My little Super Heroes!

I am sure every mother in this world no matter if they are able to raise their own children or if they are with them every single day say that they are proud. I don’t think there is a word strong enough to describe how I truly feel about my kids. Everyday I am surprised how lucky I got. I see so many children who disrespect their parents or who act up and give their parents such heartache. I don’t have to worry about that. Of course there are times when they test my patience or they have a bad day of listening but all in all on any given day I go to bed proud of the people they have become. Each of them is giving, kind, funny, spiritual and well mannered. If something were to happen to me today I know that I would not have to worry about if they became good people. I am sure that’s what my mom thought of me and my brother and sister. She left this earth all to early but her work was done one this earth. She raised some pretty darn good kids and they in turn have raised awesome children as well. How lucky can one person get! Blessed, truly blessed!

I Love Fall!!!

So we are definitely into fall and I am completely excited. Carmel apples, pumpkins and falling leaves. What more could you ask for. This weekend, the kids and I took a trip down to Denver and hung out with our family and my friend Heather and her son Gabriel. It really worked out because I ended up keeping my niece Lilly and her and Katie had a blast hanging together for 2 straight days. They have really missed each other. Our first trip Saturday was to the Four Mile Historic Museum for their Great Pumpkin Harvest. Oh there was plenty to do for sure.

First we stopped at the school houses and we saw 3 women in there making lace and brading rugs. Which was really neat and I think I want to learn how to do the rug braiding. It was so neat.

Outside the school house there was a tent set up where we learned about Honeybees and how bees makes the honey. It was so incredibly interesting.

Then we went over to the chicken coupes where this man had burned these cookies and he threw them to the chickens. And he said the chickens had been waiting all day for him to burn these cookies. Now we stood there and watched these chickens and none of them were interested in these cookies...especially burnt cookies. Me and my friend Heather got a kick out of that. Our next stop was the old fashion cellar. This is where the pioneers would put their food storage. They would hang meat and put all their canned goods in there.

To the side of the cellar was a "panning station" where the kids could pan for gold. This probably took the most time. All of the kids were interested in playing in the water and coming with the pieces of gold and rocks.

The out skirts of the museum was TeePee's set up for the kids to look in. One TeePee had a couple inside and they told stories of the Native Americans and showed us tools that they would use made out of things from the land. That was my favorite part. We sat in there for a long time asking questions. And everyone was interested so it was really neat.

Next we played with the sticks and round wooden wheels and Stilts.

Then we headed over to the pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin. We will definitely come back next year. What a fun day!

Minute to Win IT

September 25th we celebrated Kenyon’s 8th birthday party in the park at Lake Loveland. He had several friends attend. His guests included kids he knows from school, the boys and girls club, daycare ands family. I planned 17 games inspired from the NBC game show Minute to win it but we were only able to fit in a total of 6. The kids really had a good time. The games included:
(Bottoms Up!) Where the kids had to knock over empty cans using a yo-yo.
(Breakfast Scramble) The kids had to assemble the front of a cereal box that has been cut into 16 even pieces.
(Bucket Head) The kids had to catch 3 balls in a bucket on top of their head.
(Defying Gravity) Where they had a partner and each kid had a balloon. They had to throw the balloon to each other and keep the balloon off the ground for a minute.
(Extreme Hanky Panky) I split the kids into groups and they had to remove all the tissues from a tissue box one at a time. This was by far the funniest. The kids seemed so panic’d and were out of control ripping the tissues out of the box. It was hilarious.
(Rapid Fire) The kids had to shoot rubber bands to knock down a stack of cans. This by far was the hardest game. We did not even have one winner. Many of the kids did not know how to shoot the rubber bands so it was tough.

These were a good filler for the time. I think we will plan a party next summer with many of the other games. What a good time!

Happy Birthday ‘lil man!!!

Kenyon’s official birthday is today. 8 years old….boy where did the time go. The tike has grown into quite the little man. I made him a birthday badge to wear to school today. He was so proud. He has been spoiled thus far and received a Nintendo DS from his Grandmother and Dad. I of course will take him to dinner tonight for his birthday. (The place where they give sundae’s FREE on your birthday J) Gosh I hopefully have another 60 of these birthdays with him. This is the one day that he is happy alllllll day!

Mom’s Night Out

I attended my first “Stamp Camp” on Friday, September 10th. My co-worker, Heather, and I went to a Stamp Camp at a Stampin’ Up Consultants house in Fort Collins. We made a total of 5 cards.

The first card was a template card.

The second card was done using the Faux alligator technique. It took probably the most time but was my favorite to make. I learned how to emboss and I think I am addicted now.

The third card was a Masculine card that can be given to a father or male friend.

The last 2 cards were both Fall cards.

The whole process took 3 hours. We are going to go to another Stamp Camp on October 22nd. Hopefully miss Katelyn can go with us.

