Remembering why we wanted to move to Colorado..

I have been so stressed out lately with our financial problems because of the higher cost of living out here, missing my family and Kevin's work situation (he was supposed to be working from home, that is why we moved to the mountains, but now he has to work full time outside of the house - at a place that is an hour commute each way, a situation we never anticipated when moving here. Our #1 reason for moving here was so that he would be home MORE not less.) Anyway, with all these problems, I was beginning to wonder why we ever left Texas. While none of those problems have been solved, I am starting to remember why we were excited about moving here.

This weekend we went and got all of Katie's snowboarding gear. They have a special for kids at Sports Authority where you can rent the board, boots and bindings for $80 for the whole season! Snowboarding is supposed to be safer than skiing so that is what she is going to start with. Plus Kevin prefers snowboarding so I think it will be good if they are doing the same thing. Several of the ski resorts have already opened up so we are going to go up this coming weekend and take Katie to the slopes for her 1st time ever! We got home last night and she got all her gear on and looks so freakin cute! I started thinking how awesome it will be that she can go skiing or snowboarding anytime she wants at places that people spend thousands of dollars on taking vacations to go to. Although I think we'll be going to the less "touristy" places since they are cheaper and less crowded (according to all the locals). I'm bummed that I can't hit the slopes with her and Kevin this year, I'm pretty sure that's one of those things you absolutely aren't supposed to do when you are pregnant. :) But it will be so much fun watching her. She is so super athletic, I'm sure she'll pick it up quickly and be beating Kevin down the hill in no time. He is also super excited to go snowboarding again. We are going up to A-Basin this weekend and then plan on getting a season pass to Echo Mountain when it opens up in 2 weeks. It is super close to our house and offers really good lesson packages. Katie is going to take a 6 week course (that meets once a week) starting next month.

With all this talk of snowboarding and skiing, you'd think it was cold and snowy here right? Nope, the weather here has just been gorgeous, as usual. It's around 70 degrees and sunny and breezy. I kid you not, aside from the 2 times that it snowed and got cold for a couple days (the snow melted after 2 days both times), every day that we have been here has literally been a "perfect" day. The kind of day where you have every window and door in the house open - that is how it has been here for 5 months straight. I have NEVER seen such consistently beautiful weather. I also love that it's getting cold at night now and how cozy it is to sit by the fire. Not only is the weather is so incredible, the scenery is incredibly gorgeous everywhere you look, the snow capped mountains and evergreen & aspen trees are literally breathtaking, not to mention all the awesome wildlife - we have elk grazing out in our yard as I type this. Another neat thing is that you get the snow but then it immediately warms up and the sun comes out. I'm one of those people that HAS to have sun, I get depressed very quickly after too many cloudy days in a row. The weather really affects my mood, so I am just enjoying this awesome weather so much. I think this is hands down, one of the most beautiful places in the country...and we get to live here! I do see why it is more expensive to live here than other places - it's a heck of a lot nicer! We just need to find a way to be able to comfortably afford to live here so we can keep enjoying this awesome place. Oh and somehow get Kevin to actually be able to work from home and convice my family to leave hot, sweaty, humid, nasty ol' San Antonio and move out here!

We've had so much fun over the spring, summer and fall being outside, going for picnics, going to parks and going hiking. Now we get to enjoy all the outdoor snow sports this part of the year has to offer and I can't wait! I LOVED going skiing when I was a kid, it was a special once a year type occasion and now my kids get to grow up being able to do it any time they want. I just think this is such a cool place to grow up and just an all together awesome place to live and I really hope we can find a way to continue to live here without all the stress we've experienced thus far. :)