...I Finished the Previous Post

Ok- so let's see...I think I stopped at Sean and I having dinner at his friend's house. That was really fun. They have a beautiful home near Colorado Springs and the area they lived in was amazing. Except not so snow friendly. And it just happened to be snowing when we got there. Have I mentioned how much I dislike the snow? A lot. That's how much. After we left we headed straight to my brother Tom's house in Aurora. I was so excited to finally be done with driving. I love driving but spending 9-10 hours in a car is never fun. Another reason why I'm glad Sean was with me- I would have probably lost my mind driving by myself for that long. We finally got to the house around 10pm Sunday night and after unloading a couple things, crashed for the night.

The next couple days were spent unpacking, interviewing for jobs, and playing with kids. Monday was full of interviews, playing outside with Tori and her friend (I'm not going to lie- watching Sean play with those two was pretty amusing!), and playing games with Tom and Jenn. Sean and I spent the better part of Tuesday driving around Denver, visiting a friend of his, and stopping to get ice cream (where Sean convinced the ice cream lady to let him touch the plastic banana split display... don't ask). This was all after we served as the audience for Jenn's preschool kids as they practiced their graduation program. It was a ton of fun. I drove Sean to the airport that night and I think everything finally hit me as I was driving back to Tom and Jenn's. I may have lost it a little... but I think it's because it finally sunk in- I was moving here. I wasn't just here for a few days to visit, I was actually going to live here for the next few months. The unknown is always a little scary but I try to embrace it with enthusiasm. I'm loving my time here but can't wait to see everyone back in Utah.

...I Moved to Colorado

I have all these fun and interesting stories to tell about Colorado so far but I feel like I should start at the beginning with the drive here. I suppose this saga starts out with Sunday dinner at Sean's house on April 25th. I mentioned that I was moving that next weekend and wanted someone to go with me seeing as I'd never made the drive before and it's a pretty long one. Sean, being the amazing friend he is, offered to go with me. He loves Denver and has quite a few friends here so he was really excited about coming. There were a few scheduling things we had to work around (he's just so high maintenance) but we finally got on the road Saturday afternoon.

Sean has been working for Jim Mathesons's reelection campaign for the past few months and they had a county convention in Helper, UT that Saturday night that he had to help with. So we left that afternoon and got to Helper around 5pm or so. Sean got busy helping and I got busy listening to the candidate speeches (sorry Sean- I really wasn't much help...). It was actually quite fascinating. After leaving Helper we headed to Sean's aunt's house to stay the night. She lived a couple hours away on the other side of a mountain so we decided to take a shortcut and go over the mountain instead of around it. Not good. The weather was disgusting. Imagine driving in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere while its blizzarding outside and you're ridiculously tired and haven't eaten in 10 hours. Awful. I've never come so close to having a panic attack. Sean would tell you it wasn't even that bad but he's lying. It totally was!

We finally made it to his aunt's house (me still shaking from the drive) and crashed. We woke up and headed out Sunday morning- the weather still wasn't great but the closer we got to Colorado, the better it got. The drive was pretty uneventful. Sean's a great road tripper and a really good sport. He drove a good portion of the way even though he couldn't really push the driver's seat back because I had too much crap behind it. If you know the height difference between us you know why this was probably horrible for him. But he was a champ and I'm soooo glad he came with me. The weather was less than fantastic again when we went through the Colorado mountains into Denver. We survived it ok though- it just reaffirmed to me why I bought that car in the first place. :)

One of Sean's friends lives near Colorado Springs so we stopped there Sunday night and had dinner with his family. They are incredible people and it was a lot of fun. On the way to dinner I noticed that my gas light had turned on. Now I don't get stressed super easily but that straight up stresses me out. I started freaking out a little (sorry again Sean) because we were, again, in the middle of nowhere at night. Sean will also tell you that this wasn't that big of a deal- but it was. This is still a point of contention between us. Driving around with a gas light on is no bueno. But it turned out ok this time. And I'm going to finish writing this as another post because this is getting ridiculously long.

...It Was the Fifth of May

Also known as Cinco de Mayo. Since the majority of my days are spent hanging out with people under the age of 7, I decided to do something fun to celebrate. Mainly this just meant that I would make Mexican food for dinner. Easy, quick, and cheap. Perfect way to celebrate a pseudo-holiday.

I decided to recruit my niece Tori to help me with dinner. Unfortunately I started to do my makeup while talking to her about this awesome Mexican meal. I say 'unfortunately' because I forgot that I absolutely cannot do my makeup in front of the kids without being offered some help. Usually, being the sucker that I am, I give in and let the girls do my makeup. So naturally Tori offers and I accept. She then precedes to do my makeup (which usually means eyeliner ends up anywhere except my eyes) while I tell her about Mexico and Cinco de Mayo. So she's in the middle of my makeover when she tells me that she's going to make me look like a Mexican. This peaks my interest so I let her go with it. Then we have the following conversation:

Tori: "Oooo- you are looking just like a Mexican. It's beautiful!"

