BIG NEWS

Yes, this is big.

What is your idea of heaven?

Mine is that MyMike and I live in a cute little house and all the people we love live on the same street in their cute little houses (mansions, whatever you like. . . . I'm just a simple girl!) By that I mean my children, my parents, my siblings, all my wonderful relatives I love, and my dearest friends can be on the next block over with their extended family etc.

Well, my parents just bought the house that is only three doors down from mine! YES!!!

I am still in shock and yet I am so excited at the same time! Can heaven be starting already???

They haven't even been inside it yet. Can you believe it? Trust me, I keep pinching myself. Could you buy a house without walking inside it? I feel a major responsibility - I hope they like it. They assure me that they do, from what they've seen on the internet. Really????This is beyond what I ever would have imagined. We're used to living states away, not steps.

When my parents were here in March, they liked the area we live in. Of course, they like Nashville too where my brother, Rob, lives, but my mom can't do the humidity, which is why they wouldn't live in Maryland either. However, my mom has always liked the weather in Colorado because it reminds her of Canada, but a lot less snow and cold. My dad would take drives while he was here, just to check out the area and the more he drove, the more he liked.

Anyhow, at Easter, this house on our street came on the market. I didn't think my parents would be interested because it was down the street and not up, and the views are better the higher up you go, but I mentioned it was for sale and just left it at that.

I didn't hear much about it until I called my mom on Mother's Day and she said my dad was seriously thinking about the house. Really??? She said it looked good on the internet and they had some questions. So on Monday, my dad calls me twice. Then I called our realtor. Then I called back and I talked to my mom - Are you sure you really want to do this?? Move at your age? Start anew one more time? Leave your good life? Leave a heated driveway on a golf course to live in a more snowy location at a higher altitude with your asthma? Really ??? Not see everyone who passes through Salt Lake? Sell the cabin???? I mean these are big things for my parents, as they would be for anyone. As far as I can tell, my family and the mountains and being closer to my brother in Denver are the only draws - small compared to what they currently have. I would totally understand if they wanted to stay put.

As luck would have it (is there any such thing, really?) I already was planning on meeting my realtor for brunch on Friday just because she was so wonderful and we wanted to keep in touch. So, she made an appointment to walk down and check out the house at that time too. When we walked in, it was nice. Its the same floor plan as my house with some minor changes inside, and big changes outside, but it is Very nice. Had a lot of improvements, beautiful finishes, 5 inch hickory floors with a fabulous finish - LOVE! Gorgeous two level Trex decking out back, but best of all - stunning mountain views from both the main level and the garden-level basement windows. Plus they still back onto the meadow that we love. Its not an evergreen pine forest, but it is nature, and you're not even five minutes from gorgeous pine forest. . . so . . .

they made an offer.

Then on Saturday someone else came through and made a better offer,

I felt like I'd had the wind knocked out of me -

Wait, was this really too good to be true???

and so my dad made another offer,

and called us Sat. night, asking for our prayers,

which every member of my family did, some repeatedly ( at least I know I did!)

and

This morning we got the call - Their offer was accepted. They get the house!!!

So, for a little while we will live in heaven on earth. I know that my parents are getting older, aren't we all? And, there will be hard things in the future, as there always are, but at least we will be close enough to do something to really help. The joy of sharing day to day life and more conversations and memories and dinners will be a blessing to treasure for as long as we can.

I can only hope everyone else I love will move close-by too. I think I have talked all my children into settling in this area forever. BigBuddy wants to live in the forest, and LittleBuddy wants to be his neighbor, but that's only five minutes away, so I'm good with that. MyGirl said she won't mind being in our same ward because she'll have a different name, and Cowgirl said she wants to move here or less than an hour from here after she graduates, so that's the dream.

Maybe I better get pinched one more time. I still can't believe its real!

The closing is the end of July - time for my parents to get their house on the market, and for this other couple to find a house and move. No one thinks they're going to sell their house in two weeks, but when its right, its right. I'm living proof.

In church a new family moved in and mentioned they also felt the need to live closer to their family, so they up and moved from San Diego. It was a big part of our motivation to come as far as we did, and now my parents have bridged the rest of the distance.

