Uneventful Week.....Okay, I Turned 40

Thank you for the birthday gift Carolyn - I love them!!

And thank you to everyone for the cards, phone calls, and texts!!

It was a pretty quiet day (just the way I like it).  Haley had to work, and of course the boys didn't want to go anywhere, so Brad took me to Maggiano's Little Italy for dinner, gave me a very nice bottle of perfume, and Devin and Gage made cupcakes for me while we were gone.

Haley took me purse shopping Thursday night, where I found the cute socks!

 

Another shot of Devin in his football uniform.  This is the 2nd of three home games I get to go to because they are at 3:45 pm, and they lost again, 12-0.  He doesn't think he is very good, but he plays the entire time offense is in, so his coach must not think he is not too bad.  I have no idea, because I know very little about football.

The boy Haley is dating played college football in Virginia before going on his mission, and is enrolled at Weber State for spring semester, to play football.  His grandfather played for the Denver Broncos, so he is a huge football fan, and doesn't seem very impressed that Haley played Rugby. ;)

Rainbow

This is a double rainbow we could see from our front door today.

Below, I was trying to figure out how to take a panoramic picture because we could see it from end to end.

I still need practice! Clearly it took me too long, but the picture still turned out kind of cool!

Life is Short

Haley is so sad.  She took Alofa into the vet for another infection, and the vet labeled Alofa's condition as "failure to thrive", and asked Haley if she had noticed her passing out or fainting, as her heart sounds like that of a 14 year old dog.  We haven't, but she definitely has less energy than she used to.  The vet also said that they think she may have Lupas.

She loves this dog so much, I am dreading the day......  :(

~THIS GIRL NEEDS LOTS OF PRAYERS RIGHT NOW~

(on a lighter note, Haley has started dating a recently returned RM, they have gone out a couple of times, have been texting every day, and make a very cute couple)  :)

First Football Game (never thought I'd be saying that)

 

Tuesday was 1st game day!  The team had to wear their jersey's to school.  

(sorry for the blurry picture, I was a bit shaky that morning)

 

It was hard to get any good pics of Devin.  This is the field at his school.  He is closest to the camera.  If you look close, you can see the yellow and black batman symbols on his high top cleats.  Half of the time, that was the only way I could pick him out.

Again, look for the batman cleats.

 

That's him, dead center.  They lost 20-14, not too bad.  He had a great time!

Still Rugby fans, though.  Football games are too long, and BORING!!!  They stop too much!!

One of Devin's coaches actually used to play Rugby and has been teaching the team Rugby tackling techniques because they are more effective, and safer.

BTW - (for a good laugh) Devin woke up yesterday morning feeling taller.  Sure enough, the boy is now 5'6".  The only one left in the house to pass up is Brad......any bets?

Oh Football!

 

I think I mentioned that Devin is playing 8th grade Football.

Well, they have practice every day right after school.

This pic was taken shortly after he showered the first day.....he, he.

He says he's having a great time, and is telling me they are training him for running back.

Sprinkler Supply is the Best!!

 

I received an "Appreciation" fruit basket this week from Sprinkler Supply.  I had the chocolate covered strawberries downed in about an hour!  They were fantastic!  I ate as much as I could (which is more than I care to admit), then shared some at presidency meeting, and let Haley make fruit smoothies with the rest.

Thank you Sprinkler Supply!

Happy 19th Gage!!

We all went in on a new controller, and pre purchased two games that he wanted, which haven't come out yet.

Horrible picture, but all he wanted was his standard Monte Christo sandwiches, seven layer bean dip, and cheesecake.  Mom forgot to buy candles, so he only had three, two of which were pink!

 

Gage is doing well.  He has been attending church more, was recently promoted to an assistant manager at Chick-fil-A, and had a cute girl over to the house today.

He also finally made it into the doctor, and was diagnosed with depression and anxiety (shocker).

He has only been on his new meds for a week and a half, but he is already feeling a lot better!

Serevi 7's Tournament

Yesterday we were able to go to Rugbytown USA (Glendale, CO) for the Serevi 7's Tournament.  They have there own stadium for only Rugby.  This is where Haley coached and played.

These are kids from the youth program who carried flags from all of the different teams and countries playing.

It's kind of hard to tell in this picture, but I though it was kind of funny that the Denver team's uniforms were blue and orange.

