Finally, some nice weather!

We made it home from our trip to Denver and Colorado Springs. I wasn't so sure about an hour from home I thought I was going to lose my patience. Emmett wanted to get out of his carseat so badly and told us all about it! All in all, it was a pretty great visit with family. We stopped in to visit with my parents first. I got to have lunch with Chrissy and my mom at PF Changs-yum!, Stopped in at my old job and got to visit with almost everyone, had lunch with Ken at Red Robin and then got to stay one night with the Christensen family at their new home in Castle Rock. Their new place is fantastic-has a great floor plan, awesome plans for a backyard and Emmett loved the staircase. He learned how to go down the stairs with the wonderful teachings of Lily and Anna. He is now a Pro! Sarah also shared the wonderful pork product of bacon with Emmett for the first time. He loved it! Put the entire piece in his mouth. I had to fish it out about 10 mins later. She has a great picture that I will share when I get it! We went on a walk to a playground near their home and had a great time. The playground had this really cool piano-like thing that Emmett would not leave alone. Anna and Lily wanted him to go down the slide with them and he wanted to bang on the keys! Luke finished his class on Friday and picked Emmett and I up in Castle Rock and we headed down to see Debbie and the family. Mark was out of town at a golf tourney at the lake, but we got to have dinner with Matt and Max. Emmett and Max were great at dinner. Playing peek-a-boo and telling knock-knock jokes. Good boys I tell ya. On Saturday, Debbie, Luke, Emmett and I participated in a 5K for the Fisher DeBerry foundation, mostly for young single families. It was a gorgeous day with a beautiful view of Pikes Peak. It was sponsored by Chick-fil-A, our fav fast food, so you know they had food afterward! Rudy Ruettiger, legend from Notre Dame, was there to present medals and gave a very nice speech after the race, along with ex-coach Fisher DeBerry from Air Force.(In the pic Rudy is on the right and Coach is on the left). Debbie won 3rd in her age division! Emmett loved the dancing Chick-fil-A cows and dancing to the music, but hated when the cows came over to him. I think they were big and scary when they got close. Liz and Max and Matt came over to Debbie's after the race and played with Emmett in the backyard. He loved chasing Liz around! She is very good with cousin E. We look forward to seeing the whole family when they come to visit in July!

Can you see me?

Lily and Emmett on the slide

Lily, Emmett and Anna in the tub

Dancing with the Chick-Fil-A cows

Mother's Day with Mother Nature

Mother's Day was fantastic! Hope everyone's was as well.

We got up on Saturday morning and packed up for the park. We drove into Yellowstone around 9am. They had gotten a few inches of snow the night before. You wouldn't believe the snow piled up on the sides of the road. Some places were 6 feet high! The newly fallen snow melted off pretty quick and brought out all sorts of critters! We saw every animal on the list. Luke puts it that "if we were playing Yellowstone BINGO, we'd have won!" Wolves, elk, a grizzly bear, a momma moose and her two babies(my fav!), bison, three amazing eagles, cranes, pelicans, big horn sheep...I think that was it. I will put a bunch of pics at the end. I had forgotten to charge the camera battery the night before, so we have great pics of everything except the bear. I aimed the camera and it turned off. We also didn't get any pictures of our fun sack lunch at Old Faithful. We had a marvelous time that day. We certainly wore out Emmett. He got to play in some snow, eat lots of snacks, and he learned to Moo like a cow on that trip. It's pretty cute! It turned out to be about a nine hour day thru the park, but we had so much fun we are going to do it again for Memorial weekend with the Canales family.

On Sunday, we drove into Billings for our final(hopefully) trip to Lowes for awhile. And I got to drag Luke into Old Navy for a few minutes. We then headed off to Red Lodge to meet up with our neighbors for a Mother's Day lunch at the Rock Creek Resort. It was a great spot overlooking the stream, tucked into the mountains. We had a very nice lunch and then headed home for some R and R. We wound up watching "Transformers" on Cinemax. What an amazing movie! I remember watching the cartoon when I was little, but this was a great movie, mostly because of the effects.

We head to Denver tomorrow for a quick jaunt. Luke has an insurance class for work til Friday. Have a great week!

Wolves--you have to look close!

Short, very short.

So I made the plunge and chopped off my hair. I walked in the door this morning from my hair appt and Luke commented "It's short." Nothing else. I think it is cute and really like the new change. I will try to post an updated photo one of these days.
I was watching a program the other day and they were getting ready to honor mother's for mother's day and I thought to myself "Step moms don't get enough credit." It seems they always get a bad rap for some reason or another i.e. the term "wicked stepmother". I wanted to make sure all of you "Step Moms" got some recognition this year! You've put in your time and had your patience tested too. You are just as much appreciated and I wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day!!!

Mmmmm watermelon

Emmett had his first taste of watermelon the other day. He loves it! Had his face right into the rind. He has also been in the cabinets a great deal lately. So much that I am not sure where he is and have to look around inside them. Enjoy the pics!

This morning was our last Mops meeting til fall. We had one of the moms speak or give her testimonial today. I guess I needed a good cry, but I wasn't the only one. Not a dry eye in the place. Her son at 5 years old had a brain tumor. They operated in Denver, returned to Cody for a bit and found out that he had another inoperable brain tumor. He passed away at 6 years old, just 2-3 days after they got back from their Make a Wish trip to Disney. It was so sad to hear her story but she really is an eloquent speaker and enjoyed her talk. She also found ways to lighten the mood with some really great memories of her son. She has a great personality and outlook on life.

Weekend tales

On Friday, my neighbor Chris (she played hookie from work!) and I went up to Billings for the day. It was nice to have someone who knows their way around up there. She and the family lived up there for quite a few years, I think about 10 or so. She showed me a few stores I never would have known about and also a few new places to eat. We ate at this pizza place that was out of this world. I actually had a salad but can't wait to try their 20 or so different types of pizza. Chris and I had a nice get out of town day.

Then on Saturday, MOPS had their annual Garage Sale. I could not believe the amount of sale items there were! I volunteered for the end of the day shift and clean up. I had a good time getting to know the other women there. We made a pretty good amount for a garage sale. I guess it was alot more than last year. We also decided to package up the winter items and will have another sale at the end of summer. The left over summer items are being given to the local girl scouts. They have a clothing give away as one of their charity functions. It worked out pretty well, not much had to be taken to the dump or "goodwill". (We have the Bargain Box, no Goodwill.)

When I got home that afternoon, Emmett was down for his nap. So Luke and I decided to play Welcome Wagon to our pesky hole digging neighbors. We put a hose down their hole and turned on the water. It was a waste of water. Nothing rushed out and still hasn't. Luke filled in the hole to finish our job. Nothing has dug out so not sure if we caught the pest "out running errands". Funny pics though!

On Sunday, I discovered my new hobby. Luke, Emmett and I went to our first auction. I loved it. It is better than the people watching at the airport! Emmett needed a nap so he and Luke went home. I stuck around for the bidding to begin. They list what they are going to be auctioning in the newspaper. They listed bar signs and crocks amongst a thousand other things. I love my crocks and Luke has been looking for the perfect sign for his bar in the basement. I feel so victorious! I bid, won and left with my prize Red Wing #3 crock. I also got myself a new craft table for the basement....for $15!!! Can you say addicted?!

It turned out to be a gorgeous day. Luke cleaned off the front porch and we got to sit outside in the sunshine. A perfect ending for the weekend.