Our last two weeks in Colorado were a blur full of packing, stress and lots of sad good-byes.

We have dearly loved Skyline Estates. There was nothing quite like building our homes together for the first time, being pregnant together and raising our kids in the same space. Most of the kids have gravitated to other friends at school and church but they’ll always be bonded for life. Our neighbors threw a going-away party for us and Joe and Sherry, who moved a week after us. Some of the original families included the Kings, Schultzs, Morgans, Trinders, Ames, Franklins, Grandma Jean, Ron and Joyce, and the Haymonds.

Most of these kids in this picture were born after we moved in on tax day–April 15, 2004. Hadley was born one month later so she was always our benchmark for how long we lived there. Such an amazing group!

Tina and I met in a hiking group for new moms and she was my first dear friend in Colorado. We capped our friendship by hiking iconic Red Rocks while reminiscing our countless hikes, when I dragged her every Saturday to the Red Rocks Fitness Challenge and she dragged me on the Mind Eraser. And she was the first one to make me cry saying our good-byes.

We were thrilled to have one last hurrah for the Morgan’s backyard movie nights and it was a very befitting send-off to feature Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Mostly because we really love candy.

Andy’s blurry photobomb

One of our favorite summer traditions is helping with our stake’s community-wide service project. We were busy packing our garage but that didn’t stop us from going to the BBQ that night. Because we’re moochers like that.

Hadley was thrilled to go to the LDS Denver Temple for one last time with her besties. Truly, an amazingly supportive, GOOD, drama-free group of girls.

When Bode and I pulled up to our beloved home one night, we found Fat Kitty sitting in his window–something he has never done. It’s like he was saying his own farewells.

Funny how he almost looks fatter by moonlight.

Bode enjoyed playing Pokemon our final couple of weeks of summer. I didn’t complain–it was a fabulous way to explore our favorite haunts in Arvada. One evening took us to the top of what was once our neighborhood water tower. Though it’s no longer there, I have so many fond memories of climbing atop the hill when the kids were little and playing hide ‘n go seek as we marveled at the view.

It’s one of the many things we’ll never forget about our wonderful life in Arvada.

Last summer, my friend Lisa was living a content existence in a cozy house with her beautiful family when her husband came home  and announced they should move into a ramshackle house (with an equally rundown pool) a few miles away. He saw the potential; she didn’t but our ward was awesome with helping them fix it up. I spent an afternoon doing a crappy paint job in her closet and as we helped them move I thought “I’m so glad we’re not going anywhere for a very long time.”

Fast-forward one year later and they threw us a going-away pool party in their backyard. Who would have thought?

I truly love each one of these families–the Larsons, Laras, Carrolls, Maugers and Haymonds. Their kids have grown up with mine, I thought they’d be in Young Men/Young Women together and eventually marry each other. It’s tough to pull myself away from this tight, comfortable cocoon where we feel understood, accepted and loved.

Cincinnati Chili Send-off

Eva, Lisa, Alexis and Jenn

Women folk

I’m not sure how our battle with “The Cheese Touch” started with the Carrolls but it has been going on for years. If you’re not familiar with the Diary of a Wimpy Kid’s dreaded cheese, go here for the background. We’ve been sneaking the cheese to the Carrolls (and vice versa) for years, the most creative being the time Eva covertly inserted it into Rice Krispie treats she gifted us, the worst when I dropped the cheese in their mailbox with our Christmas card and they totally busted me when they happened to be looking out their window.

So, it was only appropriate that for their going away present they gifted us with the cheese touch, framed and signed for us to have forever and ever.

I’m still debating if that is actually a good thing but we’ll take it.

We survived Phase I of this crazy move of ours. Barely! When the kids and I arrived home from Canada, we had two weeks to pack up the house. This doesn’t sound like much time but I had been slowly chipping away at it for months, starting with a month-long purge in January. The real stress began about five days prior when we were finally able to pack up all those last-minute items like the kitchen and clothing/bedrooms.  I helped my friend Lisa move and paint her closet last year and she returned the favor by helping me pack up the kitchen. The irony? I remember thinking when I helped her that I was so glad I was never going to move.

