On becomming Coloradian - Year 1

Before we left California, as we were painting and getting our condo ready to sell, we got a call from Nycole and Chris that our grandbaby #6 was on her way. On Howard and my 5th anniversary, May 3, Hailey Nycole Bennecke was born. She was tiny but so beautiful, like a little doll just 4 lbs 9 oz. Big sister Kelsey Ann was so excited to get to hold her new sister when she finally got home. It was a great anniversary gift for us!

Also, just before we left we squeezed in a trip to Pennsylvania for Daniel and Allison Lundstrom's wedding. Sara-Britt graduated with her Masters as a Physician's Assistant for Loma Linda University, and went to Santa Barbara for Jason and Tiffany's wedding. Stephanie Johnson hosted a beautiful shower for Sara-Britt who was getting married to Peter Guinta in Oct. All together 2007 was a huge year for weddings on my side of the family. Jill, me and my cousin Teri each had a child getting married plus Cindy had 2 of her boys get married! Five family weddings for 2007!

After tearful farewells we headed off for Highlands Ranch, Colorado, our new home. We stopped in Las Vegas on our way out to say our goodbyes to the Benneckes. They suggested we stop at Zion National Park. Even though we got there late in the afternoon we took a quick tour. It was just a taste of the beauty we would experience along our drive over the Rockies.

Howard pulled off at just about every pull out as we drove through Utah and over the Rockies. The formations and mountains were like none I had ever seen before. We made a couple of stops for the night so we only drove about 8 hours each day. (That was especially good since the pull offs took up a lot of time.)

When we got to Colorado we stayed in the Embassy Suites for a week or so while we finished closing on our new house. On the Labor Day weekend the moving truck arrived and we moved in. We actually went to Cherry Hills Community Church that weekend and ended up joining the choir. I had thought we might visit a few churches in the area but Howard dragged me over to the sign up place for a "voice placement". AHHHH. So we joined the church and the choir and it was one of the best decisions we could have made. It was the Lord leading us in an amazing way.

Barely had time to settle in when we went back to CA for Sara-Britt's wedding. It was such a wonderful ceremony done by Peter's dad and such a beautiful setting in Temecula. The Centrevol performances, singing, toasts and dancing was fabulous and we were on the last bus back. We didn't want it to end.

We went back to Colorado and now we had all four of our children married. We were truly empty-nesters now. Kind of a moment where we realized we were in a different quarter of our life. We went back a couple of weeks later to go to my cousin Teri's daughter Haley's wedding in Carmel. We took a little mini-vacation and went to Santa Cruz and Cambria after the wedding. It was a beautiful drive along the coast. We're missing the beach.

On Thanksgiving I invited us over to some new friends house for Turkey dinner. Karen and Mark Woodworth are our new best friends here. They took us in as a special newcomers project and it has been fun to have two fun people as a resource for us here in Colorado. They took us up to Mr. Princeton to visit the hot springs. AMAZING place. Mark just recently retired after 35 years as an educator and administrator. He is an amazing golfer and Howard and I won 2nd place in a scramble golf tournament ONLY because Mark (and another good golfer) were in our foursome. Karen teaches middle school math and they live just across the freeway from us. We invite ourselves over to their house often because they have a pool and we love them. We miss having a pool. They are another special God given gift to us as we have transitioned.

Just after a lonely Christmas in 2007, Nycole, Hailey and Kelsey Ann came for a visit. Kelsey Ann and I built a snowman in the backyard with a carrot nose.

In January my sisters Jill and Cindy and my cousin Teri came to help me host a shower for my neice Natalie who was expecting a baby in Feb. The baby, Jack Wyatt Lundstrom was born a couple of weeks early and is an amazingly cute baby boy. They live not too far away from us in Lone Tree, CO.

In February, Jake and Mandie, Katlyn, Hope, Buddy, Carlee and Bryan and Bryson came for a visit. They had rented a huge cabin in Breckenridge and invited June and Wally and Darrol and Steph, Jenny, Missy and Danny and Shannon & Grey to join them. It was going to be a huge family vacation with the great grandparents, parents and cousins. June and Wally got sick just before the trip and couldn't go. It didn't quite go as planned. Jake and Carlee's cousin Danny lives in Castle Rock, CO and they were having a First Birthday celebration for Danny's little girl, Grey. So we celebrated the birthday party in Castle Rock and then headed up to Breckenridge. Meanwhile Stephanie slipped on ice and broke her leg very bad and had to go home. Katlyn and Howard got really sick (high altitude) it snowed like crazy the whole time and we were pretty house bound. We did go ice skating and it SOOOOOOO fun to have the grandbabies close for hugs and playing games, like Rock Star and all sorts of air hockey and pin ball with them while we were snowed in.

March, April, and May were pretty quiet. In June I went with Howard to Cape Canaveral for one of his launches. I saw the shuttle launch and finally his rocket got off the ground. I was there for 16 days without a phone, computer or a car. I got to work on some projects during that time and it was a time of good solitude. I was glad I had that time because on June 18th I got a call from Jill that Jay Jaeger, my brother-in-law of 29 years had died. Cindy and her three boys were in total shock. I got a plane out to Santa Barbara and spent the next few days helping Cindy through an extremely difficult time. It continues to be difficult on many levels, though Cindy is an amazingly stong person with faith in a God that will continue to take care of her during this storm. Pray for Cindy to have wisdom beyond what is normal to handle what she has to handle and for the precious boys.

In July we went back again and spent a couple of weeks with our parents, grandchildren and and celebrated Bryan's 30th birthday party. I also got to take the bus up to LA to see Centrevol perform. That was an experience! I had to be the oldest person there. Howard's mom had surgery and we spent some time helping her. Also, Howard's dad had his 85th birthday. I got to bring him some birthday cake and balloons! In the Colorado airport I met Nycole and the girls and brought them home. Our flights came in at the same time and they stayed to play with us for a week. Kelsey had just celebrated her 4th birthday and pa pa and mor mor took her shopping. This is one of the cute outfits and one of her twin baby dolls.

Now, here we are in August and heading back to California again for a launch in Vandenburg. I am going to stay with Cin and help her out with some of the voluminous paperwork she has to go through for a few days. Hoping to get to see all the grandchildren too.

All in all it has been a pretty easy transition from California to Colorado. Both of us really felt the Lord leading and it made the most sense for us at this stage of life and for Howard's career to make this move. The hardest part had been moving away from family and from loved ones. Especially with so much happening in this year since we've been gone. We're working on getting them to become Coloradians too!