The Second Move-Wisconsin to Wyoming {with some Colorado in between}

So much, and at the same time, so little has happened since June. We embraced all of the troubles and excitements of moving to a new state. I think I shall begin there as even though it all occurred just months ago, I am again wondering how I ended up in yet another "W" state.

Rewind back to Verona, Wisconsin: Adam and I were walking to Culver's one night. {I always justify these trips by convincing myself the walk canceled out the calories from the $1 treat we would consume. Magically, I still put on about 5 pounds while living in the dairy and beer capital of the U.S.A.} We got to discussing how great it would be to spend the summer in Colorado. It then dawned on us that there was really no reason to stay in Wisconsin as the move to Wyoming was eminent. 

So, in the next week both of our amazing, gracious, loving sets of parents journeyed from Colorado to, again, help us relocate. Our dearest Peter and Brit drove over from Milwaukee to help us load the truck. On June 21, 2014 we said goodbye to 530 Enterprise, our wonderful neighbors, and the state of Wisconsin. 

My car---Adam's car---my Mom's SUV---my mother-in-law's van---and our U-Haul truck then proceeded to drive though Wisconsin, Minnesota, South Dakota, and finally into Wyoming. We put all of our belongings in storage and met our new realtor, Judy, who I am still convinced was a gift directly from heaven. Under her expertise and organization we saw about 20 houses over the next two days. We made an offer. God didn't want us in that house. Made another offer and headed to Colorado for the rest of the summer. God didn't want us in that house either. {And come to find out, PRAISE JESUS} Fast forward to August: At this point Adam was close to starting work. Our angel Judy let us live in one of her rental houses for a reduced rate AND overlooked the fact that we own two large white dogs who are usually not welcome in her rentals. We made yet another offer. We found where God wanted us this time around. Six weeks later we moved into our perfect, cozy new Wyoming house. 

Year in Review...Plus Some

I was approached to coach high school varsity volleyball a little over a year ago at this time, at which point my blogs became few and far in between. Adam, Mickey, and I enjoyed many, many adventures and I am going to attempt a short recap. Let's call it my "Year in Review...Plus Some."

January 2013: January in Wisconsin is rough, especially when one goes to sunny Colorado the month before. This marked our 5 month-anniversary in Verona. I spent most of my weekends unpacking and homemaking. I painted the downstairs bathroom a horrendous color. I am embarrassed to post it. Use your imagination, envisioning a shade along the lines of "Easter Basket Green."

February 2013: February in Wisconsin is just as rough as January. Maybe more so as teachers in OSD do not get any days off. Adam and I celebrated Valentine's Day (a few days late due to a rehearsal) at Tutto Pasta Trattoria where I ate heart-shaped lobster ravioli. Sadly, I did not take any pictures. (One of my New Years resolutions was to take more pictures...)


March 2013: March was fun! My parents came for a visit. We toured New Glarus Brewing Company and downtown New Glarus where my Mom bought us matching Vera Bradley purses. We visited the National Mustard Museum which turned out to be at most, interesting. After the Mustard Museum we walked down the street to Hubbard Diner which made-up for the Museum decision. The pie alone haunts my dreams. My father, the bakery connoisseur, was in his own baked-goods version of heaven.

March also marked my husband's 28th birthday. I put together 28 surprises for Adam's birthday, ranging from his favorite candy, a gift card to his favorite restaurant, to brewery tour tickets. The gifts consisted of mostly trinkets and homemade items. I was pretty proud of my creativity on a budget.

April 2013: April begins concert season for UW. I went to many, many concerts in April and May. I am constantly amazed by his talent.

May 2013: May is gorgeous in Wisconsin! The colors are vibrant and the air is finally warm. I love it! I said goodbye to Adam when he headed to France for 2 weeks. Two of my best friends came out for a weekend visit. May was wonderful.

June 2013: Adam and I went on a "mini-vacation" to Grand Rapids, Michigan. We loved catching up with family and making memories. I would love visit Michigan on a yearly basis. June was full of quality time, naps, and small adventures.

Our 2nd Anniversary
July 22, 2013

July 2013: At this point in the summer, volleyball was in full swing. Adam and I went to Wisconsin's Great Dane restaurant for our two year anniversary. Adam's burger had 3 different kinds of meat. Again, I wish I had pictures as there are no words. Adam bought me diamond earrings and he received a tablet from me. We also experienced the Wisconsin Dells for the first time.

August 2013: August was pretty much all volleyball. Adam was very patient as I was a mess of stress. I flew Colorado's legendary Angela Knopf out to run my high school camp. I ran my first tryouts and coached my first varsity match. We have officially been living in Verona, Wisconsin for one year at this point.