Jamie’s sister Lisa helped with the other half of the kitchen. Julie, a sweet lady from our ward, runs a storage unit and loaded us up with packing supplies. Eva was a godsend and arrived with her kids several hours before we were to load everything in the POD and helped us shrink-wrap all the furniture and bubble-wrap our artwork. Around 6 p.m. our slew of helpers arrived: Uncle Chris, the Larsons, Haymonds, Phillips, Huntleys, Schmidts, Agnews, Uncle Chris, Jenzchs and I’m sure I’m forgetting others. Bode’s bestie Nicky’s mom Julie brought over a going-away cake, we ordered 10 pizzas and the loading frenzy began!

The challenge with this move is our house won’t be finished until late-September and we’ll be in a rental in Park City until then. So, we had to divide our belongings up into two categories: staying and going. We thought since we had sold most of our furniture on our main level (two sets of couches and two dining room sets), we would be able to fit everything into two PODS.

How wrong we were.

Two hours later, we still had a load of C-R-A-P sitting in our garage and in our family room. There was no way to get it all in so we had to drop another $1,500 to rent another POD, which wouldn’t arrive until sometime the next day. Eva thankfully took the kids for a sleepover and it seemed like a Herculean task to load up the remainder of our items; I felt certain we would need to push our move back another day. All we wanted was to lie in our fluffy bed and watch the Olympics and all we got was our bedroom floor. We had all the windows open downstairs as we ran our attic fan and I observed to Jamie, “we should probably lock up the house,” to which he responded “or what? Someone will come in and steal everything? Let them!”

Yup.

Our bed for the night

The next morning, I left to help with the media day open house at the Fort Collins Temple. Much more on that later but that few hours brought the peace and clarity I needed. I arrived home at noon and the third POD arrived shortly thereafter. Jamie’s sister returned to help us organize everything so it didn’t seem so overwhelming and Eva’s family, Darrin and Ariel (Lisa’s husband) came later that afternoon to help us load the third POD. Truly, we couldn’t have done it without them. I grabbed Panera Bread for dinner and it was depressing as we sat on our floor soaking in our final moments together. They have been among our closest friends in Colorado and they saw us through to the bittersweet end.

With everything loaded, we survived the flood of boxes that still remained. Remember my obsession with collecting them from our neighborhood? I literally had over 100 boxes left over and that was after giving many, many away. It was lightly raining as we loaded them and our carpet scraps in our trailer. Julie had given us permission to load them into the dumpster at her storage facility and we had a good chuckle when she emerged in her robe to find the kids jumping on them in the dumpster while it rained. Talk about a final Colorado adventure!

We spent our final night in our wonderful home. I probably would have been more emotional had I not been tapped out physically but we still had several hours of loading our cars and trailer, as well as cleaning the house ahead of us. Thanks to another friend Lisa and her daughter Alex (Hadley’s bestie), we were able to finish everything before noon.

My heart went out to Hadley as sweet Alex presented her with a going-away present. They’ve literally been friends since birth and Alex knows our house (and pantry) as well as her own. The good news is Alex has three siblings at nearby BYU so she’ll be coming to Utah a lot. In fact, her brother Mitch is getting married this week so Alex is spending the night with us in Park City.

As I walked through the empty house for the final time, that is when the outpouring of emotion came. This is where we became a family. This is where I became a mother. This is where we brought our children home from the hospital. This is where they spent their entire childhood. This is where, when I walked in the door as a young newlywed, I marveled at the wonder of it all and thought, “I will never be unhappy here.” And, despite all the storms that have been thrown our way during the 12 years we lived there, joy has always prevailed.

Family Room

As we closed the doors for the final time, we huddled in prayer in the garage. I was a sobbing mess and Jamie gave a beautiful prayer of gratitude for the beautiful life we lived there. Before we pulled out, I posted the following on Facebook:

5337 Parfet Street was where we became a family and honestly where I thought we’d live until we died. Thank you to all the wonders who worked around the clock to help us with this disastrous move; you are what we’ll miss the most about glorious Colorado. Now, excuse me while I cry the entire drive to Utah.

