Gone (downhill) skiing in CO

This weekend 4/7 of us took care of that "I live in CO, but I've never been skiing" problem we had.
These 3 plus dad.

The first two Saturdays of the month Copper Mountain hosts a family ski day. Lift tickets are $32, which compared to their Christmas Break price is a bargain. Some of the sporting goods stores offer $10 ski rental, so it's a reasonable time to take care of the above mentioned problem.

Pretty sure I had the easier day since they are beginners.

I attended Tuba Christmas with D & E. My favorite.

99

Andrew's number at the temple yesterday.

This summer our temple opened the doors to the youth for baptisms. Between 7 am and 1:00pm on weekdays they are able to go with or without a group to do baptisms. This is a huge blessing because it is at their convenience and can be much more frequent than the 1-2 scheduled times per year. They have averaged 100 youth per day since making this change. The number 99 means he was 99th in line. 98 others came before him and a handful came after.

Yesterday my mom & I took Andrew. It was her first time with a grandchild in the temple, and my first time with one of my children, and Andrew's first time with both of us--a special day. (His FIRST time was earlier this year with Nathan). One of my nieces stayed with the other children so we could go.

One of my first spiritual experiences was in the Denver temple, when I went with my parents. I am not sure where my siblings were . . . . but it was a special time I will always remember.

I love the temple and am excited to share it with all my children. I feel happy that so many youth choose to spend their free summer hours in this way. Many of the young people were with their mothers. I saw one father and one bishop. Some came with siblings, others with friends, and some probably came alone. It was very inspirational. If it were closer, we would be there more often.

"I feel American"

Nathan's reply when I asked him how he felt after grilling dinner.

We bought the grill used from Craigslist for a steal of a deal. About 1/4 to 1/3 what it would have cost brand new. They threw in the grill tools, too, adding to the value. BUT, it was filthy and Nathan spent a long time cleaning it and getting it ready to use.

We've wanted a grill for a long time but were waiting to buy a home first.
Which is to say:
We bought a home earlier this summer.
And now we have a grill, too. (Family members know this already, friends around the U.S. do not).

One of the really nice things about our home is that the previous owners installed natural gas lines to the patios--to be able to grill without propane tanks. We would not have spent extra $ to install it ourselves, but we are happy to use it.

Come eat at our house--we now have a grillmaster.

And his helpers

 

Independence Day

Today:

One walk.
Two loads of laundry.
Three trips to the hardware store.
Four "Hungry, Hungry Hippos" (played heavily during the afternoon non-nap hours).
Five kids watched "Mary Poppins"
Six times I said to Nathan, "I can't believe how bad the smoke is today!"  *****
Seven happy mouths
Ate (8) our first homemade ice cream.

We wanted a quiet, stay at home and get work done kind of day--it was nice.

My mom gave us her ice cream maker, too. We are going to use it.

In TX, a neighbor gave us a loft bed he'd built. We love it and have used it ever since. The first modification was to add a ladder. Today's modification was to add a bunk at the bottom for another bed. It's not done yet, but it's a lot closer.

Every picture of Nathan was blurry . . . except when I asked him to stop moving. I can't keep up.

****The fires are not very close to us physically, (ie we are not in direct danger). The biggest change is the air quality. Most days are not too bad, we carry on as usual. Today was one of the worst I've seen. I didn't want my kids outside longer than they had to be, which isn't typical for this time of year. The smoke was strange . . . not too bad in the early morning, but changed during the 30 minutes we were in Lowe's. It is like the campfire you can't get away from--so smoky. You think things are OK, but sometimes when you are out driving you think to yourself, "Hmmm, I can't see the mountain today."

I've been praying for help for the firefighters, but perhaps I should pray for rain?


Dear Dad: I did wash all those dishes. They are back under control. For now.

Twofer

Or, tooth-fer.
On Saturday, July 16, at the beginning of scripture study, Caitlin informed us she had a loose tooth. At the end of scripture study she had two loose teeth.
She went to bed at 8:45 pm.
She wiggled in bed, and wiggled the tooth in her bed for awhile. By 9:30pm the tooth was out.
The second loose tooth.

