Moved in

Poor sleepy dog...she followed me around everywhere and by about two she laid down on the bed for the rest of the day.
A view of the family room from the catwalk upstairs
Obviously, our new bedroom furniture. I took these at 10pm on Saturday before I had a chance to get the tags off. Please excuse the mess...Coley got in the picture wondering, "Mom, when are we going to go to bed?"

The dining room
The Kitchen with the new Kitchen Table.

Well, on Saturday from 8am to 7pm, we had movers come pack up and move our stuff, 3 furniture deliveries, cable installation and 7 friends unpack our stuff (and a partridge in a pear tree, just kidding about that part). WHAT a day!! Coley and I are still recovering! What amazing friends we have. I could not have done it without them. They got all of the kitchen stuff and bedroom stuff out of boxes.  Since pictures speak louder than words, here are some pics of our wonderful house. By the way, I didn't know this, but it is possible to obtain live animals when you close on a house. We now have koi fish in the pond out back. Hopefully, they will be finding a new home this week. They are beautiful fish, but Ted and I are just not fish people. 

New Furniture for the House

I am SOOO excited about moving into the house!! This week I have been shopping like crazy!! There is a furniture store in Colorado called Woodley's Fine Furniture and I found the neatest kitchen table there! I thought I would share it with you. It is solid birch wood, 42" round (with a 18" leaf), pedestal table. It comes with four chairs. It was 1/2 off of the original price in the clearance section. THEN another 1/2 off of that for a promotional they had!!! I got the table for a steal. It has a honey stain to the top of the table and seat of the chairs and a red/brown stain to the legs of the table and back and legs of the chairs. I got two matching swivel barstools to go with it! I think it will look great in our kitchen!!

Also, Coley is healing really well. She got her bandages off this week (finally!). I won't post the pictures of her paws. The incission is pretty long and the hair has not grown back. The pictures are sad to look at. But, she is a good girl and is not messing with them at all. She is ready to play again! The vet said she is ready to go play and take a bath, so I will take her tomorrow ( I wanted to give it a couple more days to be on the safe side).

The ornaments of a house are the friends who frequent it

 

We are buying a house!! Ted and I found a house in our neighborhood we love! It is one and half miles from the condo we are renting which means it is close to everything we love now (Garden of the Gods, church, Ute Valley Park, the west side of town...). We saw it when Ted was in town and he walked the neighborhood with Coley, stopping at the Starbucks not even half a mile from the house. ;) It is real close to the Flying W Ranch. It is a 5 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 2 story with a basement, 2 car garage house built by Keller in 1993. The backyard has a pond. I will try to keep Coley out of that! The finished basement has a wet bar and a rec room with plenty of space for Ted's pool table. We love it!!! We should close on April 27th and will move in our Colorado stuff the first weekend of May. We will move Ted's stuff in Georgia out here in the fall.

With all of that being said, we would love to have you come visit our home in Colorado. Whenever you are here you have a place to stay. Please come see us soon!

Hawaii 2009

Whale watching on the Gemini

Rainbow

Mama and Baby Whale

Playin in the sand

Biking down the mountain

Those helmets are heavy. Can you see the sugar cane fire in the background?

The summit of the volcano was 10,000 feet. It was COLD. I am not used to humidity. We are in shorts, long pants, AND wind suits!

Watching the sunrise above the clouds at 6,500 feet.

BBBBBBRRRRRR!!!! IT'S COLD!!!!

AAHH!! Reading and Relaxing.

Going to dinner in the jeep.

The cliff Jenni and I JUPMED off!!! We felt so brave. Later found out it was only a 15 or 16 foot jump, but still felt pretty pumped about it. It reminded me of the jump the girls do at the end of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants II. 

This is the view from the hotel. Can you see the black rock where we jumped from?

Well, when you are in tears by the end of your trip to Hawaii, you know it is good to be home. (Even if you go from 80 degree sunshine to 20 degree's and a blizzard). It started before I left. Coley had surgery and I left her in great care, but with bandages and medicine. My first day in Hawaii I got a TERRIBLE sunburn. (Word to the wise, don't use the spray sunscreen!) I now have streaks of peeling from the burn! Ouchie! The sunburn was so bad, not only did it hurt to move or put clothes on or go outside in the sun, but I was nauseous and had an excruciating headache for two days. By the fourth day, our last, my credit/debit card was lost by the waitress at a restaurant! It was found (and now returned) between the lime juice bottle and Jack Daniels at the bar. They called as I was boarding the plane to go home. The plan was to jump on yet another plane to go to California to see friends and run a race, but the airline called and canceled the flight, I am guessing due to the blizzard that came in the day we got home. 

I did get to snorkel with sea turtles (so cool by the way!). I also LOVED sailing and seeing humpback whales! We got to ride around in a jeep, eat at some cool places with great food, and see some neat shops, and walk in the rain forest. Oh, and my friend Jenni wanted to bike down a volcano one day so we did that. It was a sunrise ride, so we were picked up at the hotel at 3am, dropped off at the top of the volcano to see the sunrise (pretty cool) and then biked from 6500 feet to 0! Our average speed on the bikes was 24 miles per hour, downhill on switchbacks!!! So cool!

Overall, a good trip, but glad to be home. Coley is doing better. Finished up most of her medicine and will have her last bandage change tomorrow night. These are from the trip. Can you see the terrible burn streaks???

Aloha

I am packed and ready to go to Hawaii. Jenni and I are headed on a much needed girls getaway. Sorry this one has no pictures, those will come later. We are traveling to Maui for 4 days/nights and I am not sure if I will have internet access. I will post pictures when I get back for sure. Happy Spring Break Everyone! Aloha!

Poor Coley

With her bandages

Cone

With some of her toys

Coley had surgery today to remove her dewclaws because they keep getting ripped and pulled when she plays. She came home with a cone around her head and her front paws all bandaged. She was very happy to see me with kisses and tail wagging. She only whined when it was time for her medicine. She has been so good not to touch or lick her bandages yet. This type of surgery is difficult for dogs her age (7 years) and recovery is hard. Please pray for her quick healing. Thank you. 

Biking on the Trail

Here are some pictures of Jenni and I biking on the Santa Fe Trail off Woodmen road in Coloardo Springs. We decided to get on some bikes before we head to Maui and bike down the mountain there on Monday. We had a blast riding before sunset. Jenni sent pictures on her phone to family. 

Cutler Trail

 

Here are some pictures I came across that show Ted, Coley, and I on my favorite hiking trail in Colorado Springs, Cutler Trail. It has beautiful views of the mountains and the city below. In the middle right picture you can see the Broadmoor if you look closely. We had a great time driving up Goldcamp road and hiking with Cole. Ted is safely in Iraq now and we pray for his safe and quick return back to Colorado Springs in September. 

Ted's Two Weeks Home in Colorado

View of Pikes Peak behind the Garden

Taking a walk through the Garden
Climbing the rocks in the Garden

Well we had a great time just hangin out and spending time together. Here are some pictures from his trip home. 

Tourist in our own town

 

Here are some pictures of Ted's first week back. We decided to be tourists in our own town and see what is here. We, of course, went to the Garden of the Gods (one of Ted's favorite places here). We also went to a Ghost Town Museum that I have never been to. It had old carriages and things used when Colorado Springs was first starting. One of the coolest things was to see the room they had set up to show what it looked like when the family doctor came to visit the sick people in the house. One of the pictures above is a sign that was shown in the room. We also saw the friendly deer as we drove around town and they were gracious enough to pose for a picture or two. The picture of me by the snowy tree was taken right outside our condo. I LOVE the snow! Happy Valentines Day!