Oh, yes, life is good!

Pike's Peak

Last Saturday our family took the Cog Railway up Pike's Peak. You have to reserve this in advance, so the day Cowgirl arrived I asked her if she wanted to go and she did, so I made reservations about ten days out. At that time, the trains weren't going all the way to the top, as there was quite a bit of snow up there, but we made reservations, hoping for the best. Fortunately, you don't have to pay until you get to the train depot, because you don't want to pay all that if you aren't even getting to go all the way, right? At least that's how we looked at, so we kept our eye on the weather all week.

We could see snow on the mountain for the next four days, increasing each day, which had us worried, but then on the Wed. before, we started to see melting occur, and as the weather was in the 70's and 80's the next three days we kept our fingers crossed.

Saturday, ended up being 86 degrees in the Springs, and the train was going all the way to the top, so we excitedly boarded. (I have to sneak photos of MyGirl smiling, but she has lots of cute smiles, and she totally loved this adventure.) LittleBuddy was a bit nervous at the height we were going to, but he ended up sitting by the window, holding onto his big brother most of the way and was just fine.
The views going up the mountain were beautiful.
There were several lakes to see from the top, but this was the only one seen from the train.
Getting above the treeline.
This is the view from the top, looking towards the city. You can barely see the red rocks of Garden of the Gods in the center, below, but they are there. If you look far enough, you're looking at Kansas, and those "fruited plains."
You may or may not know that "America, the Beautiful," composed by Katherine Bates, was written after she visited this place and looked out across the prairie on one side and the Sangre De Cristo Mountains on the other side, and was inspired. I couldn't help but hum this to myself as I looked out in awe and felt inspired too by the "mountain majesties." It was a treat to see them still snow-covered.
Remember, that it was 86 degrees at 6,000 ft. elevation? Well up here at 14,000 ft. it was 22 degrees with the wind chill, according to the train conductor. And, yes, the wind did blow. Behind this rock formation is a building/gift shop/restaurant where we had warm homemade donuts and could get in out of the cold when our noses and fingers were too cold.
At this altitude, especially rising so quickly, it was easy to get a headache or feel dizzy. Most of the kids had a headache to some degree. I, of course, just got dizzy. Fortunately, I carry my anti-dizzy meds with me always, so was able to quickly take one and feel some relief. I also had ibuprofen in my purse so the kids were fine too. We were only allowed to stay up here less than an hour before the engineer pulled the whistle three times which was our signal to board again.

One last photo op before we left. Notice the snow is still five feet high in places around here. And, there were hikers going up or down, buying only one way tickets. I was grateful for the train. It would have taken me days to go 8,000 feet up. No thank you!
Here is our train. It only has two cars, connected together. We were in the one called, "Leadville." We had to carefully make our way through the mud, slush, and snow to get back and forth from the train, but at least the tracks were cleared.
At one point going both up and down we carefully passed a train going the opposite direction. Only when we went down, the switch for the track didn't work, so we had to back up and it was a little tricky. The conductor stood outside the train, watching that we actually went the right way, before we could continue, and I caught a sense of him breathing a sigh of relief, when he climbed aboard again, that it was able to work. Apparently this just happened before we got there. At 10,000 feet, and right next to a steep cliff, you don't want any misses. . . all part of the adventure. We were able to see wild turkeys and mule deer on our ride. Sadly, it was just too early for the mountain goats, who were below the tree line this time of year. Couldn't blame them, though, it was pretty windy and cold up there and I'd be taking cover in the trees too.
And, here is MyMike's newest fashion attire. It reads: "When it absolutely, positively, has to be blown up overnight." We got a kick out of it, since he's part of what makes that happen on Air Force jets. We got it at the Air Force Academy, another fun activity. More about that later.

This was a great adventure for our family. Though the whole experience was less than five hours from when we left our home until when we returned , it was the kind of experience one never forgets. We were grateful we could share it with our family, and hope they will be able to share it with their families someday too.

"America, America, God shed thy grace on thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea."

