Sunsets and Boat Rides

One evening Glenn took me for a sunset cruise - how romantic! We cruised up and down the lake and I found out how the lake got its' name! The bluffs were beautiful, and varied in color so they were fun to see!

By that time of night, there weren't a lot of boats on the water so it was nice and peaceful - I enjoyed just floating along and enjoying the scenary! The sunsets were beautiful on the lake - hard to capture in a picture but I tried at least!

Unfortunately, camping trips always come to an end - we packed up Monday and headed for home - in the pouring rain - all the way home!! But come to find out, it had rained every day at home while we were enjoying sunshine in Kansas!! And once again, we unpacked in the pouring rain! Who cared though - we'd had a great extended weekend and a little rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits!!

Happy Birthday Greetings to Kylan who turned 2 on Monday - pictures to come this weekend when we celebrate Glenn's and Kylan's birthdays!!

Here, Fishy Fishy!

I didn't see a lot of Glenn during the day - he was up at the crack of dawn to go fishing - and he spent hours and hours on the boat doing JUST that!! I've always admired how much patience Glenn has, especially when he's fishing - he can fish forever without even getting a bite and yet he still continues doing it! He's extremely passionate about the sport!

So his typical day would be to get up about 5:30 and fish till about 9:00 - come in and we'd fix some breakfast and then he would be back at it till about 1:00 - naptime - back out to fish awhile and then in to grill dinner about 6:00 - and maybe fishing in the evening!

But he did catch a lot of fish - crappie - (pronounced like croppie) and the limit in Ks. was 50 a day!! 50 of those critters!! He had to settle for bringing a total of about 30 of them home! And we ate the first batch for dinner tonight - delicious!

When we were driving around looking for a camping spot, I noticed they had a nature trail - so bright and early on Sat. morning I decided to check it out! It was actually done by the local boy scouts which I found kind of neat and the pathway was actually hard-surfaced so it was great to walk on! All along the trail there were signs you could stop and read about the local wildlife and plants so it was interesting! The trail was probably about 3/4 to a mile long so I enjoyed getting my exercise and then walking back to the campsite! Here's a picture of part of the trail which ran along the end of the lake

I spent my days reading and reading and reading - actually I brought 4 books to read, along with the one I was already reading! And Sunday I panicked because I thought I was going to run out of books to read - but I didn't - I finished the last one about an hour before we left on Monday! Even though this is Glenn sitting in the chair, it's the view I had daily!

When I wasn't reading, I was working on my Swedish Weaving - I only had 14 rows left on the blanket but they were the long rows and take almost an hour apiece to do! So I would do some weaving in the morning and again in the afternoon, inbetween all of the reading!

I had a nice view of the lake so I'd prop my chair under the shelter if I didn't want to be in the sun and it was enjoyable just watching the boats and jet skis go by too! The Kansas weather was marvelous every day - lots of sunshine and just enough of a breeze to keep you cool! I took a couple of evening pictures which I thought were kind of cool - the lake had all kinds of trees sticking out of it and it looked really eerie in the evenings!

Of course one night we had a fire so I could roast marshmellows - I grabbed the bag and brought it outside, opened it and couldn't believe my eyes!! The company had shrunk the marshmellows!! Instead of nice, fat, fluffy marshmellows, I had a cross between a miniature and a regular one!! They looked absolutely hideous on the end of the sticks so we put 2 on a time but still............ Make sure you check the SIZE of your next marshmellows before you buy them!

Happy Birthday Glenn!

Yes, I know I'm late in writing this! But better late than never! So Happy 57th Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Did we celebrate? Of course - we got up at 3:30 am on Friday - that way we didn't waste any birthday time! Actually, we got up that early because we were heading on our camping trip and Glenn wanted to get a REALLY early start! After packing in the pouring rain on Thursday night, we were glad to see it was only misting when we took the final items out to the truck and headed out around 4:00am!

Me - I slept - I'd had a tough work week - Glenn got to drive-and once I woke up for good, I took control of the CD's and we soon were cruising along Highway 94 (I think) - I'm not good at maps!

Glenn wanted to take the back roads through eastern Colorado and western Kansas so that's what we did - it was still a highway, just not the interstate, and we went through one tiny town after another! It was kind of sad to sometimes see just 1 or 2 buildings in these so called towns and most of the time they were empty! But every town had a grain elevator - I've never seen so many grain elevators!

I was beginning to think that breakfast wasn't even going to be an option but then we went through a town that actually had a small restaurant! The 50 cent coffee I had there was lousy but the ham & cheese omelet and hash browns were the best I've had in a long, long time!

