Initial Thoughts on moving to Fort Collins

I have to admit, we've had a bit of a rough start with this whole moving gig.  We left LA on May 19th and it was a pretty much awful time.  I bawled like a baby saying bye to Anna and Steve, and even Cory cried too.  It was very hard to leave our friends; we have so enjoyed living "next door" to them for the last two years. They are the type of friend that can't ever be replaced. We love you Anna and Steve, and sweet Naomi too!
Since our girls were in Boise with G&G Jones, Cory and I made pretty good time driving to UT. We arrived to find that all the snow (snow! In May!) and rain we drove through had soaked everything in our Tulle bag on top of our car.  We had cleaning supplies and soap up there, which made for a sudsy, watery, mess. It was not awesome.
We hurried to clean up the mess so we could go down to Justin and Carissa's house to hang out with Cory's brothers and sisters. It was so fun to see everyone, hang out, and not worry about putting the girls to bed.  We have missed living by Cory's siblings and their various attachments (he has 3 in Provo) and it will be great to live in UT again so we can see them often.
On Friday we ran errands and went through randomly packed boxes in preparation for packing the small U-Haul trailer with everything for CO.  In the late afternoon Cory's siblings, Mom and Dad, and Tara and Jer showed up to help us unpack the big trailer and then pack the small trailer. We decided to store all of our stuff in Kim and Mike's basement and garage, instead of trying to fill all the nooks and crannies at the LeeMaster house.  Thanks Kim and Mike!
While we hauled boxes, Tara and the Joj were inside filling the rest of my hair tie orders (that have become the bane of my existence, but that's another story) and we finished those up just in time to eat pizza for dinner. What would we do without all of this help from family? Everyone, even the pregnant ladies, :) have been so awesome to help.
On Saturday morning Cory and I left to make the last leg our our long moving journey.  I was anxious and nervous all in one for our arrival in Fort Collins.  The drive through Wyoming was pretty brown, boring, and uneventful, except for our lunch stop in Podunkville.  We stopped in Green River, WY, population 12,000 for lunch. I asked the dude in Arctic Circle what the main jobs were there, and he said mining and oil. I mentioned that we were moving from LA so this was quite the change of scenery for me. He said, "Yeah, I know how you feel! I moved here from a town of 100,000 people and it was crazy!" Um....okay. Try 4 million, Buddy.  I had a good laugh about that one. :)
When we crossed into "Colorful Colorado" there were suddenly trees and colors and lovely-ness all around. Literally, when we crossed the border and saw the Welcome sign the scenery changed. It was so bizarre.  Sorry, Wyoming.  Turns out CO knows some secret that you don't.
I was busy enjoying the scenery and blah blah, and then realized we were 22 miles from our destination according to the GPS, and didn't have cell phone service.  We were in a canyon though, so no biggie. Then we were 10 miles away. Then 4. Then I see the "welcome to Fort Collins!" sign, and still no cell phone service. Here's the part where I started panicking.  We drove through "Old Town", which is their downtown area, and still nothing.  I might have demanded that Cory turn the vehicle around at this point, totally on the edge of a full blown panic attack.  I will admit that it's a titch ridiculous that I was this upset about my dumb cell phone. But come on! We live in the 21st Century for crying out loud! What kind of place doesn't have cell phone service?!
Long story short, we arrived, our apartment was nice and clean, we got unloaded, and then Cory headed to the TMobile store.  Turns out it was just a problem with our SIM cards, and it was an easy fix, so we're all good. Cory doesn't have service at work, but at least we have service around town.
Fort Collins is pretty small, but it has a very nice feeling. I have felt very safe here, which is a welcome change after living in LA and always watching where I was going and who was walking down the street.  Our ward was very kind and welcoming on Sunday, which was awesome.  There are about 1 million trees here, and they are all in full bloom, which means you can't see any of the buildings/stores behind them. It has made finding my way around very interesting. Hallelujah for my GPS!
We went for a drive on Sunday into the hills 5 min from our house, and turns out there's a giant reservoir up there! Cory is pretty excited to try out fishing and biking in that area.  On HP property there are wild geese with tiny goslings, and Cory saw a fox at the park the other day while riding his bike.  It really is a beautiful, safe little town.
Todd is serving with an Elder from Fort Collins, so he hooked me up with E Spencer's mom.  I joined her ward for a RS activity one morning before the girls got here from Boise, and we are headed to their house for dinner tonight. Geralynn is pretty much awesome and she keeps reminding me of all the great reasons to love living in Fort Collins.
I think this move has been easier for me, simply because I have moved before and I expected the big changes this time around. Oh, and not being barely postpartum has probably helped my attitude too. :)  Emily keeps asking when we are going home to CA, and says things like "but we can't go to our park because it's too far away in CA, right?" Yeah. I miss our park too, Little Girl.  She can't quite grasp the whole, "We're not ever going to live in CA again," bit. She thinks we are going back in a few days. But she and Nattie are happy and are adjusting to our new house pretty well.  They had a lovely, carefree week with Grammie, and when they arrived here Emily kept running from room to room pointing out all our things.  "Look! My books! My toys! Mom's table!" (my craft table) She was thrilled every time she saw something she recognized. Nattie kept yelling "Cib! Cib!" (crib) the first night she was here, wanting to sleep in her crib instead of the pack n play. But last night she didn't say that, so maybe she is fine now.  Fortunately kids adjust quickly most of the time, and that is nice for everyone.
Bottom line, we have arrived in Fort Collins, and we are all doing better than last time the Jones Family moved, which is a good thing. :)