We are now Colorado residents!

Well, we made it safely to Colorado with our 3 kids, bird, camping trailer, and all of the things the movers left behind or that we couldn't have on the moving truck! On Friday we drove from Newport Beach back to Gilbert, Arizona where we loaded the last few things and got our home there all ready for the renters. We slept at Dan's parents' home that night, then drove all day Saturday and Sunday to roll into Colorado early on Sunday night. It was a beautiful drive and the kids did well, thanks to DVDs and XBox in the car! The kids were pretty excited about our home in Erie, but when I saw all the boxes, my heart sank a bit just knowing how much work I had ahead of me!

My cute Mom came to stay with us on Tuesday through Friday, which was perfect timing because Dan worked in California for most of the week. My Mom and I worked so hard unpacking and getting things organized and I was extremely grateful for her help and her company! The KITCHEN is always the toughest for me to unpack and once that was done, I felt much more optimistic about doing the rest! My Mom always goes the extra mile, as evidenced by her idea to plant flowers in front of our home. We bought supplies and planned to plant the next day, but when I got up around 7:30 AM on Thursday morning, Mom was outside putting in new dirt and weeding and had already met 2 of our neighbors! She amazes me! Our neighbors I met later that morning seem

very nice. They said the home "had never looked better," which feels great!

On day 3, we took a break and took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese. My Mom and I loved playing Skee Ball with the kids! I know I'm biased, but I think my kids have been such good sports through all of this and I'm so grateful they are all open-minded and friendly when it comes to new people and experiences.

Friday night my Mom returned to Salt Lake and took Ashlyn with her for some one-on-one time! They went to a

Bead Show and the Real Salt Lake soccer game this weekend and I think Ashlyn is loving every minute.

Sunday was interesting, to say the least... We went to church and it seemed like a great ward: MUCH, MUCH smaller than our ward in Gilbert, but there were a lot of couples our age and a good number of kids. We were filling out the records transfer when we found out that we were in the wrong ward! Our neighborhood is the only in the whole city that isn't in the Erie ward! Tears were welling up in my eyes because I was feeling so good about being there. We immediately pulled Claire and Corey out of their classes and drove up to Longmont, which is about 15 minutes from our home and got there with about 1/2 an hour left. This ward was very different: tiny Primary and mostly older people. Not sure what we're going to do yet, but I just feel like we need to be with families near our home, whose kids go to school with ours, etc... I'll keep you posted on what we decide to do. The church is true everywhere, but it is nice to have friends you relate to as well:-)

This week's agenda: Finish unpacking, find my home phone and wait in line for new Colorado driver's licenses at the DMV. Fun, fun!

A much needed vacation in Newport Beach!

After all the stress of moving, I think the best cure is a week on a beach! I hadn't seen Dan in 2 weeks and hadn't seen most of my family in 6 months. It was a much-needed vacation!

My family has rented a beach house in Newport every other year for 16 years! It's the perfect vacation... all 25 of us in one house, no plans, no where to go and no idea what time it is!

ALL TOGETHER NOW!!!

We sure missed C.J. last year for temple pictures when he was on his mission!

It's good to be all together again:-)

On Sunday, we attended Sacrament Meeting at the Newport Beach ward, then drove to the temple to take some pictures and walk around. The "littles," as my sister Andrea calls them, were not too happy about taking pictures!

FAMILY PICS:
*Ashlyn & Jane

*The Elggrens

*My sister Andrea's family

*My parents & C.J.

*My sister Lisa's family

*My sister Natalie & her cute baby bump and Dave

*Monica's son fell asleep, so she took pics... thanks, Moes!

Last year Andrea and Paul introduced us to these amazing TIDE POOLS in Laguna, which is only about 10 minutes from Newport. The tide was coming in fast, so Corey jumped up on C.J. each time the waves rolled in! It's a gorgeous setting and we all enjoyed searching for sea creatures...

Our very own hands-on aquarium!

We ❤ the Buzz Lightyear ride at Disneyland! I think Monica had the high score of the day. My Mom and Corey blasted some aliens and had a great time!---

We always save one night at the end of the week for a photo shoot. With 25 of us, it's nearly impossible to get a good group shot, but we still try!

I LOVE photos at sunset, with the sun casting a warm glow on everyone.

C.J.'s girlfriend Brooke joined us for the last 5 days of the week and I love this girl! She and C.J. have known each other since 1st grade. She's sweet, gorgeous, smart, great with all the kids and loves to tease C.J. She fits right in!

GOOD TIMES AT THE BEACH...

