I'm LOVING This!

Gas prices are getting so cheap that you can't help but plan a road trip - right?  Ours will have to wait a month or so but let's hope that the prices stay DOWN!!

She's Growing Up WAY Too Fast!!

Glenn and I always look forward to Rayna's volleyball tournament in Pueblo because sometimes it's the only chance we get to see her play in her school competition.  She also plays competitive volleyball after the first of the year and we usually get to see a few games then.

So Saturday morning we grabbed some coffee in town to drink on the way and headed to Pueblo!

Rayna's team was undefeated so far this season so were seeded #1 - they played their first game on Friday night and won it so were all fired up to play on Saturday!!

They easily beat their opponents in the late morning game - the whole team played great!!

Since there was a 3 hour break, Glenn and I headed to guess where????  Yup - the only place we shop now - HOME DEPOT!!!!  After roaming around in there for quite a while and not actually getting what we went after (which was the stove vent hood - I figured since it was in stock in Co. Springs that it would be in stock in Pueblo - no such luck!) we grabbed a bite to eat and headed back to the games.

They won the 3:00 game too - in fact, the team really had no big competition at all - that's how good this team looks this year!!

Before we knew it, it was the championship game and they easily won!! 

Rayna was all smiles as she posed with the team trophy and her medals.  She not only got a medal for the championship, but also was one of six chosen from the 8 teams to make up the "all-conference" team!!  Congratulations Rayna - we are so proud of you!!

I'm Dreaming Of A White Christmas.....

And if our mountain is any indication, we'll certainly have a white Christmas!!  Take a peek at Pikes Peak all covered in snow!!

We had our first snow on Friday - didn't really accumulate any but it was sure pretty coming down!  All the flowers in the outside pots are officially frozen now since we woke up to 20 degrees instead of the usual 30 degrees!!  Winter is on its' way.................

It's A Process

I had forgotten how long it takes to cut up a good sized elk!!  The freezer shelf is already packed and we're not done yet!!  Guess I better clear one more shelf for the rest of it!

 I'm sure glad they're doing all the cutting in the garage and then bringing it into me inside to package!!

 Fresh ground hamburger, mixed with a ratio of 10 and 20% beef fat - also on the docket is making elk jerky!!

It's sure nice to have elk again in the freezer!!

Our Tech Guy Takes Charge

Robby, Jill and the kids headed down from Ft Collins on Friday afternoon since Jill had the day off from school, as did Aleah.  This weekend Robby was going to do the inside wiring for the tv, speakers, dish and phones.  I don't quite understand all that wiring and Glenn was sure glad for the help as this is  right down Robby's alley!!

Friday afternoon we walked up to the new house to see the progress - on the way up, Parker found a rock that he insisted on carrying up to the house and back down to the old house!  He had seen painted rocks at a pumpkin patch the day before and he was bound and determined to paint this rock!!  So that's just what he did!!

Aleah painted a picture and spent a lot of the weekend coloring!

Saturday the guys headed up to work on the wiring - I had a basket filled with scraps of paper that had "fun" things to do all day so the kids took turns picking one out and doing what was on the list!  I think they had more fun actually choosing the piece of paper out of the basket than doing the activity!

We headed into Woodland Park that afternoon to play on the neat playground and get smoothies!

Parker cracks me up in this picture!

We had a tea party out on the deck even though it was a little chilly out!  Notice how daintily Parker is eating his cheerios!!

The best part of the choices in the basket were 2 pieces that said "free time".  That meant the 2 kids had to go play by themselves and let Jill and I do whatever we wanted with NO interruptions!  Jill enjoyed looking through my old scrapbooks and having a few laughs (no, make that a LOT of laughs!!)

The guys got all the wiring done on Saturday - I even got Robby to sort through my "electrical" box and bag which have been growing in size for the last 10 years!  I was thrilled when MOST of the stuff went in the trash!!

Sunday morning was hot chocolate time - I've never seen a kid drink hot chocolate as fast as Parker does!!

I have a box that has little toys in it for the kids and they get to pick something out before they go home - notice Parker's hand in the above picture?  Yup - no trucks for him - you can sure tell he has an older sister to play with!!

What a fun weekend with the Savages'.  It's hard to believe that the next time they come down, we SHOULD be in the new house!!