We meandered our way through Kansas and finally arrived at Cedar Bluff Lake! Of course the first thing we had to do was to fill out the day pass and camping pass papers - we were both surprised that the little building was NOT occupied, even though it was the start of Memorial Day Weekend - so we grabbed a pen and started filling out the paperwork - now you would have thought that would have been an easy assignment but we were on vacation and somehow the brain just doesn't work when it knows it doesn't have to! With no calculator in my purse, we had to hand figure the fees, $4.20 per day for the park pass and $8.50 a day to camp - now who in their right mind set that day pass fee at $4.20???? Why not $4.00 or even $5.00?? Oh no, they wanted us to HAVE to do that addition thing! After I totalled up on a piece of scratch paper, 3 days of park passes and 3 days of camping for the total amount, we FINALLY got it finished, attached the appropriate papers to our windshield and headed in to find the boat dock and a camping spot.

The first dock we went too had posts in front of it and the dock was sitting out of the water - hmmmmmm, not a good sign! But since we were on the right side of the lake for the wilderness camping, we decided to try and find a spot to camp and then check out another dock area. We found a great spot to camp and then it was off to find another dock! Mission accomplished - we put the boat in the water and Glenn motored over to the camping spot while I drove the truck and trailer over. It worked out perfectly as our camp site was up on a small bluff and Glenn could bring the boat up to the shore, tie it up, and leave it in the water all weekend!

We cranked up the camper and set up quickly so Glenn could fish and I could start my weekend in the lounge chair! It was heavenly - raspberry tea and goldfish and Danielle Steele! A great view of the lake and nice warm sunshine - what a deal! To be continued......

Its' Been ONE WHOLE YEAR!

Can you believe it?? On Sat., May 23rd, I will have been blogging for an entire year! I started last year on Memorial Day Weekend - and since I will be gone this weekend, I decided to do an "early" blog to celebrate my one year anniversary!

I have SO enjoyed writing and posting pictures - and I REALLY enjoy my book of blogs that Jessi had printed for my Mother's Day gift! It's adorning my coffee table and just fun to pick up and randomly read!

As I talked to Jessi this morning, we were reminiscing about LAST Memorial Day Weekend - while the guys all went fishing up in Wyoming and not only got rained on but about froze to death, we girls were enjoying all kinds of yummy food, shopping, garage saling and watching movies, all in the comfort of Jaime's home!

But since I don't have a broken leg this year, Glenn and I are camping! I'm taking Friday off to have a 4 day weekend! And I'm SO EXCITED to go camping, even if it's not in the mountains!

Glenn always picks where we go on our first camping trip because it's the BEST fishing for walleye and crappies (I THINK that's how you spell it) and this year we are heading to Kansas - yes, KANSAS - to Cedar Bluff Lake. It's about a 5 hour drive from here so we're getting up about 4:00am and heading out tomorrow morning!

The camper is cleaned and will be packed tonight - the boat is ready to go - and my stack of books are ready to be read! 4 whole days of reading and swedish weaving - I can hardly wait!

So while you are enjoying your weekend, just picture me in my lounger lawn chair, raspberry tea and goldfish crackers by my side, sunning myself in the Kansas sun, reading away..............

I'm A Hard Workin' Man!

You're probably thinking that all we do around this place is work! Well, you're right! We're trying to get all of our projects done before summer really arrives so we can do some serious camping this year!

I posted pictures of our new deck a few weeks ago - and now it's time for the railing! Glenn decided he better get the one side put up before Evan and Kylan arrive in a couple of weeks! Cause it's a steep fall if one of them decides to walk too close to the edge!

Glenn had the small posts left over from doing the deck last year, but he didn't have the long poles - a simple solution for him - get a wood cutting permit, cut down some straight trees, shave the bark off and presto - poles!! Then there's cutting all those notches to fit the small poles into - not an easy task!

So he's been hard at work all day building the railing - I, on the other hand, have also been busy all day washing windows! Glenn did get the upper windows washed on the outside and I did the rest of the house so our windows are all sparkling clean! And it was so nice out today that I left the door open - and that wasn't smart - I forgot the flies were out! So then I had flies in all of my nice, clean windows! Luckily the vaccum sucks them up quite nice and those that didn't have the pleasure of mingling with the dust in the vaccum, were swatted at and promptly put in the wastebasket! How dare they make marks on my clean windows!

Is It Too Early?

I love the 4th of July - especially decorating for it! So last week I put up my decorations - I didn't have a lot, but after 2 separate trips to Hobby Lobby, now I do! (And every time I go, they're always 50% off!)


