Colorado

As we crossed the state line to come to Colorado, Annie read a sign that said, "Welcome to Colorful Colorado." I explained what {I thought} that meant--how the mountains were pretty colors, how there were beautiful rainbows, and how there was the gorgeous Colorado river. 

We kept driving, and about an hour later Annie sighed and said, "Mom, Are we still in Colorful Colorado?" 

Once we got to the house, I discovered another reason the state is colorful--bright pink bedrooms!! Whitney's room was just too bright for me--I couldn't be in there longer than 5 minutes before getting a headache. 

Tyler's mom was a champ staying up till 1 or 2 in the morning getting that room painted--we helped, but she was the brains behind the operation! The picture doesn't do it justice, but the room turned out nice--a subtle, soft lavender color. I'll have to post another picture once we get Whitney's room completely finished.

Other than Whitney's bright room, we are having fun discovering our new area, and we really like it so far! Here are 7 highlights:

1) American Girl Doll Store: Whitney used her own money to get her doll's ears pierced. You would have thought I took her to Paris she was so excited.

2) Disney Store: The morning we started potty training Shannon, I took Shannon & Annie over to the Disney store to get some incentive toys. We got there about 3 minutes before it opened, so there was a huge Disney padlock in front of the store. 

The worker brought out a big key (like 3 feet long) to open the lock, and she asked Annie if she wanted to open her store that day. It was so magical--like we were at Disneyland. I was too awestruck to stop and take a picture during the moment. When Annie turned the huge key, Tinkerbell (via projection on the signage) started turning the store lights on. I can't say enough about how precious it was. But I did have the sense to snap a picture as we left.

They gave Annie the small key as a token of the day she was the "guest of honor" opening their store.

3) Our local recreation centers...

...provide hours of fun.

4) Lots of great parks around town!

5) especially when an afternoon storm rolls in to cool things off.

Then

6) you get to enjoy the double rainbow afterward! :)

7) Tyler's sister showed us a great hike the other day. I'll have to post more about it later...

So far we really like it here! Colorado reminds me a lot of 3 states: 

* California--because there's so much sunshine here.

* Utah--because of the mountains and climate. The wide roads remind me of Utah as well.

* Texas--because there's lots of wide open space, a "big sky," and great thunderstorms. Lots of land and growth (like Texas) out here too.

I like to tell myself that Colorado is a great blend of our 3 favorite states. :)