I Am Thankful. . . Day 1

It helps me to get through this crazy, insane, out-of-control time of year if I focus just a little bit of my time every day on what I'm thankful for. This year I decided to share it here.

Today I am thankful for my dog, Shadow.

I haven't really ever been a dog person. Cats are really more my speed. But in 1997 I caved and Doug and I got our first dog, Prince. We had him for almost 14 years before he passed away in January 2011. What surprised me the most about losing him was how much I missed him! When he was alive, he drove me crazy because he was always stealing food off of our kitchen table and got into the trash whenever I wasn't looking. But he also kept me company while I worked on costumes in the basement until 3:00 in the morning and he curled up next to me on the couch while I watched TV. He slept with Stephen every night and was the best family dog ever.

So, a few months after he died, I was really ready for another dog. I guess that makes me a dog person now too! Last November, about a week before Thanksgiving, Doug, Stephen and Jessica were on their way home from an Air Force football game when Doug decided, out of the blue, that he needed to check out the dogs at the Humane Society. It must have been inspiration because there he found a 1-year old black lab puppy. Well, long story short, we adopted him and brought him home. We named him Shadow because, well, he just shadows me all day long. He keeps me company, he gives me hugs, and he demands my attention whenever he can get it. And in spite of the fact that he has dug up my strawberry bed twice and tried to steal the bag of Halloween candy last night, I just love that not-so-little guy! So now, we have the other best family dog ever.

Ahh. . .Football!

Hooray! Fall is just around the corner and, although I really, truly do love summertime, Fall is awesome. And what makes it so awesome, you ask? Cooler weather, sweatshirts, changing colors, and. . .football of course! The Cougars play tomorrow night, the Buffs play on Saturday, fantasy draft is Saturday night. . .well, you get the picture. But the best game of all was tonight. . .The Skyview Middle School Eagles 8th grade team season opener! Yes, it's true, I love watching my son play football more than any other team. No big surprise, I guess.

And now, just a warning, I'm going to brag a little bit. It's my prerogative. I did give birth to him. Stephen is a team captain, starts on offense (Left tackle) defense (Right Tackle) and special teams. Today he had two sacks, two tackles and a hurry-up. And he helped lead his team to a 21-18 victory! the only part that stunk was that I had to leave at half-time to pick up my 3 daughters from dance. Next time I will have to try to get someone else to pick them up so I don't have to leave the game. I just love watching him play.

I will post some pictures of him later in the season (when I get my camera fixed--that's a whole other story).

Titanic

We were watching Titanic tonight. When it got to the part where the back of the ship was upright, floating in the water, getting ready to make its final plunge into the North Atlantic, Kaitlyn said:

"That does not look like a very safe ship!"

Ah, the wisdom of youth. . .

Vacation 2010: Day 1

This was our first family vacation in a couple of years. As excited as we were to get going, we still managed to leave about 3 hours later than we had planned--par for the course for the Parrs! We headed out highway 24 from Colorado Springs into the mountains. We passed Mount Massive and Mount Elbert, the 2 highest peaks in Colorado. The pictures below are of our stop at the top of Independence pass, the highest pass in Colorado. And I was not the only one white-knuckling it up that steep highway!

We got into Glenwood Springs that evening and checked into our hotel. After dinner, we all went down to the indoor pool (which was actually in the sister hotel next-door). We started in and about froze! It wasn't heated at all and none of us could stand to stay in it for very long (I admit it, I was the first one to bail to the hot tub). Then off to bed--we had an early morning planned and wanted to get a good night's rest!

Castlewood Canyon

Hike number 2 this summer was a test. For our vacation, Doug and I were hoping to take the kids hiking at the Maroon Bells near Aspen, Colorado. But we weren't sure if Lindsay and Kaitlyn would be up to the task. So, when my friend Rachael invited us to join her and her family on a hike through Castlewood Canyon near Castle Rock, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to let the girls practice and see if they could handle something a bit more ambitious a few weeks later.

Jessica wasn't with us, she went ice skating with another friend that afternoon, but the rest of us had a great time! Lindsay and Kaitlyn loved splashing around in the little waterfall and Stephen had fun scrambling on the boulders and discovering caves with the Aragon boys. Another great summer adventure!

Doug Goes To England

This June, Doug took his first business trip for Honeywell, the company he now works for. After a couple of days in New Hampshire, the trip took him across the pond to England for 5 days. Because he was there over a weekend, he had a bit of time for sight seeing and saw some of London and some of the countryside in Southern England. His favorite part was getting his pocket picked in London on his first day in the country. Yeah! We had quite an ordeal cancelling credit cards and getting replacements for him as well as getting him some emergency cash for the rest of the trip! Next time I need to go with him to keep him safe!

