New Years Resolution #1: Move to Colorado. Check.

Where have we been for 5 weeks? Well, if you reeally want to know.. here it is. Or, just skip to the pictures. We have known for years - since we first lived in Colorado 4 years ago - that we preferred to raise our family there. When we moved away we knew we wouldn't be staying long in North Dakota, nor in Illinois but we didn't even hope it would be due to a move back to the Rockies. The second week of December J heard a position may be opening in Colorado. It was confirmed a few days later, and our excited query was answered with an offer, which was duly accepted. It was just in time to cancel our new year-long lease at our apartment with no fees - literally: one day longer and it would have been problematic. I started organizing and packing. We prayed and prayed. I organized and packed some more - I could not believe how much stuff we
1) had
and
2) used on an almost-daily basis. Way. Too. Much

J got the OK from his surgeon to move up to a 10 lb lifting weight limit, so he could start helping me shuffle boxes around our storage and apartment, and help packing some of them too. Then he got returned to full-duty work. And he stopped being able to help for more than a few minutes every day. I prayed some more. J had a couple days off of work before Christmas - he was officially done in Illinois, then he got the exciting news that a new file was his in Colorado! (We were moving locations, same company, same job, but from a more-than-full-time position to a less-than-part-time-with-hope-of-soon-building-it-up position) So he started working again.

So many friends helped watch Korrali, or gave us boxes (since we asked to move, the company couldn't help us out at all financially), or took freezer goods off of our hands.

Then we had Christmas - we have no pictures, just videos so sorry, no pictures here. Korrali loved everything, but of course was too excited the morning of to want more than her stocking candy and to ride around on her new Fire Truck!
We spent Christmas Dinner with Katie and Jason and their fun children - and acted out the nativity.

Korrali was the angel in the nativity story! She liked dressing up, but not being captured for a photo.

Then we returned to packing for a few more days - I was still working, though at half the load, so the going was a little slow.

We wanted to do one last Chicago thing - and so we thought of several things and finally decided the most fun would be to hang out with Tasha and Mike Allred and family. We ate dinner at this place connected to Bass Pro that I can't for my life think of the name for..

And, as any hang-out with them is, it was perfect.We are so so going to miss them, it was so fun to live near to them again after so many years!

More late-night packing. I don't know if Korrali thought she should be helping, or if her allergies were just really getting her down, but she wasn't sleeping very much even after we got her medication figured out. We were one tired bunch of Jalopies.

Dec 30 we got the word our rental truck was rerouted, so we spent an extra couple of hours picking up our truck - and managed to get our one and only shot of the full downtown skyline.
Then we celebrated New Years Eve with Katie and family! We will miss them so, so, so much! It's crazy how much you have to fit in when you move so fast! We needed to pack, but really memories were our biggest priority.

Baby Bell-Lie! Korrali thought she had one too for a while =) Nope, sweetie, just a pudgy toddler belly.

Perhaps this is why she has that pudge... She couldn't resist a snack before our chocolate fountain!

It's hard to tell, but Jason is dropping confetti on the kids. Logan and Ali made the confetti themselves - they are so creative!

Then we went back home and stayed up late to pack some more. Happy New Year!

New Years Day came and a lot of wonderful Elders Quorum folk came by and helped us magically fit our stuff into the truck. Some good friends from the ward came and helped me clean, and earned my eternal gratitude - well, everyone did, but that mattered a lot to me. Then we finished packing, Mom Quillen came and saved our bums because we really had way too much left still to do. Friday rolled around, we checked out, took one last pic with our great friends across the hall..

Korrali and her son played frequently outside together - Korrali would go knock on his glass door if she saw him there and he would demand to go out. We miss them!!!

She gave us a bottle of milk (which totally saved our eardrums on the long drive over multiple toddler sleeping times.) Then we drove off over the plains. After a long and miraculous 14+ hour drive we pulled in safe and sound.. just in time for Korrali to begin 24 hours of throwing up. Wow, did that work out right.

One gas station we stopped at had a McDonalds Playplace next door. It was perfect. Korrali wore a necklace one of her best friends' older sister gave to her a few days prior the entire journey. We love Grandma!

And here we are! Living with J's parent's in their house and loving having grandparents so close by, loving the extra-sunshiny January Denver is having, and adoring the general pet-friendliness of the area. We are jumping in with all 10 of our feet (Teo has 4, in case you're counting) and hoping we get to stay here for good. If not, well, life isn't permanent anyway so why not experience more of this earth?