I guess it's the colors that I like to work with the most - who can go wrong with red, white and blue! And I figured it would be fun to have the decorations out for the rest of May and all of June since once July comes, the 4th is here!

I really must CELEBRATE the 4th this year as I have the cutest scrapbooking paper to use - which means taking some photos wherever I might be! But I see the 4th is on a Thursday this year so that doesn't make for much fun unless we close the office for Friday - chances are we won't do that! But a 4 day weekend would sure be nice.................

You WON'T Catch Me Up There!

Just looking at this picture makes my stomach queasy! I DON'T DO HEIGHTS! Never did, never will! I can say with absolute certainty that you will never read a blog from me with headlines "I Went Bungee Jumping" or "Today Was My Sky-Diving Lesson"! Just climbing up a step-ladder is high enough for me!

Glenn offered to wash my high windows for me in lieu of hiring the window washers! And since he basically has no work to speak of so is free to work around the house, I took him up on it! The ladder you see in the picture is like a huge, huge stepladder, so it's pretty sturdy! But it doesn't reach to the 2 top windows that you can see at the top of the picture - oh no, for those windows, he had to use a regular ladder propped up against the wall, extended to its' fullest height! Now THAT was scarey - and yes, I held the ladder with my hands and put both feet in front of the portion that was propped on the floor so it wouldn't slide!

The insides of the tall windows are done - now it's time to move to the outside but that may be a day or two - the winds have been horrible the past couple of days and high on a ladder in the wind is NOT where I want Glenn to be!

I also have another new item in the house - a light in my pantry! When Glenn was finishing up the house, he asked me if I wanted a light in the pantry and I said no, I really didn't think I would need it - WRONG!! It's dark as heck in there and I have to use a flashlight if it's evening time to find what I need! So I was thrilled when I came home yesterday and there was a light installed in the pantry! It's nice and bright and NO MORE flashlight!

Keep up the great work Glenn - I'm loving it!!

Listen To The Music!

I just asked for one thing for Mother's Day from Glenn - and last night I received it!! Check out this picture - pretty exciting huh???

All I wanted was one of my speakers to be mounted in the opposite corner of the house so I could have complete "surround" sound from the stereo! The stereo sits up in the loft and sounds great with the vaulted ceiling - but I knew it could sound even better if one of the speakers was at the other corner of the house, leaving one speaker up in the loft!

So last night, Glenn cut a small platform for the speaker and mounted it up in the corner - then strung speaker wire across the entire wall and stapled it in so you can't see it at all, went around the corner of the house and then ended up back in the loft with the wire! He hooked it up to the system and it was ready to go!

I called my tech advisor (Robby) to make sure it was OK to set the other speaker in the loft on top of the sub-woofer and it was so the big moment came and I turned on the system - LOUD!! My oh my - the sound was amazing!! So good in fact that I grabbed Glenn and we danced around the kitchen island to one of my favorite songs that just happened to be playing!

I am now officially ready for a party - the weather is getting nicer and nicer so we can spread out onto the deck now too - come on over and LET'S PARTY!!!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

As I pulled onto the gravel road going home last night, I could see in the distance there was a rider on a horse with a rope in the person's hand, connected to a colt a little ways behind - I'm assuming the rider was teaching the colt to follow - I'm not a horse person so know little about these things.

Anyway, as soon as I saw that image, my mind relaxed and took me back to a time when riding horses was the ONLY way to get place to place - that tranquil, western setting, far away from today's technology and fast pace of transportation. What a pretty sight seeing that beautiful horse and as I got closer, I could tell it was a woman, dressed to the hilt in her western wear and cowboy hat - what a great thing to do in the late afternoon - riding in the hills where we live!

As I got closer though and moved to the other side of the road so as not to scare the colt, I took another closer look at the rider - AWWWWWWWWW -the image was shattered - the peaceful rider scene was NO longer - the years fast-forwarded to the present - my mind snapped back to reality.

And what was wrong with the picture - the rider was talking on her cell phone...................

Mother's Day

I was once again made to feel so very special on Mother's Day by the best 3 daughters in the world! Jaime, Jill and Jessi all made Mother's Day 2009 another wonderful day to be put in the memory book! And to be surrounded by all 4 grandkids made the weekend even extra special!

It just goes to show that you don't have to do anything extraordinary or out of this world to make a weekend memorable because we did nothing of the sort! We basically spent the weekend at Jaime's house and enjoyed every minute just being together!

Because of everyone's working schedule AND the kids, we decided it would just be easier to make our meals at Jaime's so Jessi made an awesome lasagna for dinner on Sat. night and Jaime made wonderful spicy shrimp linguine for lunch on Sunday! Jill filled in all the "extras" and I hand-dipped strawberries in chocolate for our snacks on Sat. night!

