Forgive Me

I like to post the progression of pictures even if they're blurry. Anyway, it gives you an idea of how fast things happen around here (or that my kids won't sit still - especially that Lola).

She wanted me to take this picture. And she posed. Who is the little grown up?

My boy and his constant sweet smile. Except when he's scowling. :-)

Okay, I know this is really cute and I won't dispute that. But you should have smelled the smell that accompanied this crown. Actually it wasn't technically attached to the crown if you know what I mean.

Or the crocs.

Gee, I wonder why Lola's flinching?

Oh, maybe because she was expecting something like this...

Or this...

Fall is coming!

Maryanna starts preschool again in less than 2 weeks and both my kiddos are going to play soccer this fall. They're so excited! My Man is coaching :-) This is going to be so much fun!


I'm always excited for fall to start but a little sad to see summer go, knowing that by January I will be wishin' for some sand and sun. But this year, in a new/old town I'm anxiously awaiting the beginning of all of the activities. I can't wait to meet Maryanna's classmates and their moms. I can't wait to find a Bible Study to plug into here in town. Football games... Soups of every kind... Sunday afternoon naps while My Man watches football on tv. The crisp fall air in my new home. Ooooh, decorating my new home at Christmas time!


Uh oh now I'm just wishing the year away. What's your favorite thing about fall?


You may have noticed the scripture I've been posting. I've been trying to be faithful in that even if I don't manage to write about life around here or post pictures.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18

Isaiah 40:26

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

Isaiah 43:1

"...Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.

Sorry, Said Sam

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Lola's New Do

This girl is killing me. She's growing up so fast! All of a sudden she's a walking talking toddler with PIGTAILS! It makes her look so old! I haven't had one be this old without already being pregnant again... However am I going to cope? :-)

I suppose I'll just have to make more chocolate chip pancakes. The ones all over her face? Yeah, those ones. I think she liked them...

Colorado

So, I haven't been blogging in case you didn't notice. Partly because I've been on vacation and partly because I was getting ready to go on vacation. :-) So, I'll put anything else on hold and try to focus on just telling you 'bout our trip right now.


First of all, we left the kiddos at Mom's so she's exhausted now. They had an amazing time and got to do much more fun stuff than they would have gotten to do with us. Like, play in the corn bin. Not kidding. Feed the fish. Campfire and smores. Yep, they didn't miss us at all.


Thursday we drove to North Platte, NE. Which, apparently is the home of the largest railyard in the world. So we toured the railyard when we got into town. This picture is of the west hump. The cars are pushed from the hill and then roll of their own accord down the hump. There are 64 differed rails the cars can be directed down. This was only a small part of the yard. My Man could probably tell you about each part from memory. He's smart like that. But, I'll stop here.


Here we are on the 7th floor of the Golden Spike overlooking the railyard. As you can see, I'm still in my 'traveling clothes'.

We got checked in and went out for dinner. Then, out for ice cream :-) Just between you and me, I was already missing the kids. Not enough to come home yet though.

The next day, we traveled from North Platte, NE to Frisco, CO. Not as long on the road as the day before but still a pretty good trip. We got settled in and headed out to dinner. Then did some hand in hand walking up and down the touristy part of town. Cute shops. Coffee. Pizza places. So relaxing. Have I told you how long it's been since I've been on vacation? Let's just say, I only had one kid at the time.

And then early to bed to prepare for our mountain climb!

Here we are at the trailhead at the base of Mount Quandary. If I had known My Man had brought me these gloves I would have packed my own. Do you see the unsuspecting look on my face? I had no idea what I was in for. Sure, I knew it would be long and challenging but that does not begin to cover it.

You'll notice that I basically just took pictures toward the very beginning of the trip. We're still in the treeline here. It was a beautiful morning. I just couldn't catch my breath long enough to stop and look at it!

Here, yep we're still in the treeline. My Man is insisting that I take a picture. I'm too tired to do much better than this smirk.
Again. He won't stop. But, I'm not turning around.

Aaaaand.... the summit. No pictures in between. I was beyond overwhelmed. It wasn't happening. Plus, it snowed on us and tried to beat us off the mountain with wind gusts. I would have fallen off if I'd tried to take a picture. Here, let me see if I can find a few in-between pictures to fill in the gaps for you....

This is about 1/3 of the way up the mountain. And we planned to take a break and have a snack when we got to the top of this first 'hill' that you can see. Now, this isn't my picture. It was foggier and and there was more snow on the summit when we were there. And, well, I thought the summit that you can see? WAS ANOTHER MOUNTAIN. It was years away! And if I had known then what I know now I would have been very disheartened. So, I suppose it's all well and good that it happened the way that it did.

So when we got to what I thought had to be near the top, there was this. And let me tell you, the people that were on their way up this ridge? THEY LOOKED LIKE ANTS!!! The only reason people climb mountains is because once they get this far they cannot turn back without reaching the summit. The 2 miles of constant climbing would not allow me to stop at this point.

On the narrowest part of this ridge is when the snow started stinging our cheeks as it slapped at us from the side. The wind tried to knock me down over and over again. It was at that moment when I wasn't sure if I was going to make it. We were climbing on snow and I was scared. I knew the wind wouldn't actually knock me off the mountain, but I also knew if it knocked me over it was going to stinking hurt!

