Thanksgiving and Christmas

It is hard to believe so much time has passed since I last wrote. We have been very very busy. Thanksgiving was very nice. We made some new friends at our church and they invited us over for Thanksgiving since they didn't have any family in town too. They have a son who is right between Sam and Evie's age and the kids had great fun playing together. It was very nice and it was great not having to cook for Thanksgiving.

In early December we decided to drive out to Oregon and surprise my cousin for her wedding. We had an extra check that month that would allow us to do that. However, we had to register our car first. I was only expecting to pay about $150 but it ended up costing around $450 so there went all our money we were going to use to drive out. We went home and unpacked the car and started calling our family to let them know we weren't coming after all. Then about an hour later, Dwayne's cousin let us know that the family was pulling together some money so we could come anyway. So we quickly packed the car up again and headed out. It is a 20 hour drive non-stop. Dwayne and I alternated driving through the night and the kids did so good. I'm really proud of them. We were extremely tired but it was so worth it to see the surprise on Tessa's face when she saw us there for her wedding. We had to leave Sunday night to make it home Monday since Dwayne could only take a couple days off of work. The drive went pretty well but we were so tired. It took much longer to get home as we stopped at a hotel for a few hours to get some sleep and made many more stops than on the way out. I also managed to get my very first speeding ticket ever. We finally made it home around 8pm Monday night. It was a very short trip but it was so worth it to see everyone even briefly.

Christmas was very nice. The kids were so excited to open all their presents and see if Santa had filled their stockings. Dwayne and I were excited too and awake even before the kids waiting for them to come and get us so we could start opening presents. I was a little sad at first for this was our first Christmas completely by ourselves but I was soon happy and having a great time because the kids were having so much fun and joy at opening their presents. My good friend had also invited us over for Christmas dinner so we went over to her house and I got lucky in that I didn't have to cook yet again for a major holiday. We are truly blessed and very happy that in this economy, Dwayne still has a job and we have a place to live. We are making our bill payments and the kids are happy. Overall, things are good and we are doing well. Just been busy living life and enjoying our children.

Just Life

So what have we been doing the last few weeks? Not much really. Just living life each day and doing our best to avoid any contagion or sicky stuff that seems to be going around lately. I think I may be losing that battle as I have had a sore throat and feeling drained for several days. I'm definately battling something.

The biggest news lately is we have decided to switch churches. We have been attending a very large church that we found right away when we moved out here. Dwayne and I both got started in serving ministries right away and tried to get to know people. They offered several classes that I wanted to take but we never could seem to afford the class, books, and babysitting all at the same time so those have had to wait. I feel like many of them are overpriced anyway. The cost to attend the couples retreat this year was going to be $1200! for 3 days. I know we live in an upper income area of town but that is still just a bit ridiculous in my opinion. I was feeling a bit lonely and missing my family and just still don't feel like I was making any connections at the church. After talking to Dwayne, we decided to visit the local Assembly of God church in town. It is much much smaller. Only a couple hundred people rather than a couple thousand like we had been attending. We were greeted warmly and found out that Dwayne has a couple of coworkers who attend it as well. The pastor greeted us by name the second time we attended and has known us since. We have had some great conversations with him already and he has made us feel very welcome. Sam and Evie had already made a friend and we visited their house for a playdate. His mother has invited us over for Thanksgiving with them since they don't have family in town either. I'm pretty excited because we seem to be making those connections that I in particular need.

The other most exciting thing recently was the injury of one our gerbils. The kids were near the cage looking and giggling at the antics of the gerbils when all of a sudden Sam comes up to me, holding a gerbil tail in his hand telling me Evie did it. I immediately burst into tears shocking both the kids. Of course, I'm the one who would probably cry over a beetle if I had decided to make it a pet. Evie knew she had done wrong. She kind of avoided me and sat on the couch apologizing over and over again. I know she didn't do it with malicious intent. It was an accident and after my performance and telling her of the seriousness of what she had done, I don't think she will do it again. I immediately started calling around for a vet, but no one was seeing exotic pets or was open. The emergency clinic finally said they would see the gerbil but there was a $79 emergency fee not counting any treatment that might be necessary. After calming down a bit and realizing that I was causing quite a fuss over a $5 animal and a rodent no less we decided to wait overnight and contact our regular vet in the morning. By morning, she seemed to have taken care of the injury herself and I wondered again at the amazing work God had done in creating creatures who could take care of themselves for the most part. Over the next few days, I have just kept an eye on her in case of infection but otherwise she seems fine. Maybe I should reconsider naming her Stumpy. LOL

