on Thursday for a friend's bridal shower on Sunday so I get to officially meet him soon.  

Dig Deep

GREAT NEWS!!

They have dug out the basement so things should start moving 
along now.  There were some issues with the permits and it took almost 6 weeks from the time we signed the contract until they got the permits signed.  Let's get this show on the road and we hope that we don't run into many more problems...Fingers crossed!

Let The Adventure Begin

Technically this isn't our first outing in Denver.  Mark and I did a little bit of sightseeing the weekend that he interviewed with Slawson.  That was a very short trip so we didn't get to see as much as we had hoped. The second outing was the weekend that we were on the great house hunt. Suffice to say that weekend was as packed as could be with making decisions about buying our home and not at all about seeing the sights.  

So this weekend was our first weekend of starting our New Adventure.  Over Spring Break, Delaney, Zack and I went to Denver to see Mark (most importantly) and to show the kids where we were going to live, work and play.  (Henley wanted to spend this part of her break with her friends and went to a Miley Cyrus concert in Dallas) I think we managed to get in a few totally touristy things while we were there this time.

Our first day out (Saturday) we started by going out to Parker to show Delaney and Zack the model home of the one that we are building.  Okay, this really wasn't touristy at all but Delaney was very curious about the new house (imagine that!) and I also wanted her to see the home so she knew what it looked like before we went to the design center to pick out our finishes for the house.  We then went by the lot where the house will be built and were pleasantly surprised to see that I will have a view of the mountains after all!  

 
View of the mountains in the distance.

The homes being built behind us are ranches so they will not be blocking my view.  When we picked out the lot, the developer didn't know what floor plan was being built behind us.  If the homes were two story then there was no way that I was going to get my view.  But they're not and this girl is one happy camper!

We ate a quick bite to eat for lunch in Castle Rock and then headed south to Colorado Springs and went for tour of the Olympic Training Center.  Mark and I have always wanted to visit the facility and found it very interesting.  What surprised us is that it isn't quite as large as we had imagined.  There are several other training centers all over the US that Olympians train at but this is the main campus.  We all really enjoyed the tour and managed to speak to several athletes who had just finished their workout for the day. 

Not the Jamaican Bobsled Team

View of Pikes Peak from the Olympic Training facility

 As close as I will ever get to giving an Olympian a high five!

 Mark holding the Olympic torch from the Lake Placid Olympics

We then headed back to Denver with hopes of touring the Mile High Stadium.  The internet said the last tour of the day was at 3:30 and we arrived about 3:15 but the last tour had left at 3.  So after a little cajoling (and a little cash on the side) we secured a private tour of the stadium!  We saw one of the Corporate rooms, the Championship rings, the Horse statues, and the bonus of actually getting to go down on the field!  You know how Zack is a sports fanatic so obviously he was in heaven.  

 One of the Corporate suites inside of the stadium

 Zack and Delaney on the field

 Four of the famous horse head sculptures in the stadium

Sunday we got up, ate breakfast at the apartment and then headed to Golden.  We toured the Coors brewery and then had lunch in downtown Golden. 

 One of the brewing kettles

All of the different brands of beer that the brewery now makes.

We ate at a really good bakery/sandwich shop called D'Deli and enjoyed a little more of the Coors brew!

 At D'Deli

We all agreed that we need to go back to Golden and really take a look around the town when we have a little more time.  

Someone at the sandwich shop suggested that we go to Evergreen, Co.  Most of the lakes in Evergreen freeze over during the winter and they have open ice skating on them.  The lakes are big enough that they have several Zambonis that groom the ice everyday! Of course it is too late in the season to skate but we did take a walk around the lake and at one point had to walk across it because the path was blocked off due to an engagement photo shoot.  

 Evergreen Lake

 Walking across the frozen lake

 All of us after walking around/across the lake

We found a great Greek restaurant on our way back to the apartment and ate until I thought we were going to pop!

Monday Mark had to go to work so the three of us hopped on the train and spent the day being tourists in downtown Denver.  Side note- Mark has been taking the train everyday since we were there!  We took a tour of the Capital building and were pleasantly surprised to find that the architect for Denver's capital is the same man who designed our Texas capital.  It is almost identical to ours but Denver's has gold/brass/bronze on EVERYTHING and red marble- not our beloved pink granite.  Texas' capital is by far the prettier of the two in my humble opinion. 

 Denver's capital dome undergoing a facelift

 Gold/brass/bronze everywhere…

5280!!!

After a quick tour of Mark's office and meeting his boss, we all ate a quick bite and then went about being tourists.

 Mark works in the Key building- 16th floor.

We literally walked the entire downtown area.  We went to the Pepsi center (professional basketball, hockey and minor league lacrosse), then walked to Coors Field (Pro baseball field) and then all over LoDo (Lower downtown).  There were lots of things to see, lots of street people, and lots of *ahem* colorful characters!  Reminded us so much of Austin!

 16th Street Mall

 Coors Stadium

Tuesday we spent the entire day picking out finishes for the house.  It really surprised me that it took so long considering I know what I like and don't like and generally knew what finishes I wanted.  The problem was that they had so many good choices of carpeting, tile, granite, lighting, etc. that it was hard to make selections between two or three really good options.  I am happy with what we ended up with and know that it was time well spent.  I am anxious to see it all come together once the house is finished.  Side note- the weather forecaster said that there was an 80% chance of snow showers that afternoon.  Of course to these flatlander Texans that meant that it wasn't going to happen.  Wrong!  We all were woefully underdressed for the day but fortunately we were inside all day long in the design center. 

Mark has been in the apartment for about a month now and he's so much happier in it than living in the hotel.  It's not ideal but we feel fortunate that we found an apartment that is within walking distance to the train, grocery stores, etc. The builder has told us that once they break ground we should be in our home in 7-8 months.  So until then- we will be apartment dwellers.  Here's where we will be living.

View out of the bedroom window.

So that's about all we were able to do in the 5 days that we were there.  I'm so glad that we were able to spend these few days with Delaney and Z and were able to show off our adopted city, our new home and to begin this crazy new adventure.