The Tipton Family

April 21st

2009-04-21T20:44:00.000-07:00

After our relaxing time in Breckenridge it was back to school for the boys and the start of their soccer seasons...

Kristian had an award assembly and somehow managed to get a B average this go around... He must have been right on the line of the B/A average... But he was fine with it.

Dylan's first double header for soccer was snowed out. But his second one went on as scheduled. Kim and her family were able to make it here to go and stayed for Easter the next day. Dylan scored two goals in his second game. You could see the wheels turning in his head... once he got those he was on that ball just trying to get a piece of it!

Kristian's soccer program is through the school. Since it is the first year they are just getting everything together and worked out. For now they get together twice a week to practice/scrimmage and hope later down the line to get together with other schools in the area. He seems to be liking it and actually goes after the ball. The ages of the kids on the team range from 7th-12th, so he has been a bit intimidated.. but he is doing better.

Easter was as usual cold and snowy! We held the Easter egg hunt inside. We had one for the little kids and then another for the older kids. Kirsten with the help of a few adults... found both the prize eggs, which were worth $5 a piece! Lucky!!

Kristian had a skate boarding sleepover for his birthday. They had a lot of fun and luckily there were no broken bones at the end of it! I can't believe he is 13!! We took him out to Chili's for his birthday dinner and had them sing Happy Birthday to him. He wasn't happy with us, but oh well... that's what parents are for, right?

We are still adjusting to our new routines... With Mike working ALL THE TIME it seems these days we have to schedule time to spend together. May sound crazy, but it works for us. If we didn't we would never see each other! I honestly don't know how he functions... Between the hours he keeps at work and going to school on top of that... He amazes me!

As if I didn't have enough to do already... I became a chicken farmer! So far so good. Hopefully in the next day or two I will have their coop all ready to go! I didn't realize how fast they grow!

Well I suppose that is it! Hope all is well with all of you!!

March 25

2009-03-25T18:56:00.000-07:00

Where to start...

I guess I will start with our big news... Mick quit his job on February 23rd. This wasn't something that just came about one day. We had discussed it for a while and he had put a lot of preparation into him turning in his resignation. It is amazing how things have went since and we feel truly blessed to have friends and family around us for encouragement during this time! We have no doubt that we made the right decision.

I threw Mick a birthday party on Feb. 28th. His parents drove all the way up to suprise him and stay the weekend. It was a nice suprise! We had a great time visiting with everyone who came out for the party. The guys did some shooting and ended up getting the potato gun out later that night. It was a lot of fun!

The guys from Mick's former office put together a going away party for him and Chris (Chris quit too). They had it at Frankie's Too in Falcon. It was really nice. They presented each of them with a John Deere hat with a phrase on the back and a plaque. Something that is a tradition around their office. Mick's hat had Best in the World, something he said every day to his guys. When he went to give his speech he actually got choked up. He had a great group of people he worked with and they will be missed.

The day after that I met my sister Kim in Blackhawk for a girl's night away. We had a lot of fun. Free margaritas and winning money! Although I ended up spending what I won... but oh well. I did go home with most of the money that I took.. well until I stopped by Kohl's on the way home! But hey, at least I had something to show for it!!

This past Friday me and the boys drove up to stay a few days with Kim and her family. We had a great visit. The weather was really warm, so the kids were able to play outside. We left there on Sunday and drove to Breckenridge and have been here since. We have went sledding almost every day and have watched several movies. We are having a wonderful time. It has snowed every day that we have been here and there is a 90% chance of snow tomorrow! I also heard on the radio that we are under a winter storm warning till 6 a.m. Friday morning. Sounds like we won't be going anywhere tomorrow.

I am dreading heading back to the "real world" this weekend. Dylan has soccer practice starting on Monday and Kristian's will be on Tuesday's and Thursday's. Dylan's first game is next Saturday!! And so it begins. But summer time is just around the bend....

Hope all is well with all of you. Until next time...

There you go Tanya!!! :) I blogged!! Now back to my life of Leisure! lol!!!

Feb. 16th

2009-02-16T08:00:00.001-08:00

Me and Mick

Kim and Brandon

The kids in their own booth: PRICELESS!

The four of us.

Chris and Maite at his birthday party.

Me and Cat at the b-day party.

Kris' picture on the wall at the Awards Assembly.

Playing some Blackjack.

The stage.

Tracy, Jacob, Rebecca and Dylan at the movie.

Me and Kim ready for the girl's day.

Dylan and Rebecca at her b-day party. He is holding a lizard over her head! It's fake!

It's been a while...

After Dylan was fully recovered Mick and I needed a break! So we met Kim in Frisco and she took the boys for the weekend. We stayed at Ryan and Tanya's cabin in Breck and relaxed! On Saturday night we drove to the Springs for Chris' birthday party. That was a lot of fun. On Sunday we met up with Kim, Brandon and all the kids in Breck and went to the Snow Sculpting. It was so cool!

Kris (what he wants to be called now...) had another awards assembly last month. It was Casino themed. They had "shows" from Britney Spears, Christina Agulera, Blue Man Group, Elton John, etc.. It was so much fun. The teachers work themselves to the core to put all of it together. After the awards were presented they set up poker tables, black jack tables, a "boxing ring", and the teachers even walked around like cocktail waitresses taking their drink/snack orders while they were playing games. They won prizes based on how many chips they had left at the end. He had a blast!

Rebecca came over for a sleepover. I can't even remember when the last time was... The next day we met up with Tracy and Jacob and took the kids to see Hotel for Dogs. It was a cute movie. Afterwards me and Dylan went and watched Rebecca at gymnastics. She did really good!!

Kim and the kids came down and spent the last weekend of January with us. I was having a girl's day out and she came to join in the fun. We went and saw "New In Town" and then went out for dinner after. We had a great time. There ended up being 8 of us total. It was a lot of fun and the movie was HILARIOUS! One part I had tears from laughing so hard!

Rebecca turned 5 on Feb. 6th!!! I can't believe it. They grow up way too fast. She had her party at a pottery place. The kids were able to pick something out and paint it. Dylan picked a dragon, big surprise I know! He painted it black, with a little bit of red mixed in every once in a while. You had to paint it 3 times and let it dry in between. He did really well. I am anxious to see how it turns out.

This past weekend (V-Day) I met Kim on Friday and picked up the kids for the weekend. Her and Brandon went to BlackHawk and did really good!! (there are casinos there..) Saturday, Jen and Geno came out. It was good to visit with them and play games. We haven't had a chance to see them much lately with everything going on. I picked up heart shaped pizzas from Papa Murphy's. Sunday we drove back up to Denver to meet Kim and Brandon. We went to Casa Bonita's. I must say... I don't think we will be going back there... It is neat to go check it out, but ridiculous what you pay for what you get... I made a comment to Kim that we should've went to Dave and Busters and a lady over heard me. She said yep it would've been a much better choice huh? Apparently I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Although the kids enjoyed it and me and Kim made our own fun... So it wasn't all bad. :)

Our weekdays have seemed nothing but a blur. Between, school, work, everyday tasks and Mick going to school, there really is anything else to talk about. Mick is working his butt off trying to get his degree. He works all day and then Monday and Thursday evenings are spent with meetings, Tuesday is class and the other nights he is doing homework. Tomorrow night is his last class for his Project Management Course and then he will start a new one next week. But once he is done it will all be worth it!

Dylan is fully recovered from his surgery. He EATS ALL THE TIME!! He finishes a meal and then asks for a snack. We joke that he grazes all day! He is home sick today. Fever, chills, aches... I swear every time we go to Chuck E Cheese (I met Kim there on Friday) someone gets sick!! We are three for three, the last couple of times we have went, so I don't think we will be going back!

Well I suppose that is it from here. Hope everyone is doing well. Until next time..

January 17th, mainly about Dylan...

2009-01-17T22:43:00.000-08:00

Just waiting...

The happy medicine has started to take affect...

Finally we get a decent pix of us... this was about the 4th try though...

After he came out of surgery. He has his "Rudolph" light on his finger. And also an IV, but luckily they wrapped it all up...

And here he is with his favorite pal Max... As you can see, Max just LOVES this!

It seems like the last week or so has mainly consisted of taking care of Dylan. He did great with his surgery, but did have some issues coming out of the anesthesia. It took about an hour to calm him down and let me tell you... it seemed a lot longer than that. But once that was over everything else was smooth sailing. Before the surgery they gave him some medicine to relax him and boy did it. He was so funny, laughing and being goofy. It was hilarious! I went back with him to the OR and that was a hard thing to do. They warn you of what will happen, but until it's happening... They basically put the mask over his face, but his instinct is to fight it (reason for the relaxing meds) It is like standing there watching your child be smothered to death, because all of a sudden they just stop and they are lifeless. Not something I am sure I will ever do again. It wasn't as though he knew I was there, he was so out of it from the meds. But... I wanted to stay with him as long as I could. He has fully recovered from his surgery now and is back to his normal self. Although we have yet to give him chips... Monday will be the 2 week mark, so we are going to try then. He did eat some Cheezits today and did fine with them. It just makes us nervous. We can tell a huge difference in the way he breathes. The first night Dylan slept with me and I kept having to put my hand on him to feel him breathing. Before I could hear him all the way downstairs in our room. So I know it was worth it, having him go through that. And even when he came out of recovery he, out of the blue, said, "Mom, watch I can breath through my nose with my mouth closed". I knew then we had made the right decision.

The Wednesday after Dylan's surgery, Mike and I both got a stomach bug that lasted till Sunday/Monday. We never threw up, just felt like we were going too. It was horrible! But we did find out from the doctor some great advice when you are sick... Don't take Ibuprofen it really irritates your stomach lining. Take Tylenol instead. Also eat things that are low protein. Your stomach has a difficult time digesting protein, so it upsets your stomach even more... Just thought I would pass that along.

Last Saturday we went to the movies and watched Marley and Me... very good movie, but a tear jerker! The boys enjoyed it too. Afterwards we went to Village Inn, since they serve breakfast all day, we knew Dylan could eat some pancakes. He ended up eating 4 sausage links! That was the most we had seen him eat since he had his surgery.

Sunday we hung out here at the house and caught up on laundry! fun!! Monday was back to work and school, except for Dylan... he needed one more day. He woke up Tuesday begging to go back. He really missed it. Which am I glad for. I was worried with almost a month off, he wasn't going to want to go back.

Tuesday, Mick finished up his latest class and will start his next class on this coming Tuesday night. It is nice that they are only 5 week courses, one day a week, but he spends the other 6 days of the week doing homework! It will all be worth it when he is done though.

Today, he went over to Bryan's to work on an engine. Then I went to the movies with Jen. We saw Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood... wow... another tearjerker, but a great movie. LOTS of f bombs in that movie, along with words that some may find offensive (he has names for every type of person!) But a great moral story to it. Jen and the family were going to come out for dinner tonight but unfortunately about 5 minutes before they got here, their little guy Payton threw up all over the place... So they just went back home. I hate that they weren't able to come, but totally understand. Plus I am glad that it happened before they got here. I don't want to get sick again!!

Tomorrow... we are going to take the boys to see Paul Blart, Mall Cop, with Kevin James. It looks really funny... which I am ready to see a comedy after the last two! And I am sure Mick will work on homework when we get back... Amazing how he hasn't even had his first class yet and he already has homework!

Well that's about it. Not too long in between this time... Maybe I can keep up with it better now that the holidays are over...I hope everyone has a great week!

Happy New Year!!

2009-01-04T20:40:00.000-08:00

I was asleep on the couch and Dylan climbed up on me and fell asleep too. The kids waiting for the ball to drop!

Me and my sister Kim

Me and Mick getting ready to open the gifts the boys got us...

We got into an icing fight while decorating the gingerbread house. As you can see I didn't do too well.

Mick and I at the Christmas party.

The Suburban getting pulled out!

Me, Mom and Dad at the airport.

Me and Jen (Geno's wife)

Mick and Geno.. what a goober!

Well it took almost 2 months, but I am finally back on here...

We have had a great last couple of months. Mick is still going strong in school. He is almost through his second class... I think he is enjoying this class. It is something he thinks he knows a lot about. Human Sexuality! At least I haven't had to listen to him complaining when it comes to the required reading for the class! He has been off work since the 24th and while it has been nice for him to get ahead on schoolwork... I don't feel like we have spent any time together. Every time I look at him he has his nose buried in his book or on his laptop. But... at least he is home right?

My sister and her family came up for Thanksgiving and for a few days in between Christmas and New Years. And she did watch the boys for us one night while Mick and I went out. We went and saw Australia... If you haven't seen it... go see it!! We had a great time visiting with them. They now live about 5 hours west of us. They seem to be enjoying it. I am glad for them.

We went to Mick's company Christmas party. We had a blast. Afterwards we went dancing. I don't think we have danced, in public, since our Senior Prom! It was a lot of fun though. My parents came up that weekend. It was nice to have them up for a visit and all to ourselves. They took the boys to the movies, Itz, to get ice cream, etc etc etc. They really enjoyed it. Mick and my dad were on the their way out of the driveway one morning and ended up getting the suburban stuck for a few hours. It took the neighbor's tow truck with a winch to pull them out. Of course I just laughed about it, but Mick wasn't in the mood for it... He did laugh later though.

We had a great Christmas. Nice and quiet! It was just the 4 of us. Dylan got a new bike and Kristian got a PlayStation 3. Mick and I didn't do gifts this year. There wasn't anything that either of us wanted/needed. And I wanted to spend it all on the boys.

For New Years we hung out here at the house. Cat, Brett and the kids came over and we played games. We actually made it till midnight! But shortly there after Dylan was out like a light on the couch. The next morning we had them out along with Chris, Maite and the kids for a New Year's Day brunch. It was nice to get to visit with everyone. After everyone left around 2 I went right back to bed! I had been having head aches all week and I got another one that day. I ended up getting sick! I think it is a head cold. Today I am doing better though.

Dylan is having his surgery in the morning. Tonsils and Adenoids. I will be so glad when it is over!! He seems ok with it right now.. we will see how he feels once we are at the hospital and once the surgery is over... I am planning for the worse and hoping for the best! He has to eat soft foods for about 2 weeks. So we took him to McDonalds today, so he could enjoy something good one last time. :) Me and him are going to "set up camp" in mine and Mick's room for at least the next week. He isn't supposed to be up and around for a few days, so we will hang in there watching TV and eating ice cream!! I am sure it won't be as fun as it sounds though...

Kristian is doing well. In addition to the PS3, he got a Ripstick for Christmas too. Basically a skate board with only one wheel at each end. He has amazed us with figuring out how to ride it. We thought it would just sit in the corner and collect dust, but... Mick and I have tried it out too... I must say I was better on it than Mick. I wish so badly I would've had a camera when Mick tried it. He fell flat on his butt. In the seconds that it was happening... I was thinking how funny it was and wondering if we were about to make a trip to the ER! Luckily, I was able to just keep laughing!

Well I suppose I should hit the hay... We have an early morning tomorrow. I hope to be on here more often now that the holidays are over... No promises though!

November 9th

2008-11-09T17:54:00.000-08:00

The birthday gang!

Me and Joann after racing on the obstacle course! Me and Mick

Leave it to Dylan to end up doing a flip down the slide!

Miranda and Rebecca

The Birthday Boy!

Lets see how good my memory is...

We had Dylan's birthday at Pump It Up. Mick's parents were able to come up and join in the festivities too. The kids and the parents had a blast!

Mick's parents were able to stay for a week and we had a great visit with them. We went to Ryan and Tanya's cabin in Breckenridge for a night and had dinner at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Co. They were also able to watch Dylan play a soccer game while they were here too.

Kristian and Grampie jamming...

Dylan's soccer team

Mick has been busy with work as usual. He also got himself something for a change. He bought a Firebird Convertible and is loving it! He also started back to college this past week. He seems excited about it. If everything goes as planned he should be done in a year. He was sick all last week and even went twice to the doctor. So you know he wasn't feeling well. It lasted a good week.

Kristian had an awards assembly last week. He had A's in all but one class and he missed an A in there by 1 point! But we are still extremely proud of him! A's, B's, it is all good! He has been working on making a web page for his comics that he enjoys doing on the computer. It is pretty impressive what he can do.

Kristian and his friends at the Awards assembly.

Kristian's principle lost a bet and had to dress up like a hotdog!

The two Dylans...

Dalton, Dylan and Reagan
My little ninja!

Dylan is still loving school. He keeps asking when he will be in kindergarten! It's going to be a while!! He had his first school party for Halloween. They had so much food and he just kept eating and eating! But he does that anyway. From the time he gets up till the time he goes to bed, he is hungry! I don't know where he puts it though.

I have been busy chauffeuring them around. I am glad that soccer is over though. I felt like I lived in my car from 12:30 to 7 at night on days that we had soccer practice. It was crazy! Of course the other night Dylan tells me he wants to play hockey! Now that scares me!

ZZ Top
Mick and I at the ZZ Top concert and no... I didn't realize the wall behind me was purple till I looked at the picture. How funny that I coordinated so well though! lol

Mick and I went and saw ZZ Top. They did an awesome job! I kept thinking that they were really old, because they have been around for so long and well their looks don't help with that either! I was shocked to find out that they are only 58! We had a great time at the concert. We went with some friends of ours, Kay and Gordon. We had dinner before there at the venue and it was delicious! Mick and I ended up staying in town at a hotel for the night. We figured it was going to be late by the time the concert was out anyway. It was a nice night out for us. The boys stayed the night with Geno and Jen and had a great time roasting marshmallows. We had brunch the next morning with Chris and Maite. And then it was back to reality and getting ready for Halloween night!

For Halloween this year we decorated our trailer and hooked it up to pull people around the neighborhoods for Trick Or Treating. Luckily the weather was nice enough. We all had a great time. The boys were ninjas this year! Afterwards we went to a mexican place to eat and all of the sudden my eye started swelling up. We are thinking it was something in the salsa, even though we have eaten there several times before. But once I stopped eating it my eye went back to normal. Very strange!

The boys and their pumpkins. Saturday, we went to Cat and Brett's for dinner. They invited Chris and Maite and Geno and Jen, plus families over. It was nice to visit with everyone.

Sunday was a welcomed day of being home! We have been going ninety to nothing here recently so just staying home was a blessing. We caught up on the NetFlix movies we had and laid in the bed most of the day. It was really nice.

Monday I started feeling sick... I guess whatever Mick had he gave to me. I fought it all week and just went ahead with all my plans.. ( I don't have time to get sick) But it finally caught up to me on Saturday. I went to a jewelry party at Jen's and then me, Jen and Cat went shopping. I started feeling the week catching up to me then. By the time I got home last night I was feeling horrible! I ended up going to the doctor this morning. It was like Deja Vu because I was just there two weeks ago to the day with a sinus infection. She told me I needed to take it easy this week and SLOW down. How on earth as a mom am I supposed to do that??? I am taking Monday and possibly Tuesday off from Curves, but thats about all I can do.. So hopefully I am able to knock it out this time and not have to go back again.

