Colorado--Our First Year.

I will begin this blog by trying to get all of you up to speed on what we have been doing since we moved to Colorado Springs. I will start out by showing you our house. If you had ever had the pleasure of seeing our house in Iowa, you will appreciate what I tell you next. This house is NOTHING like that house. This house is 9 years old compare to 80. It is in suberbia and we only need to walk a few feet to find another one just like ours!!!

The house looks slightly different than when we moved in. We have added new lights, (which I turned on for you) new door knob and we just painted it to that wonderful reddish color. It had been green and just didn't look right. We have done some landscaping (yes, we have lilies from Iowa--more specifically Wilson's garden's). The plants will look better in two more summers. I will NOT be showing you the back yard at this point--let's just say it needs some work. Maybe when we are done I will give you a before and after.

This picture will take care of two things--it will show you some of our view of the mountains from our front yard and let you see Layne on her first day of school.

Now, for those of you who are familiar with our family--I will introduce our dogs, and you will surely see more of them in future posts. Above is our youngest, Pedro, he is a full blooded chihuahua. He was Layne's birthday present two years ago. He is wonderful to have around, loves to cuddle but is a little embarrassing to take on a walk. He weighs in at 5 pounds. Heath refers to him as the Rat.

Next up--Roxy, Sully and Baly (top to bottom). This was sometime this winter in our back yard (I will show you with snow covering the ground). Also, this was the most snow we got this past winter--I will not rub it in. Roxy will be 7 in just a few weeks, Sully is 4 and Baly is 6. And yes, we have four dogs. They definitely make things interesting.

Every Labor Day weekend there is a balloon festival in Colorado Springs and the balloons fly right over our house. This balloon was landing in the park right behind our development. It is really wonderful to just walk out the front door and see all the beautiful balloons with the mountains in the background.

This is the very cool 1988 Jeep Wagoneer Heath purchased before I arrived. It really was cool and I say 'was' because we have sold it. The 10 miles per gallon were not helpful as gas prices climbed. It was a great "Colorado" vehicle.

This past (2007) Thanksgiving we hosted at our house. There were several from our office that weren't going home so we celebrated together. It was a huge challenge for Heath and I, but we pulled it off.

USA Volleyball hosts a very nice staff holiday party. It was a lot of fun to dress up and go out for the evening.

I did end up coaching Layne's team this past season. We were Stellar 12 National. They were a wonderful group of girls and they were amazing to train--the most talented 12 year olds I have coached. We ended up 3rd in the region!!

This picture was from the Crossroads Qualifier in Denver and the guy in the middle is Danny Kinda (just google or youtube him if you don't know already). He is super funny and becoming a volleyball celebrity. The girls had so much fun meeting him.

Layne and a couple of her teammates tried out for the USA Volleyball High Performance team (that would be Heath's department). Layne is still about two years young for the youngest age group, so we weren't expecting much. All three girls made the Development A2 camp that was held at Colorado College in downtown Colorado Springs. It was an overnight camp and lasted 5 days with 3 session each day. Layne was pooped, but she made it!!

Over Father's Day weekend there is a big grass volleyball tournament in Vail. This was our second trip up there and Layne's first to play with a partner in the 12U division. They finished first and got some great prizes. On Sunday is the Father/Daughter or Father/Son tournament. Heath and Layne played last year but did much better this year getting second.

Heath got some good sun in Vail. We were also lucky enough to have Jessica, Zach, Hayes and Camrin in Vail with us. As soon as I find those photos I will get them up.

After Vail we headed to Denver for a few days and went to Elitch Gardens and the big REI Store!! Layne won this gigantic Stewey doll--very cool.

I am going to end my first post there. I feel this is getting quite long. Keep checking back--there will be more any day!!

TORI