Welcome to our World

If you look closely you will find my mom helping assemble hygiene kits for Afghan refugees. These last fews weeks of watching the horrid attempt of our government to leave a country she loved living in as a child has been very difficult (to say the least).  I am grateful for her love and perspective and am deeply saddened that my nation didn’t do a better job reacting to 9/11 (which we just marked the 20th anniversary of this month).  Revenge is never worth it, even if you call it patriotism. And that hope we had of helping the Afghans against Taliban rule totally and completely backfired. We are mourning opportunities lost, lives lost, and lives permanently changed for the worse. On a more personal note for yours truly dealing with loss, I had the opportunity to attend the funeral of Rachel B. It was evident much time and thought went into the planning. Listening to a father eulogize and sing Mad World to his daughter will touch your heart.  How heartbreaking it is say ...

 This year’s family reunion took my family to Bear Lake, in Utah/Idaho. Since I have only been working a couple weeks I didn't feel like it was appropriate for me to take time off work so Hubby ended up taking our children out of school and driving his truck to meet up with family.  His family reunions are the best! From all accounts the lake was wonderful and our paddles boards, tubes, and volleyball net came in handy but that the best part was when they rented wave runners and a water trampoline.  I experienced some major FOMO as I talked to Hubby but was so happy they got to have a good time.  It was pretty boring without my favorite people around.  With days that I could technically do whatever I wanted, I ended up cleaning the house, doing laundry and yard work (including putting down new mulch that included three trips to Home Depot), taking long walks with the dog, completing some required online training for my job, spending hours on my neglected inbox, ...

  Well, that time of year came and went when I have to say I'm a year older once again.  I am so grateful to family who went out of their way to make my day special and friends who took the time to wish me a happy birthday.  Over Labor Day weekend my parents took me out to eat at Red Robin and my in-laws paid for my new pedicure.  I am truly fortunate that my entire life I have been surrounded by wonderful humans.  And Weezer and Fall Out Boy and Green Day helped me celebrate as well!  The tickets I purchased back in January of 2020 finally came in handy when the Hella Mega Tour arrived in Denver and I loved it.  My favorite part was singing Good Riddance with Billie Joe Armstrong.  I have had that song memorized for over half my life and felt like it was the best way to end a wonderful concert with my handsome Hubby.  After posting online we discovered that friends of ours were there too.  So fun!  I was a little worried about gett...

Back away slowly: we now have a student in every grade of middle school!  Lol. It’s time for Kate to rule the school as an 8th grader. This (hopefully) will bring opportunities she has been waiting for such as playing on the middle school volleyball team.  Only 8th graders are allowed to play against other schools in games so Kate wanted to wait until 8th to feel like it was worth the time commitment. I hope they are able to have a volleyball season and that she will make many great memories.  Danny was excited to see friends again but was sad to say goodbye to summertime. The day before 7th grade he finished memorizing all 50 states!  All three of my middle schoolers took me up on the offer that if they did so I would pay them $50. I also said they could earn another $50 by memorizing all 50 capitols but no one took me up on that. Maybe next summer? Our newest middle schooler was so excited she was awake at 6:30am and just waiting to be let out the door for 6th grad...

When we decided to go to the Colorado Renaissance Festival I was expecting white canopy tents and a few hundred people but we showed up to one of the biggest Renaissance Festivals around with so much to see and do we only got around to about half of it!  We saw Dragonfore, Cydeshow Cy, Craic (our favorite) and Celtic Legacy.  We saw jousting and a little of the Living Fountain and The Reelin’ Rogues.  We ate meat on sticks for lunch and snacked on delicious kettle corn and the girls even got ice cream sandwiches. Note: Kate and Danny were both invited but Kate opted to go to P’s house and my mom and dad took care of Danny so he could go to baseball tryouts (more on that later).  I think Danny would have loved it and we’ve got him convinced he needs to come with us next year.  I could just see him throwing knives and practicing his archery skills and looking at all the neat shops along with watching the shows like we did. Pretty sure we won’t be able to get him t...

 I have never in my life seen such wonderful pictures of a boys trip.  These leaders definitely went above and beyond the call of duty for these 10 boys.  I am so grateful to them for sharing their time and talents so that my son can have a wonderful time with other children his same age and gender and religion.  I think this week will not only have an impact on these Deacons for now but will impact them for a long time. Here are some of my favorite pictures.  These boys got to sleep in tents but eat cafeteria food.  They got to hike, play pickle ball, pool, air hockey, fuse ball, chess and Apples to Apples.  They got to go tubing, rock wall climbing, mini golfing, and walk on stilts.  Even with zip lining getting rained out they got to have s'mores, tie dye shirts, use stilts, and do archery.  They whittled with pocket knives, played basketball, provide service  and had scripture study.  I am so glad my son got to go along and have...

One thing the pandemic taught me was the value in not being over scheduled.  I made sure there were weeks when we had nothing much to do. We have enjoyed swimming and water fights, baking, puzzles, games, the Olympics, and of course, hanging out with friends. Kate has had so many friends spend the night here and she has spent the night at so many friend's houses I would be hard pressed to supply all their names, let alone the details!  She has also enjoyed shopping and getting her nails done with her friends most recently.  No photographic evidence since I'm still not supposed to take pictures.  Speaking of no photos, Michelle set up and hosted a book club for A Wrinkle in Time . After they talked about the book it was so fun to see six girls ready for middle school watching a movie together in our new theater chairs.  Afterwards, when it was time for the parents to come pick them up, the girls were literally tied up in knots because they were playing the game T...