Not much else has been happening lately. We are trying to gear up for the holidays and figure out how we are going to do Christmas as finances are really tight. I made a major mistake this past summer in regards to some income that I thought was coming in and now are paying the price for that. But its all good. We still have a roof over our head, food in our bellies, and despite the economy, Dwayne still has a stable job. Unfortunately, that does mean we won't be able to make it back to Oregon for Christmas or my cousin's wedding. But know that our thoughts and prayers are with you all and we hope your holidays are wonderful even if we aren't there. LOL....Just kidding. If I don't write again before then, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Halloween

Halloween has always been one of those holidays that I have struggled with for so long. I was raised when I younger that it was the Devil's holiday and we would not participate in trick-or-treating or decorate our houses, or dress up, etc. And yet, it caused me much confusion because it was ok to go the local churches' "Harvest Party" or "Fall Festival." Aren't we still celebrating the season and holiday no matter what it is called? Every year I would be greatly dissapointed because I would see all the other kids in their fun costumes and buckets of candy and knowing that I wouldn't be able to participate. Then after my parents' divorced and my mom remarried during my teenage years. We all of sudden went to the opposite extreme, decorate the house, and celebrate Halloween, and the more gory the better. By then, I felt I was a little to old to be trick-or-treating and silently felt the dissapointment again. Add to that more confusion because I was then asking myself, was everything I was raised to believe as a child actually false?

When I finally left the house and was married we didn't have kids right away. My husband didn't really seem to have any strong feelings about the holiday either way but he was raised to belive that it was a bad holiday as well. Since I still had such conflicting emotions about it, I decided to do the minimum and would wait anxiously near the door with way too much candy for the actual amount of kids who would show up at my door and cuddle up on the couch watching a scary movie with my hunny.

We were finally blessed with a child 4 1/2 years ago. Having children definately makes you reevaluate your beliefs, positions, and why you do the things you do. I am now responsible for this little life and want to raise him up right. The first year Halloween came around, I decided he was too little to appreciate any aspects of Halloween anyway so I was able to procrastinate making any kind of decision regarding the holiday. The following year my daughter arrived in late September and 4 weeks later I was still sleep-deprived and not in any condition or mood to deal with holiday stuff, especially one that I was still so confused about. The year my son was 3, we were attending a large church that held a large community event during Halloween. We went early with the kids and attended the function but I still was not sure how I felt about the whole thing and wrestled with guilt that I was doing anything on the "devil's holiday." The kids got cranky pretty fast since it was noisy, crowded, and past their bedtime. We went home fairly quickly, realizing they were still too young to appreciate the holiday anyway.

This year, things have finally come to a head and a decision had to be made. The kids knew what Halloween was as far as the trick-or-treating, dressing up, and, of course, candy was concerned. They were constantly asking me how many more days it was until the holiday. I knew they wanted to participate so bad and I remember that feeling from when I was a child. When my sister-in-law had visited me this past summer she brought a lot of books with her for us. One of the books she brought was a book titled Redeeming Halloween. It is a book with ideas and suggestions for celebrating Halloween from a Christian perspective. We felt the book was poorly written and wished they had gone into more of the history of the holiday but it set us to thinking, having some good conversations with each other and doing some research on our own.

Learning about the history of the holiday has brought such a huge relief for me. The church originally created the holiday to claim it for themselves and celebrate and remember the martyrs who died and paved the way for the Christian faith and our beliefs. Now, of course, that is a very simplistic statement and there are definately pagan practices that went on before which prompted the church to create the holiday in the first place, but you could say the same about Christmas and Easter too. Our family has decided to take back the holiday for Christ. Ignoring the holiday and not participating doesn't make it go away and changing the name of your party or gathering doesn't negate the fact that you are celebrating the holiday. I'm going to teach our kids the real reason for Halloween, just like I do for Christmas and Easter. We are going to dress up (though never anything gross, demonic, or scary) and participate in the Fall Fests, Harvest Parties, or trick-or-treating with friends depending on what is going on that particular year. We are going to be good examples for our neighbors and non-christian friends and show that you can still be good God-fearing people, but still have fun and enjoy the holidays and hopefully, God will use us to open up conversations about the holiday and bring someone just that little bit closer to Jesus' saving grace. And you know the best part? I'm no longer going to feel guilty!

The Smartest Kids Ever

Here are a couple videos of the kids' reading progress. I'm so proud of them! Sam is doing really well sounding out his words and putting things together. Evie can't seem to squish the words together yet but she is sounding out all her letters. At this rate she will be reading at a much younger age than Sam did. It is amazing how much she absorbs when I'm working with Sam.

