Vacation in Coloardo!

Today started our first day of our 2 week vacation in Colorado!  We left yesterday and drove all day into Pueblo, Co and stayed the night there in a hotel then headed into Colorado Springs this morning.  The weather is beautiful!  It was pretty hot in the sun today while we were hiking at the Garden of the Gods but it doesn't stay hot long and the evenings are WONDERFUL!  

We had a great first day hiking and exploring Manitou Springs, where we are staying in a Bed and Breakfast for the week.  We actually weren't supposed to leave for our vacation until this Friday but my crazy husband figured out a way to leave early...I like crazy;)

We got some great pics today...enjoy!  Keep checking back because I hope to blog each night while I watch the Olympics:) Yay!  

I LOVE the Olympics...it makes me feel so motivated, so inspired...too bad the whole time I sit on my couch and right now I am eating dark chocolate M&M's AND sitting on the couch, hey they are dark chocolate, so much healthier right?:)  I am surely on my way to being an Olympian.   

lets get this party started!

full of energy...long drive ahead!

silly girl always builds a tent in the back seat to block out the sun and her brother:/  

Ready to climb the Garden of the Gods

Let's do this already!  Where are the trails?
*note to anyone whoever visits the gardens in the future: Do not go on the paved trails! God blaze your own, just park on the side of the road and go at it!  

Two kissing camels.  Not us!  The formations behind us...geesh:) 

about to climb this wall...ok maybe not:)

strong man.

the kids on a rock...a big balancing one:)

tough.

strong girl.

me hiking with the kids

me almost falling...:/

not sure?  

Me and Reese blazing our own trail. 

Our beauty in God's beauty.  Priceless:)

me and my boy taking a rest on a rock in the shade...it was pretty hot in the sun. Nothing like Texas though!

Abby likes to climb...alot.

Reese too

me and my boyfriend relaxing in the park

trying to make each other fall in...

Pet pig? Yep that's right.
 Manitou Springs is very eccentric...we have seen some crazy things today.  This being the craziest.

More pictures to come!  Happy Olympics!  

Fun in the Sun...

...and sand:) *gulp...I am not the biggest fan of sand but am very happy they like it:)  I just don't let them bury me! 

We met one of my dear friends, Brooke, and her 2 kiddos up at the NRH2O yesterday.  Our kids are pretty much the exact same age and the kids had a BLAST together.  It has been hard for me to find friends that have the same age kids as us so it was really fun for all of us to be together.  Abby and Reese don't mind hanging out with younger kids most of the time but sometimes it's just nice to not have to "watch out for the little kids." *as Abby would say:)

Anyways, they all had fun burying each other in the sand....Abby is still finding sand in her hair btw! Ha! 

Abby, Hope, Reese and Jace

Old Friends!

Gabbie (Abby's BFF from Kindergarten) came into town for the week and we got together for some fun at the local water park! Gabbie, Paige and Abby were attached at the hip then and it is so fun to see them together again and they all have grown up SO much...it's amazing!
We still wish Gabbie would move back but we really do relish our time together when they can come to town...good friends like Gabbie are hard to come by!
We miss you girl! (you and your Mom:)

Peter Pan

Greg surprised us with tickets to Peter Pan last night in Dallas.  The kids were really excited to go which honestly I wasn't sure how they would react since lately everything has been "babyish" to them:/
Reese loved us telling him stories about how he spent basically about 2 years of your life in a Peter Pan costume...which were TRUE stories:)  Check the blog if you don't believe me!
We got to see Kathy Rigby play Peter Pan so that was so cool to see!  She can still flip around AND do the splits and she will be 60 this year!  WOW!

Ready for the show!

Reese's burnt face:(  

Look!  I'm there too:)

Me and my Coop

When I was little my sister and I made nicknames for each other...we came up with Boop and Coop and they stuck:)
Anyways, here is my beautiful sister on her wedding day.  More pictures to come hopefully! Can you believe I was so busy enjoying the day with her and Rob that I didn't get many pictures:(
If any of you reading this happened to be at the wedding and got some good pictures send them my way!
becstamps@gmail.com
Thank you!
More picture to come I promise:)

Yep.