Well that is all I can remember for this time. The holiday season is upon us... So not sure when I will be back on here. If for some reason I don't make it back before Thanksgiving I hope that all of you have a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving! Until next time...

Quick Update

2008-10-16T22:53:00.000-07:00

Dylan and Rylee by the creek.

Kristian by the creek.

Me and Jen at Sapphire point, keeping an eye out for chipmunks!

The View from Sapphire point. All the yellow/orange is the Aspens. Beautiful!

Me and Mick at Sapphire Point

Dylan feeding a chipmunk.

The view out of the stairway window at the cabin.

The Cabin with the snow.
The Birthday Gang.
Jacob, Rebecca and Dylan

Jen and Rylee

Tracy, Mike and Jacob
Me and Joann after racing on the obstacle course. What a blast!

Dylan and Joshua ready for cake!

It has been too long since I have been on here, so I will just quickly let you know what we have been up to.

SCHOOL, SOCCER and WORK!! Atleast that is how is seems. We have managed to have a few down times during the last month. We have went to Breck once and are leaving again in the morning to go again. Also we celebrated Dylan's 5th birthday. Once on his actual birthday and then again today, Oct. 16th, with his friends and Nana and Grampie. Other than that, not a lot has happened. Here are some pix of our last month. Sometimes it is just easier to let the pictures do the talking! Enjoy! Until next time...

September 15th

2008-09-11T13:47:00.001-07:00

Labor Day weekend we didn't do much of anything. We hung out here at the house and then went to Jen and Geno's on that Sunday for a cookout. We had a great time getting to catch up with them. Monday, (Labor Day) we hung out here at the house and rode 4 wheelers. The weather was perfect!

The boys are still enjoying school. Dylan asked me the other day if it was summer yet and I told him it was still a long time away. He threw his fist in the air and said YES. I asked him why he asked me that and he said because he loves school and he doesn't want it to be over yet! Strange child, I know!!

Dylan's soccer season started. He has practice on Monday and Wednesday nights. Those days are crazy for me. I take him to school, go work out, go back to school to pick up him and Kristian and then head 20 minutes in the opposite direction for practice! He had his first game this past weekend and he scored 3 goals!!

Kristian will be playing at the homecoming in 2 weeks. He is looking forward to it. He told me and Mick the other night that they practiced out on the field yesterday and he said, they sounded horrible! Hopefully they will improve before it gets here.

Tom Bell came out for dinner last Thursday night. I met him and his wife Sofie, when we were in Hawaii. (remember how Mick always knows someone every where we go!) He was out here for the week for work, so Mick invited him out. It was great to see him and visit with him. Friday night, me and Mick went out with him, Chris and Maite. We had a great time.

Rebecca had a sleep over with us Thursday night. They had a blast! I have been trying to figure out a time to have her out and there always seems to be something going on. Hopefully things will start to settle down soon. I always say that and it just seems to speed up more than anything. I took them to town on Friday and we went to McDonalds. I gave them a choice of there and ITZ and they picked McDonalds! I couldn't believe it.

Kristian went to Connor's that same night for his birthday/sleepover. I felt so sorry for Joann (Connor's mom) she had her hands full! I think in all there were 6 or 7 boys! YIKES!

Saturday night I went to Tracy's 40th birthday. It was so nice to see her and her family. I had not saw her parents since February! They had some really good food too!!

Yesterday I hung the curtains that I had bought for the upstairs. Once I got the first window done and knew how I wanted them I flew through the rest. But it still took me all afternoon. I was very proud of myself for doing it all on my own though!!

Mick has been busy with work and tinkering on cars. He fixed the a/c in my friend Martee's car. He is also working on a truck to sell. Hopefully he will get that done soon before all the cold weather comes in.

The weather has been really nice the last couple of days.. I went out and put some of my fall things out. I LOVE fall! I am ready to carve some pumpkins already! But I will wait.

Me and the boys went to Kellie's volleyball game today after school. They lost, but they played really well!

Well I suppose that is it. I hope all is well with all of you! Until next time.

The pictures are of me and Mick before our night out. Me with the boys, Dylan at his soccer game and Rebecca and Dylan

August 27th

2008-08-27T18:17:00.000-07:00

Not too much going on around here...

I guess the biggest news would be Dylan starting preschool. He has done great! He had one day, the second day, where he shed a few tears, but that was it. He LOVES school and everyday waits very impatiently for it to be time to go to school. He is in the afternoon class and doesn't go till 12:45. Everyday when I pick him up the first thing he says to me is "Mom I didn't cry today!". The first week I had a little something waiting for him in his seat when I picked him up. But this week I hadn't done that. I didn't want him to expect something every single today. So today when I picked him up he said, "Mom, can we please go to the store so I can get some beef turkey!" Which is how he says beef jerky. So we did. He has done so well it is hard not to reward him! It has been really strange being childless even if it just for 3 hours. But somehow I manage!! :)

Kristian is still enjoying school. I had to get him a new guitar case because the other one was falling apart. I walked into the living room the other morning and he had scotch tape trying to tape it back together!! I started to get the duck tape out, cause you know that will hold! But instead I just got him a new case. He had had it for two years. Taking it back and forth every day will cause a lot of wear and tear on it. I am hoping this one lasts till high school and then he can get a new case and guitar.

Mick is gone to California this week. He comes back on Friday. He worked his last late night last Thursday night. What a relief! He had been working those long hours since the middle of June and it got really old! It will be nice to have him home for dinner now and then!

We went to Ryan and Tanya's cabin last weekend just to get a way for a few days. We had a great time. The weather was perfect, except that it rained. But that turned out to be a good thing. It kept us there at the cabin so we HAD to relax. That Saturday we stayed in our pj's till 2 in the afternoon!! The boys love going up there. They love the creek and going to see the chipmunks. Which we did manage to get to do that Sunday. There was a break in the clouds long enough for that and to have a picnic on the river downtown. We ended up not heading back till around 7 that night. None of us were ready to leave. Some friends of ours went with us. We don't get to visit with them that often so it was nice to have a get away with them and catch up.

This past weekend we took the boys to ITZ. We all enjoyed that. Kristian has a game there that he loves. He calls it the big spinner. He seems to win 80 tickets each time he plays. Dylan enjoys the bumper cars and the skee ball. Of course, like always, we ate way too much!!!

I ended up joining Curves and I am really enjoying it. I signed up for a year!! So we will see how it goes. It is a lot of fun. My friend Martee and I have been going together when we can. It is nice to have someone to go with. I went 3 times last week and will go for the 4th time this week tomorrow... I could really feel the burn today! But that's a good thing!

Well I suppose that is it from here. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. Until next time...

pictures... Dylan and Grant playing in the rain at the cabin, Mick, Dylan and Kristian ready to hike, Mick and Dylan taking a nap, which that was the position Mick stayed in for most of the weekend!, the guys playing with the legos and lincoln logs, Ms. Olivia what a doll, Dylan and Rebecca their first day of school, Dylan outside his school and the 3rd day of school when he dressed himself, it was a bit cooler that day!

August 4th - August 12th

2008-08-12T17:31:00.000-07:00

With it being the week before school started we didn't do much of anything. I think I was pretty much tripped out for the summer.

Tuesday Cat and the kids came out for lunch and to visit. We had a great time! We met Tracy and the kids in town for dinner at Red Robin. It was so good to see them, but especially the kids. They are growing up so much!! I miss seeing them every day! After dinner I took the boys to watch Iron Man at the dollar movies. (Mick was working late) We got home around 11 that night.

Friday we went school shopping for the boys. They didn't have a whole lot to get which was nice. Dylan of course had to try on his school clothes in the boys dressing room. It was really cute actually. From where I stood I could see him. He had a pair of shorts and a shirt to try on. He sat down on the floor to put the shorts on, but then realized he had his pants on. So he took those off and sat back down on the floor. So anyone looking could see his Power Ranger undies! I was very impressed with him though. Because when he came out he had re-hung his shorts on the hanger! Kristian was less than thrilled to school shop. He tried on his clothes, but with a lot less enthusiasm than Dylan! Friday night, Mick came home and informed me that we needed to go to town to pick up my laptop that he bought for me. Best Buy was installing some programs on it, so he couldn't pick it up when he bought it. I was SO excited to get it. I am ALWAYS on his when he isn't. I guess he noticed too. Kristian is excited because we are going to move the desktop up to his room... With LOTS of parental locks on it! After we picked up the laptop we went out for ice cream and then came home.

Saturday Mick worked on the car and I cleaned the house. We went over to Cat and Brett's for dinner and got home around 10:30. Matt and Jennifer came in around midnight so we just went straight to bed.

Sunday I actually cooked a big breakfast. I don't even remember the last time I cooked anything more than ... cereal or cinnamon rolls! It was so good! We sat around and visited in the morning and then Mick and Matt went and picked up a truck on Schriever. The guys got home and "said" they were going to unload the truck off the trailer. Me, Jennifer and the boys were watching Home Alone (it was chilly and cloudy out, so it just felt right..) About 45 minutes later the guys come walking in telling us they took the truck for a drive and it broke down. Neither one of them had taken a cell phone, so they couldn't call us. Luckily they were able to get it going and make it back. We never saw them leave and just assumed that they were out in the shop. I mean they did say they were unloading the truck!! We grilled some burgers on the grill for dinner and watched RV that evening. We ended up playing Scattergories and visiting after the boys were in bed.

Monday was Kristian's first day of 7th grade! I took him to school and he was so nervous. Luckily when we were pulling up his friend Zach was also being dropped off, so that helped. I came back home and visited with Matt and Jennifer. We had lunch in Ellicott and then they headed back home. I ended up taking Dylan to the doctor yesterday afternoon because he had another spider bite on the back of his leg. This makes the 3rd one since March. They must just be attracted to him. They put him on antibiotics, so we will see. I got home around 7:30 last night. I had to wait for 2 hours for them to fill his prescription. I was NOT a happy camper..

Today I took Kristian to school and then came home and straightened up the house a bit. Dylan's preschool teacher and her aide came by around 2 to go over some things with me. Dylan actually talked to them. They asked me if there was going to be any separation problems on Monday and I said probably so. He has told me that he is going to try not to cry, but I think it will be more of a blood cuddling scream.... I am hoping for the best though...

Mick had a bad start to the day. He had a dentist appt. to have his permanent crown put on, but when they were pulling off the temporary one they grabbed his gum too. He was not happy. After he left there he swung by Best Buy, only to find out they didn't open for another hour. When he went back to his car, he realized he had locked his keys in his car. And we don't have another set! He called Chris in town, who went to get some tools out of a guys truck to bring to Mick and ended up locking that guys keys in his truck! Mick ended up being able to push the window glass far enough that a lady with really skinny arms was able to reach down and unlock it! He got really lucky! After that I think things eased up a bit.

Well I suppose that is it. Hope things are going well for all of you. Until next time...

Pictures are of Kristian on his first day of 7th grade, Matt dressed up as the "chef" and Dylan and the love of his life Jennifer!

June 25th-Aug 3

2008-08-03T09:07:00.000-07:00

On Friday Dylan had a dentist appt. and they pulled his tooth. He did great. I was so glad when it was over! After his appt. I took the picture of him and showed it to him. He said "But I don't want it to look like this." Oops... Not much we can do about that. By lunch time he was over it. Kristian showed him all the "cool" things he could do with a missing tooth. So he was happy again. Friday night I had Bingo night. The theme was "Sweet Tooth"! There were so many great ideas that the girls brought. I ended up with a nice bucket of Reeses and Snickers! YUM! The tooth fairy also came that night for Dylan. He got $5. We told him it was because of all he had to go through with that tooth. And to not expect that much next time...

Saturday, we took the kids to Itz and had a great time. Harry Potter was showing this time. We didn't watch all of it, like we normally do though. We will just have to be on the lookout for them to come on TV.

Sunday, Dylan and I started feeling sick again. I actually felt it the day before at Itz, so we headed in to the doctor. Come to find out we both had Strep and Dylan had an ear infection on top of that. I just felt like I had a bad sore throat. I wasn't running a fever or anything else. Dylan was running a fever though. I guess next time I will know.

Monday, we loaded up and headed to Matt and Jennifer's. It is so nice that they are only 5 hours away. We got there around 7 that night, which was the time that Matt was getting off of work. So we pulled into O'Reilly's and waited for him to come out. We had rented an apartment next to them, but Jennifer had went over earlier in the day to turn on the a/c and it was still really hot. So we ended up staying with them instead. It brought back a lot of memories of when me and Mick started out, a LONG time ago.

Tuesday, they were both off of work. We sat around and played the Wii and cards. That afternoon we went over to the pool on campus for about an hour. We went back to their apartment and grilled out. And then played some more card games. We did the Wii fitness to find out our Wii age. I am happy to say that mine was 33, Matt's the first time was 64 and 68 the second time! Jennifer's was 57 I think and Kristian's was 35. I was pretty proud of myself for being the oldest one out of all of us to score the youngest. But I did it again and got 47! :)

Wednesday, we went to Walmart and I brought some stuff to make dinner for them and few other things. We watched a few movies, ate, played card games again and then went for ice cream. It was really relaxing to be there and the kids loved it!

Thursday, they had to go to work and me and the boys packed up and came back home. We got back around 3:30 and I just went and laid on my bed. I caught up on some tv until Mick got home.

Friday, I cleaned up and caught up on laundry. Always a good time! We met Mick in town for dinner and then went to Chris and Maite's house to visit for a bit. Grant and Olivia were already in bed, but Maite had some pictures of them. Olivia is getting so big! She is a doll.

Yesterday, I finished cleaning, YIPEE and then went grocery shopping. I was going to pick up some school supplies, but it was so busy I just said forget it. I still have this next week! There is still time... Kay and Martee came out around 5 for dinner and to visit. Mick took the boys to see a movie. It was so nice that we were able to sit out on the deck and eat. I made some Pina Coladas, yum! ( I have the best recipe for them! If you are interested let me know...) Martee made some bushwhackers. They were really good too. Considering how many different types of liquor are in them, I was surprised I didn't get a little buzzed! We were sitting outside, talking about what scares us when we are home alone, when I spot a car stopped at the crossroads by our house. I point it out and we watch someone get out of the driver side and walk in front of the car. It is PITCH dark out, so we can't see a lot of detail about the car. It starts to go and turns in my driveway. I ask Kay and Martee should we go in, we are like sitting ducks, just sitting on the deck. But no we just keep sitting there watching this car drive up my driveway towards us... It wasn't until it got all the way to the garage that I could tell it was Mick and the boys! I didn't realize what time it was and I couldn't see anything but headlights. But we didn't move, we just kept sitting there! I don't know what we would've done had it not have been him! Kay stayed till around 11, since she did have to drive all the way back to town! I was glad she stayed as long as she did and that she did drive all the way out. Martee stayed till around midnight. After Mick got back and put the boys down, he came out and visited with us too. It was perfect outside! There was actually just a slight breeze compared to the normal hurricane gusts that we have when we decide to have people out.

Today, Mick is working on his car, the boys are playing and well I am just hanging out! I have no where to be and nothing to do, but work on this blog! What a great feeling! We have one more week till school starts for Kristian and two weeks for Dylan. Which Dylan is still not sure about it. He keeps telling me he is going to try not to cry... I told him if he starts crying that it will make me cry! He didn't seem to care!! I did get a letter from the school letting me know he will be in the afternoon class. Rebecca will also be in the class. So I am hoping that that helps him some. I told Mick they are probably going to have to use the jaws of life to get him off of me that day! I also found out that the week before he starts that his teacher will do a home visit. So I am hoping that that helps too. Maybe meeting her one on one and getting to know her a bit will help him ease into it. That's my hope....

Well I hope all of you are having a great time and enjoying your last bit of summer. Until next time...

The pictures are of my toothless boy! Dylan and Jennifer, he loves her to death!, Matt and Jennifer outside their apartment and the boys with the big dinosaur in Boise City, Oklahoma. We have passed by it a thousand times and just now took a picture with it. We are always like, hey kids it is the big dinosaur, so they know where we are when they see it!

July 13th-June 24th

2008-07-24T15:56:00.000-07:00

I will start where I left off.

Kim came back on Monday evening. The kids were so happy to see her. Even though they said they didn't miss her, you could tell that they did. I know Kim was happy to see them too.

Tuesday we went to town and had lunch at Fargos. The kids had a blast. We hung out in the arcade for quite a while. After that we went to the park and let them run some energy out there. After the park I took the kids home and Kim had some alone time to run errands. I know she enjoyed that!

Wednesday we hung out here at the house. Kim cooked a roast and all the fixings for us. That was really nice. We had plans to go to the pool that evening, but Kirsten had a spot that came up on her arm and it wasn't getting any better. Kim took her to the doctor and I took all the boys to the pool. It turned out that Kirsten had impetigo, so good thing she took her. Me and the boys enjoyed swimming and closed the place down! They were all asleep by the time we got home.

Thursday we went with Cat and the kids to Itz. The kids really enjoyed that. We were there for 4 hours. I think us adults enjoyed it just as much as the kids did! Thursday night Kim and I went to Tracy's for an adult toy party. Yep, that kind of party.. It was actually a lot of fun. We spent a lot of the time giggling at everything. Mick stayed home with all 5 kids! When we got home around 10:30 all of them were asleep. We were pretty impressed!

Friday, Dylan had a dentist appt at 9:30. So Kim stayed here with the kids while I took him. They took the metal piece off of his tooth and decided to give it yet another week! We got done around 10, ran to Target and then headed home. We packed our bags, loaded up and headed to town to pick up Mick. Then we drove up to Breckenridge to Ryan and Tanya's cabin. They have a really nice place. The kids LOVED the creek that ran behind it. We got there around 5, unloaded and then went to dinner at Bubba Gumps Shrimp Company. It was so delicious! We walked around for a little while and then headed back to the cabin.

Saturday we got up and hung out for most of the morning. Mick went to talk to the neighbor and found out that around 6 that morning a black bear had walked between our cabin and theirs! Pretty scary. Of course the kids were on the lookout after that. We told Kim to go do some shopping in town and we took the kids on a hike. It turned out to be a bit further than we thought and with 5 kids in tow, we decided to turn around. I was tired, so I know they were too. We took them to McDonald's for lunch and then headed back to the cabin. Kim had made it back too. She cooked fajitas for us that night and we watched College Road trip. It was a great day!

Sunday, the plan was to pack up and come back, but... since we had two vehicles... Mick was the only one that came back. Kim and I weren't ready to come back just yet and the kids were having a great time too. So... Mick left that afternoon around 3. Me, Kim and the three younger kids went and drove around Breckenridge to take some pictures. We stopped by the grocery store and headed home to make dinner.

