Thursday 20 July 2017

A Week in Review (July 16-22)

A Week in Review (July 16-22)

Watched: Landon play baseball. It was a hard decision because the kickball game that had been rained out last week was scheduled for the same time. He was really torn because he wanted to do both.  He thought he has picked kickball, but when he went to sent a message of support to Landon, he got pretty emotional. So we decided that we would try to host our own kickball game before back to school. I'm not sure when we will squeeze it in, but I really hope we do.  I'm glad we went to watch Landon play though. We got to see him pitch for three innings. It was fun seeing Jack so enthusiastic about his friends good plays. 

Read:  Dirty finished up pretty quickly.  This book read pretty fast. It was just your standard romance novel with heavy sex scenes. The writing was a little better than 50 Shades. If you like romances heavy on sex and foul language, you could pick this up. If neither of those appeal to you, I'd pick something else.  I was also able to finish up The Hike.  This book is pretty far out there in fantasy land.  It reminded me if authors Christopher Moore and Chuck Palahniuk teamed up.  It makes you wonder what you would survive to get home to your family.  You can't really say too much without revealing parts of the book.  If you are a fan of fantasy books or need one to fulfill a reading challenge, I would recommend picking this book up.  It's a pretty easy read and one that leaves you thinking in the end.  I started on The Garden of Small Beginnings.  It came off a list by a blogger that I follow on Facebook.  I didn't get very far because once Nick got home, we stayed up too late and I generally used my normal reading time for catching up with my online games and social media. 

Listened: To Jack and Nick complain about the number of monsters they were being attacked by during a level of our HeroQuest game.  It was pretty funny, so I had to snap a picture. The good guy are the one in dark red. Everyone else is a monster. They managed to fight their way out only losing two heros. 

Made: Trek to Elitch's on Thursday after Rylan got his long cast off and changed for a splint. It was warm so we headed right to the water park. The line for one of our rides was nice and short, so we headed up to it. When we got to the top, we were informed that Rylan couldn't ride with his arm in the splint. After a trip to Guest Services, we found out he couldn't ride any of the water rides, but was pretty much cleared for all the regular rides. We spent some time in the lazy river and wave pool before drying off and heading to the park. We decided to take a break for ice cream. That ended up proving rather flawed because lightening rolled into the area closing down the vast majority of the rides. We did manage to get a few more in before calling it quits for the day. 

Felt: Lazy on Tuesday. I had planned on Jack and I spending the day at Elitch's, but he decided that he would rather wait and go with his friend. He wasn't really in the mood to do much of anything so we just lazed around all day. At about 8pm, I couldn't take it anymore. I decided to clean the house and do laundry. It was up and at it until midnight.  I thought maybe he would have been bored with his day, but he said he was glad to have just done nothing all day. 

Planned: On a game of volleyball with Coach Sean and his kids. I wasn't sure why I thought it would be just a regular rickety backyard volleyball set. I should know Sean better than that by now!  He had an extremely fancy set up, complete with court outlines. I didn't play, but had fun watching Jack improve. I also got to help pay attention to the little one. She was in a pretty easy going mood. Maybe it helps being the third child. 

Loved: Celebrating our 16th anniversary. We didn't plan anything fancy, but we just thrilled to be together since he has been out of town so much. Jack has been dying to play more HeroQuest, so we went looking for the extra pieces that we thought we might need. We stumbled upon this very cool store that has a library full on unique games to play. We played a football game called 1st and 10. Once we figured it out, it was a pretty fun game. We also went to Salsa Brava. Afterwards, we came home and played games as a family. It was a great chill day. 

Here are the pics for the week:









Tuesday 18 July 2017

A Week in Review (July 9-14)

A Week in Review (July 9-14)

Watched: The LEGO Batman movie.  I didn't really like it like I did the regular Lego movie.  It just wasn't as funny to me.  Jack liked it well enough.  I made the funky photo to send to Nick while messing around with the filters on the Facebook app.

Read: I was able to finish up The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.  This book totally pulled me in. It's lengthy at almost 400 pages, but it just flew by. I felt like I was reading a People magazine that spanned the decades. However, it takes you deeper to look at the complex reasons that motivate peoples actions. I would highly recommend it!  Next, I began Columbine which was the book selected for my online book club.  I found this book a little disjointed and repetitive. However, I did enjoy getting to know all the accurate facts about the tragedy that occurred at Columbine. It's scary to think that boys with a typical high school experience could carry out such horrific acts with such calculation and excitement. While it's a non-fiction piece, the author still carries some pretty strong biases that come across in the narrative. It did make me interested in reading Sue Klebold's book.  Next, I started Dirty.  I found it as a recommendation from Audible.  I didn't get very far into, but it's pretty raunchy.  I am hoping a good story line develops out of it.  I decided I didn't like Dirty for bedtime and so I picked The Hike. I only read a couple chapters before I fell asleep and it is weird!  I found this book from the same list as Dirty. I'm really questioning those choices now. 

