Rowboat at Loch Lomond

Today we were looking for something fun to do, something different, something outside. We had remembered a friend telling us about Loch Lomond, a beautiful lake only about 20 minutes from us. So we checked it out online to get a bit more info and decided to head up there. We had such a fabulous time! We rented a little electric motorized rowboat for 2 hours and headed out on the water. It was a perfect day...warm, no wind, just right. It was so gorgeous and still up there. And the colors of the blues and greens were awesome. We had a little picnic lunch on the boat in a little cove and docked it for a few minutes on a little island. The kids had a great time, and we definitely plan to do it again soon. This little treasure is so close by, I'd highly recommend it for any locals or visitors!

31st Birthday Fun

I had such a great birthday on Tuesday! I received so many wonderful birthday greetings, thank you everyone for making my day so special!

Jason woke up early (amazing for him!!!!!!) and made me some blueberry muffins (a tradition since I was a little girl) and brought them to me in bed along with some delicious orange juice. So we snuggled in bed with our muffins, it was great. He fell back asleep while I finished up my Bible study for our meeting that morning (I'd HIGHLY recommend Priscilla Shirer's studies, she rocks!)

Then my awesome friend, Robyn, brought me my favorite coffee....a hazelnut latte...to Bible Study, so sweet, especially considering she had to lug her two small children into Starbucks on the way to church, a major feat when you are in a hurry! And she made me a REALLY cool apron, the likes of which you will soon see debuted on Etsy.com :-)

After Bible study I took the kids down to Target, which we don't do too often since it's not too close by (which is probably good for the pocketbook!). We spent, yes, 3 hours (!) there. The kids did awesome. We ate our way thru the store....peanuts, yogurt, fruitsnacks, baked chips, the healthiest things I could find in the "grocery" aisle.
I bought a tent that was on sale, it's amazing how inexpensive tents are nowadays. I'm super excited to be able to go camping as a family now, I'm hoping to go somewhere along the coast this summer....anyone know of any good places?

When we got home from Target, I went into the kitchen and there on the counter was a chocolate cake that Jason had made for me when he came home for lunch.....what a sweetie! Baking for me twice in one day...wow!!!

To end the day we went out to Bruno's BBQ for dinner, a place we hadn't tried before. It was alright, what I ordered wasn't wonderful, but I might be up for trying it again. We got to sit outside, and I didn't have to cook, so that made it good. :-)

And then we came home and had the delicious chocolate cake for dessert.

Cards in the mail, e-cards on the computer, phone calls, chalk-written notes from the neighbor kids, notes on my "wall" on Facebook, lovies from the kids and hubby, sweet gifts, and an awesome blog post from a dear friend all made for a special day. Bring it on 31!

Fun times with Grandma

My mom was in town last week and we had such a great time together. She works at a school, so as soon as she was done with work for the summer she hopped on out here from Colorado. We went strawberry picking and made a pie, we went to the beach a couple times, went shopping, went to the library and swim lessons and just had a great time hanging out. The kids were all over her the whole week, having such fun playing with her. They all slept in the same room which was so fun for the kids. I didn't get very many pictures from the week, but we sure had a great time. Thanks for making it such a wonderful week for us, Mom! We love you tons!!!!!

We came home with 15 lbs of delicious berries

Livi was SO tuckered out from all the fun during the week, she just couldn't make it till dinner.

The Garden

A friend of ours offered us a piece of their land to have a little garden plot. I was so excited since we don't have any type of yard where we're at, and even small garden boxes would be hard to do. So we went and picked out our veggies at the garden shop and headed over to their house. We had to till the land and work up all the dirt and weeds, it was quite a workout!
We ended up planting a couple rows of lettuce, a red bell pepper plant, a green pepper plant, a couple rows of red onions and a tomato plant. We'll see how they turn out! I went over there last week and the lettuce was completely gone....not sure if the bugs got to it or the really hot days we had 2 weeks ago. We might have to replant something in it's place.

Livi the Joy

Haircut

I got 10 inches cut off my hair on Wednesday, it was so fun! It was just enough for Locks of Love. That was one of my goals for the year, and I just couldn't wait any longer, so I'm glad it was exactly what they needed. It sure was weird to see my hair sitting on the counter in a pony tail! I love it short, it feels so fresh and fun.

A couple weeks ago we had a cookout with our friends at the camp where they live. We had such fun being outside with the kids running all around, good food, great friends, frisbee, bubbles, homemade ice cream by the Andersons (which is always guaranteed to make for a good time) Welcome summertime!

