Salt Lake City and Sterling, CO

To say these last few days have been stressful is somewhat of an understatement!! Tuesday we left for Salt Lake and the drive was pretty nice.  It was a clear day and the roads were dry.  It was about an 8 hour drive for us and we got in around 6:30, grabbed some dinner and crashed.  I didn't sleep well at all cause of the bed and constant noise outside all night long.  Wednesday night we got to meet up with our friend Chance... soon to be Uncle Chance :)  The guys were drinking beers and I was drinking lemonade, which I paid for later with horrible heartburn!  It was pretty funny when the conversation turned from linework to baby names :)  Thursday afternoon our Friends Mike and Cayla got to town, so they could pick up Mikes Journeyman ticket!!!!!!  We got to see them for a bit on Thursday and then Friday morning we met up again.  We all went to breakfast as we waited for the call that he could go pick up his ticket from local 57.  I got the most amazing french toast at breakfast, and I'll probably be craving it for the rest of my pregnancy now! We went to the hall with the McBrides and it was such a crazy feeling.  This apprenticeship is so hard dealing with the unknown, and having what you do know change all the time.  Getting to see one of our good friends get that hard earned ticket and listening to the union director congratulate him and talk about the work was so cool! It makes it all worth it, all the tears, frantic moves, unknowns about the jobs, moving from company to company and crew to crew.  In about 16 months we'll get to experience that....not that I am counting or anything! Its crazy how similar we are to the McBrides.  Little Wesson is 11 months and thats when Mike topped out.  Well Baby Underdown should be about 11 months when Brandon tops out, how cool!!   We left salt lake about 11 and I was in tears as I hugged Cayla goodbye.  I cried for over an hour, blame it on the hormones or lack of girlfriends on the road but goodbyes are getting harder and harder for me.

At 11:45 Brandon got a call from Mountain States that said we were moving.  He was going to start at Hooper in Sterling, CO on Monday.  Thankfully we mapped it out and it was only about an hour drive.  We were so excited because we have friends there and Brandon will actually be working with a good friend on the same crew! We were also stoked because it was by far the shortest move we have made at this point, our other moves were 15+ hours and trying to do that in one day would have been CRAZY!! Granted it was our shortest move yet, it was by far the WORST move we've made! We got home to Greeley about 7 and I started mentally planning what I needed to do to get Piper ready for the move.  We woke up Saturday and looked at the temps and they were negative and it was a blizzard out. Perfect day to move :( I got everything done inside and Brandon started on the outside.  About two hours later we were ready to hook onto Piper.  I was frozen solid because it was so cold.  The snow and wind was blowing so hard it would just sting your face when it hit you.  I was in my car warming up and I looked up and saw Brandon backing up to the Piper.  Its my job to make sure he's lined up, tell him how close he is ect. So I jumped out of my car and started running over to help.  I had my head down and my hand on my hat cause I was so cold and trying to avoid the pelting snow.  Next thing I know, I am dropped to my knees. Yeah, I did it, I ran right into the 5th wheel hitch!! I looked up and saw brandon getting out of the truck as fast as he could with a look of terror on his face. I tried to get up and said I am ok, I am ok. SOMEHOW I did not knock myself out or split my head open, I honestly don't know how. I ran right into that thing so hard! All I did was scrap my finger a bit. Brandon and I both agreed I'll be wearing a hardhat next time we move!

20...feels like 2! oh it was sooo cold!! 

All that happened in "Astra vs 5th wheel hitch"

Poor Piper, having to move in these conditions :( 

The Drive to Sterling was terrible, the roads were complete ice and Piper even started to fishtail at one point.  What should have been about an hour drive of course turned into 2+.  We made it to the RV park though and got all checked in.  Made it to our spot and we are only 4 spaces up from Justin and Kelli so thats super exciting! I have to say I LOVE this RV park so much!  I haven't slept so good since December! There are no trains, jake brakes or anything in here! In fact since Saturday I haven't even seen another vehicle driving through the park! Its wonderful! Brandon starts on his new crew today, I am so excited to hear how it goes!! I am so thankful to be in Sterling because I can still go to my doctor, my hair lady, our church and small group.  Granted its an hour drive but I'll take it rather than having to start over completely! Maybe we'll get lucky and one of my midwives WILL get to Deliver baby U! Brandon only works half days on Fridays so I am going to call today and see if they can get us in on a Friday (maybe this one!) because I really want him there when we find out, so we'll see!

Our spot....a little cramped but we love it!