Anniversary and Evie's Birthday

Our 14th anniversary was September 21st. I can hardly believe it has been that long. Dwayne took the day off and we enjoyed the day as a family. We decided to drive out to a mall in Denver that I knew had a Build-A-Bear workshop and let the kids build their own new teddy bears. They both had a great time and the new bears are quite treasured in the house. On our way home we decided to drive by the shelter and see what was available for kitties. I've been itching for a new cat since my Bubba died a year ago. The kittens we had in Washington didn't work out and since we had them such a short period of time, I kind of feel like they didn't count. LOL. So, of course, we found a cat that seemed to tolerate the antics of my two small children well and she has the most unusual coloring I have every seen. Dwayne let me take her home as his anniversary present to me. She looks like an orange tabby that has been sitting under dripping oil or ink. The shelter had called her Leopard but we decided that Cheetah fit her looks and coloring better. She has adapted to our home well and we haven't had any behavioral issues with her. Whoever had lost her is really missing out on a wonderful animal. But their loss is our gain.

These pictured just don't do her coloring justice but you get the idea. She also has the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. They aren't the typical gold or green that most cats have. They are an actual copper/orange color. Sooo pretty.

Later that week, Dwayne's aunt and uncle were in the area visiting some relatives and they decided to drop by for a couple of hours and have lunch with us.

Evie's 3rd birthday was on the 28th. I can hardly believe she is 3 already. We still haven't made good friends with many people yet so we just had a small party at home. We have gotten to know our neighbor really well and she has two kids right about the same age so they came over to help us celebrate. It was a Disney princess theme.

Grandma Mary sent some money for her so we took her to the store to pick out her presents herself. She wanted a Tiara and wore it for 3 days straight. I think it is her new favorite item to wear. She also picked out a Tinkerbell doll from money Auntie Melody sent.

Dwayne and I bought her a doll stoller which she loves to push all her stuffed animals around in. I'm glad she still finds a use for it considering she voluntarily gave up all her dolls to Goodwill a few days earlier. LOL. We also recieved some money from Grandma Dianne and a couple of days later let her pick out another present. This time she wanted a buzz lightyear action figure and we used the rest to get her a few clothes. Even though it was small and sweet, she had a wonderful birthday and we want to say thanks to everyone who sent her a little something or sent us birthday wishes. We really appreciate it and miss you!

Mom and Melody's visit

At the beginning of August, Melody and Aiden flew out to spend 2 weeks with us. It was so good to see them and I miss them terribly. We knew it was going to be an exciting couple of weeks when within 30 minutes of seeing each other the kids all started fighting. The fighting got really old really fast but luckily we had many good moments between all the bickering. And of course, within a day of them going home they were asking if they could go see Auntie and Aiden. It makes me sad that we aren't as conveniently close as we used to be. But I'll take what I can get.

We started the visit by going down to the county fair as we hadn't checked that out yet. We let the kids go on a couple of rides and marveled on how expensive it was to let the kids ride a couple of cheesy rides. But at least they had fun.

We then took a day to drive up into the mountains and show Melody one of our favorite spots. There is a state park we like to visit that has tons of trees and just beautiful. I think next year we are going to go camping up here because we love it so much. We definately have to educate ourselves on wildlife rules though because bears and cougars are very much a part of the park and are seen quite often around there. In fact, the day we visited, there were signs posted that bear had been seen in the campground and to be watchful. It is so gorgeous up there and would love to have a house or cabin up there. Unfortunately, you are snowed in a good half of the year and Dwayne doesn't have a job that he could easily work out of an office at home. Maybe someday though!

After another visit to the zoo, Mom flew in for an extended weekend. I wish she could have stayed longer but I'll take what I can get. We drove down Friday to Colorado Springs and looked at the native cliff dwellings that they have. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera that day but luckily Mom and Melody have some pictures of those. Saturday, we drove even further south to an area we haven't explored yet and visited an old western town and took a train ride to Royal Gorge. It was a wonderful day except that it got extremely got. It was in the upper 90's when we visited so by the end of the visit we were all wilting a bit.
This is the view we saw at the view point during the train ride. In the far distance, you can see a bridge over the gorge that you can drive across (with a fee, of course). We decided to do that another visit but the views were just awesome.

2 of my favorite ladies on the train.

This was in the sheriff's office at the western town named Buckskin Joe's. We start em young in this family. :)

A view of the street of the town. What is really neat about this town is that they pulled old homesteads and buildings from ghost towns throughout Colorado to recreate the town. So even though some of the buildings were not necessarily used for what they are labeled as today they are "authentic" as far as the construction and age of the buildings are concerned.

Perfect fit!

This one makes me laugh every time. That is Aiden peeking out the top. He just wasn't quite tall enough.

