Halloween happenings

We have had a great week preparing for Thursday...

There have been decorations, costume making, costume shopping (!), pumpkin carving, a Halloween party at the park last Saturday - including a Zombie Run! - and our favorite Halloween tradition: Halloween Bingo! (I don't know why - maybe because it's the only time of year we sit down and play Bingo? Or maybe because you use candy for markers and get to eat them at the end!!!)

Sam and his buddies had a great time at the park festivities - they carved more pumpkins, completed an obstacle course, played many games and enjoyed the good weather!

These guys, however skipped the games and went straight for scary!

They were brave enough to do the Zombie Run - a running race through the trails, but you have to avoid the zombies!!!! Fortunately it was in the early afternoon, so no one freaked out... and a couple of them even "survived"! Hamp got "infected" but he seems to be recovering nicely. ☺

Can't wait to see how my little Panda Bear and my big Blue Man turn out...

A quick visit & a little hike

As providence (or Murphy's Law!) would have it - while I was gallivanting around back on the east coast...

Mojo was in COLORADO for a girls' trip!

So, as Sam so delicately put it:  "I picked her up off the side of the highway" and brought her home with me for a day. (hey man, it's not really untrue!)

To get her back to her pack - and just to make it fun, I enticed Mojo's girlfriends to meet us in Glenwood Canyon for a little hike...

We could not have asked for a more beautiful morning to get to Hanging Lake!

I was duly impressed with the hiking skills and perseverance of Mojo & crew - as it is in fact over 1,000 feet of vertical gain in about 1 mile!  It was worth it just for the view... 

What a wonderful way to get a little teaser visit in - 36 hours in Meeker was just enough to see Hamp's flag football game, go out to dinner, volunteer in Sam's 1st grade class, eat lunch with Hamp at school, hike the trails, shop at Wendll's, and have game night! 

(we really know how to pack it in...)

And just as I was trying to grab photographic evidence of Mojo's stay, the boys decided to get silly:

So glad you made it up to Meeker - best day ever!!!

Ali's baby shower

Last weekend I was so grateful to be able to go see one of my oldest, dearest friends!

In honor of her growing family (and growing belly!) I flew into town to be a part of her celebration...

What awaited me was a generous, warm, cozy welcome by Ali & Matt (and Ellie dog!)

Ellie loves to hang out on the porch...

Most of the weekend was spent in this spot - possibly the best back deck lounging area EVER!!!

Although there was a LOT of fun leading up to the party on Sunday (shopping, game day, dinner at the Farm House, and an awesome presentation of Sleepy Hollow!) the shower was definitely the highlight! Not only was it a beautiful congregation of Ali's old friends, family, old work friends and new work friends, it was especially a wonderful display of the talents of one of her dearest friends Dawn.

Dawn set up a table for guests to design a set of alphabet blocks for baby W. It was a fun way to visit with everyone at the party while adding a very sweet personal touch to baby W's nursery!

And the finished products... so cool!

I love this - a sign of a conscientious and modern hostess!

You know everyone will have pictures to share... why not be proactive and set up a hashtag group on the most popular social media tool out there! 

Oh - and the decor!

Dawn did an amazing job of setting up the party with a little boy theme...

To truly appreciate all the detail and love that went into hosting this special event - you have to check out Dawn's blog below. It's worth it just to see all her gorgeous pictures!

http://gahangirls.blogspot.com/2013/10/huck-finn-baby-shower-celebration-of.html

Besides the beautiful surroundings, comfy home, extraordinary party and fun events of the weekend, I confess that the best part of all was just being with friends!

I especially enjoyed being with all of Ali's family and meeting all of her very cool friends from work...

Then again, I loved that I was able to spend quality time with a couple of my dearest friends from childhood. And that always means there will be just a little bit of silliness involved!

Much love to Ali & Matt and their upcoming addition to the family!

Thanks for letting me be a part of the celebration... I love this little guy already.

all the way...

First flag football game, first play - that's Hamp running in for the touchdown:

fun fall weekend

Last weekend (yes, I realize I am a little behind...!) was a perfect couple of September days. 