We decided that after Jaime got off work on Sat. night, us 5 girls (Rayna included) would watch a chick flick after the little ones were put down for the night and that's exactly what we did! "Bride Wars" was the chosen movie and we ate chocolate strawberries till we couldn't eat any more - but of course there was room for strawberry/rhubarb dessert!

Sunday morning found Brad and Glenn cooking breakfast for us "honored" moms of the day (and the mom-to-be!) And then it was off to Caribou Coffee for "girl talk"!

Before we watched our next movie, "Marley and Me" (with no dry eyes I might add), I opened my gifts from the girls! WOW - a gift certificate from Jaime (one of those "pick it yourself" ones so I can choose from a whole list of stores or restaurants), super cute summer knick-knacks in wild colors to set on my 3 tiered stand from Jill (they're already sitting on the shelf and they all fit perfectly!! I just need to put a pic in the frame!) and from Jessi, something I had NO idea you could even do, a hardback book of all of my blogs and pictures from when I started, May of 2008 through March of 2009! Gosh, I felt like I had been published!! Below is an absolutely horrible picture of me but it shows the book that she had made!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU GIRLS!!! You are ALL so very special to me!

Of course I must attach a couple pictures of the kiddos - Kylan and Evan had just gotten out of the bathtub and looked so cute playing in the crib together - and Rayna had went to a birthday party where they had a balloon maker and a face painter!

Now how did I get through the weekend without a single picture of Mackenzie by herself? I guess it was because I was holding her most of the time ........... Only a couple more months and she won't be the baby in the family any longer - and then we'll have one more "mom" to celebrate with us on our special day!

It's Going To Be A GREAT DAY!

It's Friday - it's an "8" day - and my wonderful boss brought me my FAVORITE flower to put on my desk this morning - a lilac!! Oh my gosh, I forgot how WONDERFUL they smell!!

I anxiously await each spring for the lilacs to bloom and since they're just starting to bud here in W. Pk, I almost had forgotten they they might be blooming in Colorado Springs!!

My desk smells delicious!! And I just can't stop myself from reaching over every few minutes and bringing that lilac to my nose to smell that fragrant, heavenly smell! Life is GOOD......

Trash Talk

I decided that last night was the perfect time for my "once a year" job of picking trash up off our property! It was gorgeous out, with just enough breeze to warrant a sweatshirt!

We have 2 acres to cover which isn't a whole lot but I managed to pick up about 3/4 of a 13 gallon trash bag full! It just amazes me how much trash gets blown around on our property (probably not all ours but our neighbors' too).

What a great feeling an hour later to tie up that trash bag and look around outside, with not a plastic bag or piece of paper in sight! Sometimes the smallest jobs make us feel the best!

Silly Me (or should I say, Stupid Me!)

One of my best friends is moving out of state the first part of June - we've been friends for the ENTIRE time I have lived in Colorado which makes that 20 years!

Of course we wanted to spend some time together before she leaves so last weekend was our chance! Our plans were for Sat. but due to some weather problems, we decided to hold off until Sunday which was a good thing - the weather was awesome on Sunday!

Our first stop was coffee and muffins at our cute local Florissant Coffee House - yum! Then it was off to Buena Vista to the Cottonwood Hot Springs! It's one of my favorite places to go as it's not only a beautiful drive over there, but who can resist soaking in one of 5 hot springs with the magnificent blue sky overhead against the white capped mountains as the backdrop!

Anyway, the air was cool when we arrived there (remember, it's not quite spring yet in the mountains!) so we paid our money, hit the dressing room to change and soon were in the warm, soothing waters - WITHOUT sunscreen on! Didn't even give it a thought, even though we BOTH knew it was in the trunk of the car!

Fast forward 2 hours later - we'd had a great time soaking and talking but were pretty water-logged by that time so we headed into town for a great Mexican lunch (including cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory!) and then headed on home.

After arriving home, I was telling my friend good-bye and commented that my shoulders kind of hurt - I peeked under my shirt - whoa - what is this burning hot red skin I see? Then it dawns on both of us - we forgot to put the sunscreen on!

Was I miserable for a couple of days? Trust me, that doesn't even BEGIN to describe me! My friend and I emailed back and forth on Monday and Tuesday about how miserable we both were.

Today is Wed. and the pain is subsiding - the skin is starting to turn to brown now - I've applied bottles and bottles of lotion it seems - and I WILL NEVER AGAIN FORGET THE SUNSCREEN!