Move to Denver - Dec 2011

Move from Raleigh House

Well, time for the big move to our new house in Denver (Wash Park area).  Since Shawna was knee-deep in the new job, Keith got to babysit the house as the movers packed and loaded the trucks.  We really did not have much to prepare for the move: just do laundry (after the Xmas party and slumber party on Dec 3rd) and empty the fridge by donating everything to John and JoAnna.

In Raleigh, everything worked like clockwork on Monday Dec 5th: Keith dropped Shawna at the airport for Hartford, picked up the rental car, Budd Van Lines showed up at 7:30am, the car movers showed up at 8am, and the specialty packers (for washer/dryer, TV, and pool table) arrived at 10am.  The house quickly went from immaculate to a war zone within an hour as the floors were prepped and boxes brought in.  Thank goodness Shawna was not at home to witness the packing - with paper used instead of Shawna's preferred bubble wrap, it could have been an argument!

It took the movers two days to pack up the whole house - longer than expected considering we don't have any children!  Wednesday was spent packing the truck though it flowed over to a few hours Thursday morning - the rain on Wed slowed the team down.  Keith stayed at the house Monday night but freeloaded off John/Jo on Tues and Wed nights.

With the remaining few days in Raleigh, Keith made the most of it.  On Tuesday night, Keith/John/Jo went to Sullivan's Steakhouse and on Wed night, Keith/Keith A/John/Jo went to Satisfactions to watch the Duke game.  Thursday was a quick breakfast with Jen at Starbucks and lunch with Steph at Pei Wei before heading to the airport for the weekend in Louisiana.

Purple Bedroom - Unhappy Shawna!

On Monday, December 12th, we arrived at the new house in Denver at 6:30am - Shawna had only spent 15 minutes in the house when we bought it, so it was fun for her to see it again.  The new interior paint job was done while we were in Bhutan, so neither of us had seen the finished product.  We had arranged for the paint to generally be the same color scheme as in Raleigh - so imagine our surprise when we saw that our bedroom was painted purple!  And...not some cool color of purple, but instead some bright, princess-purple.  Yuck!  Eventually we realized that we had given the painter the wrong number.  To save money on a re-paint, Keith tried to convince Shawna that the color would grow on her - but Shawna would have none of it!

The movers showed up at 8am ready to go.  It only took 1 day to unload the truck, with Shawna working from home on her cell.  On Monday night, we got the bedroom and office set up, and on Tuesday, the movers came back to unpack - meaning take stuff out of boxes and put everything on a flat surface.  The house looked like a tornado hit it.  At the same time, we had coordinated all the vendors to arrive: Comcast cable/telephone/internet, ADT security alarm, Geek Squad to set up the stereo, and the guy to shut down the sprinkler system.  In addition, the cars showed up - so a LOT was accomplished.

Move into New House in Denver

We spent the rest of the nights that week setting up the house (we still had to work during the day), but by Saturday morning we were generally unpacked.  That meant that we could spend the weekend working on the details - and were 100% complete with the move by Sunday at 10pm.  Hooray!

For pictures of the new house:

Xmas Party - Dec 2011

Twins - Kate and JoAnna

Wow - our last Christmas Party in Raleigh!  We have held a Christmas Party every year for the last 6 years with our friends - it was fantastic to have over Kim/Jonathan, Keith/Kate (plus Phoebe/Ruby), John/JoAnna, Phil/Joyce, Steve/Amy, Brandon (Teresa was away at work), Julie, Steph/Jason and Kim/Tom (plus Kaley/Ryan/Riley).

Kim and Tom drove up from Charlotte with the kids, getting to Durham at about 1pm.  We met them there for a run around the WaDuke before grabbing lunch at Fosters.  It was great to do that a final time before we leave - and we also had to blow some time since we had a couple of house showings that afternoon.

Riley, Phoebe, Ryan

For our Christmas parties, we usually bring out the good china and crystal (when else would we ever use it) and do all the dishes ourselves.  This year we decided to admit defeat at the hands of the pending move so asked everyone to bring side dishes and also used paper plates and plastic-ware (our moms would be embarrassed).  In retrospect, these were both great moves - there was no way we could have done everything that day.  It was also a huge help to have Tom around to help get a few things ready in the house.

Dinner was delicious: Keith roasted a turkey that ended up quite juicy - we did this the "upside down" version with the breast down to keep it moist.  Shawna made the stuffed pork tenderloin like the year before, and we also made a huge pitcher of red sangria.  Kim made a sweet potato dish, John made the scalloped potatoes with mushrooms, Kate brought a salad, Kim/Jonathan brought their technicolor jello salad (served as a side, salad, OR dessert!), Brandon brought chips and a dip, Steve brought shrimp, Steph brought stuffed meat and cheeses, and Joyce brought a fantastic apple crisp with ice cream.

Yummo - Dinner!

We did the normal white elephant gift exchange (both gifts and re-gifts) once Julie arrived from a previous party, and spent the night chatting.  Thankfully only one of the shake weights from last year made a repeat showing.  This year the theme seemed to be clothing items or kitchen ware.

Steve, Amy, Brandon

The Snarrs and Artins stayed the night and it was a bit of a slumber party with the kids.  The next morning, we had coffee and bagels together before everyone headed off to go home.

It was a great way to spend our last evening with such amazing friends.  We will miss hosting in NC but know that we will still share many memories with them on trips, coming back to visit and of course hosting them in CO!

For more photos of this event: