Colorado Rocky Mountain High

We took a long drive to visit Shannon's family this weekend.

We took off Thursday night after I got home from work.

Stopped in Salina for the night to cut down on the next day's travel.

We took over Mima's bedroom. She slept in her parent's closet.

There was plenty of Blue Bell ice cream. So delicious.

I can't stop eating it.

Brian also baked homemade brownies and his fabulous bread.

He sent us home with a loaf.

 The first evening we ate at Smash Burgers and then to a park.

It was freezing cold and it even started to rain.

Came home and ate ice cream, brownies and watched some tv.

 

Shannon &Brian's new place has a great deck and backyard to play in. 



 Mealtime. 

We went to the Denver Zoo on Saturday morning. 

Brian had to work so he wasn't able to come along.

Grandpa went on the train with Buddy.

 It was at this point that my camera went dead.

I thought I had just charged it up.

Saturday night we went to Chick-Fil A

That is the most kid friendly fast food place I've ever been to.

Sticky placemats for the kids, little containers of Cheerios, hand sanitizer in bins at the order counter. The kids got to play on the toys under the supervision of Brian & Grandpa and Shannon & I got to visit. 

 

Sunday morning was 9 AM church which is easy to do when everyone wakes up early.

 

After several mini M&Ms to bribe her to stand still, Shannon finally got this picture.

There would have been black or pink tights for this little outfit, but Mima got into her bottom drawer and hid all the contents. Hopefully Shannon will find the clothes somewhere.

Today was Mima's first day for nursery.

Mima wasn't too excited at first in the nursery, but Shannon was able to leave by snack time.

Mima loves her Momma. She doesn't want anyone if Shannon is in sight.

Not even poor Daddy Brian.

 

 These are after church photos.

 After naps, we drove to the Denver temple. It's about a 20 minute drive from Shannon's.

The water fountain was a big hit. Mima wanted to get in and take a bath.

 She actually let me pick her up to sit her on the bench.

I quickly called out for someone to take a picture.

There was no way that Mima would let us hold her for picture taking.

So I had to take advantage of the moment.

 She sat pretty good so I called for Fred. By then she was totally aware of what was happening.

She started squirming to get off the bench.

 This was the first visit to the Temple for the babies.

 Here is Buddy's photo bomb. It was good he did that because we didn't take a picture of the three of us.

Here we are.

The Denver Temple is a pretty little temple.

The grounds are just coming out of winter freeze.

Lots of tulips and pansies.

 

We had to head home Monday morning. If we didn't need to eat or go potty, it's a 9 1/2 hour drive.

We did stop for lunch and several potty/walking around breaks.

Next trip we will fly.

 

We had a really nice time. I was surprised that the Denver area is actually a pretty flat valley and the mountains are way far away.

This is the quilt I made for Mima's room. Her theme obviously is butterflies.
This is a small quilt - maybe 20"x 20"
My good friend and neighbor Sharon quilted it on her long arm quilting machine.

 



I love Facebook - sorry but I do

 

See this is why I love Facebook. If I didn't stalk all day long,

I would have missed  this wonderful time!

 

Kari and her family have been in Utah on spring break. I've seen her pictures as she has posted.

Yesterday she posted a picture in Zion National Park so I messaged her and asked if she was going to come and see me? No pressure, of course, so we worked it out to meet last night for dessert.

 

See if you post pictures that you are here in Utah and especially down here near me, you will hear from me. Not that you have to come and spend all day, but even a half hour at DQ would work.

 

I know what it is like when you travel. There many places and usually family that we plan to visit.

Squeezing in one more person or place is not always possible and I will totally understand if you can't fit us in. BUT we are willing to compromise and meet you somewhere convenient.

AND we don't require much time. It's simply so wonderful to see you in person. 

In person is actually more fun than Facebook, if you can believe that?

 

Thanks Kari for meeting us even when you were all tired from your day.

 

Continuing progress in the backyard

Fred has built a pea trellis. We had one in Bremerton that he made out of wood. This one is PCV pipe. Well he painted it the same color as our block wall because it was WHITE!

We live in a very "manicured" neighborhood. Here we have sidewalks, the neighborhood is completely square and streets are Brigham Young style, every home is built by the same builder so somewhat uniform in shape, style etc....All the yards are fenced in with a brick wall like ours. The majority of the brick fences have a gate closure from the house to the side yard between homes. We don't. So from the street you can see straight into our back yard. Fred wanted the house built to the side of the lot so the end where the garden is at is the end that is most open to the street.

So from the street you look right on to this big edifice - well in Bremerton where it is somewhat rural I think the look is acceptable, but in our neighborhood it is somewhat kind of an eyesore. I wouldn't be surprised if we are in violation of a neighborhood ordinance.

None the less, it is constructed very well.

We will probably plant bush peas next year.

The area closest to the fence is where we plan to plant fruit trees.

Fred is retired so this is his new job. Doing stuff in the yard....so I've decided that it will always be in process. I mean what will he do all day if it is ever Done?

 Here are the little peas beginning to grow.

He is only planting in one of the garden boxes this year. I honestly don't know what we will do if we ever harvest veggies from both boxes. Holy Cow - that seems like a lot of vegetable growing area.

 Fred placed these stepping stones by hand. He doesn't use any measuring tools that I observed.

