Pueblo 2013

Each year, we take a 3 day weekend away from the kiddos and reality and spend it on the water with a few of our favorite people.  Now, I can't share 'all' the stories and pics as this is a "Family Blog" - but will try to share a few.  For instance - I will only give you the mental pic of seven white butts mooning us from Broke-Back Mountain.  An image that is unfortunately burned into my brain (as well as on my camera).  We really lucked out on weather as we had no rain.  I think this was a first in years.  That meant plenty of time on the water!

Sarah, Jim & Angie enjoying some lake time

The only way to enjoy the lake...floating on noodles

Angie, Kendall, Sarah, Amy & Emily relaxing

Kendall demonstrating what her husband looks like

Pueblo was a LOT lower than normal this year; which meant we couldn't reside in our normal cove.  We did find a nice one though.  It had a wonderful Broke-back mountain, very few other boats and a wonderful sea couch to rest on.

"Six little speckled frogs - Sittingon a speckled log
Eating the most delicious lunch - Yum, Yum, Yum
 One jumped into a pool - Where it was nice and cool...."

Our first night was pretty great.  We had a few different types of chili to enjoy and of course a nice fire for ambiance.  It might have been too hot out, but we sure enjoyed it anyway.

Geoff relaxing on his "off" day while Lee enjoys some chili

 

 

Whew - we survived Day One.  Onto Day Two!  Another beautiful day with weather, laughter and fun.

Erika, Angie & Kris enjoying some sun

 

Carey & Kris doing the "naked" dance

Curtis & Erika fighting the effects of the sun

We even got some skiing in!  Amy only went for about ten minutes, but boy was her back sore the next day!  It was fun just to be able to have some smooth water to play on.  Hard to find in Colorado.  The ski pics are (in order) Erika, Angie and Amy.

Erika preparing to water ski

The boys navigating down Broke back

Sarah had a great idea this year.  She thought it would be fun to rent two paddle boards for us to peacefully wander the water.  It was great in theory and I believe several of the women LOVED enjoying beautiful scenery with only the sound of their paddle in the water.  Only one word to describe it - "Serene".

See, doesn't Amy look at Peace?

Emily what are you holding? Is that your bathing suit?

Well; what started out as a relaxing day on the water turned pretty quickly and the paddle boards turned into Gladiator Tourture Boards!  Yup - that is what happens when boys get involved.

The initial Approach...

Game On!

OK, Kris - I think they need a line judge

Is tackling in the rule book?

Looks like you lost your paddle, Josh...
"Oh oh... Josh looks determined!"

Hmm... A husband-wife competition... this can't end well

"Wait hun - can you please let me win?"

Guess Not - "Boom! Take That, Amy!"

Josh was the champion of of Torture Boards

Using a coozie as sun coverage on your toes - Genius

"Finish Him"

Our second evening was a wonderful meal prepared by Geoff and Josie.  As you can see below ... no one else helped.  We just enjoyed the show.  Geoff prepared some yummy ribeyes and Josie took care of the side dishes. It was Amazing!  We were treated royaly while camping with such fine food each and every meal.  One thing to notice in the pic below of the group is the haze.  There was a large fire near Pueblo that weekend (which made us question why we were able to have camp fires still).  At any rate; I have never inhaled so much ash in my life.  It did make a beautiful sunset though.  Crazy that something so damaging is so beautiful.

The crew patiently waiting for food

The chef keeping an eye dinner

Josie preparing the dinner salads

Time for a nap after a great meal

Is this a conga line or rehabbing from torture boards?

Day three was short and not so sweet.  What started out as another awesome day of water sports and relaxing turned into an episode of Greys Anatomy.  Poor Carey was wading in the water and stepped on a lure with a three prong hook.  Went straight into his foot! Ouch!  Hmm.. I'm seeing a trend.  Erika was hit by a prop last year and went to the ER ... now Carey headed to the ER with a hook in his foot.  Yup - we will definitely be ensuring everyone has their tetanus shots updated prior to Pueblo next year!

