Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Visit from Mark and Deb and Luke's Snowball Softball tourney

Mark and Deb drove down for a long weekend. They missed the weather by one day thankfully! It snowed quite a bit the day after they left and it rained their entire trip up here! Anyway, it was great to have them here for a visit. They arrived just in time to watch the kids so Luke and I could head to volleyball. (It's tournament time and my team is already out!) But we both got back and had time to chat and have a glass of wine. Deb braved the bootcamp workout at 5:30am Friday morning. I think her words went something like "It must be kill you mother-in-law day". She secretly enjoyed the hard work I think. Luke had to work for a short time on Friday morning but we met up for lunch at a new Mexican place in town(not as good as our favorites) Then the ladies went shopping and the boys went to the butcher shop to pick out a few steaks. We played cards during nap time and then made a pretty great dinner with spinach, enormous steaks(yummy salmon for Deb) and a mushroom risotto(very rich). More cards and more wine rounded out the dinner. Those darn cards never work in Deb and mine's favor(definitely the cards, not the wine--we tested that by playing during the afternoon naptime without wine. We went back to drinking wine-more fun!) Saturday was a long day for the boys. They drove to Ft. Washkee?, outside Lander(3 hours away) for a morning of dialysis for Mark. It was an all day event for them, but they made it a good time. Deb and I, plus kiddos, went to the gym for a quick workout and then on to the garage-a-rama. It is the annual garage/junk sale in Cody. We escaped without purchasing anything but made up for that at Sierra Trading Post. We packed up the family and made it out for a nice dinner at the Chop house, where Deb and I got to enjoy an awesome halibut dish(they call it their special, but they have it all the time!) YUM! The kids did very well but ready to go at the end as usual. The best part is that our server was my workout instructor, Mindy! We all had a good laugh about that one. She and I had a secret snicker about how hard it was for Deb to climb the stairs the day after her first workout. More reminiscent of my first days than out of meanness for Deb! We woke up Sunday to a new dusting of snow and it was stilling coming down pretty hard. This is unfortunate as Luke was getting ready for the appropriately named "Snowball Softball Tournament". The tourney was in Powell about 20 miles away and with the weather outside, there was no way I was going to watch with the kids in this weather. Mark and Luke decided to take Emmett with them and left for the game. Luke called on their drive, about halfway to Powell, where there was no snow and the sun was shining. So Deb and I packed up the car and Jolene and headed to Powell(with "special" coffee in hands). It was still a bit cold but fun to watch Luke play. It was a packed weekend and we certainly made the most of it. Always a great time for sure!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Trip to Cali


I had a wonderful trip to see Vanessa and her family. Bryce is probably the world's cutest(my kids excluded!) and calmest child I have ever seen. It was really great getting to know him and spending time with Joel as well. I got into Orange County Saturday afternoon and that night we got to go out for an awesome sushi dinner at a place I can no longer remember or could even pronounce to begin with! The best part is my friends Theresa and Holly came to join us as well as Vanessa's neighbor Ollie and her long time friend Ann. It was a really great night on the town. We finished out the very late night with more drinks at Vanessa's home around the firepit in their yard.

The rest of the trip we played on the beach, ate some really great Mexican food, ate on the San Clemente Pier, did some shopping, a small wine tasting and fit in time for pedicures! It was a well deserved break and very much needed Mom-cation for myself. I can't wait to do it again next year, only I think I'll include the family next time!

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Grammy is here!

We have been having so much fun with Grammy. The weather has been beautiful so we went up to Red Lodge on Thursday to check out a new store and have lunch at our favorite restaurant. The new specialty foods store was really awesome. Our fav lunch spot was closed for spring break! We ate at the pizza joint across the street and had a nice lunch anyway....
Emmett has been nuts about being outside. Jolene has finally warmed up to Grammy(she's never quite sure at first with anyone) and she loves being outside too!

I leave this morning for California for a much needed get away to see Vanessa and her new baby, Bryce(and of course, Joel too!). While I'm out there, I get to see Theresa and Holly, whom I haven't seen in years!Can't wait to see them and I can't wait to miss my own children!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Crazy weather

Luke had to drive up the North Fork this morning for work and these are the pics he sent from the road. Glad that Mom isn't driving in these conditions today. She had a few rain drops and clouds but no snow or anything like what Luke had!

