Visit From Unkie Rodgie

This weekend we had a fun visit from "Unkie Rodgie" and "Auntie Kathie".  They were very nice to drive all the way out here to see us, with his truck and trailer full of stuff for me!!!  All of the items that I inherited from my mom's house had to get out here someway, and so it was a great excuse for them to come out and see us!!  Thanks Guys!!!  It was a short visit for them, and we wished they would have stayed longer, but they are having fun sightseeing and visiting other friends on the way back.  They got here Saturday, just before lunch.  We spent most of the day Saturday catching up and unloading the truck and trailer.  We took them to a good ol' BBQ dinner at Nordy's in Loveland, and I think they really liked it.  (thank goodness for the fried catfish for non-bbq lovers like Kathie and myself!!!) 

Sunday they went to church with us and got to experience our "The Story" Bible Study Group.  Hopefully they can bring it back to their church with them, because its a great way to walk through the entire Bible.  But before church we took them to Silver Grill Cafe for some Famous Maxie's Cinnamon Roll French Toast, yummy!!  We also played Wii (Their first time) Bowling, and they did really good!!  We played outside with bubbles and got messy (new colored bubbles), and just hung around and chatted.  It was such a nice relaxing visit.  I was bad and didn't get that many photos.  Kathie, you'll have to share with me when you get home.  But here's a few that I did get!  Enjoy. 

Kathie reading yet another story to Riley

Rodger learning to Bowl, Wii Style

Everyone playing Wii

At Nordy's

This week is going to be spent with Mommy doing some catch-up work  (goodness, I always feel like I'm playing catch-up with something!!).  I have to do some catch-up on my website (which I'm hoping to have viewable by the end of the week), clean up and organize all the stuff Rodger and Kathie brought us, and get started organizing Riley's 5th Birthday Party!!  I can't believe he's going to be 5!!!  I promised him a Splash Party, and since this is 5, kinda a big deal, I hope I can make it something special without going overboard too much!!!  I've got some great ideas planned, the only problem is the time around his birthday is a super busy time of year . . . so I'm not even sure when to have it!!!  Ugh!
 Update on Daddy's ankle:  It's getting better!!  The swelling (which reached down to his toes at one point) has receded to just his ankle again, and he went for a run for the first time yesterday.  It hurt him a lot afterwards, but he made it through.  Stretching and strengthening it are the first steps to healing it.  Thankfully, I don't see any races on the schedule until June, so he has a few more weeks until he has to really run on it. 

Not much else going on here.  I'm hoping to get some hiking scheduled in in the next few weeks, I'm getting antsy to get into nature!  Hope everyone is having a great week, ours has been mighty hot here - record highs yesterday!! 

Blog Catch-up 4-17-12

Well, this is the last catch-up blog post!!  YAY!!!  Thanks to Cameron for suggesting I try to "embed" a photo rather than upload it to the blog post directly.  (that means I upload it somewhere else and just link it in the blog.)  Since we already have a photobucket account for the videos I used that and it worked perfectly!!!  YAY!!!  What does that mean for you all - absolutely nothing!!!  It's a bit more work for me, resizing the pictures, uploading them to photobucket, and then linking them individually in the post (as opposed to doing a mass upload and writing the post while they are uploading and then just moving each one where I want it.  But I can keep the blog looking like I want it, I don't have to get a new address, and you all don't have to click links just to see pictures.  So anywho - Check out the posts below so that you don't miss anything, and here's the last catch-up post!!!

I have Finally Finished the Sea Turtle Bathroom!!!  It was a pain in the butt that's for sure, I ended up having to tape the thing and re-paint it three times!!!  (it's a long story and I'd rather not re-live it!!)  But it's done now, and the boys love it!  Thanks to my friend Cathy (see previous post) for coming over to help me with tracing and painting the turtles.  Here's the Finished Product: 

The only thing left to do is get a new towel rack.  I accidentally stepped on the other one and bent it, so we have to replace it (that's what the gap is for).  But it's finally done!!

Thursday was my Birthday, and I got Treated Right!!!  It was great!!  Cam took the day off work and planned a "day away" for me!  It was much needed.  He stayed home with the boys all day while I got a massage, a facial, and went shopping!  He planned it all, and I did nothing but enjoy!!  I got to spend some birthday money (thanks Grandma & Grandpa Louie) and didn't have to have kids tagging along!  The only thing I had to do was be back for dinner (boca burgers - YUM!!!) and cake!!!  Cam (and the boys I'm sure) made me a red velvet cake and it was delish!!! 

Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and facebook wishes!! 