We snapped a picture, because this is the first tooth she has pulled out by herself. Then, we sent her to bed.

But she and the tooth were still wiggling, and she came down again, asking us to pull out her tooth. We declined, and told her to work on it while we turned away--she didn't want an audience. In less than 10 seconds of our turning away, the first loose tooth was out as well.

9:45pm back to bed

Nursery novice

Today was the day.

 
Background info: Our ward has two nurseries.

Ed ran out of the chapel and down the hall with his sisters once Sacrament meeting was over. Like mother hens they tried herding him in and were disappointed to find out they were in the wrong nursery. He finally got to the right one and stayed there the whole time--without motherly or fatherly assistance.

Cinco Cinco

On Cinco de Mayo we ate Latin food. Delicious.

We watched Andrew run a PR in the 800M at the district track meet. His first track race ever!

This morning we competed in the Cinco Cinco 5K at CSU. (One of us competed, the other two participated).
Nathan stayed at the pace he wanted to run and brought home some hardware. SUCCESS.
I did not have to walk the whole time. SUCCESS.
My dad did his first 5K walk ever! SUCCESS.
Caitlin and Diana did the kids' race and earned medals. SUCCESS.
(Bryn would have but was too old).
Thank you mom for being with the kids and cheering us on.

Then we went to part II of the district track meet and watched Andrew in several more events, (long jump, 75M, 200M, and shuttle relay). He enjoyed it and we enjoyed the lovely weather.

Here are some photos Bryn took of our street today:

Field Trip

This week I attended my first field trip as a parent. It was GREAT!

I went with Caitlin's class to the Gardens at Spring Creek, a public garden.

I'm not sure how much "learning" took place on the field trip, but here are three factoids for your reading pleasure:

1) Humans eat the seeds (and or grains) of plants more than any other part of plants.

2)Espalier (pronounced /ɨˈspælɪər/ or /ɨˈspæli.eɪ/) is the horticultural and ancient agricultural practice of controlling woody plant growth by pruning and tying branches so that they grow in relatively flat planes, frequently in formal patterns, against a structure such as a wall, fence, or trellis, and also plants which have been shaped in this way.^{[1]
As seen in this tree apple tree below:}

 
^{The Chicago botanic garden has lots of fruit trees like this, but I never knew the term. I love it!}


3) The Garden donated over 2000 lbs of fresh produce to the community food bank this summer.

Yes, mom this one is for you.

My favorite feature: playing in the water feature with chattering teeth.

Kids do all the same things on buses we used to do, including writing in the foggy windows with their fingers. It seems much more unsanitary now than it did then.

Shyster

Shyster--a slang word for someone who acts in a disreputable, unethical, or unscrupulous way, especially in the practice of law and politics (Wikipedia)

[First time I didn't know the meaning of one of Bryn's spelling words,
surely not the last].

Little Red Wagon

4 more wheels in our garage. I've always wanted one of these wagons.
A dear friend gave us her used wagon in perfect condition.
Hours and hours of fun.

First USB drive for my children

Last night I tried desperately to send Bryn's first emailed assignment to her teacher. She is in second grade.

The assignment was "All About Me." You could label 10 photos on poster board. Or, you could make a PowerPoint presentation with 10 slides, labeling your photos there. In the computer lab last year, Bryn was introduced to PowerPoint, and she has played around with it a little bit at home. It was no surprise she chose PowerPoint. The slide pictured above is her "Title Page."

For some reason, I could not send the presentation. Perhaps the PowerPoint file was too large? Who knows? Each of the 3 emails I sent without the attachment worked, each of my 3 attempts with the attachment did not.

This morning I made a run to the store for a USB drive. The only other one that we own is Nathan's for work.

She did a great job putting it together. I felt two things:
1) Grateful for my education (I learned PowerPoint in college)
2) How quickly will I be running out of answers?