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!