Is Sleeping Overrated?

I'm one of those people who is REALLY cranky if I don't get my allotted sleep at night - now I don't need a full 8 hours or anything, but a good 7 hours is required!!

I've also felt quite fortunate that I'm not one of those people who CAN'T fall asleep or wakes up every hour on the hour! Sure, I have my nights that I can't seem to fall asleep - but it only happens about once every 2 or 3 months and I usually don't wake up TOO much except when nature calls or I'm having night sweats (one of those WONDERFUL things that happens to you when you get older!!).

But what I have felt for the past few months is that I needed a new pillow - I have been sleeping on an extremely well used down pillow and it just wasn't giving me the support that I needed! My wonderful chiropractor has told me time and time again to invest in a water pillow - and it was just a matter of getting on the internet and ordering one! And that's what I did!!

It arrived this week - I promptly followed the instructions and filled it with water and have been sleeping on it for 3 nights now - there are 3 different levels you can fill it to and I opted to start at the "medium" level - and time will tell if I need to add more water or take some out!

So do I have any results yet?? Not really - although I do have to say it's very comfortable to sleep on and I have slept good the past 3 nights - because it's a little higher than my old pillow, I have a little trouble falling asleep because my neck is not yet used to the height - but hopefully that will work itself out soon!

The other item that Jessi suggested I get is a body pillow to rest my arm on, since I'm a side sleeper!! I have been using that for about 3 weeks now and I LOVE it!! I don't wake up in the morning, feeling my shoulders are all crunched over and sore!!

SO between the new water pillow and the new body pillow, I expect in the next few weeks to have nights upon nights of PERFECT sleep!! Yea right - dream on...................

Easter Sunday - Part Three

Easter morning - cinnamon rolls for breakfast - dressing in your Sunday best (at least SOME of us!!) - putting the ham in the oven - carrying up the Easter baskets from the basement and covering them with a blanket - driving to church with the heater on - and a great Easter message at church!!!

We had just started singing when it hit me - did anyone put water on the ham???? Why is it that these things just POP into your mind sometimes???? I knew Glenn had got the ham ready with the dry mustard and the brown sugar and I knew I had put it in the oven as soon as the cinnamon rolls came out!! So I poked Glenn and asked him if HE had put water on it - he said no - I said darn, and could just picture smoke rolling out of that oven with a dry ham in it now for a couple of hours!! So I found Jessi, explained the situation and Gary ran home to put some water on it - WHEW.........

The kids were all excited when we got home to see their Easter baskets!!

We attempted to take a few pictures and here's one of the "normal" ones that got taken - nobody paying attention - everyone making faces!!

And then it was outside to the egg hunt in Jessi's back yard!! Rayna opted to hide the eggs this year instead of hunting for them - guess she's growing up.................

After our delicious dinner, (we all contribute to the meal) and opening our discussion eggs (thanks to Jessi!!), the kids played for a while before naps!! We grabbed our cameras to get some pictures of cute little Parker, looking so handsome in his outfit!!

I guess I posted the wrong picture of Aleah and Parker - she was actually looking in the one I wanted - it's cute anyway!!

This has to be one of my favorite pictures - Robby sleeping away with all the little ones watching TV!!

Jill decided she wanted a picture of Parker in his Easter basket which did turn out cute!!

Jaime was holding Parker on the couch when he started smiling so sweet - I grabbed the camera and even though the lighting was bad as the shades were open, it still shows his cute smile!!

By late afternoon, it was time to head for home with smiles on our faces but tired bodies.....keeping up with 6 grandkids is NOT as easy as it sounds!!!

Easter 2011 - Part Two

Time to color the eggs!! The Savage's had arrived and little Parker has once again changed and grown - pictures of him in the next blog!!

We had PLENTY of colors to dip the eggs in - the boys and Rayna dug right in and painted egg after egg!! Mackenzie soon got into the swing of things too and loved dunking the eggs in the colors!


And then there was Aleah - I believe at first she had NO IDEA what the heck any of the kids were doing - she's so quiet and shy that she just sat there, wondering what was happening!! Mom and Dad soon helped her though and she did enjoy it!!

Kylan unfortunately spilled one of the colors and felt really bad but it all wiped up just fine!!