That's my boy.  He hopes to be Rollie Fingers when he grows up....google it;)

Precious Heart!

I just came across this picture and had to share it again:)  This was a picture of Abby right after she asked Jesus to be her Savior (2-18-08)....such a precious grin! I can't believe how big the kids are getting...it's bittersweet for sure!

Making Icing with Granny!

For my sister's wedding my Mom made a bunch of different colored icing for a donut bar (you could decorate your donut with icing and sprinkles--big hit:) Anway, Abby loved to help Granny especially since she got to stay up past bedtime:)  

Christi's Shower

My sister got married this weekend so I went home to be part of the big day!  Wednesday night I had a little lingerie shower and bacherette party for her!  We had a great night eating Italian, opening gifts, eating cupcakes and going downtown for a little fun before her big day!

The sweet bride!

me, Christi and my sister-in-law Kim at dinner

opening gifts!

this is what I got her:)

My Mom, Christi and Me

All of us plus Kim! (brother's wife:)

Out on the town!  

The Pioneer Man

Went to Kansas City this past week for my sister's wedding and while we were there my Dad made Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...yummy!

It is so great to see him doing SO good!  He is almost off his steroids and his lungs are doing great!  Pray he gets back to his completely normal self asap...he hates how long it is taking to get back to normal!

Abby's New York Trip

Guest Blogger: Abby
This is a guest post by Abby about her trip to New York City with Poppa (Greg's Dad)

This is me on the ferry going to the Statue of Liberty.  There was a concession stand and we got a pretzel and a Coke.

Me and Poppa got on the island and we saw that chains are at Liberty's feet.  It was like a gazillion feet tall.  

We went to see the Blue Man Group.  This guy stuffed 22 marshmallows in his mouth. They painted a guy from the audience and they had a dinner with a girl from the audience.  The Blue Man Group wanted the girl to light a candle so she did and one of the guys blew a fire extinguisher all over her.  They also threw me a marshmallow and I caught it! (but not quite in my mouth:)

Can you guess what building this is?
*Answer at the bottom of this post

We got to Times Square at night but it looked like it was daytime!
We went to the Olive Garden and had to wait like 2 hours because of all the people.
We got to get on a billboard, there was a camera that was videotaping the people in the middle of the street.  Everyone wanted to get on camera so they could see themselves.  We got on the billboard and it was cool. 

This is us about to board the plane before security. 

This is me in front of the Empire State Building.  

This is me at FAO Schwartz the home of the giant piano and the most EXPENSIVE Lego sets in the world.
We saw one Star Wars set for $2,000!

This is me climbing down some rocks in Central Park.  It was fun.
P.S.  Don't slip.

Me climbing on the most dangerous parts of the rocks....EVER, almost.  

Me and Poppa in front of a cool bridge.  This is the exact spot where my Mom and Dad took their picture on their 5th anniversary.  

We saw a guy on the street by the Museum of Art painting with sand with just with his hands.
It was really cool and colorful.
He did the whole entire street all around the museum

This is the M&M store.  We got M&M's for Mom, Reese and me.
Whenever you walk into this store the air tastes like chocolate!
This place had everything you could ever imagine that has to do with M&M's!
There was a chest set in a bullet proof case to protect it for $150!  Wow! 

This is the outside of the store

This is Times Square with me and Poppa and we were standing in the middle of the street around 7pm.
We went there at 7pm and then came back again around 9pm and then Poppa let me watch TV all night at the Hotel!
(Poppa don't be mad at me for telling:)  

This is where I am being saved my Superman from a bus!  There was also a 10 foot tall Lego Empire State Building!

Ferris Wheel that Poppa wouldn't let me ride...so mean:)  

*Answer to question above:  Empire State Building

He can braid?

Look who how has been holding out on me all these years? Greg can braid hair better than me!:)
Abby got out of the shower last night and asked him to braid her hair because she likes how it holds the whole night and looks wavy in the morning.  Who knew?  I think Greg has alot of hidden talents he likes to reveal slowly;)

All that remains...