Sunday, we left the 3 kids with Dwayne all day (Thanks Dwayne!) and Mom, Melody, and I spent the day together. We decided we wanted to drive up to Estes Park to see the Stanley Hotel and do the ghost tour they have there. We didn't have any experiences (for which I'm grateful) but the tour was absolutely fascinating in letting you know about the history of the founder of the hotel and what was happening in the area 100 years ago. Above is a picture of the mountains around Estes Park. Down in the valley just ahead is the town. It is absolutely gorgeous there. They have a lake in the middle of the valley and when you stand in town, you have 360 degree views of breathtaking mountains. I would love to live there if it was possible. I highly recommend a visit to this area if you ever make it out here. It is worth it.

The famous Stanley Hotel.

Apparently, where she is standing is a "hot spot" for activity. I think it was affecting her don't you?

After Mom left on Monday, we spent the last week Melody was here just chilling out around the house for the most part. We spent a ton of money the first week traveling around doing lots of stuff and it was nice to just chill and relax a little and enjoy each other's company. Our apartments have a pool so we spent some time swimming, taking walks, and just playing together. It was a lovely visit, and I can't wait for them to come see us again soon.

Dave and Charlene's Visit

I can hardly believe that it has been six weeks since I last wrote. Sorry about that to all those folks who check this blog regularly. We have been extremely busy this summer so over the next few days I'll post pictures and let you all know what we have been up to.

After Dianne's visit, 2 days later, Dave and Charlene flew into town. They had a place they were staying up in the mountains near Vail. It is a 2 hour drive each way so they only came into town every other day or so. They also took a couple days at the beginning of their vacation to drive up to Mount Rushmore. We spent a morning with them exploring Red Rocks. This is the place where they hold many many concerts and an amphitheatre (sp?) was built out of the natural rock formations. We went up to look at the amphitheatre and then took a couple hours hiking an easy hike around the park and snapping all kinds of pictures of the natural rock formations. Below is just a sampling of the natural and awesome beauty we got to see on our hike.

The kids had lots of fun looking at all the bugs, flowers, bunnies, and chasing after Jaden and Alec. That afternoon we went to the Water World theme park. That is an awesome place. It had several areas for little kids to play but also had several large water slides that we could take the kids on and ride as a family. We had a great time and I just wish we had more time to explore all the slides and different areas. It will be much more fun when the kids are slightly older as well. Overall it was an amazing but exhausting day.

We also took them to the zoo and they hung out at our house to just spend time as a family. It was so fun to see them and the kids were sad when they had to go home again after the week was over. But luckily, they only had to wait 2 weeks and then Auntie Melody and cousin Aiden were flying into town for the next round of visitors.

Grandma's Visit

Dianne came out to visit us on July 1st. Dwayne took a few days off at the beginning of the following week so we could spend several days with her as a family and show her many of the sights of the area. We went to our local fireworks display that was being held on July 3rd. We all had a great time for the most part. It was good timing on the part of Parker because we had really stormy weather and rain for most of July 4th. Many of the celebrations had to be postponed to Monday because it was so bad. I thought I would finally get over the curse of rain on the 4th but I guess we brought it with us from the Pacific NW.

Sunday, we took Dianne to the zoo and took our time looking at all the different animals. We packed a picnic lunch and spent a few bucks letting the kids ride on the carousel and train. Being a holiday, it was actually very quiet at the zoo as most everyone was at their families BBQ's or church. We made it home just in time as it was starting to sprinkle when we got home.

Early the following week, we packed another picnic lunch and took a drive to the mountains. We showed her the awesome views found in the Rockies and the pretty campground we hope to camp at next year. It was a perfect day being sunny and bright but not too hot, at least at that elevation. She got to see some of our awesome thunder and lighting storms that we seem to get 3 or 4 times a week this time of year. And then they would disappear just as suddenly as they came. I'm still amazed at how fast the weather can change around here. The storms come out of nowhere and come very fast.

During all these trips, I kept forgetting the camera so I don't really have many pictures. On the Saturday before she left, I finally remembered to take the camera and was able to snap the pictures as we took a short hike at Castlewood Canyon State Park. This park is located just south of us and very beautiful in its own way. Lots of pine and bare rock but also many patches of grass and wildflowers, not including the beautiful canyon itself full of trees, water, and birds. I hope the kids will enjoy hiking as much as I do as the park has several miles of trails to discover.

One view of the canyon.

The kids were very fascinated by the cactus so I took a picture of a dense patch just for them.

When we got home and cooled off a bit we beat the Saturday evening dinner rush and took her to one of our newest favorite restaurants called Joe's Crab Shack. It is a good alternative to having fresh seafood at the ocean. They serve buckets of fresh steamed crab of many varieties and if proves to be a full, satisfying dinner. They have lots of music and every half an hour or so they will crank up a song and all the waiters will come out and dance. The kids love going to the "dancing restaurant" as they are encouraged to bounce around and dance to the music. It is a fun place to go and I wish I could afford to go more often.