I don't know how he even comes up with the idea. It really looks amazing.

There is more pathway in the backyard, but it is not complete yet.



This weekend we sprayed all the dust off our patio picnic table and put a plastic table cloth on it with picnic table clips. Now we can eat out there before it gets too hot!

I am at peace about the back yard. I've actually been going outside when I get home from work when Fred is out there still puttering around. I can enjoy how beautiful the lawn is now and what is complete does look really nice. We will have bushes and trees one of these days.

Super cool hat.

Today is our 36th Wedding Anniversary

 

This is one of our Engagement Pictures.

We didn't choose this one for the announcements

because the photographer said this particular pose was a little too intimate. 

You know, my hand on his lapel.

Interesting....considering what we see today in wedding announcements.

 

Looking at this picture I think how little I knew about Fred at this time.

 I had no idea what a good man I had found. 

But I did know I had found a man and not a boy.

I didn't know his strengths were to be steady and constant,

a consistent provider and a protector for me and our children.

We have never gone without.

We have lived within our means and that is a really good feeling.

If I would have been in charge of finances, it would have been a mess.

I had no idea how smart Fred was. I mean in everything.

Not just book smart, but in everything.

From the very beginning he knew how to fix and build everything.

Where did he learn that? How did he know how to do all of that?

Then when our babies came, he was there helping with everything.

Constant, steady and calm when I was losing it. Where did that come from?

 How did he know how to be such a good partner with our children?

 

In the midst of our life together, I know I have felt frustrated many times.

So impatient not being or having what I wanted when I wanted it.

It is always so easy to hold your partner responsible for our unmet expectations.

I am guilty of that. I know now that I was wrong.

Fred has been so good to me and for me.

I could not have found a more perfect partner to share my in life with.

 

I am so grateful that we never stop growing and learning

how to navigate in this world.

 That we can better understand ourselves and others as we experience  life's ups and downs. I am so thankful I have Fred by my side through all of this.

And that he puts up with me. I kind of wonder how he does it.

 

 

 

 

 

Kolob on Valentine's Day

For Valentine's Day this year, I felt we had more than fulfilled our Valentine Quota with our Cruise. We also went to dinner to Red Lobster with two other couples on Thursday night.

Valentine's Day - check.

So I was surprised to see this on Friday after work.

Saturday we decided to take a little scenic trip.

It also happened to be National Park admission free day.

I packed some chips, store bought cookies, napkins, waters, cans of pop and we stopped at Port of Subs for sandwiches (because I hate making sandwiches). But then we had a coupon for Buy a Combo and get a sandwich free, so more chips and another soda. They also had yummy looking cookies. More cookies!



We got to the designated Picnic spot to find one picnic table occupied by someone so we ate in the car. 

We did find more picnic tables as we started out on the trail, of course.



This is what the trail looked like. 



I like taking pictures of Fred.

This picture is the rocky and steepest part of the trail. As I was slightly huffing and puffing through this part of the trail, I was actually marveling that I was only slightly huffing and puffing but going full steam ahead. A year ago that would not have been the case. I was so thankful that I had lost weight and could make my way up the trail and not be miserable on this little hike. 

Fred always comes prepared. Binoculars, maps....I can always count on him to take care of me. I think this time though I had the back pack, but carried my own junk.

This is the "baby" mountain. It reminded me way back to high school when I ate lunch with my boyfriend. He always brought an orange and there are those little sections at the top and I called them babies and he would always let me eat them. I know you really don't care about that, but I was reminiscing about all kinds of memories during the grandeur of the day.

It is amazing how the mountain formations change as you move along the pathway and roads. We took tons of pictures, but I selected the ones that I liked the best.

This was an interesting way to make a bridge. It's not a great picture, but it was basically a raised dirt path, with open sections.

The weather was perfect. I would say it was about 70 degrees and no wind. An especially warm week for February.

I'm sure our family is not much different than most others, but we try to read these informative markers. The ones at Kolob were pretty vibrant in color and not too long. I liked that. I did tell Fred that we needed to take lots of pictures. My feeling is if we have been there and seen it, then we don't need to go again. Especially because you can't go here in the winter because of the snow so it's not like it will look different in another season. It's not like in the Northwest where you have another season to see the changes. I 'd like to get a map and mark off the places we see as we go.  



 

For some reason (I think it was the coming down after a big event let down) I have been feeling blue, discouraged, depressed and "previous life" homesick. I have been doing a lot of that comparing my life to others which is a horrible thing to do. It really is the expectations I had that have not been met that I am dwelling on again. Like this outing for example. I was all excited to move to Southern Utah to become that outdoor enthusiast. Go bike riding, "hiking", and do all the things that people who live in Southern Utah do. So we go on this little "hike" and I'm like - "I think I'd rather be home watching a movie or going out to dinner or shopping". Not that I didn't enjoy our day, but it wasn't like Wow that was the best thing I have ever done and I can hardly wait to do it again. I think a lot of that was due to my melancholy state of being. Maybe I'm just not meant to be anything but who I am. Why am I always looking to be something else? What's with that? It's always that Greener somewhere or something else mentality.

 

Anyway - I just need to do some self therapy this morning. It's getting those thoughts out of my head and out in the universe and then I can let them go. Hmmm I feel better already!