I Remember Doing This.......

A few days ago the boys Grammy decided to get a load of wood for the wood stove they have.  So, we were hanging out and a nice size trailer load of split wood was delivered.  The boys came out and started chucking wood.  Once the wood was unloaded the wheelbarrows came out and Dill and Ro started running loads of wood to the back porch to be stacked.  They were really excited to be helping Grammy get ready for the winter - this also means they would be able to help her light a fire later.  That is always a fun thing to do.

This will keep them busy for awhile

Uh oh a splinter - hazards of the job

OOPSIES

The boys got really good at maneuvering loads of wood

Ronan really tried to avoid a photo - but I got him, and a good one

It was alot of fun seeing the boys stacking the wood - they had a ball the whole time.  They were really hard workers and did a great job.  It brought back memories of when I was little and had to stack wood for the winter.  I am really glad Dillon and Ronan had a chance to at least experience this a little bit.

Apocalypse - maybe?

Well, last week I spent some time with Carith (my sister) and Nicole (my brother Carlos' girlfriend) in Carlsbad cleaning out my parents storage units.  We had a very unfortunate experience at the dump at the begining and it ocurred to Nicole it was much like an Apocalypse - possibly the end of the world.  If you have ever spent time in the southwest in extremely windy conditions you would have some idea of what we experienced. When we arrived at the dump all we saw was a wall of dust - not a good thing - Nicole with no immune system, Carith with crazy allergies and I was already on antibiotics for a sinus infection - this will just be dandy. Nothing like a wind storm containing all that nasty dump crud.  I am hoping the photos will kinda do justice of some sort -

A few things to note - the nasty puddle of mud and trash, the huge trailer that my truck is pulling in the rearview mirror and the dusty air.  Not only did I have to pull this trailer but I had to back down the hill in the dump because the trailer was so heavy - NOT FUN

Hmmm notice the wall of dust decending upon us as we try to escape the dump

Yes, that is Nicoles worried look and my disgusted look as we try to find the road in the dust storm.  Notice the back window is clear and the driver window - you can see nothing.  I basically just wanted to cry.

Preparing to subject ourselves to the insane wind and nasty smells and dust

Yes - Nicoles face is completely covered

Ok - at least that was the worst of the dump (I failed to mention all the huge machines that I thought were just going to crush us) - the next bit of fun was finding treasures amongst all the boxes.

I told you those machines are super scary - and I kinda remember Nicole threatening to come back with a shotgun if the seagulls pooped on her

What a princess

Multiply it times 4 - maybe the result of 5 children, and ALOT of house projects

And these would be tents we used during my childhood

Yes, that is me modeling my uniform from all girls catholic highschool

And this - a Patagonia catalog from 1995 - the clothing was overwhelmingly hawaiin inside

Remember Fraggle Rock?

That would be Carith's Religion school work and her bottle of "Holy Water"

So much better

AAAHHHH

Yes, we were exhausted, sore and sneezing non stop but it feels so much better to be organized and well we did make sure to have some fun times - even before our deals that we were not allowed to go to bed before 8.  Carith thank you for all the healthy veggie filled meals and Nicole for all the dish doing.  Thanks girls it was fun.  Mom and Dad - ENJOY!!!!

An Unexpected Gift

Sometimes the best things happen with the least amount of planning.  MY plan was to drive to Denver and drop Dillon and Ronan off at Grammy and Boompa's house so they could spend some time with them while Carith and I went to Carlsbad and did some work at my parents house. BUT, there seemed to be some really nice weather coming and Rochelle begged me to stay a couple of days  - "we just have to go bouldering outside on Friday - it will be in the 60's and NO wind" - ok fine - how can I say no.  I was up for it, Carith was up for it.  I also gave Hannah, an awesome friend who just spent the last few months in Argentina traveling a heads up for friday.  Unfortunately she had to work - oh well - we will definitely meet up soon.  Dillon's coach had to work but would try to meet up with us in the afternoon. As it got closer to Friday we realized that the afternoon was supposed to get windy but the temps still seemed good AND Hannah got out of work.  Dillon also opted out of the climbing day - he would rather spend time with Grammy while he had the chance and there was going to be an up hill hike to the boulders.  SO, a day that was going to be spent working in Carlsbad became a girls day climbing at the Satellite boulders - YIPEEEEE.........

Warming up

So, when we got to the boulders Hannah kinda realized she had a predicament - she already had 2 holes in the behind area of her jeans - so whaddaya do?  Tape them up of course - well once she was on the wall we realized the perfect opportunity we had..........Hannah was all smiles from top to bottom.....hehe - she is going to kill me for this.  It was a great start to the day - I think all 4 of us laughed the entire day.

I was doing laps on the warm up just to get my body used to being on the rock again

Put her on a roof and she is happy

Like the old days

So good to catch up with friends and all their adventures

Lets face it - bouldering - its a social thing

Nice photo Carith

Sweet Hannita

Our little fury friend of the day - "SQUIRREL"

Nice top out Hannah

Really - I love these shoes, I do, I do

HaHa - loved this crimpy piece of SH*%#T (ooops sorry)

Where do my feet go????

She is so peaceful on the rock

It would have been nice to have some calouses for this one

See - there are feet - don't you see them??

Love this

Cold, sore climbing hands

Making our way down

Awesome day - you can see the flatirons in the background

Rest time

I have no idea how we were still laughing when we got to the parking lot.  Girls - thank you so much for one of the best days in years - I do not remember the last time I had so many tears running down my face from laughter - my cheeks (facial ones) and abs hurt so much.  Carith thank you for taking all the photos so we could remember this day - for a long while to come.  There were so many (714) to choose from - I hope you enjoy the small selection I managed to pick.  Love you guys oops gals hehe

Christmas Lights

Last night we went to the botanical gardens to see all the christmas lights.  Even though it was in the 30's the kids ran around the whole time and kept warm.  It was a fun activity for the cousins to do together before they part ways tommorow morning.  Which I am sure will be a sad time.

Penguins Playing

The kids all bundled up

Pegasus

They had beautiful peacocks

The kids had fun picking a beam of light to put their face in

Some pretty doors leading to more light displays

Yes, that dark figure is me in this gret photo carith took

Yucca plant

They had geese flying over the pond

Ronan in the pink tree

Colorful parrots

The hummingbirds were my favorite

Soldiers marching on top of the castle

All the glass bears skating on ice

The christmas lights were beautiful to see and put everyone in the holiday spirit.  Hope everyone enjoys.