Monday, we went into town after lunch. We made the kids suffer through more picture taking. They were hating it by the end, but oh well. We did let them play at the park for a bit afterwards, so it was all good. We went back to the cabin and laid around for the afternoon. We watched Harry and the Hendersons! It had been so long since I had seen that. After the movie we looked at the hiking list again and found one that seemed more suitable. It was called Sapphire Point. We walked up to the first part of it and there were about 25 chipmunks. I then remembered reading about it and how people brought sunflower seeds to feed them. Oops. Luckily there was a lot of food there, so the kids picked it up and feed them. We ended up staying there for a couple of hours.

Tuesday, we decided we probably needed to head back home. Dylan woke up not feeling too great. He said he had a headache and was tired. When we were driving back and he just kept letting out little cries and saying his head still hurt. I gave him some more Motrin and kept on driving. We were coming out of some turns and up it came! He threw up all over himself. Kim tried to catch it in her hand, but it was too much. We pulled over at a rest area, but they had NO running water! I couldn't believe it. We wiped up as well as we could, changed Dylan's clothes and headed on down the mountain. He felt a LOT better after that. We drove up to the north side of the springs to pick up Kim's car at Mick's work. She ran by the store for me and me and the kids headed home. Dylan was jumping on the trampoline and playing hard until about 6:30. He came in and laid on the couch. I took his temp and it was 103.8. So I gave him some more Motrin. By 7 he was coming back to life and his temp was down.

Wednesday, since Kim was leaving the next day, we decided to just hang out here. The kids were tired, Dylan still wasn't 100 percent and with her having a 7 hour drive the next day, we figured it was for the best. We ended up washing our cars and catching up on house work.

Today, I woke up with whatever it is that Dylan has/had. He seems to be doing better. I still have to give him Motrin ever so often, but I understand why. I have to keep taking it myself or else I feel horrible. I think it is just a head cold. Probably from the difference in temperature in Breckenridge. It was only in the lower 70's while were there. So NICE! Kim and the kids left around 10 this morning to head back to Topeka Kansas. She will be there till Monday and then head on home. We had a great visit! I hated to see her go. We spent some much time talking about when we were younger and just cracking each other up. Hopefully we can get together next summer too, if not before then.

My brother Matt and his wife moved to the panhandle of Oklahoma on Tuesday. They are attending school there. I think me and the boys are going to drive there on Monday and spend most of the week. I figured it would be easier now than when the kids start school. Which is only in 2 weeks from this coming Monday! I haven't done any back to school shopping yet... Maybe next weekend.

Mick has been working a LOT of hours lately. 3 times a week he works his normal shift and then heads into the springs to do software testing for 5 hours. He doesn't get home till around 10 on those nights. I hate it, but its part of his job so... He is hoping to get to work on the car this weekend. He hasn't been able to in a long time.

The pictures are of the kids at Sapphire Point, the kids on the hike, us at the cabin, the view on our hike,me and the boys in Breckenridge, me and Kim in Breckenridge, the kids in Breckenridge and Dylan "hanging on for dear life". Actually he was standing on the ground, but we had him pose that way. He looks pretty convincing, huh?

Well I hope all is well with all of you. And I hope your summer has been as great as ours has! Until next time....

June 30th-July 12th

2008-07-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

I spent most of the days leading up to July 4th weekend getting the house and yard ready for our company. Kim and her family got here on Friday, the 4th. We had our get together on Saturday afternoon and had a great time! It was great to see and visit with everyone that we hadn't saw in a while. Kim and Brandon brought up some illegal fireworks and that was a highlight of the party. Some of the guys brought out their guns to shoot and of course they got out the potato gun too! They ended up shooting the potatoes into the air and then shooting them out of the air with the real guns! I guess they got bored. Which I am not sure how because Dave brought out his new "Tommy Gun". Another highlight of the day!!

Sunday Kim loaded up and headed back to Kansas with Brandon and Benson. Bradon, her oldest and Kirsten the middle one wanted to stay with us. I was actually pretty surprised that Kirsten wanted to stay but she did. We ended up just hanging out at home on Sunday.

Monday Dylan and Kristian had dentist appts. They were both cavity free!! After the appts. we went to the park for a picnic and then to the pool for the rest of the afternoon. We had a really good time.

Tuesday we went to the zoo. We had been there about two hours, when Dylan had an accident. He was running around a corner and a little girl was running towards him around the corner. They bumped into each other and then Dylan crashed into a fence. He had blood all in his mouth. After I was able to get a better look at it I realized that his top tooth had been pushed back. So I loaded everything up and we headed out. I called the dentist and they said to bring him right in. We were on the opposite side of town and it took a LONG 40 minutes to get there. They gave him some nitrous and 3 shots. He was able to pull the tooth back into place, but the problem was how damaged his gum was. It was pretty cut up. It took us 2 hours that night just to get him to eat some yogurt. But once he figured out the technique of not eating with his two front teeth he kept eating and hasn't stopped. By the way, the little girl was ok. It just scared her.

Wednesday we decided to take it easy. We went over to our friend's Bryan and Michelle's to see their horses. She has two baby ones. The kids really enjoyed that. Dylan, of course, is allergic to them, so by the time we left both his eyes were swelling. Benedryl did nothing for it unfortunately. He looked like Rocky by the middle of the day. With his busted lip and eyes. But he didn't let it stop him.

Thursday, I took them to see Speed Racer at the Dollar movie. Kristian wasn't feeling well so we figured that was something easy to do. When we got out of the movie he felt better... not sure what was up with that. I think it may be his 12 year molars coming in and giving him trouble. The dentist said that they were coming in. After the movie we went and got Bradon and Kirsten a tooth brush. They said they wanted one to leave here for the next time they came. I guess that means they are having a good time!! We ended up going bowling for a couple of games and then heading home.

Friday Dylan had his follow up appt. They decided to give it another week and then go from there. If it isn't any better than he will just take it out. I guess because of the damage to the gums it is hard for them to take back hold of the tooth. After the dentist we took the kids to the park. Mick took off yesterday, so he got some time with the kids too. We took them down to the arcades in Manitou Springs and then to lunch at Fargo's Pizza Company. They really liked that place. We ended the day at another park for a few hours.

Today we got up and went back over to Bryan and Michelle's to go for a ride in the wagon. They have a few draft horses and used one to pull the wagon. The kids really enjoyed that. We also got to see one of the babies again. Dylan didn't swell up near as bad as last time. I told him to try not to touch the horses, but... I knew that was asking way too much. He LOVES animals.

We are going to take the kids swimming later on today. Kim is coming back on Monday to spend a few days and to pick them up. Neither one of them are ready to go. Which is great to hear. I am glad that they are having such a good time. I hope we can do this every summer. It is so nice to have them get to visit and to get to know them better. They are great kids! Maybe next summer Benson can stay too, but.... we will just have to see! :)

Pictures are... The kids patiently waiting for the safety check to be over with at the pool, getting ready to shoot fireworks, Kirsten, Dylan and Max, the kids at the zoo, the kids over at Michelle's with the horses and Dylan after the fact, at the park and today at Michelle's with the wagon

End of June

2008-06-30T12:11:00.000-07:00

Well we are finally back into the swing of things after the vacation. Funny how things just start right back up.

I will start with the Wednesday after we got back. Mick went back to work that day and has been going like crazy ever since. After being gone for 2 weeks things tend to pile up. I think he is finally starting to feel a bit of relief. I had a dermatologist appt. Just to have some things looked over. I swear I wasn't in with the doctor for me than 2 minutes. I could tell their focus was more on cosmetic skin appts than just doing a skin check. Everything was ok according her though. After that me and the boys went to the park for a picnic. It was really nice out that day. Dylan had an appt that afternoon. He had had a bite come up on his leg that looked at first like a mosquito bite and then as time went by looked like a big bruise. The doctor never said what exactly she thought it was, but did say it was either a bug bite or spider bite. It had made a knot under his skin so they put him on antibiotics for 7 days and it cleared it up.

Friday we went into town and ran some errands. I desperately needed to get some groceries! We ran by and saw Jen too. She was having a garage sale. She ended up letting the boys pick out something. Kristian got Space Balls the movie and Dylan picked out a microscope. Stuff they just couldn't live without!

We ended up doing much of nothing Saturday. Which was actually kind of nice. I caught up on my TV that I had missed while we were gone. Mick worked out in the shop.

Sunday I woke up early and took the guys breakfast in bed. It was cereal, but it still counts! We all ended up in our bed, so I turned on our vacation videos and we watched them. Dylan asked me if he could have breakfast in bed every day. I just laughed! I am not about to start that everyday! We spent the afternoon cleaning up the yard and putting a gate at the top of the stairs on the deck. That way when we want to we can keep Max off of it or vice versa and we won't have to worry about little ones falling down the stairs.

Monday I worked on my blog! That took forever it seemed like. I also worked on the guest list and invitations for our 4th of July get together. Sadly that took me most of the day.

Friday, (I skipped the rest of the week, because all I really did was clean and do laundry, BORING!!) Tracy, Rebecca and Jacob came out to visit. They stayed for lunch too. We had a great visit. Kristian had Connor over too. He spent the night Thursday night. After all the company left I decided to go lay out and get some sun. I get out on the deck and here comes the Fed Ex guy... I deal with him, clean up a bit and head back out. And I am not kidding as soon as I get out there again here comes the UPS guy! I am like FORGET IT!! I give up. The kids thought it was funny though.

Saturday, it was actually cold here. I don't think it got much above 65. We ran into town to pick up some things at Lowes and then came home. Jen and Geno were going to come out for dinner, but unfortunately their son got sick. We ended up working on wiring in our speakers. We put speakers out on the deck, in the kitchen, dining room, our bedroom and the bathroom. We need to get 3 more pairs, but haven't decided just yet where we want to put them. Sunday we spent the day finishing up the speakers. We grilled out some steaks for dinner and just relaxed the rest of the night.

Today I have put the boys to work. I had Kristian mowing, which he thinks is such hard work. It is a riding lawnmower for heaven's sake! I NEVER had the luxury of having one of those when I was his age and in fact didn't have one till we bought this one 2 years ago! If he only knew.... Dylan has been helping me pull weeds and dig out things in the shed. We are having a get together on Saturday night instead of Friday night. That way if people want to go watch a fireworks show they can. We are going to set up the volleyball net, fun fun! My sister Kim and her family are coming in on Friday to spend the weekend with us. I think her oldest Bradon is going to spend a week or two with us too. He is so excited about it!

Well I guess break time is over. I better get back out to the yard, which is more like a desert! We need some rain desperately. Everything is still pretty dead looking, which is very unfortunate. Hope everyone has a safe and Happy 4th of July! Until next time!

Not so many pictures this time... The one of Dylan was taken after he and I made brownies. He came to me with the hat and apron on and asked if we could make them. How could I say no to that cutie? And the other one is of Kristian after his haircut. For those who haven't heard... We made a deal with him that he could grow out his hair as long as he didn't make below a B on his report card. Well unfortunately he did the last nine weeks. And it was in Math, which those of you know we had a VERY rough year with his Math teacher, so to have to keep our end of the deal in tact was a very difficult decision for us. But once you say it to them you have to keep your word. What made it even more frustrating is he had A's in everything else. He ended up with a 78 for the nine weeks and an 80 for the semester average. It was a VERY long day that day. But he seems to be over it.

ALOHA!!

2008-06-24T07:49:00.001-07:00

This is a long blog, but there wasn't much I could leave out and believe me there was more I wanted to add!

On Wednesday, (June 4th) we flew to Hawaii. We were all so excited and couldn't wait to get there. The boys did great on the plane ride, even Dylan! We arrived around 7:30 p.m. Collected our 9 bags, purse, laptop bag and back backs included and headed for a taxi. We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and it was gorgeous! By the time we got all checked in and grabbed a bite to eat it was 10. So we all headed to bed.

Thursday Mick and I woke up early. I made coffee and we sat out on the balcony while the kids were asleep (this became our daily ritual, aaahhh) The view was beautiful. The boys finally woke up and wanted to hit the beach. We went first and walked around to check everything out. Then got dressed and went to the beach. The hotel had a lagoon. They rented paddle boats, the big aqua bikes, kayaks, etc.. And of course the boys wanted to ride them. Mick finally gave in after lunch and did an hour rental. They started off with the aqua bike. But after about 2 times around Dylan wanted to try something else. So they tried the paddle boats. Another 10 minutes goes by and he is bored with that. But Mick told him, you wanted to do this so we are. It was GREAT!! Because Mick got to see what I deal with everyday!! I just laid on the beach and soaked up the sun. Taking the occasional picture of them of course. After our day at the beach we got ready for dinner. We went to a restaurant that was right on the beach, hence the name The Shorebird. (plus I had a coupon!) Kristian quickly began to scan the menu for his usual burger, but they didn't serve them at all, not even on the kids menu. So he went with chicken. Dylan being our more adventurous child, went with Ahi (tuna). Mick and I did too. We love fish. At this restaurant you cook your own food! Which I must admit at first I wasn't too thrilled about, but it was actually a lot of fun. So we took our meat over to this big grill and started cooking. There is a chef there to guide you, which was a plus, since Mick was cooking and that RARELY happens. But he did a great job. The food was really good. We ended up taking a taxi back to the hotel because we were all too stuffed to walk!

Friday was my 29th birthday, AGAIN! The boys and Mick gave me some beautiful cards. We also went on the Atlantis Submarine. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. I was nervous about going out in it, because, well I just think about everything too much. We saw a lot of fish, sea turtles and a moray eel. After the ride, we went back and went to the beach for the day. Mick took me to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Kristian was happy because he knew that they had a burger! We sat outside and as luck would have it they were having a street festival. They had all different types of dancers, flame throwers, drum players, etc. It was really neat.

Saturday we got up and took Dylan down to feed the animals. There at the hotel they have penquins, the warm weather kind, turtles, birds and fish that at different times of the day you can feed them. Dylan loved it! Especially feeding the coi! After that we walked downtown for a parade, did some shopping, had lunch and started back to the hotel. Amazingly that took up much of the day. We were all worn out from the day, so we ended up walking out to the beach to watch the sunset, grabbing some dinner to go and headed back up to the room to just relax. It was actually very nice!

Sunday we got up and started packing. It was our last day in the hotel. We had booked a limo to pick us up and take us to the rental car company, but we didn't tell the boys. We told them that we needed to go get a taxi. Kristian saw the limo and said man I wish we could ride in that. The lady then came and took our bags and the look on Kristian's face was priceless. Dylan wasn't sure what was going on for minute or two. They were thrilled. After we got our car we headed over to the east side of the island to meet a couple that Mick knows. You know him, we can't go anywhere where he doesn't know someone. They invited us to a cookout at the beach. The boys were thrilled because they got to play in the water, again. Of course Kristian didn't realize that he had gotten a rash from the sand till he got in the water. So he mostly did the skim board that day. We visited with them for much of the afternoon and then we headed to the house, which was on the west side of the island. It was quite funny when Tom and Sophie told us it was going to be a long drive. When we asked about how long and they said 45 minutes. We just smiled. It takes me that long to get anywhere from my house! We started heading that way. Anytime you do something that isn't through a source that someone else has used, you are a little bit nervous about it. That is how we felt about renting the house. You want to believe everything they say to you, especially after you send them the money! We had checked the company out on the BBB and they had good ratings, so we crossed our fingers and hoped for the best. We pulled up to a beautiful stone and redwood gate. We looked at each other and punched in the gate code and it opened. We were relieved but also a bit shocked that it was as nice if not nicer than what we thought. We pulled up the house, got the key and unlocked the door. Everything was perfect! We walked around the "grounds" for about an hour just taking it all in. I call it the grounds because it was 2 acres of nothing but lush gardens, with a pond, a huge open area, where we later found out they host weddings. It had a gorgeous pool, a wrap around deck, etc, etc, etc.... We were completely blown away. We unloaded our belongings and headed to the grocery store. Everyone seemed so laid back compared to the people down at Waikiki. And it was more of what we are used to, especially the quietness!

Monday, Mick and I did our morning ritual of sitting outside enjoying the quietness and then you guessed it headed to beach. But not until around 11. We ended up at Sunset Beach. It was great. Not a lot of people, the water was beautiful and clear. There was a place to snorkel, so we were set! We headed back to the house that afternoon and the boys headed straight to the pool. If they weren't in the ocean they were in the pool. We went out to eat that night at Haleiwa Joes. It was very good food and again right on the ocean! Kristian got his burger and the rest of us got our fish!

Tuesday we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We did the World's Largest Maze. OH MY GOSH. It took us 45 minutes to get to all the stations that you have to check off and we had a map! There was someone who had previously finished it in 5 minutes! Obviously he didn't have me on his team! And wasn't dragging two kids along either. We rode the train out to the pineapple fields and listened to a story all about them. Did you know the plants are all hand planted and hand picked! And that it takes 20 months for the first pineapple to grow and 14 months for the second!! After that they have to start all over. No wonder there is a $5000 fine if you pick one! It was neat to find out the things we did, but it was boring to Mick and I. The boys listed it as one of their top things we did! Right up there with the beach and the pool, so you know they enjoyed it! After the pineapple tour we went back to the house and just relaxed. The boys swam and Mick and I just sat and watched. Good times!

Wednesday we decided to drive around the island. I mean how long can it take right? Well we started off around 10:30 a.m. and headed north and then down the east coast. We stopped at all the touristy stops, had lunch and ended up at Diamond Head around 3 that afternoon. I didn't realize as I made my way to the trail just what I was in for! Fortunately they had a sign. It said the trail was .8 of a mile. That is was no walk in the park, that in fact the nice sidewalk that we were walking on would soon come to an end and lead to a very eroded and rocky path that would be steep in most spots. But not only that there would be two sets of steep stairs and two tunnels that we would go through. It was highly recommended to wear the appropriate shoes. I was in Old Navy flip flops, while the guys where in socks and shoes. I told Mick, maybe I shouldn't do this, but he said, we don't have to go all the way, lets just go until we want to stop. I knew I was in it for the long haul. Once Mick starts something he doesn't stop. Before we even left we told the boys, if you don't whine we will get a shaved ice (snow cone) when we get back down. So we took off. Before we even got off the sidewalk, Dylan asked to be carried, funny I was thinking the same thing... He kept asking and I told Mick maybe I should take Dylan to the car, while him and Kristian hiked it. I thought it was a perfect plan, but Mick didn't. He told Dylan we just aren't going to hike it. Which Dylan knew meant no shaved ice. So he started crying I want to go up, I want to go up. These people are passing us looking at us like we are crazy! So again, we laid out the rules for Dylan and we took off. The sidewalk ended and Mick said we can turn around if you want. I just glared at him. Then we made it to the first flight of stairs, again he asked... He got the look again. Every time we came to a new hurdle he would ask and again he would get the look. I knew he was just seeing if I would call his bluff. We weren't turning around no matter how far we made it. And I am proud to say that after a LONG walk to the top we made it. The view was amazing! I felt like Rocky when he ran up the steps in Philly and pumped his fists in the air!! Yo Adrian!! The walk down was a lot faster, thank goodness. As we came around the last corner, Mick and I noticed that the truck selling the shaved ices seemed to be missing! We looked at each other and then the kids, which by the way did a great job! So well that we did a double check to make sure they were actually our kids! Just kidding. Since the shave ice stand was closed we went in search of another one, but unfortunately they only stay open during the heat of the day. So... instead we walked around Waikik and had dinner. We got back to the house around 9:30 that night, with still about a quarter of the outskirt of the island left to see.