Sunday was spent mostly relaxing around the house and waiting for the time when we would have to take her to the airport. Overall, the kids had a wonderful time seeing their grandma. Now the next visitors on the list are Dave and Charlene and their boys. We will get to see them Wednesday. I'm so grateful for all the visitors this summer. On to the next!

Busy Busy

Dianne flew in July 1st to spend 11 days with us. We have been having a great time visiting and showing her the area. We have already been to the zoo, mountains, and a local Independence Day festival. We let the kids stay up past 8pm for the first time ever to see the fireworks. They both were so very excited. Once it started, Sam loved them but Evie got really upset and cried the whole time. She buried her head in a blanket and moaned through the whole thing. I finally got her to calm down a bit by talking to her and telling her everything that I was seeing. She would then argue with me that she didn't like the pretty colors, bright lights, pretty shapes, etc. It was actually pretty cute. Hopefully, next year she will handle it a bit better. Sam thought it was the greatest thing and keeps telling us he loves them.

I just wanted to drop a note that we are doing well, just having lots of fun with Grandma in town and staying very very busy. I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!

Aquarium and Sports Camp

This past weekend we went to visit the Aquarium. They have a restaurant there that lets you sit next to a fish tank while you were eating so we made lunch reservations, loaded up the kids and went. Well, lunch was way overpriced, the service had something to be desired, and even though I made reservations, we didn't get to sit next to the tank. It just got worse from there. It was extremely crowded because (gasp) it was actually raining for a change. They make you wear a bracelet showing that you paid for your entrance fee. When Evie saw she wasn't getting one because she was still free she got extremely upset and it just stayed downhill from there. Every time we thought we got her calmed down, she would eyeball one of us wearing a bracelet and start crying all over again. At one of the viewing tanks a little girl came and placed herself between Evie and Sam. Well Evie wasn't having that and pushed the little girl out of the way and then proceeded to start screaming again. The little girl eyeballed her and Dwayne went right over to have Evie apologize for pushing. We moved on to the next section and it turns out the little girl followed us over. She then walked right up to Evie and gave her a big ole giant headbutt. Her daddy came right over and started to apologize and we explained that Evie had actually started it but the father's quick reaction made us think that that was the little girl's typical response to situations she doesn't like. It made us laugh because it reminded us that our children's reactions could always be worse and some things just aren't as bad as others. Of course, Evie was screaming again at this point and I finally just worked my way through the crowds more quickly and end this experience for us all. I was so upset because I was looking forward to going and it just turned out to be one of those experiences that wasn't worth the time and energy. Especially since they charged $15 a person.

Today I got to take Sam to his first ever Sports Camp. Our church hosts several camps throughout the year and this was the first one where the timing and money worked out. It is a generic camp that lets the kids play and experience several different sports throughout the day. The preschoolers just go for half a day. Sam had so much fun and came home just chattering about all the different things he did today. He was excited to find out that he gets to go 2 more days. One of the highlights for him was his being able to play soccer. He told me that he could also play basketball if he wanted to but he emphatically told me that he did NOT want to play basketball and likes soccer much better. They are going to be having sign-ups this summer for flag football starting in August. Hopefully, I can come up with the $100 to sign him up again. That will be a more traditional sports activity in that they will have one practice and one game a week for several weeks. I love that they are making it co-ed and girls will be allowed to play too. Evie wants to participate soooo bad but I keep telling her that as soon as she is 4 we will let her.

Weekends

So what have we been doing the last couple weeks beside the usual preschool, housework, and work for Dwayne? Last weekend our church was hosting a gigantic garage sale. So, immediately after breakfast we loaded the kids and went with the hopes of finding great treasure. I can't say if we found great treasure but we came away with several great deals. The biggest one for me was we were able to get a large easel that has a whiteboard on one side and chalkboard on the other that the kids can't seem to get enough of. They have been busy doing "art" since we brought it home. The whiteboard side we were able to clean up really well and they draw all over it. The chalkboard side seemed to have a grease pencil used on it. So we cleaned it up the best we could and Dwayne told me that they sell chalkboard paint now. So after a trip to Lowe's we picked up some paint that cost 3 times as much as the easel itself but now the kids have a chalkboard they can write on. LOL. After that we went to a used curriculum sale that our local homeschooling group was hosting. I didn't really come out with anything exciting and I kind of felt like it was a waste of the entrance fee. But now I know what to expect next time and when the kids are a few years older, I will have a resource for a ton of materials for their age range.

