Our first home!

Our First Steps

The Introductions: 

Hello all, I'm from a small town of about 4,800 people in Southern Colorado.  It's a rural area where the fast pace of life in the metro area has definitely not affected.  The only "traffic jams" are those behind tractors or miscellaneous farm equipment, you don't dare go out without makeup on because you're definitely bound to see people you know.  My husband, (for the sake of this blog, I'll refer to him as "Honey") grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania before his mother and siblings moved to a small and rural, outlying town southeast of the Denver Metro area.  We have two incredibly wonderful children, a little girl (we'll call her "Little Miss") who is about to turn 6, and a wild boy who (we'll call him "Crash") will be 3 this fall. Little Miss is a caring and free spirit, wise beyond her years and oh, so intelligent.  Crash, yeah, he's our energetic, "likes to pretend he's shy," and absolutely fearless little guy.  I also like to say he's our "walking hospital bill" and is totally "boy" in every sense of the word.  We have lived in the Denver Metro area since 2010, which has consisted of apartments and townhomes where we have shared 3 walls and paid an arm and a leg to rent them.  But hey, that's "city life" right?!?  So, when Honey and I traveled down to my hometown the first time, he fell in love with the area.  A quick 20 minute drive to be deep in the woods and the heart of the Rockies, just east of the continental divide with the views and scenery that will take your breath away.  Since then, he's been eager to settle down in the rustic "backwoods" of this high mountain valley.

The Backstory:

So, when our extended family gathered for my cousin's high school graduation we got to discussing the home my sister and her husband (in this blog I'll call em "T&C") are purchasing, which my grandparents put on the market in 2004.  It's an elegant home, right on the peaceful and tranquil Rio Grande River.  And with four 5-acre lots lined up, and the generosity of two phenomenal maternal grandparents of mine, we jumped at the opportunity to put a house on one of them.  We started looking at options, off-site stick built, modulars, log home kit, hiring contractors, etc.  And since there aren't the builders that are available in the city, we couldn't go through a major company that handles the subdivisions that pop up all over the "front range."

You can see the well sticking up in the middle, and the gorgeous aged trees in the background.

The Decision:

We decided upon a log home kit.  It's beautiful, relevant to it's surroundings, rustic, and pretty much my dream home.  Plus, what is more comforting on those rainy days than sitting in a log home, curled in a blanket, sitting in the comfy chair, with a cup of warm coffee and a good book, with the patter of raindrops on a tin roof?   Yeah, I can think of a few things, but as far as places go....not many can compare.  So then came the fork in the road where we had to choose a company to go through with a floor plan we would love all in our budget.  We chose a Colorado company, TJ's Wood Products, and a 4 bedroom plan with a loft.  The home I grew up in had a loft which included two of the bedrooms over the Great Room, so being able to have a loft in my "forever home" is a dream come true.