August Photo Dump

 August is a month of the past now and we're into September - HOORAY!!!  Here's a few pictures to round out the month!!

I left my car at Jaime's as I rode with them to Laramie - hail came up on our phones so Rayna went out and covered my car with rugs to protect it!  HA!!  And of course the hail never showed up!!

Here's a close up of the coffee mug that Evan brought me back from Tanzania and he also brought Papa a tiny shot glass - it's cute as ever!!

And while we were up at Jessi's place, it hailed like crazy!!!!

Guess what - I got a new vaccum!!!  Yes, it's another Shark and I really like it - pretty much the same as my old one - and now I have a vaccum for each floor!

PALISADE PEACHES!!!  I only got 1/2 a case this year so not too many to put up!!  We enjoyed eating them and freezing a few!!  Next year I will definitely get a whole case!!

Another new item!!  Our indoor/outdoor thermometer bit the dust so we got a new one and I like it SO much better - it plugs in which is nice - we were always changing batteries in the old one!  Must have taken this picture right after my coffee break on the front porch as I always put the little table (which holds the outside control) in the sun to get a few rays!!!

And finally the August full moon - always pretty!!

And that's a wrap for August!

Taylor Park Camping

 It's time to get some camping in!!  Taylor Park was the destination and it was a beautiful drive over Cottonwood Pass to drop down into the park!  We parked the rig and unloaded the side by side to find a spot to camp and the place we wanted had one spot left!  It's kind of up on a ridge with a nice view so it was perfect!

After getting set up, it started to rain so a great time for Glenn to nap and me to read!!  Then we ate an early dinner and headed out for a ride!

It was a nice evening for a ride but didn't see any moose that first night!  It was nice and cool that night sleeping so the furnace was on!!  

The next morning we headed out to Texas Creek which is our favorite place to see moose!  And we weren't disappointed!!!  Here's Glenn sitting by the stream -a perfect place to camp there but the road to get there is awful - no way would we take our 5th wheel on it!

And before long we saw our first mama mosse and her baby - so special!!

This was my favorite picture I took over our 2 night stay!!

There are many ponds and streams around so it's fun to get shots of the reflections in the water!

Check out this mama moose in the water - her baby was to the side of the picture and we sat and watched them for a while!  We ended up seeing a total of 7 moose this trip - but no bulls!

There were 3 deer than came both nights close to our campsite - All 3 of them had nice racks!

We went for a drive again that evening - a beautiful night again and we bundled up for the drive!

It was a great 2 day camping trip and the sun was hitting this mountain just perfect on the way home!

And Once Again, School Has Started

 It's always fun to post photos of the grandkids going back to school and college!!  So here goes!

First up are the Colorado kids!  Gwyn is headed to middle school in the 6th grade at Thunder Ridge Middle School in Centennial.

Parker is a sophomore at Fossil Ridge High School in Ft. Collins.

Aleah is a senior at Fossil Ridge High School in Ft. Collins.

Kenzie is a senior at Eaglecrest High School in Centennial.

Kylan is a freshman at the University of Wyoming, Laramie.

Evan is a sophomore at Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

Rayna is a junior at UCCS, Colorado Springs.

Matias is a junior at UCCS, Colorado Springs.

And now for the Iowa kids!  Maggie is an 8th grader at West Monona, Onawa, Iowa

Chance is a freshman at West Monona, Onawa, Iowa.

Nedelle is attending Northeastern Community College at Norfolk, NE.

So proud of each and every one of these kids!!!

A Trip to Laramie

 Jaime and Brad were supposed to head up to Laramie, WY (where Kylan and Irene now live as Kylan will be attending college up there) on Friday, the day before the wedding - but the other pharmacist had a very sick boy and couldn't work for a couple of days so Jaime had to stay and fill in - which meant they weren't leaving till Sunday morning!!  And that meant I could ride up with them to see where the kids were staying and see the college!

Our first stop though was Denver - I was desperately in need of an adjustment from Jessi!  And she offered BLT's with tomatos from Iowa!!!  Now who can pass that up??????

Now I realize that the bacon is covering the tomato BUT that's OK - I took the picture so I wouldn't forget to write about the BLT!!  They were AMAZING!!

Evan had just returned from Tanzania the week before and look what he brought me - a hand painted coffee mug with NANA on it - SO special!!  This cup will definitely need to be hand washed!!

A group shot before we left - and yes, Kenzie is standing on her tip toes to make sure I look extra short - HA!!!!

