I am desperately trying to catch up on the blog!!  I can’t believe how far I’ve fallen behind.  But since I don’t journal or scrapbook or anything else like that, I blog.  It’s my record.  It’s ridiculous how much I forget and all I want to do is remember.  Every. Little. Detail.  So although some of you might benefit from my obsession (I’m thinking Grandmas ) I really do it all for ME!  Anywho, just a few more things worth sharing.

O hates the car.  He does ok up to about 20 minutes.  Then it’s all hands on deck trying to keep him happy enough to make it to our destination.  Our trip to and from CO the other week was particularly difficult.  We had a few quiet moments on the way with a cheeseburger and some Spiderman juice.  And M&Ms helped us out on the way back.  Silly little monkey.

Also on the road from Colorado.  Pit stop.

This is Samuel with the RC truck he got from his cousins for his birthday.  And with some cables he stole from Daddy’s room.  And Owen’s toy.  I really don’t know what his intentions were, but it made me laugh.  I would love to get a peek into that brain of his and see what’s going on. 

Tuesday and Thursday mornings while Sam is at school are often spent running errands and trying to “get things done.”  I was starting to feel that wasn’t very fair for Owen.  So one morning, we bundled up and went to the park.  Little O-man was in heaven.  We hadn’t been to the park in several weeks, and he had such a good time climbing (he totally thinks he’s a big kid), playing with Mommy, swinging (which he didn’t used to have any interest in), watching apache helicopters fly over, and walking the whole way home balancing on the curb.

September 9-12, 2010

Erik has several big projects at work he needed time to work on.  I needed a break.  The boys needed an adventure.  And it was Stake Conference so none of us had Sunday responsiblities.  Cue a trip to Colorado.  I had gotten sick just the day before leaving, but that didn’t stop me from packing up the munchkins and making the 6 hour drive to my parents’ house.  As always, we absolutely loved our visit to the beautiful mountains.

We got to Ridgway Thursday evening.  We only spotted two deer on the Mesa, so Samuel was disappointed.  (He has learned to have higher expectations )  The boys were ready to get out, say hello to the dogs, and get playing in Mormor’s toys closet.  When W got home, it was good to get some delicious hot broccoli cheese soup before sending the boys to bed early and knocking myself out with Nyquil.

Friday was a play day . . . for ME!  I left the boys with my parents and went to visit Tori in Montrose for shopping, lunch, and a glass layering jewelry making class.  The report when I got back was that the boys got wet and muddy and played their hearts out.  Perfect!

Saturday was a family day.  W and Mormor treated us to pizza at Panny’s.  Then we met up with the T Whitbys at the park.  After that, we went back up to the house.  It’s a windy road up the mountain, and with nothing but pizza, rootbeer, and Frosty in his tummy, Sam got sick.  Good thing he had grabbed a doggie poop bag on our way out of the park.  Ha.  Back up at the house, we barbecued and played some more before banana splits for dessert.

Sunday the boys and I went to church with my parents, stopped by the Ts for mac and cheese and a quick visit before heading back home.  The drive home was soooo much better than the way out.  And our favorite part of the trip might have been coming home to our dear Daddy.  Four days of fun, but it’s always so good to be home.

My Dad called today wondering when he was going to get to see pictures from last weekend.  Clearly I’ve set some pretty high expections with this little ol’ blog o’ mine. 

We were ready for a visit to Colorado.  So we planned a trip over Memorial Day weekend, left Thursday evening and made it in record time, ready for some fun adventures. 

Friday, Tori and the kids came up to Ridgway to play.  The weather was so beautiful.  The cousins rode bikes, played with chalk and bubbles, explored catterpillar cocoons, and found antlers.  Owen was doing aok eating rocks, but I think after a little while he got jealous that’s all he could do.

Late in the afternoon we put O down for a nap and left the 2 boys with Mormor.  Erik and I took off for Telluride and the opening of Mountainfilm in Telluride.  My dad hooked us up big time with a Sunshine Pass to get us into almost anything all weekend long.  We met up with some other family who was in town, and after dinner, crammed into an original (and so tiny) theater for our first movie.  We saw Nico’s Challenge about a 13 year old boy born with one leg who climbed Kilomanjaro to raise money for wheelchairs for people in Africa.  After the movie, Nico was there with his dad to speak and answer questions.  So amazing and so inspiring.  Then we saw First Ascent about some crazy climbers who were going to attempt an insane climb up some wild mountain as part of a mini-series for National Geographic.  After waiting at base camp for 3 weeks they decided it wasn’t worth the risk.  They went up to get their gear, and were killed by an avalanche.  Their friends and coworkers went to recover their bodies and found the footage.  Incredible.  After that we got to see a special presentaion from Ed Viesturs, the first man to climb the 14 highest peaks without oxygen.  I could write so much more about what we saw and did that night alone!  It was so cool!!