So here we are. I still can't believe we made it. I'm still sore and my feet are bruised and blistered, but I am so glad that I went. My Man asked me if I was going to this with him again (he wants to climb all the CO 14ers) and I told him not to ask me that just yet.

This pose was My Man's idea. I'm not proud of it, so don't circulate it...

Doesn't My Man look right at home on top of a mountain?

This is later that night at DOMO in Denver. Wonderful country style sushi. I think I'm in love.

After this, we hit the road, managed to make it to Limon and check in. Sunday we spent the whole day on the road accept for a stop at Cozy's in Salina, KS for their awesome tiny burgers. And a gas station 'incident' that I'll tell you about if you remember to ask me later. WOW.

All I'm saying is, I am not going to wait years and years to take a vacation again!

Palms of His Hands

Isaiah 49:15-16

Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;

The Truth Project

This is my son.Cute, huh?

Ornery looking, huh?

See those yummy cheeks?

They are delicious. :-)

Just a quick story on him. He didn't want to eat his broccoli at lunch today. I had the gall to add cheese to the top, thinking he'd like it. Kept getting out of his chair. FINALLY, I say to him AGAIN 'Powell, eat your broccoli, don't get up until you have' and he actually says, 'Oh.' Oh?! OH?! I've told you how many times to eat it and NOW you say 'OH????!!!'

And get this, then he says, 'This broccoli?' I am not kidding you. YES THAT BROCCOLI!!

If you have ever watched Bill Cosby Himself you know the face that I made at that point. That boy. What am I going to do with that boy?

On a more serious note I'm thinking about kind of having a small group either at my house or at a nearby church. I attended The Truth Project class that our church offered a couple of years ago and absolutely loved it. I'd like to offer the material here but I don't know if it's too big of a commitment. You know, with the little ones and what not. It's also a very long series. Anywho the material is absolutely wonderful. I'll be praying about that (please join me). Thanks. Amen. (I can't help it. Pioneer Woman does it and I'm starting to think like her I read her so much. She's my blog hero.)

Laundry List

We've been very busy the last couple of days, nothing new there. I thought I'd share a few of our goings on.

My kids have been getting to spend more time with my cousins kids lately and have been enjoying their company. Chase, the oldest, turned eight this week. So, we made a cake! He mentioned Star Wars and brought over his action figures. I hope it was masculine enough for him :-) I keep reminding myself he is only eight.

Yesterday we had company in the form of an eight year old little girl that my eldest adores. She fixed Lola's hair. It was great. I'll let you judge for yourself :-)

Otherwise, it's the usual laundry list of things to get done. I've been crossing 3 or 4 items off my list each day and adding 2 or 3. Nothing new there, either. The house is relatively clean and the people therein relatively well fed. Especially if you count Grandma Powell's meatballs. (shout out to all you Bolingers out there :-)

My Man and I are preparing for a mountain climb. My first, really. So the lists have begun. What the kids will need, what I will need for a) a very long drive and some time to myself (any good book recommendations? b) well, actually mountain climbing c) dinner at a nice restaurant (my soul soars :-) and d) possible hot tub time!

I'm sure I will double my list of things that I want done around here in the prep time for everything else - but it's all so exciting! I'm going on vacation! And staying in a hotel (please try not to think pityingly of me that I'm so excited about that)!

Too Old?

Am I too old to wear blue fingernail polish?

Overwhelmed

Have I used this title before? It seems as though I have... or maybe I just consider using it, I don't know, every other post? Just been a crazy couple of days. Last week was kind of a blur and we really weren't all that busy.


We traveled to the lake on Friday afternoon. Had a relaxing evening with Grandma and Grandpa Friday night (not to mention a wonderful chicken casserole - thanks, Ann!). Saturday was full of family and pooltime. My kiddos spent a bit of time in the pool but it was a little chilly for me :-) Powow can swim the length of the pool and back wearing a life jacket. Oh and I forgot my camera so I'll have to get pictures from Aunt Mary. There were mule rides and fishing and deer sightings...


We had a great time and we all slept well and we got home just before noon on Sunday. And even though we've gotten so much done here in our new home it just feels like there's so much left to do! We have a whole list of big purchases that we've kind of ranked on a priority list and then there are all of the little things. Towels, bath mats, bulbs, wall decor. I don't know, maybe it was just going away for a couple of days and then seeing it with fresh eyes, but I just have so much to do!


Not complaining. That's not the vibe I want to put out. Really, I'm excited about making this home my own (I mean ours :-). I just don't see how it's going to get done! I spend so much time playing and teaching and cleaning and cooking (and cleaning and cooking and cleaning and cooking) that anything over and above that does NOT seem like it's going to get done!


Hmmmm.... you might be thinking, 'should you be blogging right now?' Now there's a whole other issue... But then we'd be talking about my sanity and that's really a relative topic you don't want me to contemplate.


This is the most dangerous, random probably-shouldn't-share-with-anyone blog I have ever written.

Cool and Creamy Chocolate Fondue

This is a Pampered Chef recipe.... need I say more? There's something about the cinnamon in the chocolate...

Cool and Creamy Chocolate Fondue

3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Assorted fruit (strawberries, apple, pineapple, etc.)
1 8oz. container cool whip (thawed)

Microwave chocolate and 1/2 cool whip 1 minute. Stirring every 20 seconds until melted. Fold in remaining ingredients and refrigerate for atleast 30 minutes.