Country Living

Woke up this morning to snow on the ground
And fog covering the neighborhood. It didn't seem to bother the steers who we see so often its like they live in our backyard, although they don't come past the fence which is a little ways behind our house.
Just two days I ago I took these photos around dinnertime, as the cattle were moving through our part of the neighborhood again. We've had gorgeous 70 and 80 degree weather for days. BigBuddy and MyGirl were out flying kites at the park down the street and we've been working on getting the ground ready for our garden. Glad we didn't plant yet!
Most of the cattle are black except for the one brown one who is always with them. I can't tell you how many times I've looked over at them and said in my head, "How now brown cow?"

I talk to myself a lot. It's just the way I am :-)
They move much quicker than you'd think for animals that are quite large. We've even seen them run more than once. They are almost in continual motion as far as I can tell. They eat a little here, move a few feet, eat a little there, take seven more steps, and within a matter of minutes we don't see them anymore. Then a few hours later they're back.

They live on the Higby Ranch, that has been here for a long time. We like backing on to it, but between us and the ranch is preservation space, with a creek going through it. Apparently, its off limits to builders because of the endangered mice that live in our neighborhood. They are definitely in danger when they come into my home. MyMike's got so many traps up in the storage room I have to watch where I walk, but the good news is, after he caught SIX in the first few days of setting them up, we haven't seen any. Good Riddance!
I much prefer the beautiful tulips and aspen trees that are starting to bloom.
Or the birds that zoom from my neighbor's bird feeders up to the clouds to enjoy the breezes.
I know I live in a suburban neighborhood, with houses lined up in a row, but whatever you call this behind us; the meadow, the field, the preservation space, the ranch, I love it. It brings new meaning to the phrase, "when the cows come home." There's just something about watching nature in action that puts everything into perspective for me and makes me feel at peace. Home Sweet Home.

Olympic Training Center

I've realized that since moving back East and even back West, we don't get a lot of visitors. Most of our family lives on the Western side of the Rocky Mountains, and we've lived on the Eastern side now for over 16 years, so with the exception of Cowgirl who will visit me often, this is your tour of a unique place called the Olympic Training Center.

There are only three such places in the U.S. - Lake Placid, NY, and Chula Vista, CA, are the others. Colorado Springs is the smallest, at only 35 acres, but works with the most athletes. Here we are outside the building in front of the metal world sculpture.

Since this is my tour, you will see homage to my favorite Olympic sport -Ice Hockey.

MyMike's favorite sport- Water Polo. Its usually only televised at 3 am so we have to record those games for later.

