The Heat is On!

With even the slightest hint of spring and a little warmer weather coming we got outside as soon as we could. Being cooped up all winter is no fun!

     

My parents came to town to help out with a little yard work, but there was more than a little. There's so much yard work to do around here that they are making a special trip this fall to help out with pruning and and cleaning.

I think my mom secretly wishes she was a chicken farmer. She had so much fun watching chickens and collecting eggs while she was in town. Maybe when she comes back she can clean the poop off their perches. Then we'll see if she still wants a chicken farm. As soon as the weather warmed up we cleared out a space in our wood pile area to get our planting started. We got the dirt tilled and even planted some seeds and onion starts. My lovely husband likes to take risks and this year I'm not sure if the risk was good or bad. The ground seemed to stay cold a little longer than we were hoping and I think some of our seeds didn't like that, so they didn't grow. We ended up re-planting a few things that never came up.

       

While my parents were in town we also celebrated my Lutheran Stud's birthday. He was pretty happy to get this tractor sprinkler.

We couldn't wait to get up and moving either, so planting the garden could not have come a more perfect time. Who would have thought that watching a sprinkler could be so entertaining?

Spring?

     

We got a short respite from the snow and a lot of it even melted. It was a good thing because my sweet little goddaughter came out from California for a little visit.

     

I also planted some garlic in the fall and noticed that it was starting to sprout. We needed to get some water on them so they could keep growing. Our sprinklers were blown out in the fall and we still hadn't started them back up yet, so there was no water getting to them, except from the snow that had been falling. Our chickens were even getting tired of being cooped up from the snow. They couldn't wait to get outside or see what I was cooking up in the kitchen. Do you know how creepy it feels to have chickens spying on you while you're washing dishes? Cousin Adam also came to visit, so we were happy for some sun since we had some work for him to do outside and inside of our house. There was also time for a little frisbee. I think the boys purposefully threw the frisbees on the roof so they could retrieve them. They've learned to climb the big pine tree in front of our house. It makes for an easy hop onto the roof.  Even all the mud in the field was drying out and we were able to get into the field to check out the wood pile. It definitely didn't disappear over the winter, but it looks well seasoned? The field looks more cleared out than it did in the fall. The children worked really hard over the winter and sold a ton of firewood. Now we've got to get this cleared out so we can plant a garden.

Super Bowl in Seattle

Winter was starting to feel like it was never going to end and I kept getting bombarded with emails from the airline companies. I started shopping for airline tickets to warmer areas of the country. Then I came across tickets to Seattle. I checked them out and found a deal that we just couldn't resist. Roundtrip tickets for $59!! What? The kids and I hopped on a plane to visit our family in Seattle. That night before we didn't even know if our flight would even go. We made it to the airport bright and early though at 5:30am. It was like a ghost town, probably people switched flights because of the massive storm that came through. It was early, so we needed to get coffee and donuts while we waited for our flight. Our flight was actually relatively on time considering all of the de-iceing that needed to be done before we could take off. My children hadn't been on an airplane for so long that they couldn't even remember flying. My older children were just little babies and my little kids probably weren't even born the last time our entire family was on a plane. We left the big, cold storm in Colorado for the a wet and cloudy Seattle. That didn't stop our cousins from driving over the  mountains to come and see us, and it didn't stop the kids from playing basketball outside.

Uncle Dustin turned 34, so we pulled out all of our cameras and had a party

complete with an ice cream cake!

Basketball skills were improved quite a bit while we were in Seattle. Even with the crummy weather it didn't stop the boys from going out and throwing the ball around.

We even had time to go to Lola's gymnastics meet, 

and Kai's basketball tournament. Good times!

Super Bowl Sunday came quickly and I couldn't believe I was watching the Super Bowl in Seattle rather than in Colorado with my Bronco buddies. At least my lovely Seahawks friend knew who to root for. These lovely ladies and I have been friends since high school. Now we're all grown up with kids of our own, so where else should we meet up than at a park? ;) Even with the cold weather it didn't stop that kids from running and playing tag. It was just enough exercise before game time. We had a small little gathering with family to watch the Broncos victory of the Panthers.

Go Broncos!!

We returned to Denver just in time to miss the Broncos parade downtown, but don't worry my Lutheran Stud made it to the parade while we celebrated at the airport enjoying all the added blue and orange and Broncos jerseys all over. Departure boards even celebrated with extra exclamation points to Omaha!!!

Firewood, Anyone?

Having two fireplaces in our home brought some excitement as cooler weather began rolling in to town.It sent my Lutheran Stud to Craigslist to search for firewood for us to burn in the winter. One ad in particular piqued his interest. A family had a large amount of Ash trees cut down on their property and needed to have them removed. It was a great deal for about 30 or so trees. Little did we know how much work it would be to remove all the trees from their property and moved to ours. It became quite the operation. Every free moment we had was spent moving huge logs.We had friends helping us out and it became a job for our children. At one time we had 3 pick-ups and trailers bringing loads to our house. I was mostly inside watching small children and cooking up a feast for everyone. We even had people from our church volunteer to help us. I think this may have been the largest log in the entire operation. With some of the smaller pieces the children began moving things around and building forts. I'm sure the little bunnies may have enjoyed living in them while they could.