I did cry most of the way but when we stopped for lunch in Wyoming, I read the wonderful comments so many dear friends had left me. One, in particular, came at the exact moment I needed comfort. When Jamie and I were newly married, I taught the Old Testament in early-morning seminary to 16-year-olds. One of my students, Sariah, was super attentive and mature beyond her years and shared something I had said 13 years ago that she’d never forgotten.

 I remember you telling our class about this house in seminary before you bought it. You wanted the other model house with the loft, but you both prayed about it and knew you should take this one. I remember you saying you were trying to pretend the other was the answer: “But Jesus wants the loft!!” I remember you sharing your testimony about choosing what God wants instead of just what you want. I’ll always think of that when I think of you and houses. Much luck and love in your new one!!

Here’s to hoping….

This entire summer has been a whirlwind and I haven’t told even a small portion of the story yet. But one of the reasons for all the delays has been that I was asked to help with the social media promotions for the new LDS (Mormon) temple that will be opening its doors very soon. As many of you know, temples are super sacred places for us and a new temple is opening in Fort Collins, which means for a limited time, the public is invited to tour the temple.

Fort Collins Temple

Below is the press release I posted at Mile High Mamas today:

Salt Lake City temple

Have you ever been intrigued to see inside an LDS (Mormon) temple?  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is preparing to open the doors of the new Fort Collins Colorado Temple to the public for an open house. The temple, which is the second Mormon temple in the Centennial State, is located at 2180 Majestic Drive, on the corner of Trilby Road and Timberline Road.

The general public is invited to tour the temple from Friday, August 19, through Saturday, September 10, 2016, except Sundays (August 21 and 28 and September 4). To make a free reservation for the open house, visit www.templeopenhouse.lds.org or call 1-855-537-2000. Tours will consist of a 10-minute video followed by a 40-minute walking tour through the temple.

Dedication and Cultural Celebration

Following the public open house, the temple will be formally dedicated on October 16. It will then be closed to the public. The dedication will be preceded by a cultural celebration featuring music and dance by local youth of the Church, to be held on the evening of Saturday, October 15, at the Hughes Stadium on the campus of Colorado State University. (It breaks my heart we won’t be here for this because Hadley would have LOVED to participate).

Background Information

Latter-day Saint temples differ from the chapels or meetinghouses where members meet for Sunday worship services. Temples are considered “houses of the Lord” where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other ceremonies that unite families for eternity.

Will everyone need to have a ticket to participate in the Temple open house?

It is highly encouraged that everyone reserve a ticket on-line before they come. This will help the tours to go more smoothly and be a better experience for their guests. However, no one will be turned away. The tour is wheelchair accessible and all ages are welcome.

What will the tours be like?

The tour will start in the Trilby building with a short video and then guests will be escorted across the street to the temple where they will be taken on a guided tour. Time will not permit asking questions while in the temple. At the end of the tour, guests will end in an air conditioned hospitality tent where there will be displays and additional information about temples and visitors  can ask questions and take photos in front of a backdrop of the temple. There will also be a display of materials used in the building of the temple.

How long will the tour take?

The entire experience will be approximately 1 hour.

More information about the purpose of temples is available on www.mormonnewsroom.org.

Welp, we’re in full-blown GO mode here. I have a few blog posts I’ve scheduled over the next few weeks but I won’t have a stitch of time for real-time updates until our move is final. Here are a few things coming down the pipe:

