Getting Used To

We've been in Colorado for exactly 2 weeks now. How is that possible already?!  We've been making the best of our time here so far but there's been a couple things we're trying to get used to....

Being Settled:

This is our new home. We're just renting this time around since we'll only be here about 3 years.  All of our things are here but  it still doesn't feel like home yet. I don't know why I'm expecting it to feel home-like so quickly but I think I was just dreaming about finally being home while we were "nomads." We stayed in literally 13 different places in the last 3 months. 13!!  So this just feels like a temporary #14 and it feels weird unpacking and hanging pictures.  We really do love this house though. It has so much more space (3300 sq ft compared to our Omaha house with 1500 sq ft!) and I really feel like this place could feel like home but it's still in that weird phase.  It is so nice not living out of suitcases anymore though, that's for sure!

Being in a different time zone:
It may be weird but I've only ever lived in the central time zone before.  Minnesota---Mississippi---Nebraska----and now Colorado that's in the mountain time zone.  It' s only an hour difference but I kept waking up so early the first couple of days.  I also have to keep reminding myself when I talk to family and friends that we're an hour behind them.  

Not being an easy drive away from home:
We seriously had it made being so close to home while we were in Omaha. No more last minute trips home, now I have to research the best flights, airlines, prices, and times to make a trip home.  Not that we couldn't drive home (14 hours) buuutt I think we're all pretty sick of roadtrips at this point.

Living at a high altitude:
Our home in Omaha was at about 1,090 ft above sea level. Our home here?  7,008 ft above sea level. That is quite a jump!  The main difference we're noticing is getting winded a lot easier (especially moving boxes or carrying children up stairs).  We also have to drink a lot more water to stay hydrated but that's also because Colorado has very low humidity. More about that later.  Also, I now have to follow the high elevation tips when baking and I can't get my chocolate chip cookies to rise for anything!  

Not having a fenced in backyard:

The way they do homes here is a lot different than what I'm used to. Our development has very few lots with fenced backyards and all of the houses are so scrunched together.  So far it hasn't been a huge adjustment but I know Rascal misses just roaming free in the backyard.

They also separate the houses with either rocks or shrubbery, it's different! 

The Weather:
Colorado has some glorious summer weather. The humidity is SO low here. Literally right now the humidity is 16%.  It makes the 91 degrees we're having not feel so bad.  It seems like every day is very similar too. The morning it is sunny, beautiful, very little clouds in the sky. Then after lunchtime the clouds start to roll in, we have rain, sometimes a thunderstorm, and then after dinner it clears up again. It's been like that almost every single day. It's odd!  Another great thing about the weather is that it cools down a bunch in the evening. It'll get to 80/90 during the day and then cool off to the 40's/50's at night so you can leave your windows open and it cools off the house, thus why so many homes here don't have AC (ours does luckily!).

Gas Stove and Oven: 

This is another silly thing but I've only ever had an electric stove and oven before. Brian had to show me how to use a gas stove. And the first time we turned on our oven we got a blast of natural gas odor (we got that taken care of!) so it freaked me out a little bit.  But it's been an easy transition and dare I say I may like gas better?!

Waking up every morning to a beautiful mountain view:

This isn't a hard adjustment at all but waking up to this mountain view every single morning takes my breath away. I feel so blessed to live in such a beautiful place and pray that I never take it for granted.

Overall we love it here and it's really only been 2 weeks so I know before we know it it'll feel like home!