Friday we left the dogs in the care of my good friend Marcus, and headed down to Colorado Springs.  On the way we were looking for a place to eat and Cam mentioned the new Steak n Shake that they were going to open by the new IKEA.  So I quickly did a search on my phone and found that we were only minutes away!!!  YAHOO!!! it was like my birthday all over again!!!  We ended up waiting to get a seat because it was so busy, but it was worth it!!  At least for me.  I got to each my yummy chicken melt and fries and get a Straw-nana Shake!!!  My FAV!!!!  I was so excited that I don't have to drive hundreds of miles to get to the closest Steak n Shake!!! 

Now I just need an excuse to drive down to Centennial more often ;)  Cam has been talking about someone should open up one in Fort Collins.  (so if any CO friends are looking to start a business let us know!!!)   He's even got a couple locations picked out - and I agree they are perfect!!  One Right off the highway next to a Wal-mart, the other in the midst of CSU.  What better customers for cheap greasy diner food than college students and truckers!!!  Now if only we could find someone to help fund our fabulous money maker!!! 

After our wonderful dinner we got to the hotel which was like a palace to the boys!!  They had so much fun checking out all the stuff in the room.  But we only had a little bit of time before bed, so we hit the pool!  Unfortunately, Mommy forgot her swimsuit (and no it wasnt on purpose!) so Daddy had to hang on to both the boys in the water.  Next time we'll remember to bring some floaties for Riley, he did have one scare where he couldn't hang on to the wall, but no permanent damage done! In Fact, when we got back to the room all he could talk about was his hurt toe - he didn't seem to remember the near-death experience at all!!!  Whew!! 

Then the next morning it was up early to head to Daddy's race!  Check out this beautiful view of Pike's Peak that morning:

As For the Race. . . well, it wasn't one of the best.  It was a 12k or 24k, Cam was doing the 24k.  HE started out great, a little concerned because he had never been on the course, seen it, or seen any info about it (elevation changes, hills, topo maps, etc).  He didn't even know the route in the state park the race took.  After they headed out, I took the boys and hiked up the trail backwards some in an attempt catch some action shots of Cam as he came through on the first loop (the 12K did one loop and the 24k did two.)  After a while we saw him hobbling along and I thought oh no - he's rolled an ankle or hurt his knee again.  Poor Thing, about a 1/2 mile from us he rolled his ankle really bad -the worst in a long time, if ever.  You could see the pain on his face!  But my superman hubby kept going!!  He made it all the way back to the start/finish line limping along, before he decided that maybe he should call it quits at the 12k mark.  So his first race of the year was a 12k!!!  YAY Cam!!!  For finishing a 12k with a horribly sprained ankle!!  Here's some pics from the race: 

Watching for Daddy

Limping along

After the race we had planned to go to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and I tried to talk Cam out of it.  Nothings worse than walking around a zoo all day with a sprained ankle.  But of course, he didn't want to let the boys down (even though we hadn't told them we were going) and insisted on going.  I was glad he was up for it, it was a fun zoo, but I would have understood if he just wanted to go home. 

The Zoo was great!  I think the best parts were getting to feed the giraffes and watching the grizzly besrs "perform".  It's definitely not your typical zoo.  It's a lot more interactive.  Riley even got to go 'behind the scenes" and see the penguins up close. I'm not quite sure how I feel about these animals becoming so tame with humans, and what that teaches our kids, but it was still fun to experience it.  here's some of the highlights of our trip: 

Check out that tongue!!!

Daddy using the stroller as crutches

At the end of the zoo trip we thought we would drive up to Will Rogers Shrine to the Sun, which was included in our entrance fee.  It was really neat to see, one of those things to experience.  But I'm not sure I need to see it again.  It was a long winding road up to the top and both the boys fell asleep.  I carried Jayce up into the Shrine and he slept the whole time. 

It was snowing at the top, but that didn't wake Jayce up!!

Over all it was a good weekend, minus the bum ankle!!  Poor Cam!!!  Guess he's not running in the Horsetooth Half this weekend.  Good thing he was going to do "day of" registration!!  Here's a pic of how the ankle looked Sunday Night.  It got worse on Monday after he worked all day, but I think the swelling is starting to go down, or at least not getting any worse.  It is turning more colors though.  Let's hope that means it healing!!! 

Not much going on this week.  But this weekend Uncle Rodger and Kathie are coming to visit!!!  They are driving out with all the stuff from my mom's house - THANK YOU!!!  So it will be great to spend a couple days with them.  And it will be good to have all that stuff here too!! I've been dreaming up things to do with it, and use it for (like the million Ball Mason Jars for all my Craft stuff) and so I can finally get it hear and start organizing it!! yay!!! 

