Here we are, two months in, in this breathtaking place we call home. While still surreal, we’ve certainly had our share of reality in these last 8 weeks. Unless you’ve lived under a rock all summer, you must know that in late June, practically the entire state of Colorado was on fire. Sadly, the most destructive of them all, the Waldo Canyon fire, started mere miles from our home. I’m happy to report that despite the tragic loss of nearly 400 homes in Colorado Springs, we are lucky enough to still be enjoying ours. Even though evacuating in the middle of the night with your two babies, your two large dogs and one Godsent friend (Jamie Gansmann – thank you again!) isn’t ideal, the reality of what thousands of firefighters and hundreds of other families had to deal with offers perspective at its best.

I CAN’T SAY IT LOUD ENOUGH – THANK YOU, FIREFIGHTERS!!

So rather than sit around in a hotel room for days wondering when, if ever, we’ll be let back into our home, we decided to take a mini-vacation to Reason #532 we moved to Colorado – Breckenridge! I’d never been there, but since it’s the closest major ski resort to our house I knew we’d be spending most of our winter weekends there and was excited to check it out during the off-season. What a beautiful, charming town! We made the decision then and there to rebuild in Breckenridge should our home perish in the fire. I guess now we’ll just have to work on a vacation property. Shucks.

(Trivia: Did you know that the Starbucks in Breckenridge is at the highest altitude of any of their locations? You can file this under “You Can Take The Girl Out Of The Big City, But You Can’t Take Away Her Iced Grande Dopio Espresso, Plus Two Splendas & Nonfat Milk”)

We’ve been back safe and sound in our home for about 6 weeks now and have been ushering guests in and out the whole time – Sean’s family, my family, my best friend, Katie. We’ve truly enjoyed watching each one’s reaction as we take them on their first trek up the long, winding, sometimes terrifying road to our house. It’s entertaining to watch people go from “what the @#$@#” on the way up to “OH MY GOD, THIS IS AMAZING” once they get to our property. It’s been so much fun sharing our passion for this place with our nearest and dearest.

BUT…

Tomorrow will literally be our first night in our new home with just us and the kids (we had our nanny from Chicago living with us up until 2 weeks ago). OUR FIRST NIGHT! Our poor daughter will finally get her own room. She is 9 months old now and even though her parents just built this nice big home in Colorado, her only upgrade in living quarters has been from master bathroom in Chicago to master closet in Colorado. Don’t worry, my little princess – mommy is going to SOOOOO make it up to you at Pottery Barn Kids.

So tomorrow night we will put the wee ones to bed, crack open a bottle of bubbly, light a fire and toast to our first of many nights as one nifty little family unit. We’ll also toast to our incredible families and friends for continuing to support us on this journey, wildfires and all. We look forward to many more visits from all of you – in due time, of course. 🙂