Thursday after being gone all day the day before, we decided to just hang out in Haleiwa. We relaxed at the house till around lunch and then walked down town to find a place to eat. When we walked out of the restaurant, it was pouring down rain. Of course it was, since we didn't have a car! Luckily there was a porch we could hang out on while we waited the rain out. The boys, who you would've thought had never seen rain before, played out in it and were soaked. We are used to the rain here where you are freezing once it starts raining, but there it just made you warmer. Once it had slacked off we walked down and got a shaved ice. The place we went to was called Matsumotos. It has been in business for over 40 years. They can sell over a 1,000 shaved ices a day! Considering where it is located that is a lot! There was always a line out the door and up the street when we passed by, but luckily on this day it was just out the door. Mick and I decided to try it like they eat it there. Which is with ice cream in the bottom, then they add sweet red beans, basically pintos with sugar and then the snow cone. It is a very different type of shaved ice, but it wasn't too bad. With that said, I won't ever order it that way again, because it is not my favorite way to eat it, but at least we tried it. We sat and ate our snow cones out in front of the store and then started walking back to the house. We were almost to the house and it became a downpour. I picked up Dylan and took off running. But then I thought what does it matter! We aren't going anywhere, so we just walked. It was actually really nice. That evening we drove down to Sharks Cove and looked at the tidal pools. We saw crabs, sea urchins, hermit crabs, fish, etc... The kids enjoyed that. We stuck around and watched the sunset too.

Friday we got up and headed over to the east side to Hanauma Bay. It is supposed to be the best snorkeling spot on the island and tends to be very busy. We got there around 11:30 and they already had signs saying they were full. So we went and had lunch and then decided to give it another try. Still full. So we drove down a bit and turned around. As we were driving passed it, they opened up. Talk about luck! We loaded our arms with all of our things and headed out. They make you watch an 8 minute video about how to protect the reef and animals, etc. Then you walk down this steep road to get down to the beach. We found a spot to plop down, got all our equipment on and headed out. Right off I was uninterested. The waves were way too big for snorkeling and just being in knee deep water I couldn't see my feet. I like to be able to see where I am walking. I told Mick go ahead, I am going to hang up here with Dylan. So him and Kristian went out a bit and saw some fish. But he agreed it was way too stirred up. Mick tried one more time to go further out, but to no avail. We ended up calling it a day after about 2 hours. Which was a bummer. After there we drove over to the part of the island that we had missed the other day. We went to Ko Olina Resort. They have 4 lagoons to swim in. The boys instead just played in the sand and built a tunnel. Mick and I laid on the beach and relaxed. He was pretty worn out from Hanauma Bay. We went back to the house and grilled out for dinner.

Saturday we got up and cleaned up the house a bit. Tom and Sophie were coming over around 1 to visit and eat. We went to the store for some last minutes things and got a shaved ice too. This time with ice cream and the shaved ice only. That was really good. Tom made Korean Short Ribs and they were delicious! We had some BQ chicken, potatoes, beans and bread too. It was so good! They ended up staying till about 8:30 that night. We had a great visit with them.

Sunday, was our last day.... None of us were ready to go home. I actually half joking half serious told Mick we could switch our tickets! It didn't work!! Our flight wasn't out till 9:20 that night, so we went to Sunset Beach for the first part of the day. Then went back and swam in the pool. We cooked some Mahi Mahi and shrimp on the grill for lunch. After that it was time to start packing. We got everything loaded and then took some last minute pictures. We checked in our rental car, rode the shuttle to the airport, checked in our luggage, made it through security and then looked at the time... It was only 6:30! UUUURRRRGGGG. We still had 3 hours. We are so used to dealing with the Denver airport where there is always a line for check in and security. You easily spend an hour or an hour and a half waiting. So... we totally misjudged that. So when you got time what else do you do but shop!! Actually first we grabbed something to eat. Then we shopped. The first store had travel pillows and Dylan just HAD to have one. Mick told him we are going to look in other stores, are you sure this is what you want and it was. So he bought it. Then we hit the next store. They had soft cuddly sea turtles and you guessed, Dylan wanted one. Mick told him no he already picked something out. We walk out of the store and Mick whispers to me, they are really soft! I knew Dylan had him wrapped around his finger then! I went to a store across the way and I saw the guys back in that store. Mick gave in. All the while Kristian was like a squirrel storing nuts. He was keeping a tally on what Mick was spending on Dylan. Too funny! Kristian didn't find anything he couldn't live without so we boarded and headed for L.A. You know, I thought taking the night flight would be great. It would give us all day there on our last day and we would all sleep on the plane ride. I realized quickly that it was a bad choice. As we are making our way out to the runway, they announce that the movie feature will be Spiderwick Chronicles. The boys eyes light up. They are so excited. I am thinking WHY would you show a kids movie at night!! They need to sleep. Little did I know that would be the best part of the flight. I actually slept until the movie went off. Dylan fell asleep for what I am guessing 30 minutes after the movie. Then he couldn't get comfortable and his legs were hurting him. ( I have to give him Motrin almost every night because of growing pains in his legs and it was in my suitcase because of the stupid 3 oz rule!) So I just kept massaging his legs. He would sleep for about 20 minutes and then be back up. It was a LONG flight! We made it to L.A. grabbed some breakfast and headed to Denver. That flight was wonderful. We sat on the side with two seats and we put the boys in front of us. I was out before we even took off, as was Mick. Mick had given Dylan his I-Pod and some time during the flight I woke up to Dylan singing. I don't remember what song, I just remember leaning up and telling him to not sing so loud. He loudly said OK! I don't even know how loud he had it turned up. At the time I didn't care! We landed in Denver and Dylan was out! Of course!! We waited for everyone to get off and then we woke him up. We got home around 3 that afternoon and tried not to sleep. But that didn't work. Mick and I were out for about an hour. I didn't want to wake up, but Mick said we needed to stay awake. We ended up not going to sleep till around 1:30 and sleeping till 10! Great plan. Oh well!

We had an awesome time on our trip! Mick and I had went to the Bahamas in 2002 and the water there is clearer, but Hawaii still beats it. The weather while we were there was the best. The only time it was humid was the day it rained, but it didn't last long. There seemed to always be a trade wind blowing which kept it just right for sitting outside. I know some people probably thought we were crazy for taking the kids along, but we can't imagine not taking them. The trip is something they will always remember. We only have our kids for a short part of their lives and we want to spend as much time making memories with them while we can.

The pictures are.... The boys on the plane, the boys swinging on vines in Waikiki, the view of our hotel from the water, the boys posing with the statue of the famous surfer Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, the boys in the limo, view from the front door of the house, the gardens at the house, our favorite spot to relax, one of the house's porches, us at Haleiwa Joe's (Kristian took the pix), a pineapple split, Mick and the boys at the pineapple plantation, Me and the boys there, Dylan relaxing on the beach, Kristian taking a much deserved nap, the boys in the pool, View of Waikiki from Diamond Head, the boys after the hike, Sunset at Sunset Beach, the boys with a sea turtle, (they are an endangered species), Hanauma Bay, Me and the boys in front of the house, all of us in the gardens.

Well if you are reading this you managed to hang in there till the end of the blog! I know it is a long one, but there was so much to write about. I hope each and everyone of you are having a great summer! Until next time...

June 2nd

2008-06-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Well we survived the trip back to Oklahoma! We had a great time seeing everyone.

We left on Saturday and flew into Oklahoma City. The airport is great because it isn't near as busy as DFW and very easy to get in and out of. But still it took me 20 minutes to find the right road to get to interstate 40. I kept turning around and turning around. I was so frustrated!! In the process, I went to roll up the windows in the car and rolled Dylan's wrist up in the window! So now I am lost, frustrated and dealing with a very unhappy little boy! I felt horrible. It actually burned his arm! Once I got him calmed down we were back on the road and on our way. When we got into Hugo, we went and saw my family for a little while and then headed over to Mick's family. We spent the night there and then celebrated Tollie's (Mick's mom) birthday on Sunday. Mick's aunt and uncle and his sisters came out too. We had a really good time. We played Chicken Foot later on and me and Mick's mom beat Tandi's husband a few times. (He HATES to loose!) Later that evening I went over to see my mom and them for dinner. Monday we went out to Tammy's for a cookout. I got to see my cousin Christi and her fiancee, some of you might remember him, Gary Smith?? He went to high school with me and I hadn't seen him since then. They are getting married in October. Tammy trimmed Kristian's hair! But you really can't tell. I went into town after that and we stayed with my sister Kim. Tuesday we didn't do much of anything. It rained the entire day! I went and tanned at Tammy's shop and that was about it. Wednesday I had an appt. with Tammy at 8 to get my hair done. (yes even as a sister I have to make an appt.!) I tanned again and then went back to Kim's. We got the Banzai Water Slide out for the kids and she and I laid out on the trampoline. We used to do that all the time when we were younger. Me and Kristian got so burnt! I guess I didn't put on enough sunscreen! Thursday was my dad's birthday. Kim and I and all the kids went to Wal-mart to get the food. We were right in the middle of cooking and Dylan came in and said his throat hurt and then up it came.... He threw up! He had been drinking chocolate milk and then went and jumped on the trampoline. It was so hot out that it just didn't settle well. I put him in the tub and Kim and I cleaned that up. We had just got everything settled down when her little boy Benson, got stung by a bee! We had a to keep a close eye on him because he had never been stung before. This is the same little guy that after eating catfish, his face swelled up like a pin cushion and his throat started closing. He can't even be in the same place were fish is being cooked or his eyes swell shut! Which btw, he had eaten fish in the past and never had a problem with it... Anyway, somehow we got it all ready on time! Dad didn't have a clue. It was great. Friday, me, Kim and the kids drove down to Lewisville and took them to Rainforest Cafe. Then we stopped by Frisco to pick up all the tuxes for the wedding. We then drove to Bonham for the rehearsal. After the rehearsal, us girls and Dylan (he wouldn't stay with anyone!, such the momma's boy) went to Sherman to Olive garden to eat for the Bachelorette party. There was about 20 of us. We had a great time! Saturday was the day! We first went to Bradon's baseball game in Hugo and then rushed home to get showers and get down to Bonham by 2 for pictures. Kristian looked all snazzy in his tux. Although he hated wearing it! The wedding was beautiful! They did a really good job on everything. After the wedding we went and spent the night at my Grandma Haynes there in Bonham. Me and the boys left Sunday morning and headed back to Hugo to pickup all of our stuff. I left Hugo around 1 and about 1:20 got pulled over for speeding! I only got a ticket. I was on the turnpike where the speed limit is 75, I was going 82! He said it would've been about $200! The car I rented didn't have cruise control, so it was a LONG drive to OKC. I didn't want to get pulled over again. The flight went great, except for when Dylan and I went to the bathroom and got stuck! He tried to open the door as I was unlocking it and it jammed the lock. I knew all the flight attendants were serving drinks, so I just kept yanking on the door and trying to slide the lock. After about a minute we got out. There was a guy standing there waiting to go in and he had a look of horror on his face. I just smiled and said, watch out for the door! It was too funny! We got home around 11 last night.

I failed to mention that Mick was gone to Virginia last week, so I did the trip back home all on my own! I think that deserves a round of applause! Actually a standing ovation! :)

Today I have done much of nothing... I need to empty the suitcases and wash the clothes and stick them right back in the suitcases! We leave on Wednesday for HAWAII!!! We are all looking forward to it. I told Mick that if Dylan needs to go to the bathroom on the plane, he is taking him!

The pictures are of Dylan getting his haircut he wouldn't smile, so Tammy helped him, the kids and their lemonade stand they made $12 and went to the dollar store to get Pepaw a birthday present, all the kids at the Rain Forest Cafe, Dylan with his bubba teeth in, Bradon and Kristian in their suits, the boys on the plane, the burn on Dylan's arm from the window, Dylan, Benson and Kirsten eating watermelon, Dylan and Benson playing in Kim's fountain.

Be back in two weeks with lots of pictures!

May 22nd

2008-05-22T07:23:00.000-07:00

I am trying to get better about posting on here. And I figured I better do it today or I may not be able to until the middle of June!

I had last Tuesday off because Tracy's dad was having surgery. Dylan and I took Kristian to school, had breakfast at Fuel B's and then came back home. It was a cold and nasty day. Dylan's soccer practice was cancelled that day, thank goodness. Kristian had his band concert that night and did GREAT! Of course he sits way back in the back so he can plug into the amp, so it was hard to see him. We could however see him bouncing his head to the beat!

Wednesday after school Mick was having dinner with some guys that were in town for a meeting, so me and the boys went over to Joann's (Connor's mom). She was having a potluck at work the next day, so I helped her make some appetizers for it. And of course ate some too!

Thursday after school, we had dinner over at Brett and Cat's. They wanted to show us the damage from the fire the week before. It came very close to burning down their house. They ended up loosing the barn that had their camper and lawnmower in it. They got really lucky.

Friday I was exhausted. We had not been home one night all week and I didn't want to go anywhere. So me and the boys just stayed home all day. We even skipped Kristian's last soccer practice.

Saturday we went to the boys last soccer games. Dylan's team won their game. After the game the coach handed out their trophies. He was thrilled! Kristian had a double header. They lost the first one and won the second one. They played a REALLY rough team for the first game. The boys felt really beat down after that game. The refs ignored a lot of it, until our boys started pushing and tripping back. Funny how that works. So needless to say when the second team started it, the boys already knew what to do and they did! One of the parents from the other team yelled at our coach, but... it wasn't like they weren't dishing it out too. I must admit it was nice to win after that!

After the games we went to the zoo. And then we went downtown and had dinner. The guys wanted to sit outside. So we did, but of course I was freezing! It was still a good time though.

Sunday I took the day and went summer shopping. I think I got everyone all ready for summer and for our trips. The boys keep growing out of everything way too fast. I asked Kristian last week why he never wears his jeans I just got him during spring break and he said because they are too short. I made him try them on and yep, he was flooding! The pants that I got him the other day, fit me in the length! Dylan has jeans, but all of them have holes in the knees! Luckily we won't have that problem with shorts!

Monday night we had Kristian's soccer party to go to in town. He got a really nice trophy! After the party we went by Kohls so I could exchange Kristian and Mick's shoes. Mick's were too small and Kristian didn't care for the flip flops I got him. He just wanted water shoes!

Tuesday I was off the first part of the morning so I could go to Kristian's awards assembly. The theme for this one was Pirates of Ellicott. They really do put a lot of work into it! After they presented the awards they had inflatables set up out on the football field. They had a jousting ring, Bungee run and a Velcro wall. The kids had a blast!

Yesterday, me, Michelle (Zach's mom) and Joann took the kids out of school for the day. I had Jacob and Rebecca too. We went and had lunch and then took them all bowling. Rebecca had never bowled before and she bowled a 92! She used the ramp a couple of times, but for the most part just rolled it on her own! Jacob bowled for me a few times and actually got me a strike. He did use the ramp though. After that we went to the park for about an hour and then headed home.

Last night me and the boys watched Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Mainly it was just me and Kristian watching it. Dylan didn't seem that into it. Kristian is going with Connor and his family tonight to watch the new one. I tried to talk Mick into going, but he isn't much for movies. So... Me and Dylan are going to go to Rebecca's t-ball game instead.

I still haven't began to pack for our trip this weekend. We are going to Denver tomorrow night to spend the night. Me and the boys have to be at the airport at 8:30 Saturday morning. I am looking forward to going home and seeing everyone. Even though I know it is going to be so crazy while we are there.

So, I am not sure when I will have a chance to be back on here. We come back on the 16th from Hawaii, so I wouldn't expect anything before then. I hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend! See you in June!

The pictures are of Zach, Kristian and Sierra (Connor's sister) at the park, Kristian, Zach and Connor at the awards assembly, they moved at the last minute, so it turned out a bit blurry, Kristian and Dylan before Kristian's band concert, them at the zoo and Dylan in his outfit for the wedding! Unlike Kristian he likes to dress up, for now anyway.

May 12th

2008-05-12T08:57:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

Last week me and the little ones made stepping stones. Jacob and Rebecca made one for Tracy and Dylan made one for me. Jacob wasn't too thrilled about making his hand print. I don't think he cared for the way the wet cement felt on his hand. We also made Mother's Day cards. I told Dylan to hide mine and give it to me on Sunday and he actually remembered all by himself yesterday morning. I couldn't believe it!

Friday I had a doctor's appt. (yearly Acid Reflux checkup). After that we met Joann and family at the zoo. We spent 3 1/2 hours there. I couldn't believe it. They have added some new exhibits. They were really neat! We left straight from there and went to Kristian's soccer practice. Mike met up with me around 6 and took the kids. I was having a girl's night here at the house and had to get home to get set up for that. They all came over around 7. We spent most of the time talking and munching on yummy snacks. Then we watched P.S. I love you! Such a good movie! Mike took the boys out to eat and then to watch a movie. They got home around 11:30. I think everyone left around midnight. We had a great time.

Saturday we had soccer games. Both of the boys finally faced teams that were just as good as them. So they were really good games! Kristian's team lost 3-2 and Dylan's team lost 4-3. Dylan scored another goal this week. He is becoming quite aggressive out there!

Also on Saturday there was a huge grass fire in Ellicott. Brett and Cat had a very close call. It burned their out buildings and came close to burning their house. In total almost 9,000 acres burned. And that was just in 5 hours! The wind was horrible on Saturday, so that didn't help. Amazingly only one house burned down and no one was hurt.

Yesterday was Mother's Day. We hung out here at the house for the first part of the day, just relaxing. We were going to go back to the zoo and have a picnic, (we bought a family membership, so we will be going ALOT) but we ended up hitting traffic. We sat in it for about 20 minutes and decided since we weren't that much closer we would just turn around. So... We took the kids to the park for a few hours, went and got Kristian measured for his tux for Matt's wedding and believe me he was thrilled, NOT, ate at Chili's and then went to Seven Falls. Seven different falls come together to make one big one. There they have two seperate flights of stairs. One away from the falls so you can get a great view of the entire thing and then one set right next to them. I managed to do the first set (181 steps) to see the falls from a distance and it was beautiful, but we took the elevator down. I am not a big fan of heights at all! Mike took the boys up the flight of stairs next to the falls. He ended up carrying Dylan back down on his back. Glad I didn't see that. As you can see in the picture they are almost straight up and down! Pretty scary. We got home around 8:30, put the kids to bed and then laid in bed and watched the finale of Survivor! It was a great ending to the day.