Listened: To a good chunk of the book, Columbine, on audiobook.  With Jack being gone large chunks of Sunday and Monday and trips to and from football camp, I had more time than normal to listen to a story.  The narrator did a great job of keeping you intrigued in the story.  I am glad that I had all the time because I think I have like four books to read in the next three weeks.  Not sure I will get it all done, but I will do my best!

Made: Menu list for Jack and I.  With the heat of summer and Nick not coming home, it's easy to just snack all day and not make real meals for Jack and I.  So I put together a long list of things that I thought would make decent two people dinners and went grocery shopping for them.  We will check off the list and once they are done, I think I will cook the same things again.  I got like 10 things on there, so I think that's pretty good.  I am sure we will also take a few fast food breaks while Nick is gone in Utah.

Felt: Thankful for my breaks from Motherhood.  Nick left Sunday morning for 11 days in Utah.  Shortly after Jack woke up, we headed to Canon City to have him stay the day with my in-laws.  They brought him back Monday around three, which gave me time to finally finish the picture project that I have been working on since we moved to Utah.  Tuesday and Wednesday there were short breaks for football camp.    Tuesday he spent the afternoon hanging out with his friend Landon.  Friday he was invited to spend the evening with a friend at his house.  It felt good to recharge with some alone time.  We both miss Nick like crazy.

Planned: Short PTA Meeting to get things in order so that we could request committee chairs of the positions that we needed.  However, we had a lot of discuss and before we knew it, 3 hours had passed and I had to cut the meeting short so that I could get Jack home to bed.  It didn't work out very well because he was still pretty amped and didn't fall asleep until almost 11.  However, we got a good bit of information discussed and I feel like this year is going to be amazing!

Loved: Pro Football Camp.  Jack really enjoyed getting to meet the players and hear their stories.  I loved that he got to hear about how people who actually made it to the NFL had been undrafted and overlooked.  There was a lot of stories about resilience and determination.  While I try to talk about those with Jack, I think him hearing it from people who he really idolizes was awesome.  One of the players, Anthony Trucks, also competed on this season of American Ninja Warrior.  He is the first NFL player to successfully complete the course.  We are looking forward to seeing how he does in the city finals.  Crossing our fingers that he makes it.

Here are the pics for the week:

A page from my album.  All the pictures had to be cut down, glued onto 4x6 cards, and then organized chronologically.  It's no wonder that I have put it off.  I am glad to say that they have all been scanned in and placed away for future looking at!


The night before camp all the players were available for autographs at local Bar and Grill.  A good friend took the pictures and texted them to me so I got to sit out on the patio chatting and avoid the crowds!








They also did day of camp signings.  These are two giant Giants lineman.


Jack and Anthony Trucks, the American Ninja Warrior




My hubby surprised me with these beautiful flowers.  Good to know that he misses me.  I sure do miss him too.






Sunday 9 July 2017

A Week in Review (July 2-8)

A Week in Review (July 2-8)

Watched: Fireworks from the Sky Sox baseball game on July 4th night.  I didn't really think it would be very crowded and so we headed over at the top of the 7th inning.  It was a good thing we got there when we did because we had to drive around several parking lots before finding one that was open.  Then it seemed like it took forever for them to finish up the two innings.  The show was awesome and we did have a really good view of it.  Everyone did a pretty good job with traffic too and we were able to make it back home in pretty decent time.  Next year, the 4th will be quite a bit harder with it being on Wednesday.

Read: I finished up Everything, Everything.  I thought that this was a decent story. It was pretty formulaic and didn't really have any big shocks or reveals innit. However, I was interested to see what would happen to Maddy. It's a very quick read and could make for some lively discussion with the right group of people.  Next, I started The Bell Jar.  This had been on my To-Read shelf for quite some time.  It is set in late 40's/early 50's.  I was able to accurately date the song because the Frank Sinatra song Sunflower was mentioned as being a top hit.  A quick google search revealed that it was released in 1949.  If my Kansas friends haven't heard it before, they should totally give it a listen.  You can hear on YouTube, HERE.  What an intense book. I felt that first half kind of dragged on, but the second half really picked up. This book would have resonated with me in my mid 20's rather than my late 30's. The visual image of depression being like a bell jar that you are trapped really hit home for me. If you want a graphic novel from someone who truly understands the pain of depression, I'd recommend picking this book up. If you are wanting a book that shows you that can overcome depression, pick a different book.  The next book due back at the library is The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, so I started that.  I started it on Friday, so I don't have a lot to say about it.  To squeeze all my books in, I really need to get it read in a week.  I hope it's a quick read and I have a review for you next week.

Listened: To Jack, my brother and his friend laugh and squeal with joy and fear as they shot Roman candles at each other.  Jack loves this tradition.  He definitely has more fun with it than he does with any firework you can buy from a stand.  Nora got her fur singed by excitedly trying to catch the "balls".  She also got a little aggressive with my brother trying to get the stick.  We decided she had to stay inside for the rest of the night and she was pretty bummed about that.