September 2013: Adam and I both went back to school. He came home day after day with a huge smile, reinforcing we are where God wants us. School and volleyball took over my life. September was a whirlwind of lesson planning, practice planning, game preparation, and grading. Looking back, I had absolutely no idea what I signed up for when I said yes to varsity coaching. Would I do it over again? Yes. But so much would change.

Sammy

October 2013: My parents came out for another visit. Adam, my Mom, and my Dad drove out to Oregon for our volleyball homecoming parade, watching as goofy high schoolers from every program (athletics to music) wave and hurl candy off their floats. I just love my supportive family.

November 2013: The Oregon volleyball team earned a regional championship. We fostered our first puppy and named him Sammy. We celebrated Thanksgiving with great friends Peter, Brittany, and Adam's sister, Tiffany. I made my first Thanksgiving dinner, 20 lb. free-range turkey included.



December 2013: I played a little too much volleyball this year...and over the last 18 years. I underwent a Micro Fracture surgery at the UW hospital. I saw the worried and the "I have no control over this situation and I don't like it" side to my husband. I love him even more after the whole ordeal. He took wonderful care of me, driving me around for six weeks (including all 30 of the hours to Colorado and back) until I was cleared to drive myself.

A few days after surgery, we headed to Colorado for Christmas. The weather was gorgeous. It snowed on Christmas and was a sunny 60 degrees in the days to follow.

January 2014: BITTER. COLD. Poor Mickey would begin limping around in the snow after just a few minutes, so we bought him snow boots. We bought Adam boots as well because he was in charge of the pup and I was still under house arrest thanks to the fact that knee surgery and ice don't mix.

February 2014: Adam bought me a fantastic camera. I have enjoyed photography since high school and now I feel a little bit more legitimate and caught up with 2014 digital age.

March 2014: Adam enjoyed his spring break. A week later, I enjoyed my spring break. After three years of persistence from Adam, I broke down and said yes to another dog. We began "fostering" Maisy. There will be another post to come about this adventure.

Kailey, Noah, and my gorgeous sister

April 2014: We welcomed our niece, Kailey Joy, into the world. She's incredible. I am so thankful for my parents as they used their credit card miles to fly me down to Louisiana to meet Kailey.

My husband rocked spring concert season, in a classical, choral sort of way. In addition to his collaborative piano recital, he directed the amazing Madison Chamber Choir. Adam's parents and our dear friends the Hollows attended this performance and it was a wonderful weekend also including hikes at the Madison Arboretum.

J. and B. exploring the Arboretum

May 2014: Adam has been faithfully sending out applications to to collegiate music programs since November 2013 and he finally got an interview, and a job offer, at the perfect college. (There will also be an upcoming post dedicated to our Lord's faithfulness in this marvelous instance)

June 2014: I resigned from my teaching and coaching positions at Oregon High School because we are moving to Riverton, Wyoming so that Adam can serve as the new Director of Choral Studies at Central Wyoming College.  Picture me beaming as I type this glorious announcement. Not only it is five hours from Loveland, but it is just outside of Yellowstone, Adam says the music facilities are fantastic, and the list goes on and on. God is SO good.

Gray Skies & Groupon: Dangerous Business

Whatever the reason, I find myself far from motivated these days--school, home and gym included. I pinpointed one problem. In Colorado, the sun comes out at least one time each week. In Loveland, it’s a pretty big deal for snow to stick around for more than a few days. With that being said, I blame my lethargy on the determined-to-never melt dirty Wisconsin snow covered by weeks of gray sky.

I have had copious amounts of time to further ponder this dilemma as I do little to no work these days. I decided to focus on my home-time with Adam as well as our time at the gym. I found a FANTASTIC deal for a couple’s massage. I purchased it, but immediately encountered buyer’s remorse…which faded quickly as I bought two more Groupon deals …and read my friend Courtney’s blog about her coming travel adventures.

Now, what to do with these great deals… I could just enjoy each deal with my husband but that does not solve the problem of the seemingly mythical gym that takes money out of my account each month, not to mention the lack of pants that actually fit my derriere. Reminded by the PBS incentive philosophy (Positive Behavior Support, [basically bribery, which I fully support and we can debate the philosophical evils later]) I realized that I need some enticing in my own life. Adam and I agreed to each drop five pounds before we use the couple’s massage-which is rather brilliant because Groupons have expiration dates thereby putting a time limit on our personal endeavors.

As for my other two impromptu purchases: Both involve copious amounts of time with my husband, away from our tiny town of Verona. I have not decided whether we should continue our weight loss incentive program or if I should give these two pretty great Groupons to Adam for his birthday in March.  I would love to share the contents of each in order to foster informed decisions, but on the slight chance that Adam read my blog post, I don’t want to blow my really great finds.