Kris performing surgery on Carey to no avail

It's not another round of torture boards, back to paddle boarding

Always good to know a Ranger
(especially when it is Erika's Bro, Joe!)

All in all - Another Successful Pueblo weekend.  We enjoyed our crew and the weather.  Can't wait for next year's trip - maybe we hit a different lake to change things up - who knows!

Softball Season

Wednesdays sure have changed for our group over the past few years.  I remember being straight out of college and watching the boyfriends/husbands run around the field somewhat aimlessly trying to show off and catch a difficult play.  Well; that hasn't changed ... it just got more comical.

You may note this pic is from a few years back (Kasey is 1yr)
... Trust me - they look the same ... Just slower with more grey hair

The thing that has changed is the number of rugrats that join us each week.  The summer of 2010 was unbelievable as we had six pregnat ladies in our dugout (Amy N, Natalie, Elizabeth, Amy C, Josie, and Nickie near the end).  We have watched our flock grow in numbers and height over the past few years.  We now have 11 kiddos playing the field .. .that is if you count the little man that was born TUESDAY! (Congrats, Nickie and Jason Holder!!)

Nickie, Jacob and new baby, Alex!

Recently, I had to take a few shots of the kids that were present for one of the earlier evening games from our summer league.  The opposing team didn't know which set of boys they were going to play.  Both the big kids and the little ones were practicing their fielding and running the bases!

Kids in order - left to right:
Mason , Karsten, Kasey, Madi, and Jacob

What I Love about the picture above is how the kids take after their Dads without even knowing it!  Mason is busy fielding (Scott plays left center), Karsten on 2nd (playing where ever the team needs him), Kasey running to third (who are we kidding - Kris never makes it to third), Madi on first (Eric's favorite base), and Jacob pitching (making Jason proud).

Karsten: Practice saying "Milk, It Does a Body Good"

Kris also decided during the game to take a quick digger as he slid for one of the bases.  No, it wasn't the last play of the game nor was it the winning play... he just wanted to look cool.  Doesn't his leg look 'so cool'.... sigh... At any rate; he needed some medical attention.  Thank goodness for our Doc-in-Training!  She patched him right up!

Jackie teaching her daughter properly to wear gloves when helping
someone strange ... I mean a stranger.

Great choice of bandaids, Madi!

Oh, I also found a couple of cute shots on my camera from the Spring Season that I felt I should include as they show off my big guys so well!

Jim, Kris, Karsten and Kasey warming up

Dad's Day

As noted in the prior post, Amy was in ND on Father's Day this year.  That left Kris as a Single Dad.  Might I add that he was Super Dad this particular weekend!  He started his day by receiving gifts from the kiddos; which included a framed picture from Karsten, a Pencil holder from Kasey for Daddy's office and some pistachios from the boys.  As a Single Dad for the weekend...you will notice a trend of only the boys in the pics.

Enjoy your gifts, Daddy

Once the presents were given out, it was on to the next fun events.  The first was Daddy watching the boys scoot around the cul-de-sac on their scooters.  Followed by one of the boys favorite things to do - Head to the Zoo!

We're ready to ride

Not sure where Kasey and Karsten went...
But the Lion and Tiger sure are CUTE!

Once the boys had seen all the animals at the zoo, especially the elephants (their favorite), it was off to last event of the day, BBQ with Grandma and Grandpa at Chatfield.  Since Amy was spending time with her father, Kris decided to spend the rest of the day with his.  As usual the boys enjoyed running Grandma and Grandpa ragged between playing ball at the motor home to running around the playground.  When the adults weren't chasing the kids, they had time to chat and enjoy each other's company.  Unfortunately no pictures were taken so you will have to take our word for it that everyone had fun.