This weekend we went to the zoo again. Because we have a yearly pass, it is our place of choice when we can't think of anything better and still need to get out of the house on a budget. It was nice and sunny but not too hot. That was really nice considering we had been in the 80's the last couple of days. We also went and played in the pool at our apartment complex. We are really lucky because we are only a few feet away from the entrance. I don't have to travel all the way to the other side of the complex to visit the pool with the kids. Dwayne had taken the garbage out a few days before and found a couple of pool noodles in the garbage. So after rescuing them from a home in the landfill we went and tried them out. They worked great and the kids are excited about their new toys for swimming. Today, we have been just hanging out around the house avoiding the heat. The kids seem to be enjoying just hanging out with us and I know Dwayne and I love just doing nothing around the house for a change.

Overall, we are doing really well. We are finding lots of things to love about Colorado and making ourselves right at home. I'm extremely excited about the next couple of months. June is going to be busy with Sam having a few days for his first ever sports camp and then his first experience with VBS. It's exciting to finally have him old enough to participate in these kinds of things. I'll be volunteering at VBS again and Evie loves loves loves "playing with her friends" at church so she will be excited about the babysitting available to volunteers' kids. July will be busy with first Dianne, then Dave and his family coming to visit and the first part of August will bring Melody and hopefully Mom. This summer is going to be extremely busy but so fun too.

Herbed Dinner Rolls

These rolls turned out so good I had to share the recipe.

1 Cup water (70-80 degrees)
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 Cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each dried basil, oregano, thyme, and dried rosemary, crushed
3 1/4 Cups bread flour ( I used all-purpose and it was fine)
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Additional melted butter and course salt (optional)

In bread machine pan, place the water, softened butter, egg, sugar, salt, seasonings, flour, and yeast in order suggested by manufacturer. Select dough setting (check dough after 5 minutes of mixing; add 1 to 2 tablespoons of water or flour if needed.)

When cycle is completed, turn dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 16 portions; shape each into a ball. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. If desired, brush with butter and sprinkle with course salt. Remove from pans to wire racks. Yield: 16 rolls


I'm hoping to experiement a little and try using wheat flour instead of white. I think it will turn out really good either way. Highly recommended! These were yummy.

Farmer's Market

We went and visited the Farmer's Market this weekend. I was pleasently surprised at how large it was for a small town. It will be open every Sunday through October. We wanted to walk through and check out their prices. They were pretty comparable to what I can find in the supermarket so I think I will start going there first for my fruits and vegetables and then finishing out at the grocery store on shopping days. Produce is available much earlier here than in the NW. I'm already reveling in corn on the cob and strawberry shortcake. Tomatoes are already in abundance as well. Corn and strawberries were a sign that summer was in full swing and possibly nearing the end in the NW. Here it's not even June yet and I can get them in abundance. Of course, those are three crops that require lots of sunshine and we get plenty of that here even if it isn't always necessarily warm. The locals have said it has been a very wet and hard winter. I just laugh because I have crocodile skin from the lack of moisture that I am used to. If this was a hard winter than normal winters are going to leave me parched. We have had a week of overcast skies, occasional rain, and highs in the 50's. It definately feels chilly after having normal temps in the 70s. This week though, we are back to normal. 70's and sunshine all week. Perfect weather for me. Warm enough to open all the windows and take a walk outside without getting all sweaty and gross. The trees and grass are finally green and I feel like it is finally officially spring.

Mother's Day

My Mother's Day was very nice. Most of it occurred on Saturday. Dwayne let me sleep in a little, made me breakfast, and then gave me my gift. He got me a very nice mother's pendant that had the kids' birthstones in it. It has the ability to easily be expanded if we should ever expand our family or if we want to add a couple of diamonds to represent Dwayne and I. It is the first piece of expensive jewelry Dwayne has ever gotten me besides our wedding ring. I was pleasently surprised and find it just beautiful. We then packed up the wagon and the kids and decided to stroll around the zoo. It was warm and sunny and just a perfect day. It was also not very busy and the animals were up and moving around. We then came home and went to church. Sunday, Dwayne helped me with many of the chores and we just spent the day around the house. It was nice to just chill around the house a bit since it feels like we are constantly going going going lately.

No huge plans this week that I know of. This morning we woke up to snow again. The temperature extremes around here are crazy. I have been told that it isn't entirely unheard of to get snow in June. It is strange to have things bloom so late in the year. At least things are starting to finally leaf out and the grass is finally green.