And now we are back to Monday... Just 7 more days of school! I can't believe it. Kristian has a band concert tomorrow night. And the kids play their last soccer games on Saturday. That has been a GREAT experience. Everything was perfectly planned from practices to games. That is definitly something we will sign them up for again, if they want.

Well I suppose that is it. Have a great week!

The pictures are of the kid's stepping stones, the grizzly bears at the zoo, me and the boys here at the house and then at Seven Falls.

March of Dimes

2008-05-04T16:21:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of pictures I just got from the walk, so I thought I would post them too. They are of me and Dylan. And then the other is of Joann, Dylan and me. Mind you... we got up around 5:30 that morning, so.... I wasn't exactly caring what I looked like. I was going totally for comfort!

May 4th

2008-05-04T11:24:00.001-07:00

I didn't realize it had been a month already... Lets see what I can remember...

I will start with the boys soccer since that seems to be the biggest thing going on the past month. Both of the boys are doing great and have a wonderful time. Kristian is learning more and more each practice and seems to be picking up the rules, plays and positions. Dylan is our natural athelete. He has picked up on everything really quickly! He finally scored his first goal yesterday and ended up scoring 5 goals total in the game. He was so thrilled. I have no regrets signing them up even with the 4 trips to town every week for practice and games. It has been a great experience. We have two more weeks of it and then we are done. I think we are going to sign Dylan up in the fall for soccer so that next spring he can play t-ball. The spring t-ball and soccer seasons overlap each other and it would've been too difficult to do both this year. I will keep Kristian in the spring soccer since he has no desire for baseball.

School gets out in just 3 weeks! I can't believe it. The last day is May 22nd. And then Kristian will be a seventh grader! WOW! On May 24th me and the boys are flying home for my brother's wedding. We are looking forward to getting to visit with everyone and of course see my brother get married! We fly back here on June 1st and then leave June 4th for Hawaii! We are ALL looking forward to it. It will be a great way to celebrate the end of school and summer beginning! We are staying the first four days at Waikiki beach and the rest of the time we will be staying at a house on the north shore. This way we can experience a little of both worlds in Hawaii! We fly back home on June 16th. So we will be there for my "29th" birthday... and for Father's Day!

We haven't had many warm days yet here. Maybe a couple of days it has hit the 70's but other than that it has been in the 40's! Yesterday it was a high of 55 and very windy, which just added to the cold. We were all bundled up on the sidelines watching the boys play soccer. I told Mike this is ridiculous! It is May 3rd!! Hopefully we will get some warmer weather soon!

I took the 3 little ones to Pump it Up one day this month. Don't ask me when because I have no clue. It was a weekday, that's all I remember. When we got there, we were the only ones. They all wanted to go on the slide. So we did. Those who know me, know I am not much for heights, but I thought, this is for kids, so it can't be that bad. I made my way up the long ladder to the top. Mind you this is all inflatable, so you don't feel quite secure on your feet. AND I was holding Jacob too!! Anyway, we made it up to the top and got ready to go down. Rebecca and Dylan went down first and they flew down it. So then it was mine and Jacob's turn. I thought, well I am a bit heavier than they are so it won't be as fast... WRONG! We took off like a flash! I felt like I was on Splash Waterfalls at Six Flags! I know I had a look of horror on my face going down. All I could think was thank goodness no one else was there! So we went and played on the other bounce things, but Jacob's favorite was the slide. And by now there were more people there. So everytime we went down after that I just had to fake a smile, because inside I was screaming!! Rebecca and Dylan's favorite was the slide also. I still can't believe that it is for little kids!!! After that we went to lunch and went to the dollar movies to see Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Kristian's birthday was April 19th, the BIG 12!! Now an adult... not! Anyway, we had 6 kids spend the night on Saturday and then we went skating on Sunday. ROLLER SKATING! That is where he wanted to go. You know how he is with his Heelys. They are his favorite pair of shoes. So it seemed only fitting. We had a couple of more kids that met us there and ended up with 13 people total, including adults. He had a great time. We were there for four hours and we all skated. Mike and I hadn't been on skates probably since jr. high! But luckily we remembered how and managed not to fall. Dylan had a blast too. He skated the entire time. I thought he wouldn't last very long, but he proved me wrong. After the party we had a couple of kids that needed to be dropped off. Since we had two cars in town, Mike asked if I wanted him to take all the kids and I could go ALONE in his car. DUH! Of course I would take him up on that. So I was taking my sweet time, driving with the radio up and just enjoying the quietness. I ran by and picked up some dinner and headed home. As soon as I got home Mike called to tell me that after they left he went by the gas station and one of the kids barfed all in the back of the suburban! I was SO glad that he took them and not me. I don't do well with throw up at all. He cleaned it all out and had Zack sit up front with him the rest of the way. He was lucky enough to be parked by an ambulance getting gas, so they gave him a barf bag and some alchol packets. I guess that it supposed to relief your nausau? Who knew? Mike said Zack made use of the barf bag till he got him home. I felt so bad for both of them. I know Zack had to be embarrassed in front of the other kids. Needless to say when I got off of the phone with Mike I went straight down to the basement with the Lysol and started spraying. I took down the tent, washed all the blankets, pillows, jackets.... Whatever was washable. I didn't want anyone else to get it.

Last Saturday I had my annual March Of Dimes walk. It was only a team of one (me), but that's ok. My friend Joann went and walked with me to keep me going!! We also took Dylan and pushed him in the stroller. Now that was some exercise. It is a 5 mile walk and it is a dirt path. You remember what it is like pushing a stroller on that surface. NOT FUN! But we made it. Dylan did great and didn't complain, except for when we stopped to rest. Afterwards we went and had lunch and then headed to his soccer game where we met up with Mike and Kristian.

Monday night we took Kristian to spend his birthday money at Target. He wanted a Ninetendo DS and a game. He picked it all out and we went to pay for it. Mike told the clerk that Kristian had thought about getting a Wii, but they are never in stock. The guy said, actually we have 14 in the back if you would like one! So we got one of those too. We have been playing it all week. Dylan is very good at the bowling. He beat Mike 220 to 129! He only beat me 184-178! So not as bad. Kristian is good at the tennis. He beat Mike and I pretty good! It is a great game system because you have to get up off of your bum to play it! Which is great!!!

Yesterday we had the boys soccer games and then we went bowling with some friends of ours. (Jen and Geno) They have a little girl, Rylee that is a year younger than Dylan and a little boy Peyton, that is almost 2. After bowling we went back to their house and hung out. We played a game called Sequence that was really neat and Apples to Apples. We left their house around 11 and headed home. We were in Mike's car and came up to a stop sign where there was something in the road. He thought he could straddle it, but... as we drove over it you could feel the car actually raise up off the ground. He got out to look and said it was a big coffee can. He kicked it and said he had something heavy in it, but just left it. We started smelling rubber burning, so we drove to the nearest gas station. It had dented his oil pan and tore off a small part of one of his belts. Luckily... we made it home with no problems. I hope it stays that way.

Kristian also made the A average honor roll last quarter too. Me and Dylan went to his awards breakfast to help him celebrate.

Well that is all I can think of for this past month. I can't promise that the next time I am on here won't be just as long. I will try to make it sooner though. Have a great week!

The pictures are of Kristian and Dylan at the Awards Breakfast. The BIG slide at Pump It Up, if you look closely you can barely make out Dylan sitting at the top. Another bounce thing at Pump it Up. The 3 little ones goofing off. Kristian's birthday party and the decorated B-Day mobile!

April 1st

2008-04-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

Happy April Fool's Day!!! I got Kristian good this morning. I told him there wasn't any school today and he fell for it! I didn't let him believe it too long though.

Things are going good here. Tollie (Mike's mom) came for a visit last week and we had a great time. We went bowling 3 times, went to soccer practice, Mr. Biggs and just hung out. It was a lot of fun. The boys enjoyed having their Nana here.

Soccer is going great for the boys. Dylan has had one practice and has another one today. It was so funny to watch the little ones. They hear the word kick and they all start kicking their balls even when they aren't supposed to. Dylan did just fine without me "holding his hand". He told the coach his name and even raised his hand when the coach asked if anyone understood what he was saying. I was shocked to say the least. Kristian's practices have been going well too. He has practice twice a week for an hour and a half. Which makes it worth my 45 minute drive to town! He seems to be enjoying it. Their games start this Saturday. Dylan has two games on Saturday and Kristian has one. They play eight games total. Kristian will have two games the last Saturday of the season. This way they will be done before Memorial Day weekend.

Sunday, after we dropped Tollie off at the airport, we went and walked around a new place in Denver. It is called the shops of Stapleton. Really neat place. We had lunch and ended up spending about 5 hours there. Needless to say by the time we left Denver, Tollie was already back in Dallas!! But we had a good time. We spent the majority of our time at the Bass Pro shop. The kids enjoyed that alot. But then again, so did Mike!

Well I guess that is it from here. Not a lot of anything else going on, just work and school. Hope everyone had a great spring break!

Pictures are of Tollie and the boys, the boys dyeing Easter eggs, Dylan and his clay, Dylan bowling and Kristian at Perkins.

March 18th

2008-03-18T07:16:00.001-07:00

Hi All,

Hope this finds you all doing well. We are all staying healthy here. Knock on wood, no one has been sick in a while.

The last month has been a good one. We enrolled Dylan in preschool for next year. Some days he is excited about it, some days not. He will go 4 days a week, but only go half days. I am hoping that this will break him in for Kindergarten, when he has to go all day.

We had Kristian's parent teacher conferences last week. He did well again this 9 weeks, but did drop in 2 of his classes. But still managed to hang on to A's and B's. He teachers had high praise for him, except for his Math teacher, but... I have had issues with her from the get go, so I think it is more her than him. And I am not the only parent who feels that way. We got Kristian a cell phone last month. My main reason was because I will have to drop him off at soccer practice alone while I take Dylan to his soccer practice and I wanted him to be able to get in touch with me if he needed to. He was in shock when he got it!

Mike worked some REALLY long hours this past month. He spent a week and a half working from 6 to anywhere from 7-9 at night. Right after that he left for a 6 day trip to D.C. He came back on a Sunday and then had to work the next day. But he did get to take a couple days off at the end up the week.

Last Friday we took the boys to ITZ. It is a new family fun center that opened last month in the springs. We had a great time. I won 504 tickets on the Deal or No Deal game. That was fun. They have different rooms to sit in and eat while you are there. The first time we ate.... we sat in ToonLand. It had cartoons playing on a big screen. After we played games we grabbed some dessert and sat in the Drive In Movie room and just happened to catch Back to the Future at the beginning. We ended up staying and watching the whole thing! We spent the rest of the weekend doing nothing! It was GREAT!!

Next week is spring break! YIPEE! Mike's mom is flying up on Saturday and is spending the week with us. We are all looking forward to it. The boys have been thinking of things to do while she is here.

We are spending Easter at the Bowen's. They are putting together the scavenger hunt for this year and promised to make it difficult for the kids. They always figure it out way too fast!

So I made a big decision this past month. I decided that I wasn't going to watch Tracy's kids next year. It was a tough decision for me to make, because I LOVE the kids to death. But it was what I wanted to do and as the days go by I have no doubt that it was the right decision.

Again, no pictures this month. I know I am getting horrible at this blog thing! I can't believe how I haven't been keeping up with it! But SURELY with Easter, Mike's mom visiting and spring break, I will have lots of pictures to share next time, whenever that might be!! Hope everyone has a very Happy and Blessed Easter! Take care.

February 20th

2008-02-20T06:42:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since I have been on here.

Kristian ended up getting the flu. He was sick for a week. He missed a whole week of school. We ended up taking him into the doctor and they prescribed TamiFlu. Within a day of taking it he was feeling a lot better. It is so hard to see your kids sick. He didn't want to eat and had trouble just walking around, which he didn't do much of. He mostly laid on the couch. No one else ended up getting it, but Dylan did end up with an ear infection during that time. Which was nothing compared to what Kristian went through.

Everything else has been going good. Mike works atleast one weekend out in the shop on the car. Knock on wood he hasn't had any business trips lately and I have enjoyed that! I went last week and signed both the boys up for soccer. It is in Colorado Springs, which takes about 45 minutes to get to, but they don't have it anywhere out here. Kristian will have practice twice a week and Dylan just once a week. But both of them will have games on Saturday. I am really hoping that it will all work out. Both of them are on a developmental team, so I am hoping that things aren't so pressured. After things that we have dealt with on other sports teams that he has done, I just want them to be able to go out there and have fun. I guess we will see.

We went to Rebecca's 4th Birthday party last weekend. I can't believe she is already 4. Time just flies by!!

The Bowen's came out for dinner last Saturday night. We had a great time just visiting and catching up. We don't see them but maybe once a month, so it is nice to get to visit with them every once and a while. We played Guitar Hero and watched funny videos on You Tube!!

Sunday we hung out here at the house. It was nice because everything was clean, the laundry was done, so I could just relax for the day. I have a hard time sitting down when the house isn't somewhat clean. And it is amazing how quickly it can take a turn for the worse!

Well I suppose that is it. I know there were other things that happened, but I can't remember that far back. I will try to write more often than this, but it has been a rough year so far with all the sickness going on. I hope all of you are doing well. Sorry no pictures this time. :(

January 21st

2008-01-21T12:26:00.000-08:00

Lets see if I can remember everything..

I am still not feeling the greatest, but finally with each day I feel somewhat better. I ended up getting a cold in my eyes. First the left one, then the right one and now both of them. It doesn't hurt, they are just very bloodshot. My ear is still a little clogged, but nothing like it was. It is amazing how something so small could be so bothersome. Dylan still has a cough, but is finally sleeping through the night again! Yeah!!

Mike had a great trip to L.A. It actually went by pretty fast. Which I was glad about. I always hate when he is gone. He said his meetings went well and he had a nice visit with the guys out there. It amazes me that he can find his way around out there. Somehow he manages without me!

Last Thursday, Maite and I took the kids to Mr. Biggs Family fun center. They have a place called Little Big town, that is just for kids under 10. Kristian was at school, but he was still disappointed when I told him we went. Oh well. The kids had a great time. We stayed for about 3 hours and then headed back home. Tracy brought Kristian home from school that day and her and the kids had dinner with us. We played Guitar Hero after dinner, but we didn't do too well. Jacob was trying to help us out and well he wasn't much help. But we had fun anyway. Rebecca spent the night with us that night. Dylan has wanted to have a sleepover with her, but I just hadn't been up to it lately.

Friday, Mike came home around noon. We had a quick lunch and headed into town. My Christmas present had finally came in. Mike got me a new buffet for Christmas. We went and picked it up and then went and looked at washers. Mine went out on Sunday night right before he left. Luckily it was washing the last load! So I was good for the week. Thank goodness. At first we were just going to buy something second hand, but decided against it. Mike told me to pick out whatever I wanted, so I did! I have been waiting for that washer to die for years. I just knew if I got something second hand that it would last me for 40 years and I would never get another chance to get a new one! Lowe's delivered it yesterday morning and I have been doing laundry ever since. Man does it pile up! But I love my new washer and dryer. It has so many buttons and options on it I don't know what to do! The Fix's came out on Friday night for dinner and games. We played Fill or Bust, of course and also a game for the Playstation called Buzz. It was so much fun. Four people can play at once and you each have a controller. It asks all kinds of questions. Definitely one we need to get. They also have a junior edition too.

Saturday we went to town. That's when we bought the washer and dryer. We went to Best Buy too and surprised Kristian with the new Guitar Hero and wireless guitar. Dylan picked out a robot. They were so happy. After that we went and picked up some groceries and headed home. I don't think I have mentioned it yet, but... I am now into Guitar Hero also. I figured I might as well join them since it obviously wasn't going anywhere. I moved up to medium the other day but dropped back down to easy to make myself feel better!

Yesterday me and the boys hung out here at the house. Mike ran into town to pick up some car stuff. Kristian played Guitar Hero most of the day and Dylan helped me with laundry. He loves watching the clothes spin around and turning it on. Luckily there is a child lock on them both. Otherwise no telling what I would find washing and drying, the dog, his shoes, etc.. When Mike got home we played Buzz, including Dylan. Mike won, but Dylan, with no help from us, did pretty good. There was some questions that we missed that he got right. Lucky guesses of course.

Today was back to school and work. It has been snowing all day long. I think we have about 3 inches now. It is actually just coming straight down instead of being blown to Kansas. I am enjoying it right now. When I have to drop the kids off in a few hours, I probably won't be enjoying it as much.

Well I guess that is it from Colorado. Hope all is well with all of you. The pictures are of the kids at Mr. Biggs (with Dylan showing how old he is on both hands), my buffet, my new laundry set, the playgroup (Rebecca, Olivia, Grant, Jacob and Dylan. I should have some pictures of Kristian next week. He has an awards assembly on Thursday. Till then...

December 21st- January 9th

2007-12-21T21:15:00.000-08:00

Happy 2008!!

We ended up spending Christmas with family. Mike's cousin and his family invited us to go with them to Breckenridge. We had a great time. The kids did a lot of sledding. They had a blast. We had talked about going skiing, but it was just too cold to try to do that with Dylan. Maybe when it gets warmer. Breckenridge is a beautiful place. Lots of snow!! While we were there we went tubing. It is way up on the mountain. You take a gondola up to it! The four of us went down once together, but after that I was frozen, as was Kristian. Mike and Dylan went down once more together and then Mike did a few times by himself. We all had a great time. We really enjoyed getting to spend time with Ryan, Tanya and the girls. We played games pretty much every night and just hung out. It was a lot of fun. The day after Christmas we headed back home. I had woke up not feeling just wonderful, but as long as I had Motrin in me I was fine. We got home around 9 that night, unloaded and hit the hay. On Thursday I felt a lot better, so we went to Chris and Maite's for dinner and then went and picked up groceries for my family's visit. On Friday, I spent the day cleaning and cooking. My family arrived late Friday night, after a very long trip! When you have 3 vehicles carpooling, it doesn't make it easy. On Saturday, the adults went to Walmart, well except me.. I volunteered to hang out with the kids, since they had been cooped up in the car the day before. We had a great time. I took them out to play in the snow, they loved that! When the adults got back, we pulled the kids around on the 4 wheeler. They had a blast. That afternoon we had Christmas dinner and opened gifts. We also spent a lot of time playing Fill or Bust!! Sunday, we took the kids to Chuck E Cheese and then came back home. Kim's husband, Brandon, drove in from Kansas where he was working to spend some time with everyone. Me, Mike, Kim and Brandon stayed up late playing Fill or bust and Guitar Hero. Monday I woke up and felt HORRIBLE! I didn't get out of bed till around noon and then I was back in bed not too long after that. I ended up staying in bed for a week. I went to the doctor on Wednesday they said it was just a virus, gave me some meds and sent me home. On Friday night my ear starting hurting. Finally on Sunday I couldn't take it any longer, so I went back. I had an ear infection! They gave me some antibiotics, cough medicine and a steroid shot. That helped some, but my ear even today is still clogged and driving me nuts! Other than that I am just tired. Luckily no one else has came down with it. The guys have had stuffy noses and coughs, but nothing like what I had and I am greatful for that. Dylan did get an ear infection from his stuffy nose though, but he acted like it was nothing. We didn't even know he had one. Mike took him in for his cough and we found out then. We are starting to think that New Year's just isn't a good time of the year for us. With Mike's appendix bursting last year and this year with me being so sick, I am almost dreading 2009!