A little piece of HOME

I know I've said this a hundred times so far and I'll probably say it a hundred more throughout the years because its true: Being on the road comes with great sacrifice.  One of the great things about being home is the life you have.  You have your friends and family, but more special is you have "your things" with your special someone.  A great Sunday for Brandon and I would be to go to Church at Lake City Community Church, then Bakery by the Lake followed by a hike on Tubbs Hills with a walk through the park along the lake and a date night at Bardenays.  These are just a few of our favorite spots but they are ours.  We don't have to use navigation to get to them, or read yelp reviews to know if they are a good place to go.  We just know because we LIVE there.  In my last post I talked about getting settled here in Greeley and we have.  We found a great church and a fun coffee shop.  Now we're trying to find entertaining things to do.

One of our favorite things to do is going to small concerts at intimate venues.  Our favorites are Tyrone Wells and Brett Hite, we have been going to their shows since we met and I had been going for years before that.  I was so lucky Brandon had Brett Hite play at our proposal, check it out here:
Astra and Brandon Proposal 4-17-11 It was one of the best days of my life!

Both of these artists are from Spokane, WA.  Its kinda hard to find artists like these unless you go to their shows.  We always love who Brett Hite and Tyrone Wells has open for them because we always find new artist to follow like Anthony Hall, Stephen Kellogg and the Sixers and Hot Bodies in Motion, just to name a few.  We haven't been to a show on the road yet and we just figured we wouldn't unless we got lucky and they were playing back home when we happened to be there.  It was pretty bittersweet when I knew Tyrone was playing at the Knitting Factory and we weren't there and when Brett Hite was playing at Gonzaga and we weren't there.  Those were "our things", we would have been there in a heartbeat!

I found out Tyrone Wells would be playing TWO nights in Denver in March and I wanted to buy tickets so bad.  With the apprenticeship though you can't commit to anything because as soon as you do, you'll get moved.  So I waited until the Monday before the shows and bought our tickets, hoping they hadn't sold out.  Luckily enough they hadn't and we got to go! We decided to make a day of it and spend the day in Denver.  I was so excited, I had had my outfit picked out for a week, with the perfect shoes! Its March in Colorado, its supposed to be spring now.  Wednesday I was running in 55 degree weather and it was 70 in Denver! Saturday morning we wake up to a blizzard and inches of snow.  Brandon says to me "if we had ANYTHING else planned we would not be going, we should not be on the roads" but he knew we had to go so we did.  I had to change my outfit a little....mainly my shoe choice, but I made do and still got to wear heels :)

Always sneaking pictures of me! 

We went to lunch in Denver and did some shopping.  Brandon bought me some new maternity clothes since I'm starting to get a little bump, I swear he is more excited about my new clothes than I am! I am so lucky to have such a supportive husband.  Poor guy has had to take on the role of girlfriend a few times lately because he's all I have here.  Don't get me wrong, I spent a couple hours in the 4 wheel parts store yesterday with him so its not all one sided :) I've really been craving a bloody mary, virgin of course, the kind that has a whole salad in the drink! I found a place on google that had pictures of their bloody marys and they were EXACTLY what I was wanting: asparagus, shrimp, green bean, celery, carrot stick, you name it! It was awesome! We made our way downtown, parked (which is a feat of its own if you've ever tried to find parking downtown denver) and walked the block and a half to this place to have some drinks.  We get there and there is a sign on the door that says "we had to close early today due to no power" REALLY?!?! go figure.... so we made our way to the venue and had a couple drinks there before the show, but there was NO salad in my bloody mary so we'll have to try that again another day.

Brett Young

The concert was amazing.  Once again Tyrone wells had outstanding openers and we've found two more artists to watch for in our Travels.  Brett Young was the first opener and he was so great.  He had a raw raspy type sound to his voice and his lyrics were so spot on.  I've already bought his album on iTunes and Love it, check him out on Facebook and iTunes and show him some love.
The second opener was Brendan James and he was a completely different sound then Brett and Tyrone but had a wonderful voice too. He played his whole set at the keyboard and he is so good!! He was very funny in his story telling and his lyrics were so real.  They were about real life, things you can truly relate to.  He had a passion and a love in his songs that is unique.  We will definitely be watching out for him too.

Brendan James

Tyrone was wonderful as well.  It was different not seeing Mark Chipello on the drums anymore but life happens and people move on.  Tyrone had a really fun and entertaining set as always and it brought back so many memories.  Each song sparks a memory and it was so special getting to do "our thing" with my love in a new city.  Now we have new memories to attach to those songs as well.

Tyrone Wells

17 Weeks 2 Days and baby can hear outside sounds! 1st concert:)