Saturday, we went back up to Telluride but with Mormor and the boys this time.  We rode the gondola, hit up the ice cream social, did some site seeing, enjoyed the crowds, explored the park and trails, had a treat or two, and then sent the boys back to Ridgway with Mormor so the rest of us could stick around for another movie, followed by Adrenaline Rush, a special showing of short movies about different (and new!) extreme sports.  Crazy fun.  I fell asleep on the way home.

Sunday we went for a morning walk, greeted at the front door by a deer.  In the afternoon Mormor put together a picnic, Grandpa W packed up the dogs, and we met the Ts at Ridgway Park for bike riding, climbing, spinning, sliding, and a walk to the river for rock throwing.  Sam was not happy when it was time to go, as illustrated in the progression of the “I Don’t Want to Leave” fit.

Monday we drove down to Montrose to play with the Ts again.  Sam is wild about his cousins.  We spent a hot day outside in the pool, playing on the swingset, making snowcones, throwing water balloons, and squirt gun fighting.  Erik left for home, and a couple more hours later, the boys and I drove back up to Ridgway.  Owen was asleep in 4 minutes, Samuel in 10.  When we got back at 5:30, Sam cried and cried and cried when I tried to take him out of the car.  I dragged him inside, and he walked right upstairs and got into bed.  He slept until I woke him up at 7.  By then, Owen was in bed, so Sam and I had a super fun night roasting marshmallows and hanging out with Mormor and W.

Classic Owen look . . . “I don’t really know what’s going on, so I will silently clutch Mom’s shirt while I decide whether I like it or not.”

Trying to get Samuel to wave at us through the window in the pool.  This is the closest he got.

Tuesday we played in Montrose again for a few hours before finally heading home.  The boys conked out hard for the first half of the drive, and were very anxious to get out of the car the second half.  We were all happy to be home again, but holy moley did we have SUCH an awesome weekend!!

I finally got up the guts to take the boys on a trip to visit our family in Colorado.  I decided I was, in fact, clinincally insane to make the drive all by ourselves.  But we survived, and the trip was so worth the taxing drive.  It was phenomenal to do so many fun things, go on several explorations and adventures, and have a change of pace.  Here are the highlights . . .

Tuesday

• listened to Sam spend the first half hour of the drive talking non-stop about Mormor, cousins, W and the doggies, on and on
• met Mormor in Grand Junction for a snack at Sam’s Club and a little fabric shopping
• made it to Ridgway and let Sam stay up way too late playing in the toy closet

Wednesday

• sat around in jammies and let Mormor take excellent care of us
• explored outside the house, made pine cone and snow soup, got muddy, and played with the doggies

• went down to Montrose for some cousin fun

• Sam went with Tori to meet the kids from after school, and got to get on the school bus
• more new toys, exciting backyard playset, dress up, and motorcycle races around the rug

• Sam rode home in W’s jeep, swinging his feet with delight, spotting deer and a honey wagon along the way

Thursday

• spent most of the gorgeous day in town
• lunch on the deck at Panny’s Pizza

 

• park, playground, antique shopping, old fire station, river, rocks, mud, and ice cream while O napped and ate his socks

 

• Sam put out carrots for the deer with Mormor and went for a ride on the ATV with W while Owen watched

• cozy time by the fire

• I put Sam to bed at 7 and by 7:04 he was snoring

Friday

• watched the deer through the window eating the pumpkins and carrots

• belgian waffles for breakfast, Sam’s favorite “Big giant waccles!”

• I got busy on some sewing projects, and Sam sneaked out the doggie doors.  Got himself covered in mud by the time we found him.

• Benny ate Sam’s sock.  It was awfully traumatic for poor Samuel.
• bathtime in the sink and snuggles with Mormor while I kept sewing

• Sam went on a flashlight walk with W and the doggies, beaming with excitement

Saturday

• time to go home!
• a 5 hour drive took us 7, with a small moment between Grand Junction and Green River where both boys were happy at the same time
• smother Daddy with hugs and kisses and tales of our adventures in Colorado.  We had a great time, but we will not do the trip without him again!!