Pancake Rocks

Jan and I decided to hike Pancake Rocks this last week - we had hiked the falls the week before and we had taken Jessi and Gary on that hike when they were down.  After a mile up, there's a turn off to Pancake Rocks and we knew it would be a difficult hike but we had no idea it would be that tough!!

Not long after we took the turn-off, my heel started hurting and I knew a blister was forming!  I had put a band aid on that morning but it didn't seem to do any good!  We hiked up and up and up over rocks and lots of tree roots - and my heel hurt with each step!

We stopped after a while and I put on 2 more band aids, hoping that would help but it really didn't!  Luckily the air was cool as I don't think we could have gotten far in the blazing sun!  The views were awesome though!

Although it seemed like we had hiked for miles, apparently it wasn't far enough as we never reached Pancake Rocks - and between my heel hurting and Jan's exhaustion (she had just flown home from spending a week at sea level in Houston), we decided we had to turn around!

Oh well, we tried and we failed - but I'm not even sure we will attempt it again as it was one tough hike!!

A Full Freezer

Glenn was pretty excited last Monday when he drove over to a friends' place and the elk were there!  One shot and that elk was down!!  He called our helper Roy to bring his truck over (as Glenn had my car) and they loaded the elk and it's hanging in our garage!

Now it's time to start cutting up the meat and filling the freezer!!

Plugging Along...........

Gosh - October is more than 1/2 over already - where does the time go?

Glenn has been working diligently on the house and you can really see the progress now!  Since these pictures are a week old, the ceiling in the great room has been finished!  And they're now working in the master bedroom!

 Also, the bottom portion of the deck is done - next will be the railing!

Lazy Days With Great Company

Coffee at Florissant was on the agenda for Saturday morning.  Lunch was on the deck and it was gorgeous out!!

We took a drive on Saturday and somehow the day got away from us!  Before we knew it, it was Sunday and time to head up to Denver!  We congregated at Jaime's house for the afternoon with Jill's and Jessi's (minus Gary who had to work - boo hoo) and enjoyed the afternoon visiting and reminiscing.  We had a great chicken barbeque for dinner that evening and of course I HAD to make pistachio dessert (aka My Green Heaven) as that was always our "dessert" when we got together with Cindy and Rene'.

Gwyn was all smiles most of the time - except when I tried to take her picture!!

Since Rene' was still hurting in his back, Jessi set up her table and adjusted all of us!!  How cool to have a chiropractor in the family!!

We attempted a picture of the adults but it didn't turn out great!!

The 4 of us spent the night - since Rene' STILL wasn't feeling better on Monday, Brad gave him a massage before he went to see Jessi again at her office!  Cindy and I headed to coffee and later Brad gave US massages!!

We attempted to see "The Martian" in the afternoon but a power surge had taken out something in the projector and after paying, ordering our food and drinks (it was the recliner/food theater) and getting all relaxed in the recliners, the manager came in and announced the movie wouldn't play..................bummer!!!

We took Cindy and Rene' early evening to the airport to drop them off for their flight back to Portland - what a great time we all had and it won't be long before we seem them again for our Feb. vacation in Costa Rica!!!!  Until then...............

Mt. Princeton

I LOVE going to Mt. Princeton!  Not only is it an awesome drive over that way, but the hot springs are so amazing!!

We packed a picnic lunch to eat as soon as we got over there and walked down by the stream to eat it!

Then it was off to the stream and the pool!!  The weather was gorgeous!

We all had to laugh at Glenn's white legs!  They NEVER see sunshine it seems and they certainly got a little red!

Cindy and I still had some tan left from the summer so didn't burn too badly!

Rene' had pulled his back the day after they arrived so was in some pain - the hot springs certainly helped him feel a little better!

We soaked for about 3 1/2 hours - and of course I was chosen to drive home!  It's amazing how great that water feels for that long of a time!!   And how tired you are when you get out!

Dinner that evening was Russ's in Divide for burgers - yum - we sure slept good that night!!

The Galarzas' FINALLY Come To Colorado

We've been waiting patiently for our good friends, Cindy and Rene', to visit us in Colorado and they FINALLY made it!!  They now live in WA state and we've been out there once to visit but we were hoping they would get to Colorado BEFORE we moved out of this house and into the new one!  And they arrived early Wed. morning!