Love these girls (Christi & Robyn)! I should have been wearing my cool glasses, too! :-)

The Ickies

We are on day 3 of the icky sickies. Gracie (the dog) started it on Monday morning and then Livi got it on Monday afternoon (not that I think they are related, but just a funny coincidence).
Carson woke up Monday morning and has been getting into the habit of making his bed, so he did, and came upstairs, and after a short time I started smelling something nasty coming from downstairs, so I went down there and Gracie had pooped 2 big piles and barfed 2 big piles right on Carson's bed! It was SO nasty to say the least. And I was so mad that she didn't even try to let us know that she had to go outside, this was not the first time she's done that, so gross. I guess she couldn't control it.

We had a great day on Monday, rode our bikes to Skypark, played for a while, then went and played tennis for a while, had a picnic, and then rode home. Livi took a nice nap and then complained of a tummy ache when she woke up and wanted to go right back to bed. So we put her in her bed and a little while later when Jason went back down to check on her, she threw up. It was her first time getting sick, it's so sad, isn't it? They seem so helpless.

So it was a long night with short bits of sleep, and she doesn't seem to be able to keep much of anything down. I think she has a small piece of bread in her belly now, but that's it.

I'm SO thankful for a washing machine, that's for sure. We've definitely been using it!
We got out for a little walk today, I bundled Livi up in the stroller and we took a couple rounds about the neighborhood, it felt good.

Fun things to make

I have come across a couple fun free pdf patterns and tutorials, so I thought I'd share the love. Enjoy!

Hangtags at Lula Louise
How to cover wooden drawers at Lula Louise
Simple notecard with buttons at How About Orange (LOVE her blog)
An emergency downloadable birthday card & envelope at How About Orange

There are tons more, I'm sure, but wanted to share those with you. It's so fun finding these!

The muddy firefighter

Carson is pretty determined to fly. He's been watching birds lately trying to figure out what makes them able to fly and not him. We've tried gently explaining that God made our bones different and all the other parts of our bodies that are just completely different, but he's holding out hope that some day he'll lift off (and catch a fish with those crazy talons!) :-)

Goggles and Bubbles

I just feel so bubbly with love for my kids. Sometimes I think my heart just might burst with love for them. Sometimes the hard times make the good/sweet times so much brighter. I just love who God made them to be....Livi's sweet, happy, funny, imaginative nature, Carson's creative, active, contemplative nature, they are both such wonders. I love watching them grow. And I hope I never forget these precious days.

Lovin' the Tile

We used to have carpet in our bathroom. The people that sold us our place had offered for us to keep the bathroom rugs, and we thought, sure, how nice! Upon moving in we understood why....there was a dinner plate-sized bleach stain in the middle of the bathroom floor which they had covered with a rug. The former owners are very nice and we see the lady probably once a week as she is a FedEx driver in our neighborhood, so we just had to laugh.

Carpet in a bathroom can just be nasty. Boys, potty training, toothpaste, water + carpet does not equal goodness.

So we finally got some tile in there a couple weeks ago and we are loving it. They tile guy was awesome and he did a really nice job. It's so much easier to keep clean and it definitely looks nicer.

The Dark Cloud

I feel like a dark cloud that's been lingering over my life has blown away today. It's just been a rough week, or couple weeks, but especially this week.

God is so awesome to give us new mercies every morning, and I feel like today after I spent a little time realizing that I've been giving in to the temptation to feel defeated and discouraged and stressed, etc., and confessing that I wasn't letting the Lord be on the throne in my life in every area, and just putting some things down in an email to a friend, I just feel lighter.

Jesus says: "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest".....so I did, and he did. What a wonderful God.

I also decided I need to be taking better care of myself...so I tried to eat better today and drink more water and I think it resulted in more energy and clearer thinking. I read in my Real Simple magazine a long while back that drinking water helps with clear thinking, and it makes sense. I never really put the two together, but I really think it's true.

Nothing huge going on, just dealing with trying to get the kids to behave in public, and to have them be more respectful in the way they talk to me, etc. Carson had a mega-tantrum as we were leaving Costco....I thought we were done with those....but he was so mad that I wouldn't let us eat pizza there since he wouldn't listen to me while we were standing in line. I had asked him to stop chasing Livi around because it makes her crazy and she screams with glee, but it just gets out of hand, especially in a place where there are so many people around. So when he continued to do it, we just stepped out of line and walked out the door....fortunately he didn't realize what was going on till we got outside, but it wasn't pretty on our way to the car.....screaming, crying, boy was he mad, mad, mad. He must have said "but I want to eat pizza here!!!" thru all the crying at least 65 times....the whole way home. It was not fun.

