Weekend Blurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

So much happened this weekend that I could've blogged daily, instead of trying to remember everything!  Last Thursday night (Amie's birthday and Spencer & Carrie's anniversary) Brad & I watched the five kids while the couples went to dinner to celebrate.  Of course, we enjoyed having them and true to form, they HAD to perform for us.  The choice that night was singing the songs that they learned at Vacation Bible School this summer.  Interesting how they still remembered all of the songs and gestures!

Friday, Meredith and the kids arrived around lunchtime (at Café Mexicali, their favorite), and then were joined by Corbin while Spencer had a scrimmage at Manitou.  Later that afternoon, while Meredith was getting her hair done, we drove to Eaton to pick Gabi up from school and then were joined by the whole clan.  It was so great seeing the Taylor's again!  We miss them!

 Friday night was Girls Night Out- with Carrie, Amie, Meredith, Kristi, Jessie and Tina and myself.  We had dinner and drinks at La Mariposa (very marginal food and drinks, but lots of laughs!), all while Emma and Gabi spent the night at our house and Elijah and Corbin stayed at Carries.

Saturday morning was Gabi's first day in the intermediate gymnastics class, and I was fortunate to take her and the pictures as well.

 

 

 
 

We planned to have birthday dinner Saturday night in lieu of the usual Sunday dinner so that the Taylor's could get home at a reasonable time.  We made a Cajun boil with lots of shrimp, corn, potatoes and as usual, not enough sausage!  One day we will get it right! And for dessert, Meredith made a yummy fruit pizza, which was gone in moments.  (Brad looked like he might cry when he went back for seconds and there were none...)  Earlier, we all went to the pool where the kids impressed us with their diving abilities. They've all learned to swim really well, with Grayson not far behind, and took turns off the diving board.

After dinner, I thought it would be a good idea to take a group picture of the kids.  Yep, it was challenging, and Sophie and Gabi had on their finest, in preparation of performing another "show" for us!

 

Sunday morning, the girls (Meredith, Carrie, Amie, Emma and I) headed out early for a birthday shopping day.  We started with breakfast at Mimi's which included a champagne sampler just to get our day started on the right track!

We shopped nearly til we dropped!  What a fun day!  The girls are thinking of making this an annual event.  As we said goodbye to the Taylor's, everyone left to prepare for another school/work week. And I was so pooped that I didn't get my blog done.

So now, another week has passed with more fun (?) events to share with you.

Brad and Curt had a job in Denver to finish, so they incorporated his month visit to University Hospital with the job and drove down there early Tuesday morning.  Dr. Ney said once again, that Brad continues to be the poster boy for this type of surgery and treatment.  We're so grateful that he feels well enough to work and do other things as well.  He and I visited Rory's Kung Fu class and were equally amazed at how difficult it was.  It certainly requires discipline and agility!

 

1. Friday, at last.  A day of "relaxation"....like this...9:00 watch Grayson, 10:30 groceries at Wal-Mart and laundry, 12:00 dinner in the crock pot, 1:00 drop off prescriptions at NCMC, take Gramma with me to Hobby Lobby, stop by new office to take pictures for FB, pick up Rory at school, 3:00 home to vacuum, finish laundry, 5:15 pick Gabi up for Open Gymnastics, 7:15 drop her off at home, 7:45 home, dinner and wine.  The evening was spent alone as Brad was attending Spencer's teams' football game where they beat Kent Denver, their big rival from last season. Whew!
2. On Saturday, we decided to take a stab at our bridge game, where we haven't played since April.  I was pretty unsure how things would go, but we did well!  That evening, we watched the girls and because they were so good (?) we treated them to some Cold Stone ice cream.  What a couple of goofballs!

   

   
   

   
   
3. Sunday  was a catch up day and Brad and I went on a service call to some people's house who played bridge with us.  This is how bizarre the brain is.  He could not remember them, despite all of the clues I gave him, until we saw them Saturday.  She asked if we needed directions to their home, but Brad assured me that he knew where to go, and he did, although I'm not sure I could
4. ever find it again!  Still, he couldn't remember their names!  We got home in time to prepare Sunday dinner for the family and made one of the favorites, pork roast with mushroom, green pepper, bacon gravy.  Afterwards, while the boys and Susan were watching the CSU/CU game, Carrie, Amie, Sophie, Gabi and Grayson and I went to check out the progress  on the Frost home, and were walking around taking pictures and getting the tour by Carrie

   

   
   

   
   
5. when I caught my flipflop at the base of the basement steps, catapulting my head through the drywall! Ok, long story short, I couldn't get up and had to have the assistance of the paramedics and firemen.  After a trip to the ER,  I was diagnosed with some fractured vertebrae and a bump on my head. I laid low yesterday and tried to work today until the swelling became so serious in my eyes that I couldn't keep them open.  My favorite thing said to me today was, "Are you tired?  You look tired". and "I thought you changed your makeup"....Uh huh...
6. 
   A little heavy on the violet eyeshadow, wouldn't your say?

The biggest news of the week has been "Back to School" for two out of the three families.  Emma and Elijah started in Ogallala on Wednesday and Sophie and Rory started Thursday, while Gabi and Corbin won't begin until Wednesday of this week. 