Evan was a pro this year, writing his name on every egg that he could!!! Rayna and Jill did some special eggs and they turned out really pretty!!

It was fun for all of us and before we knew it, all the eggs had been colored - what a rainbow of colors we ended up with!!

After dinner, a few of us climbed in Jessi's car to head across town and check out her new office!! I just loved it and know it will be the perfect place for her to start her practice!! It will be different now, going to her office to get an adjustment instead of one in her living room!!

It had been a LONG day and Jessi and I still had devilled eggs to make, Easter baskets to get ready and the table set for the next day!! But I didn't last too long - I had horrible stomach cramps that just wouldn't go away so ended up heading to bed - didn't have a great night's sleep but woke up feeling just fine so who knows what it was!!

And then it was Easter Sunday.......................

Easter 2011 - Part One

Easter Weekend - How special it is to live close enough to the 3 girls and their families so we can all be together on holiday weekends! We're EXTREMELY lucky!!

Glenn and I headed up Friday night and spent 2 nights at Jessi's home since Jill's were staying over at Jaime's. Since we sleep in the basement, we keep an electric blanket at Jessi's and it's always nice and cozy to jump in that warm bed in the cold basement!!

Glenn and Brad decided to go fishing early Saturday morning - I was treated to one of Jessi's homemade cinnamon rolls - as usual, it was AWESOME!!! We headed over to Evan and Kylan's pre-school which is a Lutheran Church for their breakfast and egg hunt!!

What a nice breakfast they had - pancakes and sausage with cute tables set up with candy filled eggs and coloring books and colors for the kids!! But the big hit was the Easter Bunny!!



The kids climbed right up into his lap for a picture and didn't want to get down!! They kept stroking his hands and ears - it was hilarious!!

Soon it was time for the egg hunt - there were 4000 eggs spread out over the church property - we decided to get a quick picture before the egg hunt started!! This tree was all bloomed out and made for a great backdrop, even though it was cloudy and cold out!!

They did the egg hunt in 3 different sections so the 3 little ones went first and they each picked up a basket full of eggs!! Rayna was next in another part of the property and her bucket was overflowing!! What fun!!
The cold drove us back into our cars as soon as the egg hunt was over! I headed back to Jessi's to get the potato casserole ready for the next day and then stopped at Caribou Coffee before heading over to Jaime's to spend some time with Kylan and Rayna. After playing Chutes and Ladders with Kylan, it was time for his nap so Rayna and I painted - I hadn't painted for years and had a ball painting away!! To Be Cont'd...................

Slacker.............

Yes, I've been a slacker all week and haven't blogged! No particular reason except for the fact that nothing exciting is really going on!! Now that's a GOOD thing - it's nice when life slows down to a pace where you have time to relax.........

But the other side of the coin is that I haven't had any desire to do much of anything so my "to do" list keeps getting longer and longer! I'm attributing that to spring fever - surely that's enough reason in itself!

Glenn though is totally swamped at work - which is great - but it means he's stressed out and working a LOT of hours! I decided that Monday night after I got off work, I would go to his place and CLEAN!

I loaded up rags, pledge, 409, paper towels and the vaccum that morning and was ready to CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN!! And that's exactly what I did!! His desk is now organized and free of dust (for about an hour I'm sure.....) and his mini kitchen looks a LOT better and a LOT more sanitary than before! I know he appreciated me doing that and it's something I'll try to do every couple of weeks, just to stay on top of it all!

In other news, we get to use our new camper earlier than I thought we would!! Glenn has told me that he has to do templates for a granite job down in La Veta which is about 3 hours south of us - so he suggested going there on a weekend and taking the camper to stay in!! The exciting part of this trip is that it's not TOO far from the Sand Dunes - a place that has been on my bucket list since we moved to Colorado 22 years ago!! And Glenn has said that we will make it a point to go there on this mini trip south - I'm excited to clean the camper and get it stocked and ready for our summer outings!!

May you all have a Blessed Easter!

April 13th

Isn't it funny how you remember certain dates? I was driving home tonight when it dawned on me that it was April 13th - I'd written the date a dozen times during the day but it didn't hit me what this day was till later - 3 years ago today I broke my leg!!