The Hayden Corn Pickers

The Greeley Stake in the LDS Church has a farm in Eastern Greeley. The Church posted a bulletin that you could go out to the farm and pick some sweet corn from the corn fields out there. A Sister from the Church sent me directions on how to get out to the farm and unfortunately we got lost several times. We finally stopped and asked a sweet lady at 7-11 and she put us on the right track. And just when we thought we had passed it we found it. My friend Hollie and her daughter Danielle joined us. We got out the cars and stepped into the corn fields. It was eerie. The wind was blowing around us and most of the corn had been picked through. The first couple ears of corn we picked were not very good. The deeper we got into the corn field the better the result. We got some really fat ears of corn. Looking back I bet all together we picked about 200-300 ears of corn. We stayed for about an hour and half. Hollie filled up about 6 bags of corn, I filled up a huge tub of corn, Katelyn filled up a bag for a co-worker and Kayne filled up another bag for a co-worker. After digging through bugs and tearing at the tall stalks we were tuckered out. We found our way out of the tall stalks of corn and at the road we had to sit and shuck the corn. Make sure we had some good pieces of corn and get rid of any remaining bugs…ewwww. We had lunch at Burger King and headed home for a nap. Kenyon and I washed the corn in a nice bath of water. Katelyn tore the aluminum. We wrapped the aluminum and placed the wrapped corns in plastic bags to freeze. We decided we will make this into a tradition. Next year we are going to collect much more :)

Sometimes...

Sometimes I miss being 21…I could eat out every night with friends and work it off dancing until the wee hours at a nightclub.

Sometimes I miss being someone’s daughter…I could rant and rave to my mom about this friend or that friend and she could put things in perspective. She also, did all the grocery shopping, cleaning and paying of the dreaded bills.

Sometimes I miss being in gymnastics…I loved the energy I had during gymnastics. I always hated when it was time to go home.

Sometimes I miss my kids…All day when I am at work and when they have sleepovers at their grammy’s or friends. The constant going, going, going is what keeps me moving. At work I slow down and watch the time go by. No random questions from my 9-year old and no just a thought I love you from my 5-year old.

Sometimes I miss *NSYNC…I don’t think I have ever loved another band or group since. They were a crucial milestone in me becoming an adult. A lot of memories I have from that time of my life is centered around and *NSYNC song.

Sometimes I miss being 100 pounds lighter…Oh yea THE BIGGIE. So 3 kids in a 5 year time span seemed like a good idea at the time. I always thought I would have time to exercise and take off the weight but it compounded on top of itself and now finding 30 minutes to go to the gym is a task within itself.

Sometimes I miss my friends…Over the last decade, I have lost some friends and made some new ones. But I can’t help of think of all the good times I have had with each and everyone one of them.

Sometimes I miss my first apartment…Nothing at all special about it. But I had no curfew, my own house key, my own dishes and my own food. Life was simple and I was only responsible for myself. And it didn’t have a bad location, down the street from my work and the mall.

Sometimes I miss being the youngest worker in the office…Little expectations were placed on me as the youngest person in the office. When I would do something unexpected I would blow everyone’s minds. “Wow you did that all by yourself. Without anyone asking you?” Now EVERYTHING is expected. I should just know better.

Sometimes I miss family vacations…Mom would pack us in the car like sardines and drive. We went from Denver to South Carolina to Florida to Texas and back to Colorado. We went from Denver to Oregon to Nevada and back to Colorado. And although I slept most of the trip I wasn’t the one driving.

Sometimes I miss our house in the mountains…Tony, Veronica and I would go “exploring”. We would leave early in the morning and just walk through the mountains and pretty much get lost all day. But somehow we would always make it home before dinner.

But….when I think of all the things I do miss I remember all of the good things I have NOW.
I am 32. Older, more mature and settled.
I am someone’s mother. I am raising the future.
I don’t have to run a mile everyday before gymnastics practice anymore.
The kids always come home. And they shower me with kisses and hugs and lots of stories so I don’t feel left out.
Justin Timberlake is a part of my adulthood and he continues to entertain me. And like a schoolgirl I run to Best buy to get his new CD whenever one comes out.
I have the ability to make new friends and can still cherish good times with the old ones.
I live in a house and a yard.
I have a job I love and appreciate everyday. With the economy as bad as it is, I have heard of so many being without jobs for over a year and its sad. I stayed at home once and I remember how frustrating to try and re-enter the job force.
Although I am not the youngest person in the office I am not the oldest either. Being somewhere in the middle is okay with me.
I get the pick the radio station on our car rides. Although now I am the one doing the driving I get to burn the CD’s that we listen too and I make the kids endure my music. I don’t get to take little catnaps but I determine the pitstops (although Kayne can clear a car when he says he has to go…we don’t argue…I just stop)
I get to choose new places to “explore”. The kids are adventurous like we were as kids so sometimes we will go on walks that take us to new places. Or drive down miscellaneous roads that spit us out into new areas of town.