Then later in the day yesterday we had to go to the post office and we had to wait a long time, and they were just being crazy and I couldn't get control of them. I was feeling really hot and sweaty from the stress. The clerk offered them stickers once we finally got to the counter, but I told them we weren't going to be able to take them today, can't reward that kind of behavior. Arggg. So we left and on our way home Carson made some sort of snotty "na-na-na-na-na" comment and it just set me over the top and I started crying, cried the whole way home. And he got a spanking for disobeying me, but at dinner he told Livi with a smile that it didn't hurt.

Gee whiz, this mom thing can be rough, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. With Mother's Day approaching, I've just been thinking about my precious little kiddos and all the wonder that they are. I'm so grateful to be their mom, I just pray that God will give me the grace to lead them in the way they should go, and that He would help me not go crazy in the mean time! :-)

Chocolate Chunk Espresso Cookies

This has got to be one of the best cookie recipes I've come across...the texture is perfect as is the taste....yum!

3/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp. instant coffee granules
2 cups plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 pkg. chocolate chips or chunks
1 cup walnut halves, toasted, optional (I didn't include them)

Combine butter and coffee granules in a small saucepan or skillet. Cook over medium-low heat
until butter melts and coffee granules dissolves, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature (don't let butter resolidify).

Combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Combine butter mixture, sugars, egg, and egg yolk in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed with and electric mixture until blended. Gradually add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drob by heaping tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake at 325* for 12-14 minutes. Cool cookies slightly on baking sheets. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Oh man, these are so good. Hope you like them, too.

A Meme

What I was doing 10 years ago:

I was finishing up my junior year of college, living in the yellow Prospect house in Fort Collins, CO with my 5 other roommates, dating Jason. That was such a fun year!!!!

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Cookies
2. Cheese & Crackers
3. Apples & Peanut Butter
4. Minneolas!
5. Ice Cream

5 Jobs I've had:

Gib's Bagels - A bagel shop in Ft. Collins where I worked for the summer when I stayed at school for a class. It was a boring job, really early hours and not great pay, but I got to bike to work and see some really beautiful sunrises, and take home yummy bagels.

Fraiser Meadows Manor in Boulder, CO - A server in the dining hall at this assisted living facility...I really liked this job...once again, early hours, but I worked with some really fun people and I loved all the old people, especially this one guy who was so nice to me even when I spilled coffee in his lap.

The Teen Parenting Center at my old high school - basically day care, didn't like this job all that much. I worked there for just a couple months after I graduated college and before we got married.

Receptionist at First Presbyterian Church, Boulder - I liked this job. I started a couple days after we got back from our honeymoon, and it was 4 days a week, which was great.

Admin for the Pastoral Care/Counseling ministry at First Pres...I worked with some AWESOME people here and that's what made the job so good.

And of course, now, a mom....which is what I've always wanted to be. :-) My mom said that when I was in Kindergarten I said that when I grew up I either wanted to be a babysitter or a mom. I never enjoyed babysitting all that much, but I sure do love being a mom, although it's harder than anything I've ever done, it's by far the most wonderful and rewarding.

5 Habits:

1. I pick my cuticles really bad, especially when I'm stressed or when it's really dry.
2. Pulling my hair back into a pony tail....I think I'm ready for a hair cut.
3. I almost always have chapstick with me.
4. Play piano on my fingers constantly, or twiddle my feet when I'm sitting in a chair.
5. Thoroughly clean the counters after dinner.

5 places I have lived:

1. Boulder, CO
2. Fort Collins, CO
3. Louisville, CO
4. Longmont, CO
5. Scotts Valley, CA

Yogurt Marinated Chicken

This is a recipe I got off the back of our yogurt container and it was SO good! I'm definitely making it again some day, so I thought I'd share it with you. It's really easy and tasty. We served it with baked potato fries and steamed broccoli, but it would also go well sliced atop a salad, it has a really fresh taste from the lemon in it.

1 cup plain yogurt (the recipe was on the back of a Brown Cow Cream Top yogurt container, but we used the Trader Joe's version of the Cream Top....I'm sure any version of lowfat plain yogurt would work, too...we just like the creamy stuff!)

1/4 cup Olive Oil

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 Tbsp rosemary

1 Tbsp thyme

1 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp pepper

4 chicken breasts (skinless, boneless)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, add chicken and marinate for at least 2 hours then grill.

Enjoy!!!