So I decided to call Jessi and remind her - since I was at her house when it happened, she probably STILL feels responsible even though she wasn't even home!!

I called her and she answered hello and I said - "Do you know what day this is?" and she promptly responds - "Yes, today Parker is 2 months old!!" Of course as soon as she started talking, I realized it was Jill, not Jessi - I dialed the wrong number!!

I still consider the 13th to be a LUCKY day, despite the broken leg - after all, now THREE people in our immediate family can call the 13th their birthday!!

Chubby Cheeks!!

After a good night's sleep at Jessi's house, we of course were woke up by the kids coming down to see us - it's one of their favorite things to do when we stay at their house since we sleep in the basement!

Jessi and Gary cooked us an awesome breakfast with the best pancakes!!! They make them from scratch and I definitely need that recipe!! Jessi and I headed out for Caribou Coffee and some garage sales - there weren't a lot since it's kind of early in the season but we found a couple of things and enjoyed our coffee as we drove around!! Check off ONE gift for Miss Kenzie's birthday in December!!

By 11:00 we were out the door and heading for Ft. Collins! It's sure a heck of a lot shorter to get there from Denver than from Florissant!!

As I expected, Parker has grown a LOT!! And it was so good to get him in my arms again - I have dubbed him chubby cheeks as he's got the fattest, cutest cheeks that you just have to smile at!!

Parker is all set to head out the door as Aleah went down for her nap so Jill and I decided to go shopping!! I needed to get a few things and wanted her advice for Easter gifts for all the grand kids!! We made about 4 stops and I accomplished all I needed too so we stopped at Panera Bread where I had a mango smoothie and Jill had a wild berry one - delicious!!!

Pizza on the grill was great for dinner!! Aleah and I had fun playing till it was bedtime!

It was cool out Sunday but the sun peeked out several times so that was nice!! Robby and Glenn were sent out to get me coffee and donuts for everyone else - yum!!! And then we went to a nearby park so Robby could fly his plane for Glenn - Jill and I brought the strollers and did a walk around the lake - by that time the wind had picked up and it was downright cold walking!!

Jill had ordered some items to put on Parker's wall so we grabbed the hammer and nails and soon it was all put up - his nursery is just darling with a Twinkle Twinkle Little Star theme!!

We worked with Robby on a website for Glenn's granite business!! I had spent several hours putting it all together and now Robby will actually DO the website!! I can't imagine Glenn getting any busier than he is now but a website just seems to be the thing to do these days!! One last picture before it was time to hit the road!!

Thanks everyone for a fantastic weekend!!

Friday Night Games!

Our oldest granddaughter is playing volleyball on the Parks and Rec Team up in Denver - it's hard to believe that she's old enough to do that but in reality, she is!!

Jaime had emailed her schedule a while back and we were thrilled to see that one game was at 8:15 on a Friday night which meant that as long as we left right after work, we could make the game!!

But before we got to Denver, we had one stop to make!!! We have been trying to find an ATV trailer to buy since last fall - I've been on Craigs List daily for months and months and when I do find one that meets our criteria, it's already gone by the time we call!! Friday morning a trailer popped up - the pictures looked great but I couldn't tell the size so I called - yes, it was the right size and the price was BELOW what we were willing to spend!! But the guy said he'd had several calls on it already so to be sure if it was still there after work, call before we come!!

Which is what we did - I picked up Glenn after work and we headed to Colorado Springs - I called on the way down and yes, it was still there!! 30 minutes later the trailer was ours - sold!! And we could pick it up Sunday night on our way home from Ft. Collins!! This will make loading the ATV so much easier!

We raced up to Denver - spent a little bit of time at Jaime's house visiting Brad and the kids since Jaime was working and then headed to the game!! But not before I shot a picture of Rayna in her cute outfit!! The game was fun to watch and Rayna did a great job - she's a good server too and hit that ball over the net each and every time!! Their team won all 3 games so she was pretty excited!!

Her best friend Kealy also plays on the same team so it was fun to get a picture of these happy girls after the game!!

And then it was off to Jessi's to sleep..........................

Goin' Up To Cripple Creek, Gonna Have Some Fun!

Cripple Creek, Colorado - the historic gold mining town that's now a gambler's paradise!