Here he is in Portsmouth on Spinnaker Tower. He is 170 meters in the air (that's about 500 plus feet for us Yanks) on a glass (yes, glass) floor! He said it was pretty freaky. I think I will skip that adventure when I go with him!


Still in Portsmouth, at the Victory--a centuries-old ship that he toured.

Stonehenge!!

The Tower Bridge in London. This goes to the Tower of London, the famous fortress where Anne Bolyn was executed. Also, the famous fortress where Doug got his pocket picked!

Needless to say, Doug has mixed feelings about this trip. But, I look forward to going with him someday and changing his mind about the Land of Eng. . .

Tke me out to the ball game. . .

Here is Stephen's first hit of the season. He's turning into a pretty good left-handed first baseman and should be a pretty solid power-hitter if he keeps it up--just like Grandpa Smith!

Recital

Stephen and Jessica had a piano and voice recital on June 5th. They have both been taking lessons from their Aunt Janet. They are having a lot of fun with it.

They both did a great job. The video here is not great. Kaitlyn kept pulling on my arm and trying to climb on my lap while I was trying to record. But the audio is good (except for the so-so microphone they used), which is what really matters anyway! Jessica had 2 voice pieces and 2 piano pieces. Stephen had 1 piano piece.

Kaitlyn makes me laugh

Kaitlyn: "Girls are pretty. Boys are lame."
Mommy:"What does lame mean, Bug?"
Kaitlyn: "It means horrible. But not you Daddy, you're not lame."
Daddy: "Well, that's good to know. Thanks, Kaitlyn. What about Stephen?"
Kaitlyn: "No, he's lame."

As funny as what she said was the way she said it. She just makes us laugh!!

. . . Summer

With just 9 weeks of summer break, it seems to just fly by too fast. Every year I have these grand plans of all of the fun things I'm going to do with my kids while I have them home: trips to the zoo and museums, weekly library visits, lots of reading and gardening and making crafts together--you get the idea. But every year I also have this list of things that have to be accomplished before the fun can begin. Things like organizing my file cabinet, painting the bathrooms and cleaning up the basement. And, every year, the list never gets done, the fun never starts and my kids spend most of their summer playing video games (at least Stephen does!).

Well, this year I've decided to take a different approach. I decided to set the fun in stone and fit the list in around the edges. Week one is over and we did pretty well! Doug and Stephen and Jessica went fishing, I signed the kids up for the library summer reading program (and they are furiously filling in their "water drops" on the tracking form) and on Friday we went for a hike!

I did learn a few things from this first summer hike:

1. When the high is forcast to be 90 degrees, 10:00 am is too late to get started on the hike.
2. Plan to bring at least 1 liter of water per person (Jess and I both ran out).
3. Plan to carry Kaitlyn's water.
4. Plan to carry Kaitlyn at least 1/2 way on the way back to the car.
5. Prince may be 13 (pretty old for a dog), but he's still not to old for a 2 mile hike!

As we were heading out the door in our walking shoes with water bottles in hand, Prince suddenly stood in front of us and would not stop barking. When Stephen finally said "you want to go for a walk?" he stopped barking and jumped into the air several times as if to say "yes! yes! you guessed it!" He was not so thrilled when he found out that he had to get in the car before we could go on the walk (he hates the car!).

We went up north to Fox Run Regional Park and took the trail from the trail head down to the twin lakes. It was really beautiful and not too difficult for the little ones, for the most part. But it got really hot and I had to keep reminding Lindsay to take drinks of water. Her little cheeks got so red! So here are some photos from our little trek.

Here we are starting out. Everyone was really excited and full of energy. Kaitlyn was literally running down the trail!

By the time we got to the lakes, Prince just waded right into the water and started lapping it up. It was really funny. He didn't seem to want to get out and went right back in anytime we got close to it!

Lindsay and Kaitlyn posing by the water

All of the kids together by the lakes--such cute kids I have!

This is Kaitlyn shortly before we headed back up the trail

And this is Kaitlyn after we started back up the trail! She just begged me and begged me to carry her. At one point she was crying so loudly that I told her if she didn't calm down that a bear was going to come and eat us (great parenting skills, huh?). That seemed to help for a little while. But eventually I had to bite the bullet and carry her for quite a while. Stephen and I took turns with her on our shoulders. She was happy then.

This is the crew at the end of the adventure. By this time it was noon and really hot, but they were real troopers and in pretty good spirits still. They were even asking if we can do this again every week this summer (provided we go earlier in the day!). I guess it was a success!

Hopefully I can stick to my resolution and post a bunch more fun things that we do this summer--and maybe post about some things I've accomplished on my list too! Wish me luck. . .