Me: (Knowing that she's now putting eyeliner circles on my cheeks) "Oh I'm so glad."

Tori: "Well, I don't actually know what a Mexican looks like but I think you look like one now."

Me: "Huh- ok." (As she draws an eyeliner cross across my nose)

So- needless to say it was one of the more interesting "makeovers" I've had. Promptly after finishing with me she moved on to her sister, brother, and eventually Jenn (my sister-in-law). Yep- we all got "Mexican-ized" for our Cinco de Mayo feast.

What can I say- the kid's a nut.

...It was Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the most incredible mother in the world- mine!! My mother is amazing. And to honor her this Mother's Day, I decided to make a list of why I have the best mom ever:

1. She's insanely nice. She'll go out of her way to do anything for anyone.
2. She's very outgoing. Honestly, you can't go to a grocery store with her without meeting at least three new people. She's awesome at just striking up conversations with random people.
3. Going along with #2- she's a very social person. In addition to meeting three new people at that grocery store, you'll also run into five other people who know her.
4. Fountain hair. You can always tell when my mom is done for the night when she comes out with the "fountain" hairdo. If that thing goes up, she's not leaving the house. I wish I had a picture of it on her, but it looks something like this:

5. My mother claims that she's technologically-challenged. But how technologically-challenged can you be when you have a laptop, Blackberry, Palm Pilot, Blueberry, Strawberry, Marion berry and two cell phones? Seriously- she has more gadgets that I do. And yet she's "technologically-challenged..."
6. My mother is very adventurous. She loves traveling and experiencing new things. She gets so excited when we have the opportunity to do something different or travel around the world. We even went skydiving a few years ago. It was terrifying and incredible and I'm so glad I got to experience that with my mom.

7. She's annoyingly optimistic. I don't mean that in a bad way, but it's true. Whenever I have a problem or something I'm stressing about, my mom always reminds me to look on the bright side and realize that there are worse things out there. Because I'm not as awesome as my mother, all I want to do is vent and have someone confirm that my problem is awful and my life is over. I have learned that my mother is not ever going to be that person- she's always going to make me look at the positive things and figure out a way to solve my problem. It's annoying, but I'm grateful for it.
8. She is full of love. If you see my mom around her grand kids you'll know that this is true. She loves so well and so much. She's taught me what it is to love someone and how to show it. You can never doubt how much my mother loves her family, the gospel, and herself. She's an incredible example to me.
9. She embodies the idea of being a "good sport." She'll be the first one to tell you that she's had to learn how to be a good sport throughout the years. With my dad's sarcasm (and five kids who inherited that same sarcasm) it's been a necessity. While it drives her crazy, we usually show our love for each other by making fun of each other. I think she's finally getting the hang of it and even throwing in her own snarky comments here and there. (I'm pretty sure she called one of us a "dirty dog" during a card game once...valiant effort, mom).
10. "Gloms of Gluck." Do you know what this means? Neither do I. It's a phrase she made up when referring to the icky stuff you find when your drain is clogged up. There are multiple other "Patti-isms" but this is a family favorite.
11. My mother throws everything away. No seriously- everything. Shoes, homework- anything that might be left on the floor or counter that isn't hers. She likes things organized and the best way to ensure organization is throwing things away if they don't belong. Makes perfect sense to her.
12. Frosting. My mother hates cake but loves frosting. Therefore her piece of cake will always resemble that of a 5 year old's- frosting licked off top, sides, and middle. She has no shame about this either. You can often find her taking a spoon to a tub of frosting. No shame.
13. My mother is an unabashed theme dresser. Holidays are like frosting to that woman- she can't get enough. On Valentine's Day she'll wear red jeans with a white or pink top, heart earrings, heart socks, red shoes, and maybe even a pink belt to go with it. Ok- that may be an exaggeration but it's pretty close to the truth. That lady would put Uncle Sam to shame on the Fourth of July.
14. Christmas chucks. She owns a pair of chucks that are red and green plaid. And she's owned them for about 80 years. Every year these shoes grace us with their presence for at least 20 out of the 25 days leading up to Christmas. They're practically an institution- I'm pretty sure Christmas can't come without them.

15. My mother is supportive, respectful, intelligent, kind, wonderful and beautiful. She's always there for me. She loves me and supports me in everything I do- even when she may know I'm not making the best decision. She's very good at letting me make my own mistakes and then being there for me when I finally realize those mistakes. She loves her children, she loves the Lord, and she loves life. She's vivacious, fun, and happy. She's the absolute best person I know. I try everyday to be more like my mother.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY, MOM! I LOVE YOU!