Goodbye Colorado House

For anyone other than Scott and I, this is just a side note, but we sold our Colorado house this past week (see inside pics HERE).  We lived in it for about two and a half years and then rented it out for three years while we lived in Illinois and our year of transition last year.  This summer we put it on the market.  We listed it for quite a bit more than we paid for it but consistent with neighborhood comps and got a full price offer within two weeks.  I think it took a little over 45 days to close, but now its all done.  Phew!  Here we are almost six years ago when we bought the house.  That house is by far the largest house we have ever lived in.  It was nice to have so much space. 

Here is our backyard in Colorado.  I thought it was small but a decent size at the time.  Compared to our yard here and in Illinois its large.

We had the house painted while we lived there.  A slightly different green and white trim.

Hard to tell in a picture but it looks a lot better.  So the house is off our hands now.  It's kind of nice to have one less thing to worry about.  And in the nearly six years since we bought it, it appreciated quite a bit!  We were also making a little bit of money renting it out, so it was a good thing.  It would have been nice to be able to sell it before we bought our house here, but we had to wait until our renters contract was up.  Oh well.

Now we only have one house to worry about.  And one is enough for right now.

 Here we are on the front step of our new house before getting in the car to head somewhere.

Another day John and Emma wanted to take another picture on the step.  I like how they left room for Grant even though he wasn't there.  Grant always needs plenty of wiggle room.

And here is a completely non-related Matthew and Grant story.  

It demonstrates their different personalities if nothing else.

Emma was sad in the car on the way home from a late soccer practice the other day.
She was crying and whimpering about the dark.
Matthew (age 9) spent the whole ride home trying to comfort her.
Matthew:  It's ok Emma.  Don't worry, it's ok. (after several minutes of this and Emma's continued whimpering)  Mom, she's so worried and I can't get her to feel better!
Me:  Emma, everything is OK.  It's dark because its night time, but we are all safe in the car.  Everything's ok.
(Emma stops whimpering...a moment of silence follows)
Grant (age 5):  (in a scary ghost voice)  OOOOOWOOOOOOOO!!!!
Whimpering resumes
Matthew:  GRANT!!

One of the kids took this picture from the front step.   A view down the street.  This week we are having our backyard landscaped.  We had our first rain of the season the weekend before they started work (other places people talk about their "first snow").  It rained and rained for days on end and our yard was a muddy mess, but the landscaping (and associated muddiness) are marching forward.  I'm looking forward to it being done.  It's supposed to take about 8 days but more rain is on its way.  Hopefully we can still get it done soon.