Clifford and the snow

We went to see Clifford at the library yesterday and it was pretty uneventful. We went to lunch and the park afterwards and got to enjoy the last of the sunshine for a few days.

Today, we are awaiting Grammy's arrival and watching the snow fall. Yea! and BOOO!












Tractor

This past weekend, our neighbor, Monty, let Luke use his tractor. What a huge help. This was Luke's first tractor experience and I think he is hooked. Emmett of course loved riding it with his daddy. and I loved that most of the rock got moved!

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Here come the piggies!

I have been dreaming of the day that Jolene's hair would be long enough to put in a pigtail and I decided to give it a try today! I love it! Who, tell me, who doesn't think this is the most adorable thing you have ever seen....

Monday, April 5, 2010

Almost there...






















Jolene has almost got crawling. She now gets up on all fours and wiggles back and forth and moves forward about two "steps". This morning she crawled to a toy I placed about three feet in front of her. She should have this down by the time Grammy gets here, and for sure by the time Grandma Debbie and Grandpa Mark are here at the end of April!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Here comes Peter Cottontail

The kids were up very early today 6am-ish. So, Easter morning started really early. Emmett got Luke out of bed at 7am and we began our morning with "egg shaped" pancakes and bacon. Jolene loves to feed herself these days, so she really enjoyed shoveling in the pancakes. Then Luke and Emmett went looking to see if the Easter Bunny had come. He did and he left baskets on the table for each of the kids. Grammy Debbie and Grandpa Mark also sent baskets for Easter so it was an exciting morning. Emmett was "hopped" up on candy for most of the day, even skipped his nap, but when right to bed with little fight and no getting up and asking for everything he can think of not to go to bed- sugar rush ended. Emmett would unwrap a butterfinger egg and exclaim "MOM! this egg is chocolate!" Like he didn't know that already.... I'm not buying it. Emmett also recieved a bunny driving a car that has jelly beans inside. When you push on the bunny he says "Happy Easter!",the car honks and out of the back of the car falls a few jelly beans. We kept telling Emmett that was enough jelly beans and he would stop...for the moment. It was always given away when he was sneaking jelly beans because the darn thing would yell "Happy Easter!" HONK HONK! Pretty soon it was out of beans and Emmett seemed so confused! Needless to say, that bunny car was put away for the year at bedtime.
Luke and I popped the cork on a bottle of Preseco and made mimosas for our treat on Easter morning. Once Luke got his fill of reese peanut butter eggs, the candy found it's way to the freezer. Out of sight, out of mind.
It turned out to be a blustery, cold day even though the sun was out. That made us decide to skip the golf course "egg hunt" this year. No need for more candy or to wake Jolene from her nap to be out in the cold.
We invited the neighbor Chris over for Easter dinner, as her hubby and kids are on a band trip in Disneyland. We made a flattened chicken on the grill with an Italian rub.....delicious! Chris brought dessert. A Cajun cake, which was made with pineapple and coconut AND pecans(which I never get to eat any of those 'cause Luke doesn't like them!) and she brought Luke a plate of brownies. We had plenty of wine and good laughs to go with it.

Friday, April 2, 2010

A jumpstart to Easter





















Emmett, Jolene and I went to the local candy store, Cowtown Candy, for a storytime put on by the library. Lisa(the librarian whose head was missing in previous post) read the kids 5 Easter related books today and then they ended up getting gum drops. Good thing we are going to the dentist next week- he picked his teeth the entire way home! We also sat right in front of the Jelly bean display. Must not have been thinking today. Emmett had his hands in those several times! We got home and had pretend Easter, where I hide eggs and Emmett finds them. Glad Easter is this weekend. That game is getting old of "Mom! I can't find the eggs!" They are practically sitting out in plain sight. He just is lazy and doesn't understand the fun of an Easter egg "hunt". We will be heading to the Golf Course again this year for their annual Candy-thrown-on-the-ground-event. Pictures to follow!

Thanks Grandma Debbie for the Easter bib! Poor thing, had to search all over Co Springs for a bib that was for first Easter!(I say "poor thing" with very little meaning towards Deb! She loves to shop. It's Mark that I feel bad for. He got drug all over creation. Thanks Grandpa!) She's pretty cute though......