When the "deal of the day" popped up about 3 months ago for C. Crk, I called Joleen and said let's do it!! So we decided to each buy the deal and use it to celebrate Martin's birthday which is in April and Glenn's birthday which is in May. The hardest part was trying to find a weekend that we BOTH could go - it's amazing how busy our lives get!! The perfect weekend was FINALLY booked and this last Saturday found the four of us heading to C. Crk!!

We each purchased the "coupon" for $89.00 - it included a nights stay at their renovated historic hotel, $80.00 worth of food at The Steakhouse (one of my 2 favorite places to order a steak), breakfast at The Home cafe (they have a 49 cents menu) and $30.00 for lunch at Baja Billy's, a Mexican restaurant!! WHAT A DEAL!!

We found the historic hotel and it was unique, to say the least!! It was on the second floor of a historic building with just 8 rooms, all down a LONG hallway!! The rooms were very nice - of course not your typical Holiday Inn!! Even though the bedrooms were quite small with just enough room for an old fashioned double bed, the bathrooms on the other hand were quite large and very modern. We did notice when we checked in that the rooms were really WARM as the day was hot and sunny!!

Then it was off to gamble!! We had a fun time just playing the nickel or quarter slots and having free drinks brought to us - ate some popcorn and 99 cents shrimp cocktail because we were starving and it was still an hour before our dinner reservations!!

The Steakhouse was once again FANTASTIC!!! After our table side made guacamole and our bacon wrapped shrimp appetizers, our entrees arrived! I had ordered that butter fillet steak again which was awesome - even though I kept telling the other 3 how GOOD it was and to order it, nobody took my advice - trust me, after I gave them each a bite of it, they all decided next time they would be ordering it!! Dessert was a huge brownie, smothered with vanilla ice cream, tons of whipped cream and chocolate syrup drizzled over the top!! As if THAT wasn't enough, the waitress brought out a cake for the 2 guys birthdays!!! We wrapped that up along with our leftovers to bring home as we were stuffed - and no, we didn't even reach our $80.00 total apiece..........

After that huge meal, we walked around a little bit but found ourselves back at our rooms by 9:00 - we're quite the party animals, aren't we??

The room was really warm and between that and the squeaking hallway floorboards, I didn't get a great night's sleep, even though we had the window wide open!! Oh well, sleep is overrated anyway...............

We were to meet Martin and Joleen at 8:00 - Glenn had woken up early and went out to take a walk - I woke up and glanced at the clock - 7:22 - wow - why wasn't it really very light outside??? Could it be because C. Crk is in a valley and the sun hadn't made it over the mountain yet??? I jumped up and hit the shower running so I could be ready by 8:00. After I was ready and I put my watch on, I glanced at the time - hmmmmm 7:00 - great - the clock in the bedroom wasn't set to Daylight's Savings Time - could have had another hour of QUALITY sleep!!

Glenn came back about that time so we watched a little TV and then headed out for a walk and soon it was time for breakfast!! We had our coupons for our 49 cents breakfast and I figured it would be toast and an egg and coffee - absolutely not - we had cheese omelets with biscuits and a bowl of fresh fruit!!! On the side, we ordered some bacon and orange juice so between the 4 of us, our bill was a whopping $5.14!!

We headed up the street and found a cute coffee place so ordered some "speciality" coffee and started to plan our trip to Belize next fall!!

By the time coffee hour was over, the museum had opened up so we walked to it and spent an interesting hour and a half looking all kinds of historic items from the gold rush days!

There were little cabins outside made to look like prospector's cabins and all kinds of mining equipment to browse around - it was really fun!! Don't we look cute???

Because Joleen and I still had vouchers to cash in at one of the casinos, we decided to sit and gamble some more (we both kind of felt weird, gambling on a Sunday morning) and of course ordered some drinks from the waitress who we later figured out we knew so visited with her!!

And if all that food and drink wasn't enough, we still had lunch to eat - Baja Billy's was a really cute place all done up in southwest decor - and we had some great Mexican food - again, to go boxes were in order!! Our total at the end of that meal that we owed for was $1.59.

It was time to leave - we were fat and happy and had such a wonderful weekend - but all good things come to an end - I'll be watching my emails for more of those great "deal of the day" coupons!!