We had a wonderful time with my family. They ended up leaving on New Year's Day bright and shiny. I didn't even get a chance to tell them good bye I was so out of it. It was nice to have them all here. The house was full and loud, but it was great to have everyone here at one time and enjoy everyone's company.

The pictures are of the boys sledding here at the house, the tubing hills, Kristian, Sierra, Dylan and Mike bundled up at the tubing hills, Christmas with my family and Pierson with his bull riding shirt on.

Have a great week!

December 11th

2007-12-11T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone,

We are all doing good. Enjoying a little wintry weather this week, finally. It started snowing on Friday night and has been off and on the last couple of days. Saturday was beautiful. For once the wind wasn't blowing so the trees and everything else looked like it has been sprinkled in powdered sugar. As you can see from the pictures.

Last Tuesday was Kristian's Christmas band concert at school. He did a wonderful job. One song she had the bass guitarists, which consists of Kristian and another kid, start the song off. He did it perfectly! We were so proud of him.

Thursday I went into town with the 3 kids and went to Maite's house for a play date. The kids loved having "new" toys to play with. We stayed for lunch and then I went and did grocery shopping with them. I was pretty impressed with myself. They behaved so well!

Friday I went and dropped Max off at the kennel. Came home and packed us all for the night. Kristian was spending the night at Connors, Dylan was going to Tracy's and Mike and I were staying downtown at the Hilton. His work's Christmas party was Friday night and we decided to get a hotel across the street from the restaurant and just make a night of it. The party is always a good time. The food is unbelievably good! Plus we get to catch up with people we haven't seen in a while. After the party we went out for drinks with some friends and then back to the hotel. Unfortunately the people next door were having a "good time" all night long!! So we had to listen to that all night. I was too embarrassed to call the front desk. I mean what do you say... Anyway the next morning Mike surprised me and took me to a furniture store to pick out a new buffet for the dining room. I have been looking for one for a few months now and just hadn't found what I was looking for. I found one and lucky me... it won't be in till January 7th! But oh well at least I found one right? After that we went and had breakfast. It was so nice just to be able to sit and talk and not be interrupted every couple of minutes by the kids. After breakfast we went and picked up the kids, picked up Max and came home.

Sunday we hung out at the house for the most part of the day. In the afternoon we went to the store and had dinner at Applebees. We got home around 7. The boys had to take showers and get ready for school the next day. Around midnight we got a call from Mike's youngest sister, Tayla. She was having really painful stomach pains and was throwing up. She wanted to know what an appendicitis felt like. Mike told her what to do and she was feeling like that was what it was. So Mike told her to go to the emergency room. She got there and they did tests and the ER doctor said that that was what it was, but the radiologists said it wasn't. So they waited. Finally around 3 in the afternoon a surgeon said, well that is probably what it is because she is very tender in that area and there isn't another reason why. You have to love Oklahoma doctors. Anyway they did the surgery and it was in fact her appendix. Luckily it hadn't ruptured yet. But I guess when your appendix becomes infected it excretes bile and that went into her intestines. They said there isn't much they can do for that. I am just glad that they finally figured it out and that she is on her way to recovering.

Yesterday, the school called and said that Kristian wasn't feeling well. He had a mild temp and a head ache. I picked him up and dropped Tracy's kids off to one of her friends. He came home and rested and seems to be doing better today. I am keeping him home just to keep an eye on him.

Well just two more weeks till the big day! I can't believe it. I am pretty much done with my shopping except for the stocking stuffers... Tomorrow we start the 12 days of Christmas with the boys. They get to open a small gift every evening from under their tree upstairs. They are really excited to start. Then on Christmas eve they get to pick one from the BIG tree! My family will be here two weeks from Friday. I am excited for them to come. Tammy has never been to my house before and all of them at one time has never happened either. It will go great and I am sure like any family gathering will have it's ups and downs, but... at least we will all be together.

I guess that is it from us. Hope to be back on here sometime within the next week. The pictures are of Kristian and Dylan before the band concert, us during the snowfall on Saturday, the trees on Saturday, and some out takes of our "Christmas photo shoot"!

December 4th

2007-12-04T09:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone.

I guess I will start where I left off last time. On Wednesday I put up my Christmas tree and the inside decorations. The boys were a big help carrying stuff up from the basement and unpacking it all. I let them decorate the tree, but I had to rearrange the ornaments because everything was hung on the bottom of the tree on one side. I felt bad moving everything, but... I was afraid it was going to tip over.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Cat and Brett. Lots of GREAT food. I am still recovering from that day! We played a fun game called Fill or Bust. You must get it. It is very addicting and a blast to play. It lets you see just how much you will actually risk. It is played with 6 dice and a deck of cards. Great to take on a trip because there isn't much to it. I had a hard time finding it. I actually found it at a game store at the mall. It was around $5!! Can't beat it!

Friday morning I was over at Joann's around 5 and we headed out. We went to the newest Walmart in town and it was DEAD! They still had a ton of stuff left, so we got some good deals. After that we went to Bed Bath and Beyond, Dick's Sporting Goods, we walked in and out of Kohls and Toys R Us. The lines were wrapped twice around the store. We went to JcPenny's, Linen and Things and ended at Radio Shack. We got a lot of stuff and I'm pretty much done with the shopping. We grabbed some lunch and headed home, just in time because it started snowing. When I got home and was unloading I realized that not only had I left a bag at Walmart!! they also overcharged me! So FRUSTRATING!! So we headed back over to Walmart to get everything straightened out and luckily it wasn't too much of a hassle. They had my stuff and gave me my money back. I just wonder how many people they had overcharged that day who didn't realize it...

Saturday we went and met Cat and Brett and their kids for lunch. It was Cat's REAL birthday. We ate at a new place called Dave's Famous BQ. It was really good AND they are the only place around here that serves sweet tea! Now some of you may not think that is a big deal, but everywhere back home serves it, so that is what we are used to. After lunch we headed to the mall. Dylan was so excited to see Santa, until we were there. He didn't want to get out of line, but he wouldn't talk or smile and still didn't when he saw Santa. He sat in his lap and just totally ignored Santa talking to him and never once smiled. I bought the pictures anyway because I want to remind him of that someday! I ended up doing some shopping while we were there and bought a dress to where to Mike's Christmas party. By the time we were done with all of that it was dinner time and if you know my kids, they think if they miss one meal they are going to starve to death. So we went to Saltgrass for dinner. Then went by Target and headed home.

I can't remember what we did on Sunday. I think we just hung out at the house.

Monday was back to work and school. It was great to see the kids again, (Jacob and Rebecca) I hadn't seen them all week. They always look like they have grown a foot. I ended up getting a head cold on Tuesday night and felt horrible. I still watched the kids though. I figured I could make it till nap time and then I would just collapse, but out of all the days they decided they were only going to sleep for a little bit. So... I ended up loading them into the car and heading to Walmart to pick up some medicine for me. I swung by KFC to get dinner, headed to the school to pick up Kristian and drop off the kids to Tracy and then home we went. Mick ended up working till around 10 that night, so it was just the boys and I. Thursday was a much better day. I was feeling a lot better. Maite and Grant came over for a play date. We had a great time. The kids all got along really good.

Friday Mick took the day off. We hung out around the house for the first part of the day and then ran to pick up a few groceries. That evening Joann and Phil and the kids came out for dinner. Joann and I worked on a craft for the teachers and then we played..... Fill or Bust. Mike still isn't good at it. He risks every time. And poor Phil... He started off not risking, but by the end of the game, Mike had him risking it all. It was so funny. Joann and I couldn't stop laughing at them two. Out of 3 games I won one and Joann won two. So that just shows how well the guys were at it! They also played Guitar Hero and well she and I AREN'T good at that.

Saturday Mike and Bryan went to Canon City to pickup somethings. Me and the boys hung out around the house and I cleaned. We went to the Festival of Lights parade Saturday night. The boys loved it. It lasted about an hour. We were lucky to find a good place to stand, but next year we are getting there earlier. After the parade we went to dinner, went by Walmart to pick up outdoor Christmas lights and then headed home. Mick and I tried to stay awake to watch Christmas Vacation, but we just couldn't.

Sunday we got up all ready to hang lights and what a pain that was. The lights that we had just bought the night before weren't working right. It was too cold outside to stay out there too long and it was a bad day! What should've taken us a couple of hours to do ended up taking all day. But there are lights on the house and that was the point.

Well I guess that is it. I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving and are enjoying the Holiday season.

I only have the one picture this time and that is of Dylan and Santa. Isn't it just the greatest picture ever? :)

November 21st

2007-11-21T11:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. I know I am so late at getting around to doing this, but I just haven't had much time, nor much to talk about.

Things are going good. The weather, up to today, has been beautiful. Warm and sunny. This morning though we woke up to about 3 inches of snow and EXTREMELY cold weather. Of course it could be that I am not yet use to it. I just know it is cold. I spent yesterday baking. I made two pecan pies, a batch of sugar cookies, made a gingerbread train and decorated it with the boys and.... I guess that is it. All I know is I was in the kitchen from 8:30 till around 5:30 yesterday and it was a blast. I love this time of year. Last Sunday we had a surprise 40th birthday party for our friend Cat. She had no idea. She thought she was coming to a Mary Kay party and showed up with no makeup on. But she is one of those people who have a great complexion and don't really need it. We all had a great time. We ended up playing the Movies DVD Scene It game and us girls barely beat the guys, but we did!!

Saturday I went to a couple of craft fairs and had lunch with Joann. I haven't seen her in such a long time. We had a great time. I didn't buy anything, but as usual said many times, I could make that! To which I never do!!

Mike took Dylan to McDonald's on Saturday while I was gone. (Kristian was at a friends house) And he worked on the car. He finally got the frame welded up last weekend. He is so very proud of himself, as am I. He has put a lot of work into that car. I will be so glad when it is done. And I am sure he will be too.

Last Wednesday morning we woke up to a popping sound around 1. It was our refrigerator. Mike unplugged the ice maker and it stopped making the sound. We called and they wouldn't be able to fix it till Monday. That is the only day that they come out this way. Cons of living so far out of town... But it wasn't a big deal since it was just the ice maker. But then on Friday I went to fix the kids some lunch and noticed that the corn dogs seemed a bit softer than usual. After doing a little investigating I realized that the entire fridge had slowly been cooling down, since Wednesday! UUURRRGGGG. So I called the service place and they couldn't get to it till Monday, still. I was in tears! I had the birthday party on Sunday and I had to pick up a cake on Saturday for that. A pretty pricey cake at that! Not to mention all the food I had in my refrigerator!! I called Mike and he said just go look for one in town. So after 4 hours of dragging the kids from one Home Depot and Lowes after another. I finally found one. Mike and a friend from work rented one of those trucks from Home Depot and had it back to the store in less than 2 hours. Heaven forbid Mike have to pay more than he needed to at $5 for every 15 minutes. (Tanya he reminds me of Papaw sometimes!!) We have been wanting another fridge for the garage anyway, but just didn't want to do it right now. I guess someone had other plans though. Anyway, it all worked out and the cake was safe and refrigerated!!

I can't believe tomorrow is Thanksgiving. We are going over to Cat and Brett's house tomorrow but not till 5. In the morning, my plan is to sit and watch the Macy's Thanksgiving parade with the boys, which I am sure after 30 minutes of it... it will be just me on the couch alone, but oh well! I am getting up early on Friday for the big sales. I SWORE I wasn't going to. But Joann coaxed me into it last weekend. Plus I did see a few things that I was interested in. I always enjoy it once I am awake!!! Can you believe that Kohls is opening at 4!!! I don't think so. I remember when Wal-mart would open at 6 and now it is 5! I know the early bird gets the worm.. but at some point the early bird is going to say to *%&$#@ with it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday and eats WAY too much!! Until next time...

The pictures are of the gingerbread train, sugar cookies and Dylan, Jacob and Rebecca.

2007-10-29T07:46:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Hope you are all doing well.

Things are going good here in Colorado. We haven't gotten anymore snow. Just warm weather. Sunday and Monday it was in the 70's. But unfortunately it will cool down just in time for Halloween! No surprise there. At least it will be in the 30's and not the single digits.

Last Thursday Jacob and Rebecca spent the night with us. Tracy had a conference in Denver on Thursday and then headed out Friday morning for a girl's weekend in Mexico. So we took the kids for her. We had so much fun with them. I know I have them during the week anyway, but it is always fun to have a sleepover. On Friday we just hung out around the house. The kids just wanted to play anyway, especially since Kristian was home.

Friday night we carved pumpkins. Mike could never find a pattern that he liked, so it ended up being me, Kristian and Dylan. I did one with Scooby Doo and one with Sponge bob. Dylan did a Jack O Lantern face and Kristian did a spider holding a jack O lantern. We stayed up till about midnight that night. Unfortunately for Mike he got called into work around 10 and didn't get back home till 1.

Saturday I roasted the pumpkin seeds for the first time ever. I always say I am going to and then just throw them away. They turned out really good! I met up with Cat for lunch at P.F. Changs and then we went shopping. There were a lot of good sales going on. Pottery Barn had their Halloween stuff already marked down 75% so I picked up some of that. They had the cutest little plates and cups for the kids.

Sunday me and the boys headed into town. Kristian wanted to be a Zombie for Halloween. So instead of ripping up any clothes that he has we went to Goodwill instead. He wants to wear just a shirt and bluejeans. I tried to convince him to wear a black suit and white shirt, but he wouldn't go for it. It was so much easier when he was little and I could dress him up in whatever. He has gotten so picky. He doesn't like long sleeves and hates wearing a coat. Of course I have to make him on cold days. After that I took the kids to P.F. Changs. Whenever I go there without them I always hear about it. So I took them. They loved it. We headed home after that and that is when I started feeling sick. I was so glad that I at least made it home. I was in the bathroom most of the evening. I kept thinking 'this will be the last time and I will feel so much better soon', but it never happened. I still felt bad on Monday. Not sure what it was, because the kids felt fine. I hated to, but I had to ask Tracy for the day off. I knew it was going to be a struggle just watching Dylan. And it was, but I made it through.

We got Kristian's report card last week and he had A's and B's. His lowest grade was an 87. We are so proud of him. Yesterday they had the Awards Breakfast at school. I took the 3 little kids. They love going to the school. Plus they get to hang out with the bigger kids for a bit. Mike was able to go with us too. It is so neat that they put so much work into these awards assemblys. The kids work so hard, so it nice to let them have some fun.

Last night we went Trick or Treating with, Tracy and her family, Cat and her family and another family from school. The kids got so much candy and had a blast. Dylan has it all figured out now and was running from house to house. It was a little warmer than last year. So that was nice. Of course the pre-teen kids didn't want to wear their jackets, so... for the first time I let Kristian make up his own mind and he didn't wear one. He wouldn't admit that he was cold, but when we got in the car he did say he couldn't wait to take a hot shower!

The pictures are of the pumpkin carving, me and the kids, Kristian and Dylan at the Awards assembly and the trick or treaters. Until next time...

2007-10-15T19:06:00.001-07:00

Last week, was a full 5 day week for me. Kristian had a friend, Connor, come over and spend the night on Thursday. They had a great time just hanging out and being boys. They played Guitar Hero and Sonic the Hedgehog. Dylan just hung out with them and of course let us know when he wasn't being included. Friday I had Tracy's kids, so at least then Dylan had someone his age. Although, Rebecca and Dylan hung out with Kristian and Connor. I know the older two were relieved when the two little ones had a take a nap!

On Saturday, I went and got my hair done. It took 4 hours!! I had her darken it up and cut it. It is shorter than I wanted put it is growing on me.

Saturday night, Mike and I actually had another date night! I can't even remember the last time that we went out two weekends in a row. It had to be before kids, that I do know. We went out with some friends we hadn't seen in a while. Chris and Maite (Mytay) She is due with their second child in 3 weeks. They have a little boy already, Grant, who will be 2 in January. It is always nice to go out with them because they know all the neat places down town to eat. We started off at a French Bistro. We had dinner, drank some wine and just visited. After that we went to another restaurant, just down the street from there, that was actually down in the basement of a downtown building. The atmosphere and decor was awesome. We did a little more drinking and split some desserts. We had such a great time. Heidi, a friend of ours, watched the boys for us. Dylan was a little unsure at first, since he had only met her a couple of times, but he did fine. By the end of the night he wasn't ready to leave and was asking when he could go back.

Sunday we spent most of the day laying around. It was a cold and dreary day. But after a while we got up and around so that I could go buy groceries. From our basket it would've seemed like we were out of everything. Which I pretty much was. I have been putting off buying a lot at once. I HATE going grocery shopping, so anytime I can get in and out of there quickly I will.

Monday I stayed up till midnight watching the Rockies win AGAIN! Now they are headed to the World Series. Their first trip to the World Series, so everyone is pretty excited for them. They have never been that great of a team, but this seems to be a good year for them.

Monday Mike left for L.A. He was gone until Thursday. He had a great trip and was able to meet up with someone we had known in Virginia. So that was nice for him. We met him in town on Thursday when he got back in and had dinner.

Friday I spent the day cleaning the house. That's always fun. Friday evening I ran into town to pick up some wine and other last minute things for our get together Saturday night. We invited the guys from Mike's work over along with their families. There was about 20 of us in all. I cooked two turkeys and then had everyone bring a side or a dessert. We had so much good food. And really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice to see everyone. Some I had not seen since the Christmas party last year. The guys really enjoyed themselves playing Guitar Hero. Us ladies just enjoyed visiting with each other.

Sunday we woke up to 2 inches of snow! Our first for this year. It was so pretty! I got up and cleaned up from the party the night before. I worked on Dylan's Halloween costume. He is going to be a spider. I did some laundry, watched a movie and baked some rolls. Mike... played Guitar Hero all morning long! I couldn't believe it. But apparently when someone turned off the game they didn't save Mike's progress and he had to start ALL over. Boo Hoo! And just so you know, it wasn't me! I think it was Kristian, or at least that is who Mike was blaming.

Sunday afternoon we went over to Brett and Cat's for an early dinner. They had BBQ ribs. It was so good. Chris and Maite were there too. So we got to visit with them again. Their little boy Grant is growing up so fast. He will be two in January! Grant and Dylan had a blast with each other. It was nice because Dylan gets left out a lot with the older kids. But him and Grant were like two peas in a pod.