I picked them up at the airport (which is a crazy story) and had high hopes of just waiting in the cell phone parking lot and then picking them up at passenger pickup but it wasn't to be!  As I pulled into the airport and crossed 4 lanes of traffic to get to the cell phone lot exit, it was all blocked off.  OK - now where to go?  I just kept driving in hopes I would find a spot to park and I didn't so decided to just park at the covered parking which is very close to walk in.  That wasn't to be either as the lot was full and the ONLY other place you could go was into the regular lot to park..............it was crazy full and I ended up parking next to a tractor and 2 snowplows which were right on the edge of the lot!!

Cindy and Rene' had landed by the time I was parked but did have to get luggage so I walked and walked and walked and rode 2 elevators to get into the terminal, all the while TRYING to remember how to get back out to my parking spot!  The only redeeming factor in all of this is that I raced up to Caribou Coffee and got myself a turtle mocha before I met Cindy's down at the baggage claim!

Walking back out to the car, 2 people flagged us down and asked if we were parked in the covered parking and could they have our space - when we got out to the regular lot, a gal pulled up beside us and asked if we were leaving and we said yes.  She asked if SHE could follow us to our car and take our spot - even offered us a lift there!!!  That's how bad the parking was with all of the construction!

Anyway, we FINALLY got out of Denver and talked a mile a minute back to our house!!

Thursday Glenn worked while Cindy, Rene' and I headed to Cripple Creek - I had booked a tea for Cindy and I and Rene' was going to visit the museum there.  Tea was lovely as usual!!

 After tea we headed up to the Visitor Center!

 They have a great museum there and we enjoyed walking around for quite a while!!

We had a yummy pork loin dinner that evening and made plans for the hot springs on Friday!!

A Pet or Freezer Meat?

After our hike on Sunday morning, we headed back home and one of our "nice rack" deer was hanging out at the house!  At first I thought it was King Arthur - I HAVE named one of the deer since his rack is so massive and he usually comes by about every other day and makes himself at home either under the deck or by the side of the house - but it wasn't, it was one of the smaller ones.

So the kids and Glenn headed out to feed him!  Jessi caught this awesome photo of the kids leaning back so the deers' antlers wouldn't hit them!  PRICELESS!!

 This guy is not shy at all!

 Little Gwyn is growing like crazy and smiling up a storm!!

 She sure loves her older siblings!!

 Gwyn was thrilled when we finally took her out of her sleeper so she could actually play with her toes - oh yes, and chew on them too!

What a great weekend we all had!

Hiking With The Keppy's

Friday evening the Keppy's arrived from Denver!  Gwyn was all smiles before she headed off to bed - even Kenzie and Evan headed to their room after eating some pumpkin mousse! (yes - it was delicious!!) 

The guys were off to an early start on Saturday - Glenn, Gary and Evan joined the Rock and Gem Club from Lake George and headed to Breckenridge on a dig - they had an awesome day and brought home lots of tiny crystals which they were thrilled with (Jessi and I thought differently!!).

Meanwhile, Jessi, Kenzie, Gwyn and I had a great day together!  We walked up to the new house to see all the changes, had coffee INSIDE as it was too cold outside, played cards with Kenzie, and spent a lot of quality time with Gwyn.  But one of the most fun things we did was to look through all of my old scrapbooks! Wow did we have some laughs over that!  One of the things Jessi really got a kick out of was the "book" I made in home economics on planning a wedding!  It was planned to the very last detail with pictures cut out of magazines of dresses and tuxedos and china place settings and everything else you could imagine!  I loved the last page which had a picture of where my proposed honeymoon would be - Colorado!!!

Sunday morning we headed out early to Horsethief Falls which is on the way to Cripple Creek for a 3 mile hike!  We were all in high spirits and had a wonderful hike!

 I think the kids ran up most of the trail!  They sure had a lot more energy than the rest of us!

 The falls are beautiful!  And we enjoyed a nice rest and a snack up by the waterfall!

 Jessi had Gwyn in the "ergo carrier" on the way up and she was a real trooper!  I love her hat!

 The weather was perfect - cool but sunny!  Luckily the rain waited till after our hike!

 That really isn't a stick coming out of my mouth!  I was behind a branch and there just wasn't any room to scoot over!

I highly recommend this hike as it's not too strenuous and the falls is well worth the hike!