Happy Father's Day - Take Two!  A requirement for Dad's Day in our house is breakfast in bed.  Since Amy was out of town on the actual day; we did a second attempt to celebrate.  The boys helped make the waffles and were so excited to go wake Daddy up for breakfast.  I am not sure who gets a bigger kick out of eating breakfast in bed - the Adult or the Kids!

Making waffles with a special ingredient - Love

The best way to spend any day, not just Father's Day

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!  We all Love you so much and are Blessed to have you in our lives!

ND with Chef GG

Amy's trip to ND was a quick one.  She and Melissa did the race (see prior post) first thing on Saturday morning and then headed straight to the lake for 23 hours of fun.  We got there mid-day Saturday and spent the afternoon "On the Pontoon"! (anyone else have that song going through their head now?)  Brady and Melissa were great hosts and even allowed orange chips to be enjoyed on their clean and light colored boat.

Oh, Yeah!  This Is Living!!

 We even had a Dance Off between Melissa and Brooklyn.  It was a tough call - they both have got some great moves!

Then, it was time for an Awesome pheasant stir fry meal by Brady and then time to relax over a few games of chance.  We were joined by Melissa & Jason, Barb & Eric, Nick & Chelsea, Chick, Bjorn and of course the Mattson/Woodard crew.  Was a great night, but I found out that as a general note - if Brooklyn sits in your lap ... you Will lose your money.  Theory tested by Amy and Bjorn = Proven!

Father's day was on Sunday and although Amy was sad she wasn't with Kris to help him celebrate; she knew he was having a good day too!  And - Amy can't remember the last time that she spent Father's Day with her Dad!  Not sure of a better way to spend it then out on the water!  It was a little windy, but otherwise a beautiful drive around the lake.

Wow - Is that Kasey?  - NOPE! Cousin Brody!
(They could be Twins!)

After our boat ride, we spent the rest of the day on land just enjoying watching the kids ham it up and of course sneaking in a few cuddles too.

 

Father's Day means having your kids attached to you ALL DAY!

 

Time went by too fast at the lake, but it was only 23 hours (yes; I can take That Many Pictures in 23 hours).  We were excited to head to Fargo though for a wonderful Father's Day Dinner with GG!  Dad made an Amazing whisky chicken recipe and we got lots of laughs as Grandma told stories about when she was younger.

 

Grandmas Never get enough Kisses!

After dinner; we retreated to the deck (a rarity this time of year due to mosquitoes, but they hadn't hit peak season yet).  Many stories were shared again and someone had to show off that they got new "bumpers" (as Dad calls them). 

Can you guess who has the new "Bumpers"?

Look! Mom and I bought shoes just like Melissa's fancy ones!

Time to go home! Who's driving!?!

 Wow; 3/4 of the way through the weekend and I haven't even mentioned why I referred to Chef GG!  Grandma makes THE BEST (I am Not Exagerating here... THE BEST!) desserts ever.  Some of my favorites include Carrot Bars, Cherry Bars, Special K Bars and of course Sugar Dipped Raisin Cookies!  Grandma gave me the recipe to her carrot bars years ago and I am pretty decent at them.  Now, it was time to learn how to make the cookies!  Sure, she could just give me the recipe, but there are always tips/tricks that may not make it on the card.  Best way to learn is from the Master!

Cooking the Rasins

Like This, Grandma??

YUM! ~ PERFECTION!

Mom with some added notes of tricks/tips on her recipe

After my lesson, we were able to head for a 'kid free' sushi lunch at one of our favorite spots (Kobe's).  Grandma even joined us for her First Sushi Experience!  I love that she is so daring to try new things!!

Another perk of the trip was that Brooklyn played soccer on Monday nights.  Amy enjoyed cheering for her and even got to watch Brooklyn make a couple of goals!

So Proud of my Little Soccer Gal!

It was a super quick and jam packed trip and Amy tried not to get sad when she had to leave 3 tiny days after her arrival.  The only thing that helped was that she promised she would return in 9 short weeks with two little boys in tow.  Can't wait for my next trip out!