Still outside the building here. Notice even the hockey graphic. Next to it is a clock in constant motion counting down to the next Olympics in days, hours, and seconds. I assume the athletes look at that clock differently than I do.
There is a moving movie at the beginning of the tour. What moves me most is the para-Olympic athletes. It reminds me to "never say never" again. What these people do without their limbs and even lower torsos is pretty impressive. It also helps remind you the true thrill of victory, reliving it on the faces of those we remember well like Dan Janssen and Mary Lou Retton - fun memories! I love this saying in one of the buildings. As true for playing the piano as it is for athletics.
This is the walkway through the flags of every country that participates, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. I imagine it would feel way more exciting if I were wearing a TEAM USA cool track suit, but you know, its still neat to be here.
This is looking back towards the main building. Notice the soccer ball and goal to the left. Lots of visuals everywhere and even a wall to remind you of the corporate sponsors who pay for it. We learned that Apolo Anton Ono stayed ten years at this facility, even though his sport is a Winter sport.
That's because of all the sophisticated training equipment they have here. They have low-gravity treadmills to reduce the wear on the athletes who use their legs so much, all kinds of testing equipment to measure stride and step and speed, etc. I have been here twice, however, and never once seen an athlete on any of this equipment. Maybe this is just the "show room."
Here is the Olympic pool. Notice the catwalks on the top. Those are for the coaches to follow on top. They also have tows that they put on the athletes so they can feel how fast they need to be going - makes sense, but I imagine they're a little miserable after the first time they were forced to swim faster than they ever have before. Michael Phelps was here two weeks ago, the first time I visited here. This week the Univ. of Michigan athletes were all here. We saw them in the pool, the weight room, and playing volleyball.
Here is one of the three gyms. The ceilings are high enough for regulation volleyball. They have the capacity to set up a full size boxing ring. This is the main area for the gymnasts. We saw a young man with a Houston Gymnastic Invitational going back and forth. His arms looked solid! The bleachers pull out to house 3,000 spectators when needed, and there are Panasonic TV's all along the walls - you can see three on the far wall, and there were five behind me, so the athletes can instantly rewind and watch their performance and review it. There was a good sized room for the guy who was running all this equipment behind the wall where I stood.
Here is the 2nd largest indoor shooting facility in the country. Again, why is there rarely anyone here? Where are all the athletes, is what I want to know? It is neat to see, however, the computers at the shooting stations, to help the athletes, when they are here, more precisely practice and hone their skills. There were several large safes also, where I assume they keep their guns or ammo.
This is the warmest and smelliest part of the entire tour but finally we see lots of athletes. Oh yeah! Sorry, again college kids here for training camp. Imagine lots of male sweat with the heat turned up in this rather large room. This is where both the Greco-Roman and judo wrestlers practice. Here are pictures on the wall of Rulon Gardner training here and others you would know if you were a major wrestling fan. Even though he was a weight lifter, the weight room is right next door, and they apparently cross train a lot around here too, so they all motivate each other. Got it? Good. Its the spirit of the Olympics, remember, that really infuses the athletes here. By the time they get here, they don't need to be reminded to practice or to develop discipline. They are carefully selected because they are the hope of the future of Team USA, and they do work hard. I guess they do most of it all at night or early morning. I always come to the afternoon tours. Oh, and its hot here to help the wrestlers get down to the weight class they want to compete at, and to keep their muscles loose. We also learned there is a three year waiting list for the doctors to help these athletes - seriously competitive this place is! And, I also realize that they don't want us to see the athletes. They keep us at a distance because they need to concentrate and not get distracted by tourists with cameras.
I've given birth to two of my children while the Olympics were going on, and I sort of thought I deserved a medal for my heroic efforts also. Just kidding. The poster from past Olympics brings back good memories for me, as an Olympic athlete offers hope that we can do things never done before. Its exciting and exhilarating to watch and certainly you feel a unity as the whole nation comes together to cheer on their team, but my world is truly much smaller. I will not ever win an Olympic medal. Its not even my dream. I have other heroic endeavors which are taking me an entire lifetime of practice and I just hope in the end, my whole team is there with me, on the ultimate winning team.

Lately in our home we've talked a lot about being our best selves. Remembering that we are literal children of God, that there is no Satan inside of us, but only God-given Spirit and gifts, is easy to forget when the voices whisper we aren't good enough. Its a hard, daily fight, to overcome that voice, and to listen only to the Spirit that coaches us on to every good thing our divine natures were meant to be. Like an Olympic athlete, we must train our minds and hearts to not give up, to be so disciplined in the things we've been taught, constantly making adjustments and improvements, so we can reach our potential, no matter what that may be. We all have individual and team assignments given to us, and no one else's ideas on what makes a perfect "10" or not really matter, except the Chief Judge, Jesus Christ. It must be hard to be an Olympic athlete especially in a sport with subjective judging. How grateful we are for the perfectly fair and loving Judge we will all stand before someday.
Loving them along the road to glory, coaching them through the days when they're frustrated, and ready to give up, that's my job, and my greatest joy! They have already accomplished so many good, hard things. They are my champions. I will continue to cheer loudest for them!

Gooooooooooooo TEAM!!!

Happy Mother's Day

This is the card I made my mother. I sure hope it gets there tomorrow with her present. I was thinking I live so close to Utah, I don't have to get it out as early as I'm used to, but when I went to the post office on Thursday, they said it may get there Sat. or it may get there Mon. Oops! I'll need to remember Wednesday is my deadline day in the future!

This uses all Close to My Heart products. Many have been around a long time. Only the stamp set is new. I just couldn't resist. My mother is a wonderful seamstress and quilter. . . it was in her honor I bought this, really!

