Happenings from the past week

Back to life, back to reality...

My parents left early this morning after a rather eventful week. Here's a re-cap of the top 10 events from last week (some good, some bad).

10. Shopping with my mom. Shopping with my mom and sisters is always fun.

9. Scrabble. Unfortunately, my parents came down with a bad bug while they were here; it must have been lingering in our house from when we were all sick the week before. My mom spent Thursday on the couch completely dead to the world, so my dad and I played lots of Scrabble. Then Friday they simply switched spots and mom and I played while dad hid under a pile of blankets. My parents are SERIOUS Scrabble players - I never stand a chance, but it's fun to get to play because Scrabble is the one game Brian does not like to play.

8. My parents getting sick totally coincided with a serious blizzard. We've soooooo been needing a lot of snow (and March snowstorms here are infamous), but I really didn't need it last week. But at least my parents didn't mind being laid up while we enduring 11 inches of snow and whiteout conditions. We just haven't had much to play in, and some of my children were really not acclimated to the white stuff. They were eager to bundle up and get out there...

Lucas didn't last long, when his mittens filled with snow and froze his hands

But Connor and Isabel enjoyed the snow time for a while longer before Isabel froze too

7. A super fun morning swimming at our rec center's indoor water park. It is fantastic. Connor is getting more and more adventurous in the water, which is so fun. He loves the waterslide and the river there. No pictures from our outing, as cameras and water parks are a challenging mix.

6. Boulder. Love Boulder. We had a lovely drive up Boulder Canyon, then walked, shopped and ate on the always-fun Pearl Street Mall.


5. Brian had a wisdom tooth removed and has been in pain for days, turns out it has now become infected. No fun. It did force him to lay low and spend some quality time with the rest of us :)

4. Fortunately, the tooth didn't seriously inhibit Brian's ability to be a guest on the Rob Long Show, a Fox Radio Sports Talk Show in Baltimore. Brian was invited to be a guest on the show to provide some commentary on the Broncos, and then participate in a mock media NFL draft. We all were able to listed to his interview via the Internet, and were all super impressed. He gave a great interview. You can see his pick here, on the left-hand side under NFL mock draft.

3. My dad refinished my living room tables and painted them black. They look so much better; thanks again dad!!! Now I need a new couch and chair. Decorating is always a domino effect, isn't it?
2. A day trip to the mountains and Lyons. Fortunately, snow melts pretty quickly here, so by the end of the weekend we were able to enjoy some beautiful mountain weather, the beauty of the high peaks and, some snowball tossing


and then we went on a short hike near Lyons (halfway from our house to Estes Park/Rocky Mountain National Park). Short 'cuz the trail was muddy, but it was still really beautiful. It was so interesting how the north-facing hills were snow-covered, while the south-facing were totally clear. Stunning scenery. And I'm wondering who shrunk Isabel in that photo of she and Connor...? I mean, she's tiny, but not that tiny!


1. Extra hands and love. My kids are soooo lucky to have 4 grandparents who love and adore them, and we always enjoy spending time with our parents/grandparents. It was a good week! Hard to say goodbye.

This week Connor is on spring break, and next week we leave for St. Louis. Spring is always such a busy time!