June 21st

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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...