Wednesday 29 June 2016

A Week in Review (June 26-July 2)

A Week in Review (June 26-July 2)

Watched: Jack be utterly distraught when faced with Nora's true dog nature. She found a baby rabbit somewhere on my mom's property and thought it was the best stuffed toy ever. Jack couldn't believe that his sweet Nora would do such a thing to such a cute baby bunny. Mom and Blas, on the other hand, thanked her for her hard work. She also chased some chickens off their property too.  She managed to shrink their rabbit population by a few by the end of the week. 


Read:  A good chunk of The Opposite of Everyone. It's very from a Chick Lit novel about a girl with a free spirited mother. We hear the majority of the tale from girl's adult perspective. 
 

Listened: Audiobook for Between Shades of Gray. For a little bit on the way to my mom's, Jack had his headphones on so I listened to the first few hours. I got a bit further when I drove back to Laramie to pick Nick up from his conference.  I didn't realize that it was a YA book when I put it on my hold list. Also, I didn't know what it was about because I just placed it there based on a recommendations from other readers.  I was surprised to see it was a World War II novel. My sister in law was nice enough to check out a paper copy from their library. It was a very simple historical fiction novel and would make a good shared read with an older child.  

Made: Plans to spend a few hours with one of my high school friends and her family.  We met at the park, went into the local town museum, and then walked over and enjoyed the town fountain.  When we were done I took Jack on a short tour of all my old stomping grounds, including a stop at Zesto's for a kiss-a-float. He loves them as much as I do.  But I am not sure who couldn't love them as they are delicious soft serve vanilla ice cream and cherry slushie in the same cup.

Felt: Amused at Jack.  On Tuesday, a quick moving storm rolled into town. It brought with it, some pretty good wind and rain. Mom, Blas, and Kyle all went out and worked in it to save a piece of the green house that needed secured. Jack wasn't a fan and he asked me if the greenhouse was worth their lives.  It was heavy, but nowhere near life threatening. It cracked me up how dramatic he was. Then the power went out and we were without electricity for few hours and Jack acted like the world might end soon. Thank goodness for him mom has a gas stove because he was just dying to eat and Grandma was still able to cook for him. 

 

Planned: On just driving to Laramie to pick Nick up from his conference and drive straight back, but he invited me out for dinner and I just couldn't resist. We went to a fun place that really prides themselves on serving local foods when available. It was pretty yummy. I am very thankful that my family helped with Jack so that he didn't have to make the 6.5 hrs of driving and I got to eat a nice meal with my hubby.

Loved: Spending the whole week at my mom's.  We all enjoy just being together. We play so many games that we are never bored.  They also have a big above ground pool that provides plenty of entertainment as long as the weather holds out.  We never really have plans, but we always just enjoy being together. Friday night brought an impromptu birthday gathering for one of my friends. We had a lot of fun messing around in the basement that has an arcade style hoop, pool table, air hockey, and foosball table.  Jack even challenged the boys to a planking competition. Jack and Kyle were the last two with Jack losing at around 4 minutes 26 seconds.  Kyle didn't make it much longer.  It was a pretty hilarious night. The picture of Kyle below sums it up pretty well. 

Here are the pics for the week:
 We all played plenty of games of Poison and Knockout




Jack at the town fountain 


The drowned rats after successfully saving the greenhouse


Party pics 




I think my dog nephews are seriously some of the cutest canines out there. Harry, the corgi, is always smiling. They were all waiting for a treat and I couldn't help but take their picture. 


A Week in Review (June 19-25)

A Week in Review (June 19-25)

Watched: Now You See Me with Jack. He wasn't really thrilled with the concept, but he loved it. It's a good mix between magic and action.  On Saturday, we just had to see the follow up movie, Now You See Me 2 at the theater.  The "magic" wasn't quite as good, but I thought it was nice follow up to the original movie. I would highly recommend taking a refresher run in the original movie before watching the second one. I don't think it would make as much sense otherwise. 

 
Read:  I was able to finish up The Girl with All the GiftsThis book was given to me by a fellow book lover, and I didn't even read the back before I picked it up. Boy was I in for a surprise. I had assumed by the title that it would be a Chick Lit book. It couldn't be farther from that as it is a SciFi Thriller. I thought the plot was a bit slow to develop at the beginning, but it really picked up. I was blown away by the end. It didn't go at all how I thought it would.  I would recommend it for SciFi fans who don't mind a bit of emphasis on relationships.  Next, I read Night.  While it is short, it is very intense. It was an emotional story. I can not imagine living through such an inhumane experience. To lose your whole family in such a short time. The brutal honesty that he speaks with is so intense that it look me quite a bit longer to read the story. I kept having to stop because it was too heavy and therefore, it took much longer for me to finish it than the number of pages dictated that it should.  After that I started on The Opposite of Everyone. It's by Joshilyn Jackson. She is one of my go-to authors when I want an easy read. It's what I needed after Night!
 