The Spring Shoulder Bag

I found a link to this blog a while ago, and as I read along, it seemed easy to follow the directions, so I tried it, and I'm super happy with how it turned out. It was really easy and only took me one Saturday afternoon to make it. The inside has a pocket that matches the outer fabric, which is so helpful for holding the smaller things that get lost in the bottom of a bag.

Have you?

Have you had your Minneola today? They are my newfound favorite fruit! I love oranges, but I'm quite particular about them. These have proven to be perfect every time I have bought them (about 8 so far). Ultra juicy, sweet, sour, perfect texture, easy to peel, no seeds, etc. And did you know that they are 1/2 tangerine - 1/2 grapefruit? I didn't even know that till I just went to look for a picture of one to post here! Look for them the next time you're grocery shopping...you (hopefully!) won't be disappointed.

Maybe this week?

Remember this post? I can't actually even believe it's been 2 months....how could we have waited that long to actually have something done about it? I would have never waited that long to have our washing machine repaired!!! But sometimes patience or procrastination or things not working out like you initially thought it should, actually works for the better! In this case it did. Since after calling the repair man that I found in the yellow pages 3 times(!!) without any callback (even tho they said they'd page him right away), we decided to try Sears. So we set up a time for them to come out, of course it would be another week out, but at least it was on the calendar. A good start. It would cost us $73 to come out just to look at it, but they had offered this product protection plan thing where we could pay $204.99 before the service call and that would cover the $73 service call and parts and labor up to $500 (without us having to pay any more than the $204.99 deal). And if the estimate exceeded $500 they would give us a $500 Sears store credit to pick out any dishwasher we wanted. Gee....that sounded pretty good, since we figured it would probably cost more in parts and labor than $131.99 (204.99-73), so we went with it (thank you Lord for your leading!). The man was supposed to come, but then got sick, so he couldn't come that day and only could come a week later, while we were in CO, so we had to set it up for a week after that! So, finally 2 months later, we got someone to come out and (hallelujah!) he declared our dishwasher "uneconomical to repair" - meaning it would cost more than the $500 to fix it!!!! So we were issued a $500 store credit and Friday night we went out to pick out our brand new $499 dishwasher. We didn't even have to pay tax on it, or delivery/installation, or haul-away of our old one. Wow......it was a sweet deal to have gotten a new dishwasher for 2/5 the retail price of it, and we have a year-warranty on this new one included in that initial $204.99 deal. Now hopefully it will actually get delivered this week. It is definitely a luxury I don't take for granted. Sorry for all the math and numbers, I just got excited that this worked in our favor!

Colorado Trip

The kids and I spent last week in CO with my brother while my parents went on vacation. We had such a great time. It's always so fun to see friends and family and this time we even got to have SNOW!!

If you (my friends/fam in the Boulder area) are up for a really good cup of Chai, my friend John took us to a coffee shop called The Cup down on E. Pearl St. and it was truly the best Chai ever. Make sure you order it extra hot and it's the one that starts with a B...there are 2 kinds :-) Thanks again John!
I wished I could have had time to see everyone, that's always the hardest part of coming home is not being able to do it all.
So here are just a few pics from a few of the things we got to do.

Carson just loves sweet Emma

Emma, Livi, Carson, Addie

We had quite an adventure around the lake. It was super windy and the kids all ended up wet, but they had a good time. And the view of the snow-covered back range in the distance was awesome.

They just grabbed each other's hands and walked along the path. Angie and I were scrambling for our cameras, it was too cute.

Carson's latest favorite thing is to cut up paper to make different costumes. This one was a dinosaur (which he's really into lately). He made the whole thing (back, tail, and claws also included) and thanks to John's fabulous taping job, it stayed on his shirt all week. The cutest was when he was wearing it in the car and he fell asleep with the whole get-up on...it was hilarious.

This was the first morning of snow, which quickly melted, but was super fun while it lasted.

Livi enjoying her vacation treat of Fruit Loops for breakfast.

We got to spend most of the day with Grandma and Bumpa when they returned from their trip before we had to leave to go home, and that was also the second time it snowed. This time it was enough to make a snowman and a small igloo. Notice the boots - borrowed from Grandma - they worked quite well, although it was freaky looking at his feet thinking that before long they really will be that big, and at that point, he'll probably also be taller than me. Wow.

What a cute snowman!! Gradie the dog kept coming up and taking off his carrot nose to try to eat it.

Carson got this big dinosaur while we were there, so it was his carry-on on the plane. Dinosaur even got a Denver Police sticker from the officer at security.

Carson got to meet the pilot and actually sit in his seat with his hand on some throttle thing. He was SUPER excited....what a great way to end a good trip, the kids did incredible on the plane, I was so thankful.