Tornados and Bunkbeds

This past week we lived through our very first tornado warning here in the Parker area. The kids and I got to see and experience the storm clouds that could have turned into a tornado but fortunately did not this time. I have been told that the warnings will become much more frequent and the afternoons in June is the most common time for them. I have never lived in tornado country before so this is all a brand new experience for me. I posted a picture of the clouds that rolled through. It is a little dark but you have to realize how ominous these clouds were because this was at like 2pm in the afternoon. They came rolling through very quickly and shortly after I took this picture we got extreme winds and hail the size of dimes. The kids and I stood at the window just amazed at the quantity and size of the hail having never experienced that in Oregon. And then all of a sudden the lightning and thunder started. The storm moved right over our house because we got to experience a FLASHBOOM! with no interruption between the two. It was very loud and rattled the window. We only had one like that though and the rest of the thunder and lightning moved off pretty quickly. Shortly after a brief rain spell, the clouds broke up and the sun came out again. It was pretty extreme and so amazing. What is really funny though is yesterday in the mail we got a town newsletter that included instructions on what to do during a tornado warning. I thought that was pretty good timing and read the instructions faithfully so I would know what I am supposed to do if the tornado warning should become serious. You know what the instructions said? Stay away from the windows (not stare out at the storm with my mouth hanging open) and move to a small room in the house. LOLOL My neighbor started laughing at me when I told her what I had done. Next time I'll try and be good and stay away from the window but I must admit I probably won't be able to control myself from peaking as it is so amazing to see the extreme weather when you haven't been raised around it.




This weekend I decided it was time to get bunkbeds for the kids and get Evie out of her toddler bed. We have an excellent furniture store nearby that had wonderful prices. So we took the plunge and got them. It has opened up so much more room in their bedroom and Sam and Evie are pretty excited about their new beds. Tonight will be the first night they get to sleep in them. What is great is that they can be separated into two twins in the future so these beds should last us several years. They are constructed from pine so if they get bored with the natural look, it will be easy enough to paint them blue, black, pink, purple, or whatever color they might desire. We also invested in a good mattress for Evie so now both kids have really nice brand new mattresses. I'm hoping the investment will last a good 10 years and we won't need to think about beds again until they are teenagers. They have spent a good half of the day climbing up and down the ladder. Even Evie can manage it without too much trouble as evidenced by the picture.

First Dentist Visit

Today's excitement was the kids first dental visit. I have been having sensitivity in one of my teeth lately that it prompted me to finally find a dentist for us here. I found a lady who is really nice and she does dentistry for the whole family. I went to have my teeth cleaned and get the initial exams out of the way yesterday and after talking to her she said we could bring the kids in anytime to get them started on their oral health. This is so important to me because I never went to the dentist as a child unless it was an emergency and I can sure tell now. I am constantly having teeth trouble. So I made an appointment and had them both go in today. Sam had been to a dentist once before but it was mostly just to ride the chair and have the dentist put his fingers in his mouth etc. to get used to the dentist office. That is what I was expecting this visit but she actually took the time to polish their teeth and give them some flouride. I wasn't sure how they were going to do but Sam went first and he did great! He didn't fuss at all and was pretty excited that they had a TV he could watch while she was poking around in his mouth. Evie watched the whole thing and realized it was no big deal. She sat back and let the dentist polish and scrub her teeth too. I couldn't believe it. They listened so well and we didn't have a single tear the whole time. I think Sam was just happy to be visiting a doctor that wasn't going to give him a shot. I am so proud of them and how well they listened and followed directions. And now they will also have nice pearly white teeth.

New Adventures

The last couple of weekends have been pretty busy with us traveling to new sights in and around Denver. Last weekend we decided to drive down to Colorado Springs to visit another zoo we discovered was down there. It is called the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It was a lot of fun to visit a new place but of the two zoos we decided we prefer the Denver zoo. Cheyenne Mountain is famous for its giraffe herd, which I admit was very large, and the exhibit is very cool because you can pay $1 for 3 crackers and you can hand feed the giraffes. Evie and I were all for doing that and got right in. Sam wasn't too sure about it and decided to hang back and just watch us do it. I decided not to force him too if he didn't want to. There will be plenty of more opportunities I'm sure.


You can't see it well, but Evie is feeding a giraffe through the bars. I also finally decided to invest in a hat. With all this sunshine around here I got tired of squinting all the time. LOL

It was amazing to be within touching distance of the giraffes. I caught a picture of one tasting other things. LOL

Part of the zoo's attraction is that it is located on the side of a mountain. They offer a ski lift which takes you up to a viewpoint to take pictures, etc. I have to admit the views were amazing but I don't know if we will pay the money for the lift next time we visit. Especially since you can get better views by driving up to a shrine on the top of the mountain.