         
While it felt like a never-ending project having so many helpers helped lighten the work load. We had hoped to have all the wood moved over before any snow came. That didn't happen. There was snow here and there and everywhere. Sometimes it melted quickly and sometimes it stuck around. That is to say that when it was all said and done I think we had more wood than we knew what to do with it. Scratch that. We had big plans for all of that firewood. Our fall and winter was spent splitting wood, or rather our children, along with their friends, and their fathers split wood. We couldn't keep the stacks stuck! We posted an ad on Craigslist to sell firewood. These kids worked really hard all winter to split, sell, and stack firewood. It became quite the winter business. Sometimes we had three wood splitters running. We were hoping to get ahead of the game and have a ton of firewood stacked and ready to roll. But, as you can see there's quite a bit of wood. While most of what you see in the background has been sold, but there is still a fair amount of wood sitting around. Guess what my children will be doing this summer? That's right. I think they'll be weeding my garden and splitting wood to sell this winter. If you are in the Denver area and are looking for firewood to burn this winter let us know. Our children will split, deliver, and stack your fire wood for you. 

Past Summer Travels

One would think that after moving into a new home you would want to get settled and learn how things work around your new place, but that's not us.  We spent most of our last summer traveling. Here's a small peek into the rest of last summer's travels since this summer is already here. Yikes!

After returning home from South Dakota we had a few weeks to get some unpacking done. It's all kind a blur since we really weren't home long enough before we packed up our big van again and headed west. We went just about as far west as one could go, to Seattle. Our families still live in the state of Washington and it had been a few years since we were able to get back there. It was time to catch up with family and old friends and to see all the crazy, new changes around town. Oh, Seattle. Wait. Did I mention there was a small detour in plans when we arrived in Seattle? My lovely Lutheran Stud and I took off for Chicago almost as soon as we arrived in Seattle. That's right we dropped the kids off and headed to the airport. You see, we have dear friends that had recently moved to Naperville. My husband was asked to preach at the installation service. We couldn't resist, so we went. It was a quick trip, but we had a lot of fun catching up, and staying up late like we were teenagers again.

No worries, though! We left our children in good hands and they had a blast hanging out with their cousins and eating ice cream everyday. When we returned we decided to do some touristy things since my children didn't actually grow up in Seattle. When I was young my parents would take us all over the place. It was pretty normal for us to hop on a ferry and explore some part of Washington state. My kids, however, had never been on a ferry boat. Can you believe it? I had to make that happen, so off we went. They thought it was a little strange that an entire car could fit on a boat and then be shuttled around the lake.

We landed in Bremerton where we played around until it was time to hop onto another ferry and return to Seattle. The kids has so much fun that we might have to try that again sometime. After Seattle we headed to Yakima to see more family. We spent a lot time with cousins we haven't seen in a long time. Things are a little slower paced on the east side of the Cascade mountains. We did a lot of visiting and relaxing, and the kids ran around and played. The last time we saw our three youngest cousins they were just tiny. They were pretty much babies. It was so fun to see the kids all playing so well together at all their different ages. The older girls were too cool to stick around, so they took off and got their nails done and did fun girly things. After some time in Yakima, we had to make the long trek back to Colorado because we had another trip coming in which we needed to get laundry done and then pack again. Oh my!


It's a rough life when you return from a fun week of visiting family only to be home for a week or two and leave for a few days to the mountains where you get to stay in a fancy condo and go swimming inside and outside in the same pool.  Dr. Peter Scaer, from Concordia Theological Seminary was the keynote speaker for the Rocky Mountain District Church Workers' conference. When he wasn't on a tangent he spoke on life issues and marriage. It was a great conference and we really enjoyed what he had to say.  During Dr. Scaer's free time in between sessions he could be found in the swimming pool. It was so nice of him to swim with my children so I didn't have to get in. I'm sort of like a cat when it comes to swimming. What could be more fun than swimming in a pool with mountain views? We had a blast in Breckenridge, but we were also ready to come home. After all, when does school get done with all of these vacations? Our children enjoyed quite the break from their schoolwork, so it was only fair that we get home so they could get something done. My Lutheran Stud and I, however, didn't have school work, so we decided to hop and on a plane to meet our new goddaughter, Hope. Isn't she a doll? We spent some time at the Concordia University campus in Irvine and then rode on an itty bitty ferry to get to Balboa Island.  Balboa is a beautiful place to visit. I highly recommend vacationing there. There are cute little shops and homes everywhere. There's also not shortage of places to eat and that includes a ton of ice cream shops!
We couldn't visit California without spending a little time at the beach, so my stalker friend, Rachel and her husband Adam were kind enough to hang out with us for the day. The boys went spearfishing while Rachel and I got to hang out in the sand and catch up with each other.

Sometimes I dream about living in California because I love their beaches so much. A girl can dream or have friends that live there and visit often. Hmm. . .

Living in Colorado really makes me miss the ocean and sunsets like this, but I really love the sun and the Colorado mountains too. I guess you can't have it all. All the traveling had to come to an end at some point and Newport Beach seemed like a great place to end our vacation. We loved the little hotel where we stayed. If you visit Newport be sure to look up the Newport Beach Hotel. Their hospitality was wonderful and you just walk outside and you're right on the beach!