Rewind: 2012

January

I had a plan in my head, leading me to honestly believe that we would receive multiple offers and a decision about Adam’s doctoral program during the month of January. HA! During the year 2012, I provided our Lord with a tremendous amount of comic relief.  I will admit that during the month of January, I struggled to look past the perceived lack of divine intervention. Jesus knows I love to plan.  

February

I wish I could say that we had a romantic first Valentine’s Day, but I remember spending the evening at 14-year-old volleyball practice and Adam had high school musical rehearsal until 10:00. Honestly, I do not remember much of January, February, or March-other than my desperation to know God’s plan. I do remember Adam spent the better part of February and March trying to convince me that we needed another dog.

March

March was much more exciting. My friend’s husband came home safely from over a year in Afghanistan. With incredible calm and confidence, my teaching partner performed the Heimlich on a seventh grader. Adam turned 27 and we celebrated with couple’s massages and sushi in Denver.

April

April was a big month. Adam decided on Wisconsin. I would love to be the humble, submissive wife, but in this case, submissive is all we are going to get. Adam received offers from Wisconsin and Nebraska. Wisconsin ties the culture of the city, the beauty of the country, and the romance of the Midwest into a thirty-minute drive. Nebraska is eight hours away from Loveland. From my parent’s front porch, Nebraska clearly wins.  But I submitted. Holy Moses did I submit. Jesus rewarded us as Wisconsin is tremendous. Adam is part of a distinguished program, I have a wonderful job, and we own a condo with, as my Dad would say, “a water view.”

Adam, Mickey, and I went on our first road trip. We celebrated my cousin’s marriage and were able to spend time with family we had not seen since our wedding. While we were in Michigan, Noah, the cutest kid on the planet, made his entrance.

May

I actually got to meet my nephew and I feel in love. I remember my astonishment at how tiny he was when I first held him in the airport.

On a sad note, I said goodbye to the greatest group of 7^th and 8^th grade students. I am sure that my feelings were directly related to the fact that I got to teach great material and I finally felt like I had my act together with four years of teaching tools, but I really loved that group and it was tremendously difficult to say goodbye. Never had I felt so loved by a group of kids.

June

I remember packing. I remember applying for jobs. I remember cleaning on a daily basis to keep up with the showings.

July

Adam and I made our second trip to Madison and made an offer on a horrible decision. On a whim, I dropped my resume off at what would be my new high school. I embraced the idea of Madison and we went sightseeing at the Madison Conservatory and the Madison Botanical Gardens.

Adam and I celebrated our first year of marriage by going to On the Border. We both ordered fancy drinks and reminisced about our rehearsal dinner.

My gracious Mom and I drove out to Wisconsin for my interview. I was offered the job that day. I’m pretty sure that I smiled for the rest of July.

August

On August 10, we spent our last night in our first house. Since everything was packed except our furniture, we enjoyed a bottle of wine in plastic cups with carry-out Chinese.

On August 13 we officially sold 707, making us semi-homeless. On August 15 we became genuinely homeless when we pulled our offer on the horrible decision.  The shining point of August is due to our new Wisconsin friends, their baby girl, and their two pups. God bless our Wisconsin friends.

September

Adam and I started our new jobs from a hotel room. We closed on our new, Jesus-saved-our-unwise tails house. Our parents arrived with a yellow Penske truck filled with our belongings which we unload in less than two hours in 75% humidity. That night my parents, my in-laws, my husband, and I enjoyed our first Wisconsin fish fry.

October

Adam and I carved pumpkins in our new house. We had our pictures taken by another one of our new Wisconsin friends. Adam still wanted another dog.

Fall photos taken in downtown Madison

November

Our dating anniversary (19^th) and my birthday (20^th) fell on the Monday and Tuesday before Thanksgiving break and Adam nailed it this year. We went to a restaurant down the street from the house (perfect as I was exhausted from the high schoolers) where the waitress brought the both of us free birthday shots tasting very much like grownup caramel ice cream. My birthday present consisted of a 150 year old book that Adam tracked down about President Lincoln, my most recent historical interest. We then rented Disney’s “Brave” which we watched from our bed because let’s face it, the ice cream shot just about did me in.

Adam really wanted "official" Wisconsin Cheese Curds

December

Adam, Mickey, and I drove to Colorado for Christmas with our families. It was white, wonderful, but rushed. We were able to witness our nephew’s first moves as a crawler. On the 30^th, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Wisconsin. We celebrated New Year’s Eve by going to sleep at nine. We celebrated New Year’s Day with laundry, which is still better than 2011…sick and in bed at 8:00. 2013-We might make it to midnight.

My Dad and his Grandson

Adam and his Dad