This is one of the views from the top of the memorial for Will Rogers called Shrine of the Sun. It was kind of strange to see such a monument built for an actor but the building was really neat and you got to see out over Colorado Springs and surrounding valleys.

Entrance to the shrine of the sun. They have a small cathedral inside and several rooms with various photographs of the life and history of Will Rogers. We mostly went to take a peak at the views which were pretty incredible. You can climb all the way to the top of the tower.

This weekend we decided to drive around some more checking out areas around the Denver area. We especially wanted to make a trip to the mountains since we are so close. Melody is interested in going camping when she comes to visit and so it was a good opportunity to scout the area and see what kind of campgrounds we could find. I made a list of all the state parks in the area, packed a picnic lunch, made sure I had my maps in order and off we went. Of course, I forgot the camera. We found a park that was nearby, had camping, but was still close enough to Denver to not really have any trees. It was pretty open and not our ideal setting. We then managed to find the right highway to head up into the mountains and found a beautiful drive, rocky cliffs, bubbling creeks, and Finally.... loads of trees. I'm pretty excited because I think we have found a campground that will suit us. Now to do some research because we are high enough into the wild areas that we have to be cautious of bears, cougars, and the occasional moose. One of the park rangers said that if we go back in a month or so, all the spruce trees will finally be in leaf and the wildflowers will be blooming. The campground was closed when we drove by but they expect to be open next month. I think we are planning on going back then to double check that yes we like the campground and to go ahead and make reservations for camping this summer. Being a state park, we need to plan ahead if we hope to get a decent place. I'm so excited. It was so beautiful and only took about an hour to hour and a half to get there.

Easter

Saturday we woke up with plans to visit the local city park to attend an Easter egg hunt that our church in partnership with other churches was hosting. The day was sunny but a little chilly in the morning. It was also extremely windy. Evie was so excited and wanted to go pick up all the pretty eggs that she started to get extremely upset when she couldn't just go out and get them. They were about 20 minutes late getting started and I think all the eggs were found and claimed within 5 minutes. It was pretty well organized despite all the people though. I think the volunteers did a good job. We sat down to open all the eggs and see if we got some golden tickets for extra special prizes. We then waited in another long line to take our turn to claim a couple of cheap toys. The kids had so much fun though and all the eggs are now their newest bathtub toys. I didn't get very good pictures because I was so busy just trying to keep an eye on where the kids were at with all the people.

Saturday evening we went to church and had the kids dress up in their new Easter clothes. Pretty handsome if I say so myself. Sunday, Dwayne and I volunteered to help again because the church was expecting so many extra people and just didn't have enough hands. Sunday afternoon we just lazed around the house a bit and then I set to work making an Easter dinner. Since I wasn't hosting anybody this year I decided to keep it simple. I made cornish game hens, mashed potatoes, corn, and rolls. Even though I decided to take it easy, it was still way too much food and we have had plenty of leftovers. The only downside? Our microwave has broken and we are waiting for the landlords to replace it. I never realized how much I use the microwave until it has become unavailable to me. I also decided to surprise Dwayne and try my hand at making a lava cake for dessert. Every time we are in a restaurant and he sees one he drools and wants to have it for dessert. I found a recipe that just uses muffin tins to make small individual servings and it didn't look too difficult. Let me say, they turned out great! And they were so easy. I think I have found Dwayne's new favorite dessert.

My birthday was fine. I didn't do anything exciting. It was just a normal day. I also wasn't feeling too great so I moped around the house a bit. I refused to do chores and I cheered up by the end of the day from all the phone calls and well wishes I received from family and friends. I think this weekend we are going to drive down to Colorado Springs (about an hour away) and check out the zoo they have there. It is supposed to be nice weather and that is an area of Colorado we haven't visited yet. I'm looking forward to it since I've been such a grump this week.

The Difference A Day Makes

I thought I would drop a few pictures of the same field that was covered in snow last week that I had previously posted. Even though I didn't get around to taking pictures until today, the snow had completely melted and we had nice warm weather by last Friday. 98% of the time this is the weather that we see around here. But I've been told to expect more snow. The spring has huge fluctuations of snow and then 70 degree weather. I'm definately not used to such extremes but at least the snow doesn't stick to the ground much and driving hasn't been a problem yet.

This is the field I've been walking around more regularly with the kids. It is nice to be out in the sun and the blue skies are just amazing.

I wasn't sure if this picture would turn out but you can kind of glimpse the mountains that we get to see every day and are a normal part of our backdrop.

Can't wait for this view to be green.

Any trees we have around here pretty much look like this. We have them, its just hard to tell sometimes because they are all leafless for the winter.

We finally got close enough to the prairie dogs to snap a picture of one.

Just a picture to prove and remind myself that yes they can get along. LOL