This was a game between the U.S. Marines, and the U.S. Navy.

 

We thought everyone would appreciate this picture of a marijuana plant booth at the tournament.

Holy Flowers!!

Not sure what happened while we were in Utah, but I came home to find my flowers had exploded!

Happy 24th of July!!

We were able to spend the week of the 24th of July in Utah.  We were able to spend some time up at Tanner's Flat campground with the Petrick family, when these two creepy people in Big Foot costumes walked into our camp.  I was ready to call the police, when Brad helped me realize it was Jason and Devin in the costumes!

We love our cousins!

 

Our actual 24th holiday fireworks was cut short when we received a call from Gage that he had been shot in the eye by a Roman Candle.  The doc's at the emergency room said his contact lens saved his eye.  I'm sure he had a guardian angel or two looking out for him.  Short of missing a few eyelashes, you wouldn't even know anything had happened.  After a visit to the eye doctor, we received confirmation that his eye is just fine.

Stealthy Alofa

Alofa has developed her hunting skills this summer.  First she chased a vole into one of the window wells.  Then I found this prairie dog (dead) in the yard.  I think she was trying to play with it, and accidentally killed it.  I had to trade her a pretty impressive treat to give up her new toy.

  

Haley arrives home from work usually between 9:30 and 10:00 p.m.  She always goes through the back gate to put Alofa to bed.  One night when she came home, she could tell Alofa had something in her mouth, but wasn't sure what, until she heard this bird chirping from inside her mouth. Again, we were able to trade her a treat to drop the bird.  The pore thing was still alive, and Haley spent a half an hour on the phone trying to find a pet hospital she could take it to.  She ended up finding one, and talked Devin into going with her.  She and her love for animals!  I'm pretty sure they probably just euthanized it.

Happy 4th of July!!

 

Because Haley and Gage both had to work, the only family time we could find on the 4th was for breakfast, so we went to IHOP for some 4th of July pancakes.....yay!!!

Then later that night, Devin, Haley, and I climbed out of Devin's bedroom window to watch the Castle Rock fireworks on the roof.

Devin's Summer Vacation.....it's over.

Devin attended several scout camps this summer, and had a great time!

Took a nap with Alofa.

 

And spent a lot of time in his favorite spot.  He started school on Monday, and was happy to go back because he's been very bored.  It's hard to believe he's going to be in high school next year.

He surprised me when he came home from school on Wednesday and asked me to sign him up for football, because he has never played before.  He should be plenty busy now with football practice every day after school, piano lessons, and scouts.

Teenage Devin

Here's Devin fulfilling his weekly responsibility of mowing, trimming, and edging the lawn.

Here's Devin watching videos on his iPod, while making Ramen at the same time.

He is now nearly 5'6".  He outgrew his school clothes for the third time this school year!  Thank goodness it was close to the end of the year.  He is now officially an eighth grader.  He is still taking piano lessons, and is now playing rugby again with a league he found here in Castle Rock.  He has already gotten the dreaded summer initiation sunburn at our neighborhood pool, the  same day school was let out for the summer.  He plans to do a lot of extra chores this summer to pay for an XBOX One.

1st Anniversary in Colorado!!

I can't believe we've been here a year already!  Time flies so fast!  This year we have been trying to add to our existing landscape of mostly rocks!  I hate them!  I understand why Colorado mostly landscapes with rocks, it lowers the risk of fire danger, but I can't take it anymore!! So we created a couple of flower beds in the front yard

We haven't dared plant too much in the backyard because of Alofa!  We planted a couple of trees along the back fence, and she has dug them out, and the drip system three times now.  After the first two times,  I told Haley she gets to fix them and figure out a way to keep her away from them, or she will have to replace them if they die.  This is a picture of her replanting the tree, and she ended up putting a picket fence and chicken wire all the way around them.  So far it has worked....we can only hope!!

So, here's a couple of things we've learned about Colorado;  the weather and the wildlife can be very unpredictable and crazy!!!  Thunderstorms are a very common ocurrence; almost daily.  But I don't think I have ever experienced one quite like we did one night last week. I think our neighborhood was in the dead center of the storm.  The lightning was striking dozens of times per minute,  it woke all of us up (but Gage).  Upon looking out the window, we saw lights going on in just about every house in the neighborhood, blinding lightning strikes, golf ball sized hail, and my new flower beds looked as if they were going to blow away.  The plug outlets would buzz and the house would shake every time the lightning would strike.  For several days following the storm, we were under multiple tornado warnings.  Tornados actually touched down all across the state, but none near us, thank goodness!  Then as quickly as we get excited, it's gone and the sun is shining.

