At Home in the Mountains

Due to the extreme dullness of my mind after one week of school (yikes!) I may have related this story on my blog before but I will tell it again because it cracks me up. Aaron's grandparents raise their own cows for meet and they always name them so when you go to eat with them you usually find out that you are eating Hank, Red, Shorty, etc. One year they had two steers and a milk cow. Aaron's grandma hated the milk cow so when it came time to butcher the cows they ate This, That, and The Udder for the next year..yuk, yuk yuk! Anyway, not much going on here. Just getting back into a routine and starting school. I have never had this much reading for school because I've never taken two English classes at the same time. What was I thinking? Oh yeah, that I wanted to be done with it! I am scheduled to graduate December 17th so if I can pull myself together and survive through the semester it will all be over. Last night Tam and I planted our fall crop of tomatoes, cukes, and ...

This weekend we flew up to Colorado Springs to run the Pike's Peak Ascent. This whole trip started as joke made by my mom. Aaron decided to take that joke seriously and get us all signed up to do the race so there we were! We flew in on Thursday. Tricia and I took an early flight and got in with Maddy about 1 and Aaron and Ben came in later that evening. The weather was perfect in Colorado Springs. It was so nice to have a break from the heat we've been dealing with in Dallas. And it was great to see my parents again. On Friday we went up to Manitou Springs to pick up our race packets. Maddy playing on the bear chairs in the airport. Hanging out at the race tent. Our picnic in Manitou after we picked up our race packets. We also made a quick trip out to the ranch to see Aaron's grandparents for a couple of hours. They were making sauerkraut while we were there. Then we came back to my parents and had our pre-race spaghetti dinner topped off with some donuts from the Donut M...

Well I could kick myself because this is about the only picture I took while Tammy was here. Guess that just shows we were too busy having fun to worry much about the camera....and maybe I was pictured out from all the pictures I took on vacation. Tam caravaned home with us last Sunday. She probably wondered what she had gotten into when we didn't stop to eat "lunch" until 4 p.m. and then made a pit stop at the filthiest gas station in Texas. (Note to travelers: Do not stop at the Bellvue, TX Phillips 66 gas station. Hasn't been cleaned since 1985). But we made it home in 13 hours. Not bad! We were all wiped out from that ordeal so the next day we just spent kind of resting up and we grilled out ribs that night. I think the hot weather also sapped our energy coming back straight from some really beautiful weather. On Tuesday we went out to DBU and had lunch with Aaron. I thought Maddy had OT but she didn't. Showed up for an appointment that didn't exist. Talki...

After the family reunion we went to Colorado Springs to spend some time with my parents. I love the Colorado Springs area. I think it is one of the most beautiful areas in the state. Aaron and my dad got up super early on Wednesday morning to go meet Aaron's dad on Monarch pass and pick up our car. The rest of us slept in and then took Maddy to play at the park by my parents' house. Maddy had a great time swinging and sliding down the slides with Aunt Tammy. Can you tell she got spoiled? She loved all the attention, "new" toys, and games. She also had a blast with a bunch of old stickers my mom let her play with. On Thursday we went to the Fletcher ranch. They had put in a patio under their deck and it was really nice. they had a little fountain that Maddy was determined to crawl into. This is an old plow sitting out by the big cabin. Made a cute photo op. Aaron and Maddy playing in Great Grandparent's house. On Friday my mom graciously watched Maddy so we could ...

Alright, to make a long story short, or at least shorter, after two day of working on our car everyone decided that it had a busted head and would take weeks to repair. My family reunion started at noon Friday and we were still in Montrose trying to figure out how to get over there at 4:30. Finally we decided Aaron's dad and my dad would meet halfway. We got to the camp at 1 a.m. Saturday morning. They had had bad thunderstorms so all the electricity was out and we had to unload by flashlight. The next day we found out that Aaron's dad went out to work on the car and discovered it ran just fine. Thank goodness and ARRRRGGGGGG!!!! all at the same time. Anyhow, we had a great time at the reunion. This is Maddy with her cousin Thomas. (He is not her first cousin but I don't have the energy or care enough to puzzle out exactly how they are related. Enough that they had fun playing together.) He is 8 months old. The reunion was filled with great conversations, laughs, games, and...