Listened: To the sounds of some crazy rain.  I was on my way to get the boys from camp and the skies just opened up. Which meant traffic came to crawl on the roads and I hated it because that meant that I would be running late. Running late totally stresses me out. I only ended up being about three minutes late since I was able to get a closer parking spot than was usually available.

Made: Our crazy summer travel plans. Jack and I will not be home for much of July as we travel to my mom's, KC, and Vegas. It will be fun and probably quite hot!  We are looking forward to seeing so many people that we love in such a short time. We are also excited about going as a whole family to watch Penn & Teller.

Felt: Like I did a lot of driving for nothing too special. Nick's work planned to get together to attend the Fan Fest for the Pike's Peak Hill Climb. Basically every year cars, motorcycles, and trucks race up the hill.  It would have to be a pretty intense feeling. The whole thing was a bit of a let down because there wasn't much to see and not many people came.  It might not have been a big deal, but I had to drive into downtown, which takes 30 minutes to get to from our place, then drive his friend home from camp, drive back down into downtown and then home again. Luckily they had shaved ice so I got some dessert that I liked out of all it. :)


Planned: To just pack Nick clothes for his work trip as normal but since he has lost so much weight, nothing really looked good on him anymore. We decided to get rid of all his too big pants and shirts (and man there were a lot!) and just go get him some new ones. He hates spending money on the clothes but I think he realized it was necessary. He looked pretty snazzy and I thought we did a great job getting three pairs of pants, two shirts, and a pair of shoes for a little over $200.  His side of the closet looks much more spacious now!

Loved: Jack's enthusiasm for his basketball camp.  He always came home with a new game idea or story to tell me. He often skipped over parts of lunch and snack and never went to the optional swimming so that he could have more time for free shooting.  That means that he spent from about 9 to 4 from Monday through Friday playing basketball. He was very glad he went. It was funny because one of the players who worked as a coach at the camp looked similar to Jack. I think the buzz cut from the week before helped seal the deal.  His nickname was String Cheese, so Jack often called himself Tiny Cheese or Cheese Curd. Haha

 

Here are the pics for the week:

A picture from our last morning of camping. They were both pretty pooped. 


Jack's in the back bottom row towards the left throwing his funky arm sign. 


Jack and String Cheese


Monday 13 June 2016

A Week in Review (June 5-11)

A Week in Review (June 5-11)

Watched: Daddy's Home. Jack and has been wanting to see it since he saw the previews. Redbox sent me a code for a free movie so we decided to try it. It was pretty funny.  Lots of physical humor, but we laughed lots.  I wouldn't exactly call it a family flick, but it was good for our family.

Read:  I made pretty good progressing on Glory over Everything:  Beyond The Kitchen House.  I was hoping to finish it up, but it just didn't happen.  It is a good follow up on Jamie and his life after The Kitchen House.

Listened: To three boys have no idea how they could come together on an idea.  Everyone wanted to do something different and no one could really seem to come to a compromise.  Thank goodness the hat game to the rescue.  We played baseball at the park, Nintendo Land, and a water fight after the rain.  It was lots of fun and kept everyone getting along.

Made: Nick's anniversary present. He and Jack went to see the new X-men movie on Sunday. I wasn't feeling too in the superhero mood, so I stayed home.  I thought this would be a good time to figure out what I was going to get him. I went with a crystal cube that has a photo of me floating in it with the words "Love you forever" on it. I can't wait until it gets here in a couple weeks to see how it looks.

Felt: So amazed by Jack.  He's come a long way in his enjoyment vs fear on the roller coasters.  He routinely wants to sit at the front or back now.  He managed to keep the pose that you see in the photo below for the camera shot on the coaster too.  His first couple looked like he was death warmed over.  The park hasn't been too buys our last couple of times.  We even spent the vast majority of this trip at the water park and still got in a couple high thrill rides in the park.