We kicked it off with the annual Fall Festival - and this year Hamp wanted to join his momma for the kickoff 5K run!!!

I was happy (kind of!) to oblige and incredibly proud of his perseverance and physical ability... although I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I BEAT HIM!!! ha ha ha. 

OK, enough about me... I am just so proud that he crossed the finish line! Next year, I fear he will kick my behind. ☺

The rest of the day was spent downtown eating cotton candy, cupcakes, snow cones, hot dogs, turkey legs, etc. etc. and playing all the fun games and collecting all the useless pieces of plastic prizes from the community games. It was beautiful weather (especially considering that the days before had been a freezing snow storm!) and everyone had a great time - including Gabe!

With such great weather, we decided to spend the better part of Sunday outside too.

What better way to do it than hike the new trails above town!

We packed up some water and made the 4.5 mile hike up and over the ridge above town. The boys were great (aka no whining) and so excited to be on a new adventure. The view was terrific and other than a brief encounter with a rattlesnake, the hike was uneventful but fun!

This weekend has not been as eventful (aka no pictures!) but it has been very relaxing all the same.

Weather is great... so I should probably try to get outside! until next time...

Soccer

We had a fantastic (albeit short - 4 weeks!) soccer season this September.

I found myself saying several times, "I love to watch them play!"

I also came to a deeper understanding of a wise phrase that I have engraved and displayed in my living room:

Do not prepare the path for the child. Rather, prepare the child for the path.

Let me just say, if could prepare the path for my children - it would be laden with soccer balls, shin guards and some great passing followed by a stellar goal! ☺

The 4th - 6th grade league was fast, exciting and fun to watch!

Hamp played great... scoring a couple of goals throughout the games, making some really great passing plays and even making some pretty sweet saves when playing goalie.

The 1st - 3rd graders where still working on several key skills in the game, but that didn't suppress their enthusiasm! As assistant coach, I got a first hand look at how excited Sam was to get in the game, move the ball down the field and once even - score a goal!

So while I can't tell them what sport to love, you better believe I did my best to tell these boys how much I loved watching them play! And I think they enjoyed it almost as much as I did...

Summer fun

In May, as school was coming to a close, people would ask me "what are you going to do this summer?" and I had already decided that my response was, "nothing. get bored."

Well to clarify, what I really meant was: "We have very few specific plans. We didn't sign up for a bunch of programming. Other than a single, big trip to see family, I hope to live day by day and see what adventure the boys come up with on their own."

And by 'bored' I really meant: "I hope to keep my children free from tv, video games and computers long enough to hear them say 'I'm bored' and then discover 5 minutes later that they created their own game in the backyard involving a couple of trucks, some army guys, a minor construction project, and the water hose!"

To help things along, we made a list at the beginning of the summer - not to try to structure our adventure, but just as a guideline of things we might like to do! - and when I looked at it the other day, I realized that we did a pretty darn good job of doing fun things and filling our lazy summer days with plenty of activity!

an outdoor movie at the park

evidence of floating the river

the Buford Fish Fry & camping - Father's Day weekend at South Fork campground

Rockies game - we didn't make it to Denver, but Grand Junction has a minor league team now and it's just as fun!

mini- golf wasn't on the list... but it was a bonus activity!

bowling!

a day at the wave pool with friends!

complete the triathalon - Hamp didn't make it to his... but I did! ☺

hiking to the top of China Wall - the boys and I made it (almost) to the very top...
it was hot, they were tired but we were pretty proud and the view was awesome!

concert on the lawn - another of my favorite summer activities!
Hamp got out front & center to dance with his buddies...

another adventure not on the list: playing at the lake!

Then of course, there was the Warrior Dash in August and our backpack trip, too.

And even though we never set up our lemonade stand or went biking through the Glenwood Canyon - it's safe to say that we never went for lack of something else fun to do!

We even decided to spend the night out on the tramp one hot night right before school started! Just the boys and me, 3 sleeping bags and all the stars...

So anyway... all that being said, it worked.

We did nothing, and therefore we did everything!

And we were 'bored' - which allowed us find so much adventure right here in our backyard.

It was an awesome summer - and we've already talked about next year's list!