It's Fall In Ft Collins

One thing really neat about Ft Collins is that they have huge trees with leaves, something we don't have much of in the mountains except for the aspens!  They're loaded this year with gorgeous leaves and I really enjoyed walking through all the fallen leaves in the morning when I went for my daily walk - it was pretty windy so there were lots of them on the sidewalk!  This tree caught my eye!

 The kids raked and raked in their backyard and made 2 huge piles to play in!!

 After church on Sunday we went on a hike through a nature trail - we've done it before in the fall and it's always pretty - I love this huge tree!

 And then it was time for Parker's ballgame - the last one of the season and those little guys looked so cute out there on the field!  Parker did great and of course was the cutest one out there!!

 He really wasn't into taking pictures after the game with his medal but he was excited about it!!

Robby ended up coming home from hunting late Sunday morning - which basically meant I didn't need to transport kids on Monday for school.  In the meantime Jaime had called and wondered if I could sit with Rayna on Monday since Brad was still hunting and she needed help after her surgery.  So after a great 3 day weekend at Jill's, I headed to Denver (and promptly got lost as I didn't follow Jill's instructions so had to call Jaime to direct me!!!) and spent the day with Rayna.  She is doing fine but still in a lot of pain so appreciated me being there!  We enjoyed smoothies together, watched some TV and worked on our adult coloring books!  After picking up Kylan from school, I headed on home as Brad was there by that time!  Thanks Jill for an awesome weekend!!

Pumpkin Patch

Time for a trip to Ft. Collins!!  The initial reason for heading up there was to see Parker's T-ball game - then Glenn, Robby and Brad decided to hunt together that weekend so I was also needed to transport kids to school Monday since Robby wouldn't be there!

Glenn left Thursday morning to go scout a couple of days before his hunt and Friday morning I headed north!  First was a stop at the Smiths' so I could see Rayna who had had knee surgery the day before - she was pretty groggy that morning and had a friend staying to help her for the day (fall break) since Brad was hunting and Jaime was working!  I took her some flowers and a donut and knew it would be a rough weekend for her!

I arrived in Ft Collins just in time to grab a bite of lunch and then we were out the door to head to the Pumpkin Patch!!  The colors were in full force up there and the countryside was gorgeous!!

I LOVE seeing all the pumpkins - of course they had a huge field where you could pick your own if you wanted to!

 The kids had fun running around and checking out all the pumpkins and gourds!

 Photo time!!

 Parker picked out a HUGE pumpkin - so big he could hardly carry it!!

 We had a fun time checking this new place out - the only disappointing fact was that the hayride wasn't running since it was a weekday! 

Back To Iowa

It was back to Iowa for us last week - only not a pleasure trip.  This time we needed to help Glenn's siblings pack and clean out the farm house where his mom used to live.  She has moved to town into a small place so the farm house still looked like someone was living there!

We drove the truck out and pulled the ATV trailer as Glenn had things from the farm he wanted to bring back - luckily the truck is very comfortable to ride in but it is a long 12 hour journey out there!

Patty and Leonard were waiting for us that evening - we sure enjoyed staying with them and they have such a beautiful home!  Leonard is still on crutches from his broken leg but is driving truck and using his "peg" leg to get around!!

We worked at the farm house for 3 straight days - packing and marking boxes, hauling boxes and furniture to 2 different places in town and then finally cleaning and scrubbing the house!  It was sure a lot of work inside and the guys spent part of their time cleaning up the yard and acreage.

Friday night we enjoyed dinner out with Patty and Leonard and Jim and Brenda at an excellent place in Woodbine called Roux - the drinks and entrees were delicious and the dessert was awesome!!  Saturday night we went out with Glenn's mom and siblings to the Green Lantern in Decatur - I hadn't been there in years and years and we had a great meal there also!  So it wasn't ALL work in Iowa!!

Sunday was Patty's 65th birthday and I actually got to spend the day with her which was really special!!  We attended church together and then headed to Onawa to see The Magnificent 7 at the movie theater - it was fun to reminisce about going to that theater when we were both growing up and dating!  Pizza was on the agenda that evening for dinner and Jim joined us to eat before the evening football games started.

And Monday was the long journey home......................

Steamboat Springs

Our 2nd fall trip was supposed to be around the Sargent's area in the 5th wheel - but because Glenn's back and groin muscle were hurting so bad, he said he didn't want to ATV anymore.  So on Saturday he winterized the 5th wheel and I cleaned it all out of the perishables and things that would freeze.

Monday morning he decides differently - he wants to go up north where he will be hunting and do some scouting with the ATV - figures................SO we tried to find a cabin around that area but nothing was available so we ended up booking a room in a lodge outside of Steamboat Springs.

The drive up there was gorgeous - Hoosier Pass was just beautiful with the aspens and it was a great driving trip up there, even though it took 3 1/2 hours!!  We found the lodge and let ourselves in as the gal had called and was going to be gone for the day - and WOW were we impressed!!  It was a beautiful place and we checked it all out since we were the only ones there!!  The great "common" room had a huge fireplace and TV and while Glenn went out to take a drive, I sat here and read!