Planned: On it always being just Jack and I at the pool at Lifetime this summer. We went for the first time on Wednesday and were excited when Coach's son splashed down in front of us. Apparently they also have a membership there. It will be nice to have a friend to meet up with occasionally.  Sadly, we didn't get to enjoy the pool very long because some lightening was in the area.  It seems like this could be a problem we face often here.  I am hoping not.  The water needs some sunshine to warm it up too. 

Loved:  Going exploring with Nick and Jack.  Nick had been told about an area about an hour away that had places where you could just go camping without seeing very many people at all.  It was a little bit crazy to get it it and we saw cattle and antelope.  Nora even lept out of rolled down window to chase the cattle.  We climbed some fun easy rock formations and I was able to get picture of Nick, Jack, and Nora.  I am definitely glad that we scouted it out before we went though because we definitely need to take different things camping.

Here are the pics for the week:

He didn't go see this movie, but Nick got this cute photo of him inside the theater


Interested in seeing what these turn into


I just love this picture of these two


What a ham!

I find it hilarious that Nick is the only one not looking at me.


Sunday 5 June 2016

A Week in Review (May 29-June 4)

A Week in Review (May 29-June 4)

Watched: Jack and his friend have an awesome time together at Elitches. We decided to use one our free passes and spend the day up there where it was 75 and sunny, rather than down here where is was 65 and overcast.  It was nice having a better feeling for the park so I had some good ideas of where to park, what to take with me, and where things were.  The lines were a bit shorter and they got to ride several things. We did the water rides and ended up drenched each time. In the collage below, you will see a framework leading up to a very tall platform. That is the Sidewinder and you have to take the stairs!!! to the top.  While it was a great ride, I don't want to climb it very often. The boys went on it three times and I only went on it once. 


Read:  I still wasn't getting into the reading vibe this week.  Luckily a book came off my hold list that I know still has a ton of people after me.  This will motivate me to read it pretty fast.  It is called Glory Over Everything: Beyond The Kitchen House.  I wouldn't quite call it a sequel to The Kitchen House, but it does share some of the same characters.  I am not very far in it, but I am enjoying it.

Listened: To Jack come in crying from basketball with his dad on Friday night. Apparently Nick was a little over aggressive with a check and it caught Jack in the mouth, which popped his tooth free.  While he was cleaning up, we realized that he had lost 3 of his 7 teeth by being hit with a ball. That's almost 43%. 
I think it's quite funny. He lost his first two ever that way. It was at a football practice. Then he lost one on the playground in Utah. And Friday he lost one playing basketball with his dad.  I think it just means that he spends at least 50% of his life playing with balls.

Made: Progress on my picture archiving again. It had been a while since I had taken the time to look at them, but I thought it was best just to try to get started. I was surprised to learn that Wal-Mart doesn't carry a traditional photo album in their stores anymore.  Instead of looking all over, I just bought one from Amazon.  I am sure I won't finish this summer, but it feels good to have started again.

Felt: Relieved that the gentlemen at the paint counter were able to fix my paint!  It did take adding quite a bit of violet to it to make it tone down. It took three separate tries, but we didn't give up. What I love about the new technology was that there were even able to repeat it because they are able to write down the exact number of drops that went in.

Planned: On the boys having a normal last practice, but coach just decided to have a good time with them. They got to play different baseball themed games and challenges.  At the end of practice, they had their hit-a-thon that I had donated prizes too. Jack's good friend hit the ball all 10 times. It was crazy!  I really wish the league would allow our boys to stay together longer. They make such a great team. 

Loved:  Celebrating the end of the season with Jack's baseball team.  They really are such an amazing group of kiddos and were blessed with an unbelievable coach to help guide and mold them.  Coach Dewey really loves baseball and you can tell.  The boys all really respected him and had an awesome time with him.  We, as parents, could see that and appreciate all his hard work.  Our last game of the season was on Saturday.  After the game, 2/3 of the boys were able to head to a local pizza parlor for a celebration.  They played on the machines, ate pizza and cupcakes, and ran around like maniacs.  We presented coach with a team gift and a signed baseball from the boys.  I was also able to put him together a trophy from the pieces of extra ones due to shipping mishaps.  Next, he gave the boys their trophies.  He had something nice to say about each of them.  Then I was surprised with a gift and hugs from the team thanking me for all my work as team mom and dugout monitor.  I was quite shocked and thankful.  I don't know what we will do without any sports scheduled for the next couple of months.  I am sure it will just fly by!    

Here are the pics for the week:

Doesn't it look so pretty?

Our Elitches Collage

Pizza Party

Clearly they aren't on the ball field--untucked jersey and backward hats