Fun Around Town!

We quickly discovered a few fun things to do around town.

Farm Day at Library Story Time

Christopher and Leslie made a pig.  I couldn't get Leslie to show me both her face and the pig's face.  It was so funny.

Leslie's first trip to story time at the library.  I didn't get a picture of him, but Christopher was there, too.

There is a great history/railroad museum here.  On the museum grounds is an old schoolhouse, playground, empty railroad cars to walk through and this empty boxcar that is filled with Mr. Bailey's collection of antique and modern saddles.  All the kids had fun sitting on this horse.

Finally SIX!

Christopher waited a LONG time to turn SIX! Because he has a summer birthday he had to watch all of the kids in his class turn six before he finally did. Before we moved, we had a mini-party for him with the Smith cousins at Chuck E. Cheese. While he was super happy to celebrate at Chuck E. Cheese, he was even more excited to actually turn six soon after we moved to Colorado.

The birthday boy with a transformer.

He wanted a BIG box of Legos.

Christopher chose to have pizza for his birthday dinner (no surprise there) and wanted to eat AT Pizza Hut.

Back home for cake and ice cream.

Blowing out candles.

Finally SIX!

Just a few things about my "Tuffer".... He is one funny kid.  Everywhere I go people tell me how funny he is.  He starts almost every sentence with "Didn't you know..."  He loves Legos (LOVES them), playing in the dirt, making a gun out of anything (his current favorite thing to use as a gun is a broken deer antler that John brought home from the farm).  He is a great reader and loves to do anything JJ does.  Christopher will just come up to me several times a day and give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and tell me he loves me.  He's also pretty good at teasing Leslie.  Most days can become the "best day ever" just by saying we are having pizza for dinner or that we are going to visit the house-building site so he can play in HIS super big sandpile.

Apartment Adventure

John's job compensation package includes housing.  The boss and office manager spent several weeks looking for a house they would like to rent (or buy) for us to live in.  There are a lot of houses for sale in Limon but none of them are large enough for a family with four kids or have ceilings high enough for adults who are both on the semi-tall end.  The company finally decided to build a house next to the farm shop.  So, .... On Monday, July 9, 2012, we started our Apartment Adventure!

I went to the apartment complex about 10 a.m. to sign the paperwork.  I walked through the apartment and, for the most part, it was "fine".  The carpet has some stains, the laundry room closet is missing a bi-fold door and the bathroom door has a huge hole in it.  For a time we only had one toilet that worked and one sink that worked (not in the same bathroom).  The bathtub/shower also had issues. There are very few ceiling lights in the whole apartment and of those rooms that have ceiling lights, only one room worked.  The lights in the kitchen and one bathroom didn't work.  After several days of "adventure", John's boss and the office manager finally arranged for a plumber and electrician to come out.  Aside from being on the small side for a family of six, this is a decent apartment.  The complex is just in receivership right now so getting workmen to come in and fix things is difficult.  Also, it's one of the nicest apartments in Limon.  I just wish I didn't see so many HUGE spiders.  Apartment living in Limon is not for the faint of heart - haha!

The hole in the bathroom door is the size of Leslie, our two year old who wears size 4T clothes.

There are replacement doors available but they've been sitting outside for who-knows-how-long and are probably filled with my arch-nemesis... SPIDERS.  I'd rather have this beautiful duct-tape original, made by my dear husband, John.

Tired of the weeds around the apartment, John sprayed it all with farm-grade weed killer.

Really, it's a cute apartment.

More weeds...

The main floor of the new house.   There are two bedrooms, two living spaces, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and a laundry room on the main level.  The company is sooooo great!  I'm really excited to move in.

The basement of the new house.  It has three bedrooms, a bathroom, living space and a HUGE "Mormon Closet" for storage.  I can't wait.  With just a couple of exceptions, it's my dream house.

Lost Key Adventure

Driving to Limon, the girls were with me and the boys were with John.  Kelly needed to stop for a "private moment" so I pulled off at Sinclair, WY, at a truck stop.  I had called John and told him to keep going, we'd catch up with him in a few minutes.  Kelly and I took turns staying outside with Leslie while the other went into the truck stop.  When I came out, we hopped in and got ready to go.  Unfortunately there wasn't a key on the keyring.  We searched EVERYWHERE.  We retraced our steps, inside and out of the truck stop and pulled the garbage out of the garbage can in front of the truck stop - twice.  (I had emptied the garbage in the pickup while I waited for Kelly.)  We searched all over the truck and couldn't find the key.  After about 30 minutes and several prayers and frantic phone calls to John, we found the key... down the side of the seat next to the center console.  I had looked there several times already.  The key had slipped off the keyring.  We jumped in the pickup and hurried to catch up to where John and the boys waited on the side of the road.

Goodbye Winnie!

On July 8, 2012, we left our "temporary" living situation with John's parents in Syracuse, UT, to drive to our new home in Limon. The van made it about an hour before it started "chugging". I'm sure there's a technical word for it, but John knew what I was talking about when I called his cell and told him about the chugging. We decided to call John's parents and borrow their pickup to drive the rest of the way. We are very grateful that the van chose to chug only an hour from Syracuse instead of the middle of Wyoming. For about a year or two, the van has slowly been dying, one piece at a time... one of the automatic side doors stopped being automatic, the CD player didn't work, the windshield wiper fluid didn't work, the air conditioning finally broke all the way. Since it was paid for, our plan was to drive the van until it died or the wheels fell off.
We succeeded!   (We were hoping it would make it to Limon, though.)

We bought the van in Fargo, ND, about a year before Christopher was born, so we brought two babies home from the hospital in the van. The van moved us from North Dakota to Idaho to Kansas to North Platte and to Syracuse. The kids and I drove to Utah and California many times. We put so many miles on it and rarely had to put any money into it (maybe $1000 total in the seven years we owned it). It just kept running and running. JJ learned to drive in the van. We survived the deer hitting us.

We will miss our faithful "Winnie the Winstar"!

See where the deer hit - right above the front wheel and then bounced all the way down the side.

Waiting for Grandpa Layton and Aunt Jan to rescue us and let us borrow the pickup.

Christopher's 6th Birthday Party!

Christopher has wanted a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese for years. He also wanted his best friend/cousin, Tommy, to attend his party so... we planned a small birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese with just his siblings and Tommy and his brothers. It was the day we arrived home to Utah from California and two days before we left for Colorado.

Tommy, in blue, and Christopher dancing with Chuck E. Cheese for free tickets!

Christopher and Chuck E. Cheese

Tommy and Christopher

Playing games

Can't stop playing games long enough for a picture with Tommy.

Christopher wanted a lego cake.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a lego cake so we bought a cake and a lego set and made our own.

Christopher and his cake.

All the kids - Kelly, Christopher, Luke, Jett, Christopher, Tommy, Leslie and Sammy.

Christopher and Tommy

Blowing out the candles.

Opening a present

Legos and a nerf air gun (and Tommy!)

John and  Leslie in the play structure