Happy Easter

I guess I'm getting a little behind, since Easter was 3 weeks ago. But, the family had so much fun that I had to include it anyway. Saturday, the day before Easter, was a busy, busy day! After a morning that included a Primary activity and Stephen's first spring football game (more on that in a later post), we headed over to Doug's sister Janet's house for egg dying and Easter treats. Thanks, Janet, for letting us make the mess at your house instead of ours! And, for those of you that were wondering, Easter egg dye does in fact wash out of clothing. Lindsay proved that for us yet again this year!

Merry Christmas! Oh wait, if it were Christmas, it would be completely dry. So, this must be Easter. Easter with 4 inches of snow on the ground! And I still wore sandals to church. Yeah, I'm dumb!

Thanks to Grandma Smith, the kids looked really cute on Sunday morning! She made matching dresses (well, they are different colors, obviously, but the same pattern) for the 3 girls and sent Stephen a new tie.

The Easter Bunny was good to them this year and they had fun hunting for treats at our house and then again at Aunt Heather's that evening. It was a really fun family day.

But, the best part of the day, and the whole week really, was being able to share with them our testimony of Jesus Christ, His atonement and His resurrection. We hope you were able to feel of that spirit this Easter as well!

Snow Forts and Snow Angels

So, the storm blew its way through by this morning leaving drifts as high as 2 feet around our fence in the backyard. Perfect for snow angels and a snow fort, right? This time all four of them marched out into the yard to get to work--and yes, I made sure that today they were approprately dressed! But, since it's still 21 degrees out with 25 mile and hour winds, it wasn't long before they headed back in for some hot chocolate. They make me smile!

Lindsay is knee deep in the snow

Stephen, Jessica and Lindsay digging the entrance to their fort

Kaitlyn making her way through the deep snow

Springtime in the Rockies

As you may know, Spring in Colorado always means a big snowstorm or two. And we're getting one today. We actually haven't had very much snow this winter, so when Lindsay and Kaitlyn saw that the snow was actually starting to accumulate, they decided it was time to play! Still in their pajamas, they donned their boots and mittens (Lindsay actually only had one mitten, but she did add her cap and shawl) and headed out onto the deck. Ignoring Mommy's strenuous objections, they had a ball sweeping the snow off of the deck chairs and licking the snow off of their mittens. Their little adventure only lasted a couple of minutes--it was only 18 degrees outside today after all--but it was definitely photo-worthy!

March Madness

This has been a wild month! I guess that makes it the perfect month to start posting in my blog, so, here goes!

On March 11th, our little guy Stephen turned 10! I can't believe that it's been 10 whole years since this little baby boy joined our family. (Gotta love that '90s quilt too, huh?) This is him at about 3 weeks old.

So, he celebrated with 7 of his closest friends by going swimming at Aunt Shannon's pool (complete with cannonball contests), eating football cake, roasting marshmellows in the firepit on our deck and having an all-night Halo 2 marathon. Wow was he tired the next day! He actually fell asleep a couple of times on his way to bed the next afternoon.

His favorite present was a new little hamster from Jessica. Christened "Boba" (as in Boba Fett from Star Wars), he has become a little celebrity in the house. And Snowflake, our cat, is especially interested in the new member of the household! We'll let you know how that one works out.

Next, our 3 girls, Jessica, Lindsay and Kaitlyn, had their big spring ballet. This year was "Stars and Stripes." It was Jessica's 8th show, Lindsay's 4th and Kaitlyn's 2nd. They are really cute little ballerinas and getting better at dancing all of the time. How could they not--since they are constantly dancing! Even walking down the aisle at the grocery store! They are really fun to watch though.

Just 3 days later was the big pinewood derby for Cub Scouts. This year, Doug and Stephen procrastinated building their car a bit more than usual, and the paint was still pretty tacky when it was time to put on the wheels (10 minutes before Pack meeting started). The result was big, graphite-filled fingerprints all over the top of the car! Once they got over the frustration of it, they got into it and added a bunch more. Stephen named it the "Ugly Buff" (since it was painted gold and had CU Buff stickers all over it) and decided that it didn't matter how it looked, as long as it was fast! And, fast it was. At first, anyway. He won all three races in the first heat by a mile. But, something happened to the car between the first and second heats that really slowed it down. We're not even sure what! He made it one more round to the third heat, but was eliminated before the finals. They had fun, but I think that Doug is glad that Stephen will be in 11-year old scouts before next year's derby!

The last big news of the month is Jessica's hair. It hasn't been trimmed more than an inch or so in the last 4 years. Her long, pretty locks went down to her bum and made beautiful big buns for her dance recitals.

Well, this hair, lovely as it was, was constantly getting terribly tangled and was really hard for a 7-year-old to manage. So, Jessica thought about it and decided that, since there is 9 months before her next dance performance, it was time to cut some of it off. We decided to cut off enough to donate it to Locks of Love (she is super excited about giving it to a place where it can help other kids). And here is her new look! She looks really cute!

So, that's the update for now. Hopefully I will have more news to share soon!