I hope all mothers every where have a wonderful day. I know I will, but it will be sad too because Cowgirl goes home that day. We've had so much fun this week. We've been to the Pro Rodeo Museum, Air Force Academy, Garden of the Gods, hiked to the Monument again, went to the Olympic Training Center, and Costco twice, since we were that direction anyhow, and its right off the freeway. Tomorrow we've got reservations to take the Cog Railway up Pike's Peak. Its exciting. Then we'll be done playing tourist and get fully back to real life living. We've had fun exploring. She's been fixing up her little sister with manicures, make-up, and hand massages. The boys have had playing Wii and spotting animals in the meadow behind us. Tonight before dinner another coyote came into view. They keep the binoculars handy! We've also had some good talks and made some funny memories. Motherhood is the best!

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

To celebrate MyGirl's birthday on Sunday, we went to the zoo on Saturday. The weather was cool, but calm. It wasn't crowded at all and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. This zoo had a lot of interactive areas. Because its a mountain zoo, there were unique features I'd never seen before at a zoo. Everyone liked the many caves. And, the view from the top - Amazing! The Cheyenne Mountain Resort is below it, where the famous Broadmoor Hotel is located.

My favorite zoo animals are the elephants. Probably ever since I fed one a peanut at the LA Zoo many years ago.
First time we'd ever seen a moose at a zoo. It was the first time BigBuddy had ever seen a real one at all, so he was quite excited about that.

Who doesn't love the zebras?
Most exciting for everyone, however, were the giraffes. I counted eighteen here. Never have I seen so many, and they loved to be fed. It was the highlight for MyGirl especially! She loved feeding the baby ones the most.

The adults leaned right over the railing so we got to see them so close-up. It really was fun!

Cowgirl is with us this week. We're having a great time with her here. As always, she was the first to try something new, and helped her little sister realize that feeding them was fun.

They had a ski lift to ride up, which was new for my younger children. The views were great, and it was between several great exhibits. We were thrilled when we saw the two grizzlies on their hind legs playing with each other. I wish I'd gotten a better photo, but I was moving perpendicular to where they were dancing/sparring/playing, sitting on a ski lift, so there was only so much bending I could do to get a good shot.


On the way down, they were further apart. I felt so lucky to see them standing up when we did.
At the top of the lift was a small rock climbing wall. Only BigBuddy could make it all the way around the inside of the building. It wasn't high, so the challenge was to move across.
LittleBuddy was most nervous about the ski lift, so he sat close between his dad and me, while the other three were in front of us. MyGirl loved it!
I forgot to mention that that morning we had seen a coyote out back right after breakfast.

Then, today LittleBuddy and I saw a fox after breakfast. BigBuddy gets up early every morning just to look outside and see what's moving. He had just gone to shower, so he missed it. Then he came back up, spent ten minutes looking out the windows, then went back downstairs, to finish his room. Another fox went running by. This time Cowgirl spotted it first, and BigBuddy missed it again. He couldn't believe it. So, it was good when a half hour later he spotted a coyote pouncing on something not too far away. We've loved watching all these natural creatures out back and living in our "country" setting. . . until this evening.

I was sitting downstairs in the rocking chair reading, when I heard "squeak, squeak." Oh no, I thought. Then I heard the unmistakeable sounds of a mouse. I don't like them. I don't like to look at them, and I certainly don't want to touch them. I yelled for the boys, who came running to see, and I showed them the general direction I heard it from. They found it in a trap behind the TV. I told them to check all the other traps downstairs, and they found another in the food storage area. YUK!

We had an incident with a mouse last week right when I was going to bed. It took an hour to catch that one, because there is no chance I could go to sleep knowing one was upstairs in my house! MyMike is my hero, for sure! That led to the purchases of many more traps the next day, and now we need two more! Help!!! We NEED to find where they're coming in. This is the downside of country living. My neighbor recommended getting a cat, but since MyMike is allergic, that's not going to happen. Oh. My. I just hope I can get some sleep tonight.