*boogie boarding* *searching for sand crabs* *building sandcastles* *naps in the sun* *reading a good book* *watching the kids play in the waves with their cousins*

*shell-collecting* *watching the sunset* *The Tide Pools* *Disneyland*

*Seaside Doughnuts* *Mom's cooking* *playing in the sand*

Ashlyn was very comfortable boogie boarding on her own this year. Maybe she'll try surfing with Uncle Paul soon? Corey loved collecting seaweed but thinks it's disgusting that his Dad likes it with sushi! My parents are amazing and Dan's never looked better!

Dan and I celebrated our lucky 13th anniversary while at the beach! My parents watched the kids so we could go out to eat at The Crab Cooker and have a nice walk along the pier. After a week in Newport I felt refreshed and ready to drive to Colorado and begin unpacking a mountain of moving boxes. Life rarely gets boring for us!

Pool Party for Ashlyn & friends...

4 days before our big move, we hosted a goodbye pool party for 11 of Ashlyn's friends. They were kind to let Corey & Claire join them;-) There are over 20 kids Ashlyn's age in our ward, if you can believe it, and she's made such great friends here. We are really going to miss them!

Here are my quick tips for hosting a Pool Party for kids:

1. Have plenty of sunscreen, extra goggles and pool toys on hand.
2. Popsicles are a big hit for an after-swimming treat!
3. Do NOT waste your time mopping your floor before the party...

Enough said!
4. Large inflatable lizard pool toys cannot accomodate more than 2 kids at once, no matter how hard you try!
5. Kids sleep very well after a fun afternoon of swimming. Enjoy!

Packing it all up...

Claire's been fascinated with all the boxes I've been packing! Corey & Claire have been making "houses" and playing in them, while Ashlyn has been my best helper. I have to say that I really, really dislike moving. Each time, I just wish we had less STUFF! I guess it's a good oportunity to go through things, but it's just so difficult to live in a home you're packing and I can't stand not being able to find anything!

Thursday, June 11th: The moving van came on Monday and it took all day to finish packing and get us all loaded up. The driver pulled away after 10 PM. I was walking through the house and realized he had left his personal power drill plugged into the garage, so I called and told him. When I walked into the house, I found that they'd forgotten our ladder, 3 big boxes and all of our food storage that was under the stairs! Yikes! The driver was so kind and appologetic and returned to load the rest!

Chase's 10th "angel day"

(Above): My sister Lisa and her kids visited Chase's grave for Memorial Day. Thanks, Lisa!!!

May 28th, 2009: 10 years ago today Dan & I lost our baby, whom we named Chase Daniel. It seems like forever ago to me! I can't believe we would have a 10 year old! I am missing him so much today, as always, but I'm also at peace knowing that he's in a good place and knowing that Dan & I have grown so much from that experience.

Chase was born with the rare genetic disorder Trisomy 13. He had so many physical problems and couldn't breathe without a ventilator. I had an abnormal Triple Screen AFP test at 17 weeks, then had numerous ultrasounds, but refused an anmiocentesis. Our baby was diagnosed with "failure to thrive" and a heart defect, but we hoped for the best. I had told Dan at about 3 months along that I felt that something was wrong, but he reassured me that it was normal first-time-Mom worries. I was placed on strict bed rest at 26 weeks for pre-eclampsia (toxemia), and was hospitalized at 29 weeks for the duration of my pregnancy. My Dad and my Father-in-Law both gave me priesthood blessings where they both blessed us with "peace to accept God's will" for our child. Chase was born by c-section on May 28th, 1999 because he wasn't moving much and my blood pressure was 190/140, despite 4 days of magnesium sulfate to keep it down. Dan and my Dad were in the OR with me and after he was born, it was chaos all around. My Dad would leave, then come back and give me a report. "Cleft palate. Apgar of 4. It's a boy, not a girl. He's not breathing on his own..." They wheeled me in the NICU after my c-section to see him. Chase was small, but had beautiful strawberry blond curls, just like his younger sister Ashlyn. No one imagines their first baby with physical defects, hooked up to machines and struggling to survive, yet when the nurse handed him to me, his heart rate slowed and he calmed down. It's hard to remember too much else because I know I was in shock. It all happened so fast. Should we keep him alive or let him go? Would we want an autopsy? Dan and I kissed him and said goodbye. He died in my arms. I remember asking Dan, "Is he gone?"

We held a small graveside service 4 days later at a breathtaking spot in the cemetery right by my awesome Papa Hack's grave. I have never seen a casket so small. I still remember everyone who came to support us that day. It was so bittersweet, to feel so loved and so sad at once.

10 years later, my perspective has changed a bit, but strong impressions remain:

*That my Heavenly Father loves me, hurts for me and sends "peace

that defies all understanding" at times.

*I feel absolutely blessed to be the mother of such an amazing spirit.

*It is devastating to watch your husband sob in your arms and not be able to heal his pain, but together, we made it through. No one understands exactly unless you've been through it.