Monday, Jacob was throwing up, so I didn't have him or Rebecca that day. I dropped Kristian off at school and Dylan and I went to town. We picked up the last few things I needed for Halloween and his costume and a few groceries. That was about it for that day. Which was nice!

Well I guess that is about it for us. This is a really long post! The pictures are of the first snow, Mike and I and Dylan before our date night, the Sand Dunes and Dylan blowing out his candles. Have a great week!

Oct. 10th

2007-10-10T12:31:00.000-07:00

We have had a good last couple of weeks. We went to Alamosa for Dylan's birthday. The sand dunes were unbelievable. You have to see them to appreciate them. It is amazing that it is just sand. The tallest one, which we didn't climb, is 750 feet tall! The boys had fun climbing up them and rolling back down. They also had a great time swimming at the hotel pool. It had an indoor water park. Saturday night they swam for 3 1/2 hours. And yes, they did sleep in the next morning. We drove back a different way and saw lots of fall colors. The trees looked so pretty.

Kristian found out the day before we left that he had to read a 200 page biography for the following Monday. So he did a lot of reading on the way there and back. He managed to get it read. I was so proud of him. I picked him up a book about Houdini, since he loves doing magic tricks, I thought it would keep him interested.

Last Friday Dylan went in for his 4 year checkup and he is doing great. He is 42 inches tall and weighs 38 lbs.! He had to get 3 shots also. Since he has a late birthday, he doesn't have to get all the shots for school this year. But he will have to get 3 more next year. He didn't cry at all. Just gasped and held his breath the entire time. When she was done he let out a HUGE sigh of relief. But said he wasn't getting any shots next time!

After his appt. we went to William Sonoma to pick up some pancake molds, then I took him to Toys R Us to get something for doing so well with his shots. After that we met Tracy and the kids for lunch. We were celebrating her birthday. I ran by Target and then headed home.

Kristian had spent the day at a friends house. So Mike and I picked him up on our way over to Tracy's that evening. She was watching the boys for us while we actually went out on a date! We went and saw the Bourne Ultimatum and then had dinner at PF Changs. We had a really good time. On Saturday we went and put new tires on the suburban, had lunch and I ran by the store for a few groceries. We picked up the boys on the way home. We had a quiet evening at home on Saturday. Sunday I caught up on laundry and house cleaning and got ready for Monday morning. Mike worked out in the shop. He is coming along on the '56 wagon. I think he spent most of the day measuring things. He is getting ready to make a very important cut and wants to make sure it is exactly right.

Dylan is still loving his four wheeler, or four liller, is the way he says it. I still worry about him, but Mike has it set up to go as slow as possible.

Well I guess that is it for now. Hope everyone is doing well. I wanted to add more pictures, but the site was having trouble. So I hope to add more next time. The pictures are of the boys at the hotel water park and then attempting to take a serious picture!

Sept. 27th

2007-09-27T08:39:00.000-07:00

This week has been all about Dylan it seems. His 4th birthday is on Sunday (30th). He wanted to go to a hotel and he wanted to go fishing. So last weekend we took him fishing. Kristian had a sleep over at a friends house last Friday night, so he didn't get to go with us. We took Dylan up to Manitou lake up by Woodland Park. All he really wanted to do was cast the pole and reel it in. By the end of the day he was a pro at it! He had a great time. Afterwards we went to eat and stopped by Old Colorado City for ice cream. Oh and by the way, we didn't catch anything! But it was still fun and RELAXING!

Last night we gave Dylan his birthday gift since we will be gone this weekend. It was a four wheeler. He loves riding ours, so there was no question what to get him. His of course is much smaller than ours, but fits him perfectly, as you can see in the picture. He rode past the sun going down last night and didn't get off until he ran out of gas! It has a kill switch on it, which is why Mike has a leash hooked to it, so he can't get too far away from us. He kept saying he wanted to go as fast as he wanted. But his dad informed him that wasn't happening just yet! He drove really good! I couldn't believe how well he turned and slowed down. I was impressed.

Kristian is doing well too. He is still liking school and hanging out with his friends. His grades are all good, which I hope that they stay that way, because his dad told him if he gets bad grades, he has to get his hair cut the way his dad wants it! So I think his grades will continue to be good. Although I did remind Mike that his hair wasn't that short in school either. I guess I shouldn't have brought that up in front of Kristian though. Ooops!

We are leaving tomorrow to go to Alamosa for the weekend. It is about 4 1/2 hours southwest of here. We are taking the scenic route and hope to see lots of fall colors along the way. We are going to go to the Great Sand Dunes on Saturday. This is the other part of Dylan's birthday to stay in a hotel, so he can't wait! I will have lots of pictures from this weekend to post.

Well I hope that everyone has a great weekend. Until next time....

September 13th

2007-09-13T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Hope that this finds you all doing well.

I guess I will start with Labor Day. Mike's parents came in for the weekend. We had a great visit. Mike and his dad drove down to Canon City to pick up a car that his dad was delivering to Wisconsin. While his parents were here, our well went out again. Talk about a bummer! We were set to have people over that weekend for a BBQ, but we had to cancel it. Mike, his dad and I managed to get the water out of the well pit and Mike hooked up new electrical boxes, since the other ones, that we had just replaced two weeks prior, were toast! But in doing so we did get the water back on. So we were only without water for less than 24 hours! On Monday, actual Labor Day, Mike and just sat around and literally did nothing. We were both exhausted from the day before, dealing with the well. We sat outside on the deck, did a bit of drinking :) and just relaxed. It was so nice. I don't think we have done that since our 10 year anniversary. So it was much needed!

Kristian is still enjoying 6th grade. He told us the other day that he had a playing test in band and he got an A+. He was so thrilled.

Last weekend, Kristian had a birthday party to go to, so it was just me, Mike and Dylan. We went into town and Mike shopped for some new tools, he actually had a list! After that we had lunch and then went for a hike at a local park. I wish I would've had my camera, but... After that we went grocery shopping and then headed home. On Sunday I was going to mow the grass, but it was so cold out. I think the high for that day was in the 50's. I did manage to mow for about an hour and a half, but that was pretty much my limit. Luckily the grass doesn't look all that bad. Mike had plans to work out in the shop on Sunday, but his work had other plans. He was on call and like always, he got called in. He was not happy about it, but it is his job. So what can you do?

Dylan's 4th birthday is coming up on the 30th. I think instead of having a party we are just going to go away for the weekend. We asked him what he would rather do, a party or stay in a hotel. He said stay in a hotel. That's my boy!! Not that I don't enjoy putting together a party and having everyone out, it will be nice for a change.

I am finally getting to have my Pampered Chef party on Saturday. It was supposed to be a month ago, but that is when our well went out the first time and I had to reschedule it. Luckily the majority of everyone could still make it, so that was good. I felt horrible that I had to cancel it, but? I think Mike is going to be delivering a car for a guy out of Canon City this weekend. The same guy his dad delivered a car for. Luckily he only has to take it to Denver though.

Well I guess that is it. I don't have any pictures to post this time. Sorry about that. I will try to take some for next time. Have a great weekend.

August 29th

2007-08-29T13:02:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is almost Labor day! And that it has been almost a month since I have been on here... where to begin...

Kristian started 6th grade and he is loving it. They switch classes every 50 minutes. He really likes that. He has not one bad thing to say about it. Although the first day of school his lock did get stuck on his locker and he couldn't get back in it, but that has been fixed. He is taking band again this year and still playing the bass guitar. We went to Open House the other night and his teachers had nothing but good things to say about him, so that made us feel really proud of him.

Mike has been going back and forth to California the last month. He had a trip there the first week of August and another one the 3rd week, but it keeps him busy. Work seems to be going good for him right now.

Dylan is doing great. He is loving having Rebecca and Jacob over during the week! So far this year the two older ones, (Dylan and Rebecca), have been getting along. Last year at this time, it was he hit me, she hit me, he pushed me, etc, etc, etc. What a difference a year makes.

I have been busy with watching the kiddos. They keep me on my toes that is for sure. Jacob is walking now and so far hasn't shown much interest in climbing our stairs. I have told him no when I see him going for them, so now every time he walks by them I know because he says, no no no no and tells on himself. We have gotten a lot of rain this month, which has been great, except that the yard needs mowing a lot more than usual. It took me all day Sunday to get everything mowed. I was so ready to be done. I spent Sunday evening sniffling and sneezing. Not to mention waking up with a huge head ache!

I had planned a Pampered Chef party for the 18th, but the day before our well messed up, so I had to postpone it till the 15th of September. I was so bummed. But it is a bit hard to have a get together with no water. We were without water for 2 days, but spent the night at a hotel so we could at least take a shower. They replaced everything but the pump and it came back on, but then two days later we had to reset it again. Knock on wood it hasn't messed up anymore.

Last weekend we went to Cheyenne Canon in town. It is so beautiful there and lots of places to hike. There is also a water fall, which was so pretty. We ended up hiking for about 2 hours and letting the boys play in the water. They had so much fun. Afterwards we went to Old Colorado City to the ice cream creamery and had, what else, ice cream. It was a great day!

Well I guess that should about catch everyone up on our goings on. I never did find the pictures from our trip to Oklahoma. Mike said he saved them on the computer, but?? But I do have pictures this time.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day weekend. Enjoy the last weekend of summer!

Pictures are of Kristian on his first day of school, the boys by the water fall, the boys resting on the hike where Dylan is being his usual silly self and then one of Mike and Dylan.

Our July and Start of August

2007-08-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

I will start where I left off many moons ago...

Our trip back to Oklahoma went great. It was uneventful as far as the suburban was concerned. We had a great time visiting with everyone. We had the chance to go and visit my grandma in Bonham where the boys were able to do some fishing with my Uncle Gary. We took them garage selling and to Trades Day. They each had a dollar and in the first few minutes of Trades Day had already spent it. The boys had lots of fun with their cousins and spent most of their time playing in the water, since it was so hot there. They were not ready to come home, but... all good things must come to an end.

The day after I got back my suburban broke down on us! I couldn't believe it. I was so thankful that it waited until my trip was over. It turned out to be the fuel pump, which is what happened with our other one. We are two for two now and doubt that our next vehicle will be a suburban.

My brother rode back with us and spent the next week with us. His girlfriend, who lives a few hours away, came up too. We had a great time. We hung out, went to the movies and went to Manitou Springs for the day. The boys really enjoyed having Matt around. He is like a big kid. He took Dylan for rides on the 4 wheeler anytime he asked. Once Dylan fell asleep on it, but of course woke right up when it stopped.

I decided to do some painting inside the house. I painted our room and then did an accent wall in the dining room. It turned out really good. Mike said he wasn't helping at all, which was fine. I only needed him to help move furniture anyway! He has spent a lot of time working out on the '56 wagon. He just about has it ready for sandblasting. I can tell he is getting very excited about it. Every weekend he goes out and takes pictures of the progress!

Last Friday, Mike and I had a date night. We went out to dinner with some friends and walked around downtown. We were going to go see the new Bourne movie, with Matt Damon, but it was all sold out. So we just came home. It was still nice because it was just Mike and I at the house, which hardly ever happens. On Saturday we went and picked the boys up around noon and took Tracy's kids for a while.

Mike left yesterday for San Jose California. He comes back tomorrow evening, so not too long of a trip.

I started back to watching Tracy's kids today. I can't believe the summer is over!! Where did it go? Kristian starts back to school on Monday. He had to go get two shots yesterday and did just fine. His arms are a little sore today, but not too bad. He now weighs 95 lbs and is half an inch away from being 5 foot! 5 more inches away from being as tall as I am! Yikes!

The pictures are of the rooms I painted. I had pictures of our trip home, but for some reason they aren't on my card. I figure Mike unloaded them somewhere on my computer to make room for his car pictures. I will find out and add them later.

Have a great week!

Happy Fourth of July

2007-07-04T20:42:00.001-07:00

I hope that this finds you all safe and sound. I hope that you all had a very Happy Fourth of July.

WE did!

On Sunday I decided that since Mike was going to be going out of town for a week to Germany, that the boys and I would go home and see everyone. We are leaving bright and shiny in the morning to go to Oklahoma. We are going to stay for two weeks. My brother is supposed to ride back with us and spend a week here. We are driving home and hopefully will have an uneventful trip this time. (last time we broke down!) That is the reason I am blogging today. Since I will be gone, I won't have the opportunity to blog until then. But the flip side is I will have lots to share and lots of pictures to post too. So until then, I hope everyone stays safe and continues to enjoy your summer! See you soon.

The pictures are of Max relaxing in his bath. I have never seen a dog that actually liked to take a bath, btw, he is riding home with us tomorrow too! Please keep me in your prayers, a dog, two boys and a 13 hour car trip! Need I say more? The others are from our fourth of July. We went to some friend's house for a get together and then let the kids do some fireworks tonight. Dylan and Kristian actually lit some themselves!

June 30th

2007-06-30T18:04:00.001-07:00

Wow, it has been only a week and I am back on here!

We have had a great week. Last Saturday, I went to afternoon tea with Cat at the Broadmoor. It was so nice and relaxing. I really did enjoy it and can see myself going more often.

On Wednesday, Tracy and I took the kids to the zoo in Colorado Springs. It was a perfect day. Not too hot! Which it still hasn't really been this summer. The kids had a great time. Dylan even fed the giraffes. I didn't think he would, but he held the crackers up there for the giraffe to stick its LONG tongue out and eat them. I was surprised. Kristian was disappointed because he didn't get to see the otters. Those are his favorites and we never did get to see them. After the zoo we went to lunch and I did a few errands in town.

On Thursday Cat and the kids came out for lunch and to visit. She bought everything for lunch, including dessert! It was so nice. The kids spent pretty much all afternoon on the trampoline. I know they were exhausted! That evening me and boys went to Russell's baseball game, they won! We had a great time.

On Friday, I met up with Cat and the kids for lunch at Fargos. After that we went to the mall and did some shopping.

On Saturday we hung out here at the house. Mike had a guy come by to pick up some things he sold on Craigslist. He also finally got to use his new welder. He had to go into work for a few hours later in the day. After that me and the kids met up with him to grab some dinner. We went to Wahoo's and sat outside. It was a perfect night. I ran by Target after that and then we headed home.

Today we are just hanging out here too. Mike is welding again, the boys are playing and I am straightening up the house. I hope to get to go mow some today. Mike replaced my blades on the lawnmower the other day. Needless to say, the other ones were beyond repair. I guess I ran over too many things that I shouldn't have. Oops...

I hope you all have a Happy and Safe Fourth of July! Until next time...

The pictures are of me getting ready for tea with Cat. The others are of the trip to the zoo.

June 21st

2007-06-21T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay... My computer crashed and it took Mike all weekend to get it up and running. Thank goodness he did. I was about to go crazy without it!

So space camp went really well. Kristian had a great time, as did I. The hotel had a water park inside of it, instead of just the typical pool. The kids spent a lot of time in there. At the camp they got the watch a movie on the Imax screen and also go to the planetarium, plus see a lot of stuff about space. The trip was a big step for both Kristian and I. He was staying in his own room with his 3 friends and I was on a separate floor. It was hard not to be with him every second and make sure he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. But it was good because it showed me just how grown up he actually is and that he DOES listen when he needs too!

I just got back from a trip to Vegas with my youngest sister Kim. We went for our birthdays and had a great time. It is definitely not a place for kids. Although there are a lot of things that the kids would enjoy seeing, there are also a lot of things that the kids don't need to see and it is everywhere you go. Kim and I got a free upgrade on our room. We went from a regular room to a 1400 square foot suite on the 28Th floor. It had 3 huge windows and an awesome view of the Vegas strip. When we finally got to our room at 1:30 in the morning, (both of our planes were late), we just sat and watched the town. We ended up going to bed around 3:30. We just couldn't get over the room and the view and the fact of where we were. I didn't do too bad at the casino, but I didn't do that well either. There was once that I should've cashed out a lot sooner and I didn't. But oh well. We saw so many things, including an Elvis impersonator. We did a ton of walking trying to take everything in. There is so much to see.

Mike enjoyed his time here with the boys. They did a lot of running around and cleaning out the shop. I know Mike is thrilled to have that done. He has so much more room in there now. He has been listing a lot of car parts on EBay to try to get rid of some of the stuff.

I know there are other things that have happened, but this was all I could think of. I apologize for not keeping up as well as I had been, I will try to do better. Hope everyone is having a great summer. Stay safe!

The pictures are from space camp; the water park, Kristian and his friend Zack, Kristian on the lazy river and the group who attended. There was 61 kids who went. The pictures from Vegas are, pictures of our suite. The wall by the bathtub actually opened and closed, so you could sit in the tub and watch TV! There is also a picture of the view from our room, the Bellagio fountains and the lobby at Caesar Palace.

May 31st

2007-05-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

Hi All,

Hope that this finds you all doing well and enjoying your summer! Ours is going good. Kristian and I are getting ready to head out to space camp in the morning. His school is having their last incentive trip and this is the big one. It is about a 7 hour drive. Luckily I will be in my own vehicle and not have to ride the bus with all the kids!! He is looking forward to it! Dylan wanted to stay with his daddy, so I am really looking forward to the trip! It will give me a break for a bit.

We had a great weekend. Mike worked in the shop all weekend on his cars and I cleaned up the yard. I got some mowing done, tried to get the pool up and running and picked up trash. On Memorial day we went over to Tracy and Mike's house for a BQ. We had a great time.

The weather is warm one day and cold the next. If you can believe it, it actually snowed last week. It only stuck overnight and then melted off the next day. I just shook my head.

I don't have any pictures this week, but I will probably have lots next week after camp.

Have a great weekend.

May 21st

2007-05-21T09:04:00.000-07:00

This has been a busy month...

Our trip back home went great. The wedding was beautiful. We wish Tandi and Drew many years of happiness. Kristian did great as the ring bearer, although if you blinked you would've missed his walk down the aisle. He was ready to get it over with! Our flight went great. It was a non stop flight from Denver to OKC and still they lost Dylan's car seat! Amazing I know.

Last week Kristian had an award assembly. They went all out for the kids. It was called Circus Circus and they decorated the whole gym in that theme. They also had games set up and cotton candy, it was so neat. I took the little ones with me and they enjoyed it too. He had an A average for this nine weeks.

This weekend we went camping. We had so much fun. It was so relaxing just to get away, even for just a day. We were going to go next weekend, but Mike is on call and has to stay close by. The place we went to was about 2 hours away. Dylan and I caught the fish, but they were too little to keep. Mike did get to reel one in, on MY pole, when I took Dylan to get a drink! Oh well, at least he had some excitement.

This is the last week of school!! Kristian is on an incentive trip today. The kids that had good grades and no office referrals we allowed to go. They are going bowling and swimming. They let the kids pick this trip and that is what the majority picked. I was surprised since they had the choice of going to Six Flags too! Tomorrow is his field day and he is looking forward to that too.