• The kids and I are back from a great 2.5 weeks in Canada. Many, many updates to come at a later time. Or not. Maybe the rest of my life will be crazy.
• Not so fun: 50 hours as the lone driver. Normally I leave B.C., overnight in Boise (about 12 hours) and then stay in Salt Lake City with my in-laws (4 hours away) for several days before returning to Denver (9 hours). Because of our move, I had to drive back from B.C., overnight in Bozeman and drive straight through to Denver. That was 24 hours of driving in two days. I wouldn’t recommend it. At all.
• Normally I have several days to recover and don’t travel again for a few months. But we’re moving in less than 2 weeks so that is not an option. I have a sore throat and am wiped out. Not surprisingly.
• Our house in Midway won’t be finished until late-September so we have to rent a couple of PODS to avoid loading everything in a moving van, unloading it into storage, reloading it again on our actual move date and unloading it. PODs are more expensive but are much more convenient.
• We’re downsizing on our main level so are selling a lot of furniture: two sets of couches and both of our dining room sets. Dear Craiglist purchasers: please buy pronto!
• Fat Kitty will inevitably be traumatized because he hates the car. We bought him a huge crate and this week, Jamie brought it upstairs, put his blanket in it and Fat Kitty loves napping there. Jamie has been christened The Cat Whisperer.
• Our awesome friends threw a going-away party at their pool for us this week and our neighbors are throwing us a bash next week. My heart physically hurts at the thought of leaving these people.
• Our POD arrives Aug 13, we’ll do our big moving party on the evening of August 15, I am helping with the Fort Collins Temple Media Day on the 16th and then we official leave Colorado on the 17th.
• We’ll stay with my in-laws for a few days in Salt Lake City while driving to Midway to finish up the last of the kids’ school registration, pick up their laptops, etc. Pretty cool that every child gets their own computer for the year!
• The bad:  Hadley’s school starts at 7:40 a.m.; Bode’s doesn’t start until 9 a.m. and there is an hour difference at the end of the school day. This won’t be a big deal once we’re in our house and they can ride the bus but we’re staying a half-hour away so I’ll spend 3+ hours of my day chauffeuring them back and forth, not to mention after-school/church activities in town.
• The good: In an ideal world, we would have been in our house by the time school started, which is what our builder originally projected. But everything has been delayed: the sale of our house, the permits for our new one so we are essentially homeless for 1.5 months. Of course, staying with my in-laws is an option but that is an hour drive. Enter: my Snowmama friend Kristen who is renting us her luxury 3-story townhome in Park City for a fraction of her nightly rate. It will still take about 30 minutes to drive to Hadley’s middle school but the timing of it all worked out perfectly and is an answer to prayers.

One week ago today, we went other contract.

For the third time for anyone who is counting.

The whole thing was surrounded by some pretty miraculous events that I’ll share later. We had the inspector come to the house yesterday where we met the buyer (super nice man with three little kids) so fingers are crossed this will be a go. Next up is the Appraisal, which could take a few weeks to schedule.

The kids and I are Canada-bound for 2.5 weeks on Thursday and when we get back, the packing frenzy begins. We’ll close and move less than one week before school starts in Utah, which isn’t ideal but it is the timeline we’ve been given.

And at this point, we’ll take it.

On the market again, just can’t wait to get on the market again.

*To be sung to the tune of Willie Nelson’s On the Road Again.

Remember that Father’s Day to remember? Welp, the week that followed was one I’d prefer to forget because for the second time, our buyers fell through. Jamie greeted me with the news on Friday when I arrived home from boot camp. He had a pained look on his face that I know all too well, except usually it’s directed at me for doing something wrong. So, I was honestly a bit relieved to find out it wasn’t me, but our buyers. And then dread set in. We had a house in disarray with packing boxes everywhere and we had to deep clean and go back on the market.

We felt really good the second time around. The buyers were moving here from North Carolina, had gone through a lot of pains to fly out for two separate house-shopping trips, gotten certified for their new position in Denver and their financing looked great. It should have been a done deal until they heard back from their employer there was a conflict of interest with their previous employment so rescinded the offer that had been extended two months ago.

That left two families in a lurch.

Our realtor Stan said he has never seen a contract fall through two times for the same reason. Call us the lucky ones. Now that we’re a couple of months into the process, the Denver housing market has calmed waaaaaay waaaaaay down, there are four other houses in our neighborhood for sale (though we’re the cheapest by a long shot) and we’re not in full-on panic mode but deadlines are approaching. The kids start school mid-August so we need to be in Utah. The even worse deadline: our other house will be finished mid-September and if we don’t have the money for the down payment from this house….well, we’re up a very serious, deep creek. There is no backing out at this point…we’ve put a large deposit on our new property. To pull out now would cost tens of thousands of dollars.