Always an Adventure

I hope everyone had a lovely Easter! It was nice of my Uncle Dennis to send an e-mail to all my Hatch family relatives regarding my last post. Keeping in touch with loved ones far away is why I continue to keep up this blog. Love and hugs to you all! I haven't done a good job of posting about all the things we've been up to as a family lately, so here comes one big post.
We're starting to see signs of spring at 7,000 feet above sea level. The first tulips are coming up in our yard and the grass is getting more green. What a treat to move and find beauty that I didn't have to plant. I hope the family who lives in my old home is enjoying the azaleas, hydrangeas, and tulips we left for them.
Yesterday was a day off from school, so the kids and I hiked the Palmer Lake Reservoir Trail, northwest a few miles from where we live. Its about a 1200 feet incline from where we started, and is rated moderately easy. It was not Easy for me, but I could give it a moderate rating. It was pretty much all uphill, but the path wasn't too rocky, and it was wide enough for a truck to drive up. As long as I didn't go too fast, I was fine.
It was certainly beautiful, cutting right between the mountains. We saw a belted kingfisher whiz past when we arrived at the lake. They're only found in mountain lake areas, so that was a treat. It's beautiful blue and white markings help to see it against the green trees. BigBuddy had brought his Colorado bird book with him, so we could easily identify it.
The views were gorgeous. Here you can see our views on the way down. We did see bear scat on the way and kept our eyes open for cougars too, but didn't see any large wildlife. A little snow started falling while we were at the reservoir, so we didn't stay too long, not feeling prepared enough for that kind of weather and on the way home we saw lightning in the Springs. It was a beautiful hike, and one I'd do again.
A week ago Saturday our whole family went about five minutes east to Fox Run Regional Park. Its another beautiful place, with lots of hiking trails. My goals are to get MyGirl ready for Trek and keep Big and Little Buddies from getting bored, and all of us want to experience what Colorado has to offer, so hiking seems to be an inexpensive, but rewarding way to accomplish all the above. It used to be a fox farm that went under, and the owner just let all the foxes go, so we were sure we would see some on our hike there, but we didn't. Instead, we saw one in our neighborhood on the drive home. . . can't complain.
The best part of hiking is the togetherness, of course. This was definitely an Easy trail to walk. BigBuddy came back later that week and rode it with his mountain bike, and said there were harder trails, we just hadn't taken them. Still, it was a peaceful place, and I am feeling grateful we have such beauty so close to home.
We found some interesting tree shapes along the way. The twisting and contorting provided a little variety in the otherwise traditional forest landscape.
This past Saturday I spent most of the time getting ready for our Easter Dinner. I knew Sunday would be a busy day for me, with leading the Primary music, doing my YW Secretary duties, and going early for choir rehearsal, so I made everything on Sat. except the deviled eggs which I made Sunday morning while listening to the Spoken Word on TV.
I kept the baskets to just a few of everyone's favorite treats.
My mom had given me the recipe for a yummy and easy dessert, and it sounded good, so I broke the rule of never serving something new for company, and it turned out great. Its so easy I was pretty sure I couldn't mess it up, and my mom said it was tasty, and she was right. These are the only ingredients - an angel food cake mix, lemon cook and serve pudding mix, cool whip, and sliced almonds.

You bake the cake, let it cool, then tear it up and put it in a 9 x 13 pan. Cook the pudding, and while still warm, pour it all over the cake pieces. Then let that cool for about a half hour, then spread Cool Whip over the top and sprinkle on almond slices. Let it sit in the fridge overnight, or just for a few hours, and it holds up nicely, and was delish, even thought I'm not a big fan of Cool Whip. Next time I'll probably just wait and top it with Whipped Cream right before serving, but it was a good dessert for me to make ahead.
I love all lemon desserts.
I was most thrilled that my roll recipe works at 7,000 feet. I had made a couple of high altitude adjustments a week ago when I tried it, and forgot to do those this time, and they turned out just great anyhow. The recipe made 26 rolls, which were perfect for the eleven of us eating. Our sweet neighbors have brought us dinner or invited us over twice since we moved, so we wanted to host them, and it was fun. However, by Saturday night I was tired. Feeding fifteen on Friday and getting ready for eleven is more than I'm used to, and the mess I made was spectacular. . . .
Just keeping it real! But not to complain at all, I loved seeing dear friends in our home and sharing a meal with them. Now we're getting ready for Cowgirl to come here in only two more days!!! We can't wait! And, she likes to cook, so she'll be a lot of fun to make messes with in my kitchen. :-)