There is so much wildlife around us.  There a wild cotton tail rabbits everywhere!  A couple of weeks ago, while taking Alofa for a walk, Haley had two coyotes following them.  Elk have been spotted on the golf course early in the morning, as well as Haley has seen them on her walks.  And, we recently had a bear wandering through the neighborhood!  Crazy huh?  I'm sure our elevation is a major contributing factor, as we are almost 1,000 feet above Denver.

But we love it here!! 

Merry Christmas!! Oh, wait.....it's Mother's Day!!!

This is what we woke up to on Mother's Day!  This picture was taken from our front door, straight ahead is the golf course.  It was still a good Mother's Day.  The day before, Haley took me to get my first pedicure.  Little did I know she would create a monster in me!  Now it's just something I can't do without.  

And Gage gave me money to purchase this cute little pine tree we planted in our front yard.

21 Years!

My how the time has flown!

On April 24th, Brad and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary.  It wasn't exactly what we had planned on doing this year.  How we went from an Alaskan Cruise, to dinner at Fleming's is kind of crazy. 

Okay, so we chose Disneyland with the kids instead of the cruise.  Then we went from an over-nighter at one of the resorts here, to just dinner because Uncle Sam decided that we didn't pay nearly enough taxes last year, and then Brad was summoned for Jury Duty that week, which made it difficult to plan anything.

But!  Fleming's was amazing!  The best steak dinner I've ever had, hand's down!  The staff all signed, and gave us this Anniversary card, then they lit a candle in our dessert, and then made a box of truffles for us while we were there. 

Brad's New Office

 Right after Brad returned to work from Surgery, he was able to move into a new office (his third office since moving here, but it's okay because each time has been an upgrade).  I asked him to send me these pictures so I could see what it looked like, and I thought it might be kind of fun to share.

I told him we might have to spend a date night at Hobby Lobby and decorate his office! ;)

Surgery Day!

Brad is all prepped for surgery, waiting for Dr. Barnes to arrive.  As you can see by the look on his face, Brad is terribly nervous.  I was more nervous than he was!  As you can also see, the gown was a bit too small.  Thank goodness for the blanket! ;)

 He is all ready to go, cute little cap and all!

 Yea, we're home! (I hate hospitals) Doesn't look too bad.  Dr. Barnes told me that the tumor was a lot deeper than they initially thought.  So after cutting through the muscle, and arteries, and an extra fifteen minutes of surgery, they got it.  He said that Brad didn't lose too much blood (comforting), and that he now has permanent metal clips in his neck connecting his arteries, but that "lot's of people have them".  He also said the tumor looked benign, but they are sending it to pathology to make sure.  No heavy lifting for two weeks, and do not overuse left arm.

 Lovely bouquet of flowers Brad's work had delivered.

 The tape finally came off today.  Doesn't look too bad considering there is still swelling and bruising.  Brad was supposed to see the doc today, but ended up being selected for jury duty, so he had to reschedule to May 1st.  No word from pathology, but we're just going to assume no news is good news.

Ahhh, Piano Music

Devin has taken up piano lessons again.  I found his piano teacher by looking for someone to tune my piano.  He is a great teacher, Devin really likes him a lot.  His teacher plays extremely well, sounds like a concert pianist.  He also tunes, repairs, and restores pianos.  He also teaches percussion, which Devin is also excited about.  He and his wife are very musically talented, as his wife teaches piano and guitar.  I'm really hoping Devin will stick with it this time, and that he'll learn how to play well from his teacher.

And yes, Alofa has been back in the house again, as she was outside in the cold wind too long last week and her poor nose is all cracked and bleeding.  She seems to like to listen to Devin practice.

Spring Break

Cute!

Haley recently quit her job at Einstein's because her manager is such a fine upstanding employee.  She will begin working another part time job at Calphalon outlet store, in addition to working part time at Under Armour.  She has also just begun coaching Rugby again, four and five year old's this time, and has joined a women's team.  She has just completed her enrollment at Metro State University, and hopes to begin classes this summer, if not, fall.