The message we keep getting over and over again? Trust in God’s timing, which is really really hard to do when He’s the one who told us to uproot a life we love and move. We’re literally right before the 11th hour where we’re going to be in very serious trouble so all we can do it have faith and wait.

A friend at church was joking with me that watching our painful house-selling process is like watching a Shakespearean play–let’s hope we have less tragedy and more comedy in our very near future.

In today’s edition of How Not to Sell Your House, I have a doozy.

Last week, we had hope! And then despair! And then more despair!

Remember  my “inspired” answer to prayers:“Madam, this is only a prelude to what you have to suffer.” Welp, it turns out that was pretty prophetic and things have definitely gone south. If you will recall, I really like the NORTH–The farther and whiter the better.

(At least our flowers look pretty)

On Tuesday, our realtor called to tell us we had not one but two people who were going to make an offer on the house, which is more than we ever could have dreamed at this point. And then not one, not two, but ZERO ended up making that offer.

On Wednesday, Jamie noticed our For Sale sign was stolen in broad daylight from our front lawn. Countless realtor friends have told me in all their years in real estate, they have never seen that happen. Welcome to our world. Our realtor has been on vacation and lives in Colorado Springs so Jamie had to spend almost five hours stuck in traffic to get another sign.

And then Friday was Denver’s first heat wave of the year with 95+degree temperatures. I came home from a wonderful and much-needed cooler day in the mountains where I went hiking with my friend Lisa before we picked our daughters up at Outdoor Lab.

Jamie greeted me at the door.

“Don’t swear.”

“Why would I swear?”

“Because of what I’m going to tell you. Our air-conditioning unit went out today.”

You mean that air conditioning unit that has worked perfectly fine the entire time we have lived here and chooses now to break down?

I didn’t swear. At least not out loud. That counts for something, right?

A $1,000+ fix later, we’re back in business.

Last week was a non-stop roller-coaster and my body literally felt like it was shutting down from exhaustion. But we’re coming up for air, mostly because we have no choice. A brief synopsis:

Put our house on the market last Wednesday.

Freaked out for two days over lack of response.

Cleaned and fixed up the house around the clock.

Hired a cleaning crew from Groupon to come deep clean the kitchen and bathrooms the day before our first showing.

Jamie called to confirm. They canceled but promised to come the next day.

No-show for the second day in a row at the very last minute.  Nightmare last-minute clean hack job.

Weather was the worst: snow and rain. People were in hibernation mode and I didn’t blame them.

Had five showings over the weekend, not great in this insane market.

Rehomed Fat Kitty multiple times. That’s a blog post for another day that involved hiding under beds and stairs, security alarms and cops.

Miraculously got one offer.

Cried when reading the letter this sweet family wrote to us.

House went under contract.

Spent hours pouring through and signing documents.

Work? What’s that? So far behind on emails and campaigns.

Jamie commissions one of his staff to fix a longstanding problem on Mile High Mamas. Crashes site; widgets still not functioning properly.

Weekend forecast finally looked nice so opted to do a garage sale (in my insanity).

Garage sale traffic on Friday (usually the busiest) was sub-par; Saturday got rained out. Made only $200; not worth the time and effort.

Saturday morning after setting up the garage sale, found out from realtor the buyer pulled out due to the family’s job situation changing.

The father called the realtor in tears; he wasn’t the only one.

Relisted the house with a driveway and garage full of C-R-A-P.

Spent afternoon and evening cleaning and hauling C-R-A-P to thrift store to get house ready to show again.

Busiest week of the year ahead of us with assessment testing, two field trips, field day, piano recital, parent-teacher conferences, make-up soccer games, volleyball, on the planning committee for our ward Summer Olympics party on Saturday and more.

First showing: today.

And tomorrow, we die (or at least really want to).