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. The pictures are of Mike's family, Kristian and Drew, my sisters and me, my family, Kristian at his awards assembly, Max relaxing at the camp, the great fisherman, Me and Dylan and the 'big one'.

Have a great week~

May 8th

2007-05-01T18:16:00.000-07:00

Wow! It is May already!! Where has this year gone...

Ok, lets see where do I start for the past two weeks....

I guess with Kristian's birthday. He turned 11! That is hard to believe. He had a sleepover and had 3 boys spend the night. Two other kids, Kellie and Russell came over the for the cookout that night and to hang out. We sat the tent up in the basement and they had a "camp out". They had a great time. The next day I took them to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle movie.

The next big thing that happened, would have to be the blizzard that hit and no one, including the weather man, knew it was coming. They had called for a rain/snow mix. Well what we got was 3-4 foot of snow! I had Tracy's kids and she ended up with Kristian over night, because there was no way to get to each other. Mike ended up getting stuck about 5 miles from home. He got a ride with some people that live about a mile and a half from here. When he realized that they weren't going to make it out to bring him home, he WALKED the rest of the way. IN his dress clothes. Luckily he had his ski jacket with him. It took him about an hour to walk it. It was in the middle of the blizzard and the wind was about 50 mph. I had no idea he was even trying to walk this way. About half a mile from here our neighbors were stuck in the road with their twin 2 year old girls and their other two girls who are 10 and 12. They were stuck from 1 p.m. that afternoon till the next morning about 8 when Mike went and dug them out. We had lost power around noon that day and they had decided to drive into town and stay in a hotel, but they didn't make it. Fortunately they were prepared, just in case they didn't make it and had blankets, snacks, etc. There were about 60 cars stuck on the highway from here to town, which is about 3o miles. We ended up being without power until Thursday evening, but we had the generator, so it wasn't as bad as it would've been. They had over 200 power poles down because of the snow and wind. It was a mess. Hopefully that was the last of winter for us. Of course I say that every time. The weather this week has been A LOT better. We hit 80 degrees on Sunday. The kids were playing in what was left of the snow wearing shorts. Just another day in Colorado!

I did my walk for March of Dimes on Saturday, the 28th. Between the 3 of us, we raised $1255! I still can't believe we did it. Thank you to everyone who donated. I truly do appreciate it!

We leave tomorrow to go to Oklahoma for Mike's sister's wedding. We decided because of the high price of gasoline and because we have a gas guzzling vehicle, that we would fly home. One it is faster and two it was almost the same price. Now how sad is that? Anyway, we are looking forward to the trip home. It will be a quick one, but it will be nice to see everyone.

I don't have any pictures this time. My camera wasn't charged for Kristian's party, but my video camera and it takes pictures too. But I haven't figured out how to download them to the internet.

Other than that, not a lot going on. Just taking it day by day and little by little. I hope all is well with you all. Until next time...

April 17th

2007-04-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

I just realized that I hadn't blogged for the past week, so here goes.

First of all, a HUGE thanks to everyone who bought candles from Kristian for his Space Camp trip. He managed to sell $190 worth of candles, which means we will only have to pay $45 for the camp!! YAHOOOOOO!

On Tuesday, I had a doctor's appt. The medicine that was finally working for me was recalled. What is up with all the stuff being recalled lately? Makes me scared to eat anything! The new medicine does seem to work, but it does have its side effects too. I am supposed to be taking it 3 times a day, but switch around from 1 - 3 times instead. I just base it on how I feel and it seems to work out fine. I am still pumping away at exercise class and finally after adding 2 more days of working out, I am seeing results! YIPEE!

Kristian had a field trip to the aquarium in Denver. He said that they had a great time. He has been before, but it has been a few years. I think his favorite was the sting ray exhibit.

Mike has been working really late these days. He is getting ready to loose a guy on his team and it is only going to get worse once he is gone.

Kristian was supposed to have a spaghetti dinner fundraiser for his Space Camp trip, but we got another snow storm. It was supposed to be a blizzard, but in the end, ended up being a fizzle. We did end up with about a foot of snow though, but the wind didn't blow like they predicted, so it wasn't as bad. Kristian was supposed to have a snow make up day on Friday, but ended up getting another snow day instead. He was happy!

Saturday, we went into town for breakfast. Then we took the kids to Toys R Us and ran a few errands. On Sunday, we took Kristian to pick out an MP3 player for his birthday. He was thrilled to finally get one. It isn't an IPOD, because until he proves to us that he can take care of it, he won't be getting anything that nice! He didn't care though, he just wanted something. The guys went and got their haircuts while I went to Super Target. How nice was that to be able to shop without kids hanging off the buggy? PRICELESS! Kristian is worse about it than Dylan. He thinks hat since he has his Heeley's on that it isn't that hard for me to push! Yeah, right???

Today... Has been one of those days... Just when you think everything is going great, BAM! A slap in the face. It started small. The kitchen phone broke, not sure how, just pushed a button and it fell in the phone? Cheap phone I suppose. Then Dylan, somehow, found a pocket knife? Again not sure how, but he did. Luckily, NOT keeping with his usual self inflicting nature, he cut a slit in the port a crib instead of himself. That I was thankful for, but not thankful that he cut the crib! Now, it looks like a white trash port a crib. Beautiful tape holding it together. I am sure when Mike gets home it will be DUCT taped together for me. OH JOY!! There were other little things, but by 5 o'clock, I was breathing a sigh of relief. I put the dog outside and the boys are playing. WHEW! I survived!!

Well I guess that is it.. No pictures this week. I will try to get some for next week though. Hope everyone had a great week. Until next time.....

April 2nd- April 9th

2007-04-09T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hope everyone had a great week!!

Not a lot happened in our last week, which isn't a bad thing!

Kristian had an awards breakfast on Wednesday morning. He was awarded for having an A average. We are very proud of him.
On Friday, Tracy, Cat and the kids came out for lunch and to dye Easter eggs. We had a great time. The picture above is of Tracy and Rebecca and below it is Kellie, Russell and Cat.Saturday we hung out around the house for the first part of the day. Then Tracy and I went to town. We watched Premonition, with Sandra Bullock. It was good, but weird. It keeps you guessing. Then we both had to pick up a few last minute things for Easter.

On Sunday... The Easter bunny came. Both of the boys got candy, of course. Dylan got Charlotte's Web and Kristian got an Avatar movie. We watched Charlotte's Web and then had a late breakfast of pancakes and BACON! YUM. The Bowen's came out for Easter dinner. Everything tasted so good! We had HAM, which luckily Dylan didn't catch on to the fact that ham and bacon come from "Wilbur"! The kids had to hunt eggs in the house, because we ended up getting a Winter Wonderland outside. This picture was taken early in the day! We estimate that we got between 4 and 5 inches of snow! The guys played a 4 wheeler game on the PlayStation and as you can see dug through the kids candy!! Cat and I watched Desperate Housewives. We had a great time!

Today the weather turned warm and by the afternoon all the snow was gone. Typical Colorado weather. It wouldn't surprise me if it snowed in the middle of June. So much for "Global Warming", huh?

Well I hope every one's week was a good one and that you each had a Happy Easter. Until next week....

Spring Break!!

2007-04-02T09:20:00.000-07:00

Despite the weather, the kids still had a great Spring Break. On Monday, Mike left for California and we just hung out around the house. On Tuesday, I took the kids to Toy's R Us. Kristian had A's and B's on his report card, so he got to pick out something. He got a skate board. Of course Dylan got something too and he picked out roller skates. Surprisingly he has done really well on them, considering how accident prone he can be! After that we went to Woodland Park and went to the Dinosaur Resource Center. I wasn't very impressed with it, but it passed two hours of the day and the kids had fun, that's what matters. After that we went to Garden of the Gods and had lunch. They serve Buffalo burgers and the boys loved them! We went for a walk after that and then headed home. On Wednesday we hung around the house so I could catch up on things around here and then ran into town to pick up some groceries, which the boys weren't that thrilled about. Thursday we went with some friends to Chuck E. Cheese. The kids had a great time. We stayed for about 3 hours and probably could've stayed all day and it still wouldn't have been long enough! After that I ran by the store and headed home. Tracy and the kids came over for dinner that night and to watch Survivor!! We had a great time. Friday Mike was supposed to be home around noon, but the airline over booked his flight. So he ended up not coming home till around 5 that afternoon, but they did compensate him with a free round trip ticket to anywhere in the continental U.S. So at least they did that! Me and the boys met him in town and had dinner at Johnny Carinos. On Saturday, I went to a scrap booking get together at Tracy's house and Mike worked on Tracy's brakes. I hadn't taken my scrap booking stuff out in probably over a year and actually had no desire to do so on Saturday, but once I got back into it, I had fun. On Sunday we went again to Garden of the Gods and walked around. We took Max with us and boy was he tired last night!! If only I could do that everyday! And now we are back to Monday. Which means back to school and work for Kristian and I. I reminded him that he only has 8 more weeks of school left. Which seemed to raise his spirits a little!

The pictures above are from the Dinosaur Resource Center. And some mule deer that we saw at, you guessed it, Garden of the Gods!

Well I guess that is it for this week. I hope that you all had a great week too. Until next time...

March 18th

2007-03-24T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hope you are all doing well....

Kristian finished taking his CSAPS this week. (achievement tests) He said that he thinks he did good on them. We won't know until next year... He was really looking forward to Thursday because they got to dissect a squid in Science class. During the first part they had certain things that they had to complete, but after that they were able to do whatever they wanted with the squid. He chose to remove the eyeballs! YUCK!! He thought the whole process was the coolest thing!

I had Bingo this week. The host, Stef, decided to have everyone dress up in the 80's. We had a great time. I ended up with a beach towel for two and the hostess gift, which consisted of banana clips, (remember those) a Pac-Man game and the movie "Better Off Dead". Here is a group picture. From left to right: Nicole, Dela (Nicole's Mom), Stef, Me, Martee and Tracy.

I have started attending an exercise class two nights a week. I haven't lost much weight, but I do feel a lot better. We workout using the exercise ball. I didn't know if I would be able to balance and do the exercises at first. But I must admit it does make it a bit easier. It isn't so hard on your back! I am hoping that I can stick with it and maybe I will see some really good results soon.

Mike went to Bryan's on Saturday to work on his car. Me and the boys just hung out at the house. It was a rainy day, which we welcomed. I would much rather have the rain than snow. Although, by the end of the afternoon, the rain switched over to snow. But luckily it wasn't cold enough to stick. It was nice to just watch the flakes hit the ground and melt away!

We spent Sunday at Garden of the Gods. We had a great time. We didn't know how long we would be able to walk around because of Dylan, but he actually outlasted us! He didn't want to leave. He took a couple of spills on the rocks, nothing too bad though. He would just jump back up and start going again. Kristian had a blast too. He brought along his first aid kit and offered it to Dylan every chance he got. Luckily we never needed it. We went into Old Colorado City for lunch and stopped by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. (Since we worked up a huge appetite walking around) After that we went back out to walk some more, because that is what the boys wanted to do. We were pretty shocked!! But the weather was so great, we couldn't say no! Here are a few pictures from our day. The one of all four of us we took by placing the camera on a branch in a tree. It didn't turn out too bad!

Mike left this morning for California and will be back on Friday. It is going to be a very busy week for him and I know he will be so glad to get back home!

We are on Spring Break this week. It looks like the weather will be good the first couple of days, but after that it will be a little cooler and windy. Me and the boys have plans for the week, but now we will just have to play them by ear. Hopefully the weather cooperates.

Well I guess that wraps up our week. Have a great week and until next time...

March 16th-18th

2007-03-19T11:06:00.000-07:00

Since our weekend was a busy one, I thought that I would break this week's posts into two.

On Friday me and the boys were supposed to meet Mike in town when he got off of work so we could go up to Denver. That morning the Schwan's guy came and I went out to the suburban to grab my purse to pay and realized that my keys where locked in the suburban. (Yes, that was embarrassing!) We are still trying to figure that one out. It isn't supposed to lock when the keys are in the ignition... Anyway, later in the afternoon, Dylan, keeping with his normal way of finding things out the hard way, stuck a screwdriver in an outlet. (He learned about "hot" when he stuck his hand in Nana's Peanut Brittle as she was pouring it on the sheet to cool. He learned about the correct way to jump on the trampoline when he did a flip and hit his mouth on the outer bar, almost loosing his two front teeth) He was pretty upset and it scared the you know what out of me! But within 10 minutes he was running around and playing again. Mike came on home after that, considering I had no way of going anywhere, if something else happened! We dropped Max off and headed up to Denver. We had told the boys that we would eat at Long John Silvers. To some, that may not seem like a huge deal.... But for us and just finding out that they had them here, it was. I had told Dylan all about the "Pirate Store", that's what my sister calls it and her kids love it! Anyway, we get there and it is NOTHING like the one back home, as far as the decorating. It is one of those that is an A&W and LJS. And it was decorated like the 50's. Dylan kept asking, Mom where is the pirate place. Mike thought that that was so funny, btw. Luckily Dylan was hungry and as soon as the food arrived he totally forgot about it. We took the kids back to the hotel and let them swim. Dylan did so well with just his arm wings. He didn't want anyone to hold onto him. He even jumped in a few times too. The next day we went to the Nature and Science Museum. It had a lot of things to look at. Mummies, which Dylan and Kristian couldn't wait to see, animals, space exhibits and dinosaurs. We had a good time. That night we went to Jacob's Baptism and then over to Tracy's parents house for dinner. We were only going to stay for a bit, but Mike couldn't stop talking. Big surprise I know! I didn't think we were ever going to get out of there. Then yesterday we got up, had breakfast and let the kids swim. Mike and I just sat by the pool. It was very hard for us to just sit there. We are so used to being up doing things, that to just sit there and do nothing was not an easy task, but we managed. ;) We had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and headed home. We had a great time!!

This week is a four day week and then it will be Spring Break!! Kristian is so ready, as am I! The only thing is Mike has to go to California next week, so it will just be me and the boys! But oh well. A break is a break anyway you look at it.

Well I hope you all have a great week. I will post either at the end of the week or the first of next week. Take care.

March 9th-15th

2007-03-12T19:05:00.000-07:00

Last week went by really fast. I worked all 5 days instead of the normal 4. I had to take Max to the vet on Friday, just for his normal checkup, shots included. He did fine! She tricked him with a treat, so he didn't even realize what was happening.

Mike and Kristian have been playing A LOT of Guitar Hero II on the Playstation. So much so that they were able to unlock a new song. FREE BIRD! At first it was great, but after 4 nights of FREE BIRD several times a night, I was ready to take the guitar and smash it into the floor!

Saturday, Mike went over and worked on his '37 at his friend Bryan's house. Me and the kids ran into town to run some errands. Later that afternoon we went to a park over in Calhan called the Paint Mines. I have been wanting to check it out for a while, but the weather hasn't cooperated with us. It was a really nice place, from what we could see. I failed to realize that since it was cliffs and gulleys that there would be snow still in them! Oops. But atleast we got to get out and walk. I think we are all ready for the weather to warm up a bit.

On Saturday night we had some friends (The Bowens) come out for a visit. Brett is also a fan of Guitar Hero and plays a guitar in the "real world" too. So they 'jammed' for a while with that. The kids had a great time playing too.

Sunday was a "lay around the house" day. Mike and I watched some movies that I had rented, while the kids played Guitar Hero, did homework and just aggrevated each other. I know BIG surprise. When Dylan went down for a nap, Mike, Kristian and I watched Pirates of the Caribean II. Yep, we are just now watching it! We don't go to the movies that much unless it is a kids movie.

Since Tracy, the person I babysit for, was in Vegas, I had Monday and Tueday off. So Dylan and I got to have Mommy and Dylan days. On Monday we went to town and went shopping, had lunch and then swung by to pick up Kristian from school. On Tuesday, Dylan and I ran some errands and had another lunch together. (Have to take advantage of it just being the two of us!) Mike went over to Bryan's again to work on his car. Me and the boys took advantage of the nice warm weather and cleaned out the garage. Then we road the 4-wheelers for a bit before it got too dark.

Wednesday meant back to work. Kristian got dismissed early from school since it was Parent Teacher Conferences this week. (He got A's and B's so he doesn't have to get his hair cut, something his dad told him would happen if he got a C) I had Rebecca and Jacob late since Tracy had conferences (she is 1st grade teacher). We all rode the 4 wheelers and played outside.

And now today... the weather is COLD again! We actually saw some snowflakes this morning. I wish it would just stay warm. And not go back and forth like this.

We are going up to Denver this weekend. Jacob is being baptized on Saturday night. We are going up tomorrow and staying till Sunday. Max will be staying at a Pet Resort for the weekend. Can you believe they call it that? It is nothing more than a barn with a fence around it.

Anyway, I will see you all next week. Have a great weekend!!

March 7th, 2007

2007-03-07T13:20:00.000-08:00

Hi to everyone who is reading this. I thought that I would give this a try. Everyone seems to be wondering how things are with us, so instead of sending out one mass e-mail or many seperate ones, I thought this would be a lot easier. I will try to post once a week, but no promises.

So here is what we have been up to... Dylan and I attended a Doodle bops show (from the Disney channel). Mike and Kristian went to Mr. Biggs family fun center instead, I can't imagine why? Dylan absolutely loved it. It was like a rock concert for preschoolers. He had so much fun. He wanted to go up on stage with them. It was rather difficult trying to explain why he couldn't go though.

Last week was Mike's 33rd birthday. We had a group of friends come out for dinner and cake on Saturday night. I was trying to keep it from him, but apparently he is

way too smart for me to do that. He said he knew all along. Whatever! I had bought a Cars themed cake, which Dylan thought was for him. He kept saying all day Saturday that everyone was going to come over and sing "Happy Birthday to Dylan". At the time, because Mike was either in the room or where he could hear, I couldn't explain to him that it was for his daddy. Dylan hasn't learned the art of keeping a secret yet!

Kristian was invited to attend Space Camp this summer. As long as he keeps his grades above a C and doesn't get sent to the office he will be eligible to go. He is very excited about it. It is located in Kansas of all places. The plan now is for all of us to go since I am just not ready to send him that far away without a family member or someone I know really well. He seems fine with it. Of course he hasn't hit that stage yet where it isn't "cool" for your parents to tag along.

We finally decided not to do baseball this summer. We like going to the games and watching Kristian play, but it takes up the whole summer and since we have done it for the past 4 summers, we need a break. There are so many things that we want to be able to do this summer and not have to worry about missing practices or games.

Max is doing great. We have had him for a month now. He seems to be potty trained, although every once in a while he gets tired of waiting by the door for someone to let him out and well you know the rest of the story. He is definitely Mike's dog! Not that the rest of us don't love him, he is just attached to him. Max fits into our family so well and we are glad we got him.

Well I guess that is it from here. Again, I hope to do this once a week. I hope that you will all remember and come back to take a look. Have a great week and until next time....