 

Everyone reports being happy with teachers, classes and classmates.

Earlier this week, Carrie and Corbin returned from their trip to California where they had some great times.  Monday was spent at Knottsberry Farm and Tuesday at Newport Beach!

 

Not much news for the weekend.  Brad and I took a long drive on Friday to an estate sale of an elderly deceased patient at my office.  Shocked to see how far out in the middle of nowhere that she lived (alone) into her 90's!  Saturday he and I went to a movie (the first time, other than kids movies since his surgery) and saw "We are the Millers".  We ran into Pat and Larry James and sat with them and enjoyed lots of laughter!  Just the thing we needed!

Saturday night, Heather and Matt came to join Amie and Curt in an early celebration of Amie's birthday this coming weekend.  We kept the kids while they went to dinner and made French Dips for the kids....a request from Rory.  For a kid who never used to eat, he sure is making up for lost time!  He ate 3 sandwiches!  Then afterwards, we took them to Coldstone for ice cream.

 So happy that Heather is finally feeling good and is  almost showing.  She says she has a tummy, but it's tough seeing that baby bump yet!
Sunday was spent doing the usual stuff, as well
as a trip to Eaton to see the progress of the
Frost home.  It's coming along and exciting to
see and imagine a little easier how the completed
home will look. 
Of course, Gabi and Corbin (or the "two knuckleheads" as they are referred to by their parents) couldn't wait to show us their rooms where their toy room/TV room will be.  Not  the most comforting space, with no railings yet.  We spent the majority of our tour yelling at the them to be careful!

Just a 12' drop to the lower level....why are we worried?

View out of 2nd story

overlooking master bedroom deck

kitchen

We gathered for our Sunday dinner with a crock pot full (literally) of BBQ beef, corn on the cob and spicy coleslaw, followed by brownies and ice cream.  Yep, the Simmons family are all about healthy eating!

 

Picture this....

 Last Monday morning might have given me reason for suspect .  This was the first thing I saw after the storm last week.  Not a big thing, but the postage machine and fax machine under a pile of wet ceiling tiles wasn't the best start! ( Later that day, I picked up the fax machine and dumped about a half a cup of water out of it.)

But then, as the week progressed we know that my silly little ceiling fiasco was NOTHING in comparison to what transpired Friday in Manitou.  Mud, mud, and more mud everywhere peppered with cars, trees, chairs and everything else that could roll down the muddy river.

the restaurant where we enjoyed wine and tapas (see patio with the yellow tape)

 What a disaster!  Thankfully, everyone survived and the whole town pitched in to start the cleanup.  The news reports that there could be more of the same with rain in the forecast this week again.  Keeping all of our fingers crossed and grateful that Pam's place was still intact.   Thursday night we celebrated Brad's birthday with dinner at a new fish restaurant, Lucky Fin.  I'm thinking maybe Gabi enjoyed it more than anyone, loving the mussels and clams. 
Afterwards, we had frozen yogurt with all of those "healthy choice" toppings!

Friday, Brad and I headed to Central City to celebrate his birthday.  Not much to say about THAT, other than we could've saved our money and stayed home!  Friday also brought the departure to California of  Carrie and Corbin, following Spencer's return home on Tuesday.  Maybe the "Bickersons" will have some good times after their "separation"!  Corbin was very excited to go and play with Trent and to spend ALONE time with Mommy.  Carrie registered the kids for school before leaving that morning and was able to stop by the building site of their new home.  Wow!  It's really going fast!

 Friday night, Amie and the kids spent the night in Denver, with Amie ready to run a half marathon in the mountains.  She was happy with her time of just under two hours!

Saturday night, we were invited to a 60th birthday party for Anne Masterson.  Since the theme was "Aloha, etc.", Brad and I decided to lighten things up, showing up in our much loved ? costumes from several Halloweens ago.

We had a great time and visited with lots of party-goers!  They had an amazing spread of sliced beef and shredded pork, salads, cake and ice cream and of course wine and beer.
Sunday, Amie took Sophie and Grayson to the water park where they about froze going down water slides...summer is definitely on it's way out!  Brad spent the majority of the day on a ladder (yikes) again scraping the paint off of our "lifetime guaranteed" vinyl trim on the eaves.  (Surprisingly, we were never able to locate the contractor or his product line)

Meanwhile, our Ogallala peeps were enjoyed the lake again, learning to paddle board from Kelly's son, Skyler.  They had a great time and Meredith reports that Elijah would make a great surfer!  The kids were in a Banner parade on Sunday, and late last night I got pictures!  Yay!  It makes it just a teeny bit easier having them gone when we can see them in photos.

 

And speaking of alone time, Spencer and Gabi had some real quality time while Carrie and Corbin were gone.  They had a "date" Saturday night to see a movie and then Spencer took her horseback riding in Estes yesterday AND took pictures!

Gabi had us all guess the name of her horse with the clue- "it's the same name as the most famous Bronco player"- and was amazed that everyone guessed correctly!  Later, our somewhat reduced clan, gathered for Sunday dinner, a chicken, broccoli and rice crock pot meal and some delicious apple pie that Spencer picked up on the way home from Estes.  I guess we all needed a little "comfort food", because there wasn't a crumb left!