 We went into Steamboat to eat that evening at a brewery and enjoyed just relaxing when we got back to the lodge.  Breakfast was served the next morning in the dining room and we enjoyed visiting with the owner over coffee!

We headed out to ATV and guess what we got behind - yes, a HUGE mound of hay!!  We ended up just driving in the ditch to go around him as he sure couldn't see us!!

 We had a fun day ATVing and the weather held so that was good - it was pretty cool out but we were dressed for it!  The leaves were beautiful!!

 The reflection on this lake was gorgeous!!

 The second night we ate Italian and it was delicious!!  After getting back to the lodge, we got in the hot tub for awhile to relax - and the bear didn't join us although he had been there the day before!

Another great breakfast - homemade cinnamon rolls - and then we said our goodbyes to the owner with the hope that we'll stay there again sometime!

The leaves were extra beautiful this day and of course I couldn't stop taking pictures!!

 Oh my gosh - a picture of ME!!!  Yes, I do go along on these trips!!

I wish fall would last for months..................

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen - Goodbye!!

When Joleen left on Monday morning, she took something with her - GLENN'S CHICKENS!!!!!

Even though 3 of the 4 have been laying eggs daily (and we LOVE the fresh eggs) it was getting to be a hassle since we are traveling so much.....................and with winter coming up soon and 3 trips in the works, he knew it was time to hand them off to someone else.

Joleen's daughter, Becca, already has chickens and had lost a couple this last year so she was more than willing to take the 2 hens and the 2 bantys - in exchange for Joleen bringing us fresh eggs whenever she comes out!

So Glenn packed the chickens into 2 crates and put them in the back of Jo's car - we covered them with a sheet so they wouldn't cackle much on the 7 1/2 hour trip home but guess they still made some noise!

But they arrived back in KS. safe and sound and now Becca is enjoying them just as much as Glenn did!!  I know he misses them!

Confirmation Weekend

It was good to get back home after our ATV trip, especially because my friend Joleen had already been staying at our house for a couple of nights.  She had come back to have foot surgery so unfortunately was in pain when we arrived home Thursday evening.  I took her Friday to her follow up Dr.'s appt and he advised her not to drive back to Kansas till Monday morning!

We headed to Denver early Saturday morning to make Kylan's soccer game - always fun to see the grand kids play in whatever sport they're playing!

 Jill and Aleah came down that afternoon so it was fun catching up with them and spending time at Jessi's home that afternoon - Jessi fixed an awesome dinner for us before we headed back to Jaime's to spend the night!

Sunday morning was Rayna's confirmation - what a special event!

 We all attended church at Mount Olive Lutheran and it was nice to be with Rayna as she took her first communion.

Ah, 3 of the girl cousins!!

 Jaime and Brad's friend Ian had a special lunch waiting for us when we got home after church and then Rayna opened her gifts!

We waited till after the Broncos played (and yes they won!!) before we headed back home to spend the evening with Joleen before she headed out the next day!

South Park

Craig and Becky decided to head back to Iowa the next morning!  It was cold and dreary out and after a quick breakfast, we all headed out!

The drive up Slumgollian Pass was gorgeous, even with all the clouds hanging low that day!!  We stopped at the scenic pull off and I snapped pictures in between raindrops!!

The drive on into South Park was beautiful!  We stopped in Creede at the Visitor Center and armed ourselves with maps and brochures as we hadn't ATV'd this area before!

At South Park, we stopped along a stream to eat our lunch and were surprised to see a sheep drive along the railway tracks on the other side - there must have been at least 500 sheep being herded by a guy on a horse - interesting!!!

We decided to ATV for about 3 hours but it wasn't a fun time - the road was extremely rough getting up to the next road and about 1/2 way up it started misting out which eventually turned to rain!  Even though we put on our rain gear, it was miserable.  Our map didn't really show the area we were in so we talked to some hunters on how to get back down without doing the rough trail - they told us the wrong direction to go but luckily Glenn figured out how to get back down and it was a long journey back in the rain!!

I was very glad to get out of the sopping wet rain gear and head to our cabin for the night which was in town.  The cabin was great - extremely spacious and one of the nicest we have stayed in!  We headed out that evening to eat Mexican which was very good and enjoyed our evening!

Thursday morning we headed out to ATV another trail  and guess what we ran into - the same sheep herd that we saw the day before!!  We actually were behind all the sheep as they were traveling the road and we decided to go another way and see if we could miss them.   The other road we took did take us to where we were supposed to be and we beat the sheep herd!!! There weren't a lot of aspens on the trail and the road was pretty rocky - Glenn thought he pulled a couple of muscles so he was sore and in pain by the time we got back to the car - guess it was time to head home and heal for the next trip!