Made: Time for a friend.  Even though we trying to cram in a lot of things into our Saturday before Nick left, we had a friend ask if we could help her out by watching her kids for a couple hours.  They had to go running errands with us, but they really enjoy anytime that they can be around Jack.  It was funny running errands as a family of 5 with me envisioning this is what I thought I wanted when we first got married.  I think I could learn to love the chaos!

Felt: Bad about miscommunications with Mom and Lee.  We had invited them to come down for the 4th and watch the fireworks with us.  I knew we would be leaving Alliance just in time to make it home in time to see the shows with them.  Sadly, they thought we were going to be home earlier in the day and drove up to visit us before we home.  I hated that they made the drive only to find an empty house.  Next time, we will be more clear.  Luckily, we were still able to find a time that Jack could go and visit before they left the area again.

Planned: Nick's honey-do list before he left town for the month.  It wasn't anything too intense, but I wanted to make sure we had a lot of that done before he left.  During our almost 16 years of marriage we have fallen into a pretty good routine about who takes care of certain household chores.  It's not that I can't do some of them, it's just that I would rather not.  And some of them it would take me a lot more time to figure out than it does Nick.  It's awesome to have a partner who compliments me so well, but I really do miss him when he leaves.

Loved: Lazy days with my boy.  We didn't have any real plans for the remainder of the week and so we just did it doing nothing.  I mean, really, nothing.  We played games, stayed in our PJs, and just enjoyed each others company.  We hadn't really done anything like that so far this summer and it worked out nicely.  I was looking through the countdown app on my phone and realized that towards the end of the week we hit the point where we had been on summer break longer than we have left of summer break.  Who knows how much will cram into the second half, but I am sure it will be awesome!

Here are the pics for the week:

Tio, in his humorous out for the the 4th.  Happy Birthday 'Merica.


Family photos from the 4th






Jack wanted a picture with Nora on the drive home.


I think Nora was pretty determined not to move from this spot.  He threw the pillow on her and still she laid there, unmoving.  


Wednesday 5 July 2017

A Week in Review (June 25-July 1)

A Week in Review (June 25-July 1)

Watched: Them draw three vials of blood for a physical.  It's been years since I have gotten a physical, but I decided to go a friend rather than a Walgreens for my well check for work.  I had to get a tetanus/whooping cough shot.  It wasn't painful that day, but I woke up feeling like my arm was dead.  Wowzers!  Glad you only have to go through that every 10 years.

Read: I finished up Beartown.  Not my favorite book by Backman, but one that will leave me thinking for quite some time. Some people will tell you this is a book about hockey. It's so much deeper than that. It's about small town life, parenting, friendship, societal issues, and competitive sports. I would recommend to anyone as it is an above average book. Some may notice that it took me longer to read than my normal four star book. This is due in large part to being summer and not because of the quality of writing.  Next I started Everything, Everything. It seems to be a fairly easy read and I think I will be able to finish it up next week. 

Listened: Giggles from Katie all day during our trip to Elitch's. We had to use our Bring-a-Friend passes and so she came along. Instead of screaming on rides, she giggles and it's hilarious.  We spent a few hours in the amusement park, waited out a rain shower during our lunch in the parking lot, spent a couple hours in the water park, and then closed the park down back out in the amusement park.  We are so lucky that she came into our lives.  She brings a ton of joy to it!

Made: A quick drive to Canon City to see the campsite that Lee and Denise have found and to see their new camper.  They had a basketball hoop so Jack was happy to shoot hoops on it.  He found another kiddo to play with and even got a game going with Lee and Nick.  They cooked us up a nice dinner that included Denise's yummy potato salad.  At the end of the night, we drove into the Canon City's downtown and visited a cute little park that was right along the Arkansas river.  Jack was still in the mood for games and so we played adults vs Jack at Tic-Tac-Toe.  Jack won three of the games, but Papa Lee got him to a stale mate.  It was the best we could do!  

Felt: Thankful for the bonus week that kept Nick home even though he should have been in Utah.  Luckily, one of this clients needed him here for a public meeting and so he had to reschedule his trip. It let us spend more time together before he leaves for the month in Utah.  Neither Nick nor I are looking forward to his absence.  It will be interesting to see how we fill our time.  I am sure it will be busy, as always.

Planned: All the things I would take for the trip to my mom's and just kind of laughed at myself.  I definitely pack more for a four day trip to her place than I do going for a week most other places.  Somethings are things I am taking to her because I can get them so much cheaper here, other things are things we enjoy playing together, and yet others are because I want to make sure I am prepared for most scenarios.  I am so glad that we live close enough to have under a six hour drive between door steps!

Loved:  All the time that we spent with my family.  I didn't get nearly enough sleep, but I spent a lot of time chatting with my brother and mother.  I got to spend time watching Jack kick butt at chess.  He loved having lots of different people to play.  We played some neighbor, did some swimming, played some corn hole, grilled out a lot, and played through a whole Mario Sports Mix basketball tournament.  I am excited that we still have two fun filled days to go!

Here are the pics for the week:







This is what he picked out to wear for the trip up.  Comfy and cozy on cool June day.