*There will always be a little ache in my heart, a longing for familiarity

and a sense that our family is temporarily incomplete.

*Families are forever. Time does not "heal all wounds," but each day is a day closer to our reunion.

*Living children should be cherished and nurtured. They each have a reason for living, a mission to complete on Earth and I'm so blessed to have my angel Chase and my 3 Earth angels too!

Still packing boxes...

Moving day is less than a week away now and I am making progress. There are packed boxes in every room and I've noticed that my voice echoes differently because the rooms are much more empty. I've been taking it slow so we don't loathe every minute. I LOVE my friends here! Katie and Jill organized a farewell party for us Friday night at a neighborhood park that was amazing. The kids wore swimsuits and did Slip & Slide and played football while Dan & I talked and lingered until past 9 PM with friends. So fun! Dan left for Colorado the next morning:-( Ali and Jared had us over for a yummy dinner last night, which was awesome because I'm trying to use up what's in my fridge and pantry and I've already packed a lot of the kitchen. Heather, Jen and Langdon dropped by tonight and helped me pack and clean, which I almost didn't let them do, except that I loved their company (and they helped so much)! Stephanie dropped by some of her famous bread, jam and homemade cinnamon rolls for dessert. Thanks to all for making us feel so loved!

I am slowly starting to look ahead, but I still can't imagine how I'll feel the day we drive away from here. The kids have been such good sports! It's been fun to have them home from school and Ashlyn has been such good help. They've had their moments when I can tell they are emotional about our upcoming changes, but we've been trying to have fun whenever we can. We've been so blessed to find a great family to rent our home here in Arizona and the home we're renting in Colorado looks like a perfect fit for us for now...

Biltmore escape

Recently we enjoyed a weekend in Phoenix at The Biltmore Hotel, thanks to an unbelievably inexpensive deal from TravelZoo.com. It's the hotel's 80 anniversary celebration and it was fun to get away from home (and packing to move) without driving far. Our kids wanted to live in the pools, which was about our speed. Claire couldn't get enough of the water slide and wanted to go "gen" the second we got to the bottom. We sat in the hot tubs, watched movies in the pool each night and swam until we slept like we were dead. It was a much needed escape!

School's out for summer!

It's been such a great school year for Corey & Ashlyn an I can't believe school is already out! I feel so blessed that both kids had the best teachers I could've hoped for and have made great friends this year. Dan & I enjoyed going to Corey's program, where his class sang the songs they've learned in music. Corey's teacher had 27 students (!!!) but was so calm and organized that it never seemed to be a problem for her. The very morning after school was out, Corey commented that he already missed his teacher and friends from his class.

Ashlyn's teacher is not only an amazing teacher, but has also become my friend. She's been such a good fit for what Ashlyn needed this year and Ashlyn has had really good friends in her class. I'm always shocked that each year Ashlyn can't wait to get out of school, but cries a lot on the last day of school. This is tough because she knows she won't be here again next year :-(

First impressions of Colorado...

2 weeks ago, Dan, Claire and I headed to Colorado to find a place to live! Since it was nearly the last week of school, Ashlyn & Corey stayed in Arizona with my amazing friend Ali. Dan had planned to send me alone, but I am so grateful he was able to come with me. I had never really been in Colorado, unless you count driving through or a few layovers in the Denver airport. My first impressionwas that everything was so GREEN! I kept telling Dan, "Wow. This is so different than Arizona." From the plane, it looked like farms for as far as I could see.

My second clue that I was in new territory was this sign (below) in the Denver airport!

Yikes! I didn't know Colorado was tornado country, but I should've assumed. Just one more thing to think about. I have been in some serious tornados in Michigan and Iowa when I was in Elementary school and even an extremely rare freak tornado in Utah in 1999 that killed one person. But, that's another story...

I took a bunch of pictures of the landscape. It is absolutely gorgeous! I like the cooler summer weather, the laid-back attitude, the mountains and the charming little towns. This WILL be a huge change for our family. Our church building is 10 miles from our home and I have no idea which school to choose for my kids. We have so much to learn!

We looked on our own the first day, then toured with an agent from a rental agency the next. We picked our favorite in our price range, signed the rental agreement and wrote the deposit check. Unfortunately, a few days after we returned to Arizona the homeowner would call and tell us that he had found a buyer and wouldn't be able to rent to us after all! Luckily, our very favorite home was still available and we negotiated a better price, so we are all set!

On our last day we drove to Boulder, which is only about 15-20 minutes away. The University of Colorado is there and it's a really fun city! My impression is that we'll enjoy living in a small town in the country, but that we'll love being so close to both Boulder and Denver as well!

We enjoyed being with Claire and were so thankful that the older 2 kids enjoyed staying with Ali's family. We jumped back into the craziness and had a birthday party for Corey just 4 hours after we returned home!