The drive to Laramie was pleasant - it's amazing how little traffic there is once you get out of Ft. Collins!  The sky was beautiful that day and I took this picture to remind everyone that the wind doesn't always blow in Wyoming!

The kids' place is cute as can be with plenty of room!  Irene fixed a delicious dinner for us and then we went to take a tour of the college - it is such a nice campus!  Here's the building where Kylan will have most of his classes!

Just a cute place for a picture of the two of them!

There were bunches of these beautiful flowers  -  so well maintained!

I'm sure this picture will be even more beautiful in a few weeks when fall arrives and these aspens turn gold!

Irene's first day of work was on Monday - she is a pharmacy tech and was transferred to the Safeway in Laramie from Jaime's place of work in Woodland Park!

Oops - this picture should have been above  - I took everyone out for blizzards after the college campus tour!

Monday morning we went to the courthouse so Kylan could get Wyoming plates for the vehicles and we ran a couple of errands before eating pizza for lunch!  And then it was time to head back home through all the crazy Denver and Co. Springs traffic during rush hour - YIKES!

But a fun trip and I know Kylan will enjoy going to college there!

A Perfect Wedding

 We don't get invited to many weddings at this point of our lives so were thrilled to get an invite to our neighbors' son, Curtis and his fiance Megan!  Curtis is a police detective in Colorado Springs and him and Glenn had hunted together before and we spend a lot of time at Alan and Debra's place when his kids are there so we knew both of them!

This western themed wedding was held at Pikes Peak Ranch, about a 45 minute drive from our house so left in plenty of time to get there!  The place is absolutely breathtaking for an outdoor wedding!

Alan's late wife Peggy was honored with her saddle and a picture!  She would have loved to dress up in her finest western wear for this occasion!

Even though it rained on the way out there, the sun was shining by the time we arrived and the weather was gorgeous!

It was an emotional service as the bride and groom wrote their own vows - very special!
And Megan's dress was so pretty!

After the outdoor service, we walked down to the event center - there was a huge outdoor area with a few tall tables and lots of stone benches to sit on - open bar so we got our drinks and enjoyed them, along with a beautiful display of appetizers to eat - the shrimp was amazing!

A blue grass band played outside until it was time for the meal which was served inside - Megan had went to many Goodwills, Arc's and other 2nd hand stores and had bought different place settings of china for every seat - they were all different which made it so unique!  Here's proud dad Alan and Debra whom we sat with!

The happy couple!  The guy to the left is Colt who is also a detective but was transferred  to NE a couple years ago - Glenn has hunted with him also and they reminisced about the fun times together!

The DJ got things going after the speeches and toasts!  One of the first "fun" dances was the anniversary dance - all married couples on the floor and when your number of years married is called out you leave the floor as they're looking for the longest married couple!  Believe me, Glenn and I were totally shocked when we were the last couple dancing!!  HOW FUN!!

We danced and danced - took pictures in the photo booth - laughed a lot and just had an amazing time!  Also, met a lot of new people as the ONLY people we knew there were Curtis's family!

We waved the happy couple off with glow sticks and I know they'll have a wonderful marriage!

Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas Company

 It was DEFINITELY company week this last week!  Sister Patty and her daughter Cheri from Omaha arrived for a Monday and Tuesday night stay and Joleen came for a 3 night stay on Wednesday!

We were excited to see Patty and Cheri Monday afternoon - they were headed to the Estes Park area as one of Cheri's kids was there with some friends!  Cheri had never been to our house so we were excited to have her here in Colorado!  We all talked a mile a minute and just enjoyed our time together!

Tuesday morning we met Jaime over at Wild Horse for coffee EXCEPT it wasn't open - Jaime had gotten there first and texted that her car was the ONLY car in the parking lot - but we headed over and walked to the cafe and sure enough it is closed on Monday and Tuesday - darn!  So I ended up calling Lake George and they were open so we headed there and enjoyed coffee!

It was hazy outside and almost cool out as we sat outside!   Jaime joined us for lunch also and part of the afternoon - so fun to visit!

The mandatory sister picture!!

And one last picture before they headed out on Wednesday morning!

In the meantime, Joleen had come in on Monday with some of her family - but had to tell her to stay with another friend for 2 nights until my beds were empty!  She came to the house on Wednesday and spent the next 3 days between my house and her sons' house!

We celebrated our July birthdays!!

We spent many hours catching up and just spending time together - coffee again over at Lake George where another friend was to meet us but unfortunately she forget so it was just the two of us!

So a busy busy week with company - but it's always great to see relatives and friends!