Farmington...

We made it to Farmington about 6pm that night. 

{And it was no small miracle that our car made it all the way across the country and back some. Answer to prayer... truly.}

The realty office had closed, so they hid the key for us near the front door. 

I never thought I'd live in a house like this. 

Adobe/flat room/ Santa Fe-ish was never my idea of a pretty home.

But whattya gonna do when you live in New Mexico???

The housing situation was actually really sparse. We were just grateful for Megan (our friend from dental school that lives here now) for helping us find a place to rent. She was a huge help! 

Actually, lets just list everything the Shaheen's did for us...

They had us over for dinner our first night.

Bron helped Trav unload the ENTIRE truck after dinner.

Megan picked up the boys in the morning and watched them ALL DAY while we unpacked boxes and moved furniture around.

She brought us dinner our second night..... oh and our third night.

They invited us to hang out with their friends Saturday which was fun to get out of the house and meet some new people.

It was all so incredibly nice. We were so tired of fast food and her meals are amazing. And there is nothing that's a bigger help than having your kids watched while you unpack. I was so, so, so grateful. What amazing friends. We're not worthy! :)

(More pics to come of the inside.)

Well, this past month has been kind of a blur, now that I think about it.

It took almost two weeks to completely unpack, organize, decorate and feel settled. 

We didn't have hot water for the first week, which was awful. Warming water on the stove and filling the bath tub is for the birds! I tried a cold shower and just couldn't do it. I mean seriously, could there be anything worse?! 

It was almost 3 weeks before we had internet or cable. (First time in 6 years of marriage that we have cable. I'm not sure how I feel about this... but we almost had no choice. It was either cable or 2-3 channels.)

And it was almost a month before Trav's license was active so he could start work. (Come to find out it was active a week earlier, but was mailed to our Buffalo address even though we had changed it with them! Grrr.)

In the meantime, it was fun to have Trav around. 

That first week I think everyone must have been either really tired, or really neglected...

Without internet, Trav's I-phone was a hot commodity. If it got really quiet and we couldn't find Collin, all we had to do was go looking in some closets....

(I-phone in hand)

I thought I threw out a bunch before we moved, but then I found myself going through everything again and throwing out new batches of stuff. For example, why had I held on to so many CD cases for so long? They had to go. Just thought I'd take a picture of all my country loves. Oh Jorge!

Apparently Farmington has more parks per capita than any other city in the country... something like 56 parks. 

So, as you can imagine, we spent some time at the park!

And some time in the backyard.

My BIGGEST need in our next house was a fenced in backyard! It has been all sorts of wonderful. I can just shoo those kids outside and they can play without fear of getting loose. 

Collin still asks for Gavin all the time, but he was been really open to making new friends. 

He has a great time with Lilly. (Not technically a "new" friend, but kinda new to him.)

There is a Children's Museum downtown that is free that the boys like. It's on the smaller side of {quaint}, but it's something to do.

 Everyone sings Durango, Colorado's praises, so we headed there one day for an outing. It's about an hour north. They had an awesome aquatics center. It was cheap and very kid oriented and the boys had a ball. 

Trav also had a ball on their diving boards. Apparently in Arizona you can't do any sort of fun dives/flips unless you're on a diving team. Well this place didn't seem to have any rules... or at least any enforcers. He put on quite the show!

 Weston was being so funny. He'd stretch out on his stomach with hands on the ground and just float with the water line hitting just under his nose. Like an alligator. He'd stay like that forever. 

 There was a fun, big, twisty slide that I had to bribe Collin with a sucker to go on. But once he tried it, he was hooked. We had to have taken him down it at least 20 times. 

It was such a fun day as a family! And to top it off we found some yummy Mexican food at a place called Zia Taqueria. Collin was introduced to horchata and now he's an addict. He always asks for "milk with cinnamon and sugar". 

I have to say, we loved Durango! It's a really pretty, well kept town. Can't wait to go back!

June 14, 2012.

 The day the grind started!

I posted this pic on FB and I thought his mom's comment was funny.

"Yay! He is finally gainfully employed! It's good to get another bum off the streets. I'm happy this day finally came for you!"

So. are. we. :)