                                                               Reese's poor blanket.

So after almost 8 years of carrying around receiving blankets they have all finally fallen apart.  So here's the story...mainly for me so one day I won't forget how this all went down.

Before Reese was born I went to a consignment sale and found 4 Gap receiving blankets and I bought them because I knew they would be perfect for swaddling.  We used them for that for the first 4-5 months but then over time he grew VERY attached to the tags on the blanket.  They were fairly big tags, silky to the touch, and said Gap across them, nothing special.

 So I thought.

He (over the past 7+ years) has worn out all 4 blankets (they are really more like tea towels) down to shreds as you see pictured above. I remember I would rotate the blankets and as I saw one start to get worn out a bit I would switch it out knowing he wouldn't notice and hoping to make them last as long as possible.  I just couldn't seem to find another blanket that had that same tag...it was maddening! He only liked THOSE tags!  Weird.
We have probably had Granny, Papa, and Maw Maw sew the tags back on the blankets a couple dozen times.  At one point all the tags had fallen off and he would just carry the tags around in his pocket at school and  hold onto them at night, just in case he needed some comfort (sweet, but a little disturbing now that I think about it;)
*imagine with me:  trying to find a tiny tag in the middle of the night that he had lost in the midst of about 25+ stuffed animals, 2 Rangers blankets and about 4 pillow pets...it was always super fun;)
 p.s. they always seemed to be stuffed in his pillow but in the middle of the night I never seemed to remember to look there first and then when I would finally find it he would say, "oh yeah that's always where you find it!"  Not so funny in the middle of the night:)

Then one day he was taking a bath and said, "Mom, when I get to Heaven I hope there is a bathtub of tags waiting for me!"  Ha!  That's when I knew he had a problem:)

I remember numerous times looking on-line for more of those silly receiving blankets and I even called Gap and they told me that they didn't make those blankets anymore. (isn't that how it always goes?)
I always thought it would be hilarious to stuff his stocking full of them!

Well the end of the story is sad.

No more blankets.

They are all gone.

 The last one died a week ago when our dog Lucy was found (numerous times) dragging it around the house.  The tags have long disappeared and you can still find me from time to time looking through his drawers hoping to find one.

 I really hope I find one one day.

That would make my day...and his.
There's a special place in Heaven for those tags, I'm sure of it.

A Summer of Rock Climbing!

This summer we decided to get a family season pass to the local rock climbing gym and we are loving it! It is so blazing hot here in the summer we needed an inside activity and we thought this would be great exercise for all of us!  

The kids are able to do it all on their own if Greg and I are climbing because they have these "self" belayers (which I had never seen before--it's kinda like a pulley system that lowers you slowly back down the wall after you climb) and they can clip in and go up the wall by themselves....very cool!

We have already been there 3 times this week!  I have a feeling we will be pro climbers by the summers end don't you?:)

me 

Abby loves trying to climb this ladder...it's crazy hard!

check out those calves!:)

Greg again

I think Abby might be a professional climber when she gets older:)

Reese is a monkey

New York City!

Abby left yesterday morning for New York City with Poppa (Greg's Dad).  Stay tuned for a guest blogger (Abby) to post about their adventures soon!  She brought her camera and was very excited to get to blog about the trip herself:)

Lame Parents

So the other day we went to Garden Ridge to look for a coffee table for our new sitting room.  We had been shopping for about 15 minutes when Reese said, "Mom did you see that you and Dad are wearing the same shirt?"  Greg and I looked and started laughing.  How did we not notice it before?  Lame.
I was ready to get out of the store...shopping trip over;)

Reading Room

...or should we call it the Parlor?:)

We have re-purposed our dining room into a reading/sitting room (since we NEVER used the dining room) and we are loving it.  

It is only half finished but we are using it and that's a plus! 

During the day I am trying to get the kids to read more so this picture is of us enjoying a little reading time together.  

Silly Jester

Here is the Silly Jester song that the kids did at cousins camp that Debbie was talking about in the last post.  This video cracks me up.  Best one yet Jerry....best one yet!!:)