Regular updates coming soon!!!  And hopefully I'll have my new business website up and running too.  ;)

Blog Catch-up 4-8

We had a beautiful Easter Day today!  Lots of sunshine.  I really, truly love this time of year!!  And I couldn’t have asked for a more fun day with the boys!  Riley was off to find Easter baskets before we were even awake .  . . I guess that’s how it goes at this age!  He was so cute.  He found his first (hiding between the couch and the bookshelves), then Jayce’s (behind a plant on the kitchen counter), then Mommy’s (in the closet), and then Daddy’s (in his lunchbox on top of the fridge.)  And then when we left for church he put them all “back.”  It was so cute that he thought that’s where they went now.  ;)  After Church we had lunch and an Egg Hunt in the backyard.  I split the yard up and told Riley that all the eggs on the deck and patio were Jayce’s, and all the ones in the grass and playset were his.  (thankfully, he thought this was the coolest thing ever!  But Jayce did really great!  It only took him a couple eggs to get the idea of putting them in the basket.  He was hesitant to let it go the first time, until he saw that there were more I think!!  By the end he was carrying his basket himself and pointing out all the eggs!  He was so cute!  Riley had a blast climbing all over the playset hunting for eggs.  He’s a old pro at this now and found almost all of them on his own without any direction!  Here’s some pics from today:

 

Oh, and one more Easter Tidbit: Jayce LOVES jelly beans.  This kid has got quite the sweet tooth, and days like today are filled with major mood swings – sheer delight when he gets some candy, and ear piercing screams the second he runs out and realizes that he’s not getting any more!  I think I’ll break out the earplugs tomorrow!! 

Other things we’ve been up to – oh my goodness where to start!!! 

Playing outside!  The weather has been so nice!  We’ve spent almost everyday outside at some point.  

Although there were a few chilly days last week.  So I decided to catch up on some indoor projects that I have been wanting to do.  Throughout March Ace Hardware was giving away free quarts of paint on Saturdays.  After helping my Friend Cathy do a mural in her boys bedroom . . . 

 

I decided to get me some free paint too and start on the sea turtle theme for the boys bathroom.  So we ended up with 3 quarts of paint (all free!!)  and I printed of some stenciled sea turtles to project onto the wall.  I spent one whole day painting three walls the lighter blue (and amazingly I used less than 1 quart!!)  Then, Cathy came over and helped me figure out where to place the turtles on the wall (she was such a livesaver and I owe the design to her creative eye!!)  Then we got to tracing!  That day (with her help) I got the turtles traced, painted and the fourth wall almost entirely painted in the darker blue.  I haven’t taken any pictures of the finished product . . . because it’s not quite finished – I still have some touchups to do and some trim work, and the dreaded “painting around the toilet!” But here’s the before pic and the light blue color.  I’ll post a finished pic next time, because I’m planning to finish it this week . . . keyword here is planning!!

 

Saturday though, we spent the morning cleaning carpets.  Yeah, Fun, I know.  (can you hear the sarcasm!)  But it was well needed!!  Not only because we hadn’t done it in at least 2 years and we were overdue, but because Friday Piper had a potty issue and peed all over the downstairs.  I mean, not just peed in one spot – it was like she was pacing while peeing (probably because she knew how wrong it was!) so it went ALL OVER the downstairs.  So, Cam went out late Friday night and bought a carpet cleaner  - we’ve been meaning to invest in one anyways, and we spent the morning scrubbing down the carpets.  It worked out nicely because we had the whole morning free, and shopping and a birthday party to go to later that day.  So we added dinner out and by the time we got home the carpets were almost completely dry!  And they look, feel and SMELL WONDERFUL!!!  I’m so happy!  It’s like a brand new house!  We also took out the futon from downstairs.  So no more big smelly couch for the dogs!  The mattress is currently outside until we get rid of it and we just took the futon apart and stored it in the basement for now.  I think we will eventually sell it, minus some dents and scratches it’s still in really good shape!  I mean – we live in a college town for goodness sakes, we ought be able to get rid of it for a good price!  But the dogs are certainly missing it!  Until we get some more dog beds (that we can wash easily) they are just laying on the one tiny one and in Mowgli’s crate.  Which looks silly now that we have this huge expanse of a room.  Here, you can see what I mean!

 

And as you can see, we’ve been so busy around here I still haven’t had time to work on the website any.  So I’m saving this post for you to read later.  It seems kinda silly to add upcoming events, but I’m trying to document things like I normally would for the blog so here it goes:  This week is Birthday week!  Grandpa Louie’s Birthday is tomorrow, and my birthday is Thursday.  So Happy Birthday to Us!!  Cam’s got something up his sleeve for me on Thursday, but he won’t tell what it is, just that he’s taken off work to watch the boys.  Hhhhmmmm?  And then on Saturday he is running in a Trail Half-Marathon in Colorado Springs.  So we are going to drive down there and spend the night before the race.  Hopefully after we can do something fun for the boys, like Garden of the Gods or the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.  We’ll see how much time we have.  And just like that April will be half over!!  Ugh, were does time go!  Hope you all had a Happy Easter!!