Tuesday, August 16, 2016

What We Have Been Up To

Man time sure flies. I am not exactly sure where it all goes, but it has been two weeks since I lasted posted and so much has happened I don't I can even begin to cover everything like I want. Life is a little crazy around here right now. I watch my two friends kids during the day, and let me tell you 4 kids is a little crazy, but it also very fun and good. Then at night we have tried letting the girls have their door open and this goes great for Kylee, but Tia thinks she can just stay up and play around downstairs. Not cool. If she want's to stay up I really don't have to much of a problem with that if she is upstairs and leave us and her sister alone, but alas that would not be near as much fun as going up and down their stairs, climbing over the baby gate, telling mom goodnight, or any thing else her brain can come up with. Needless to say, my evenings are not as undisrupted as they use to be and my days and just a little crazier with two 4 year-olds, a 2 year-old, and a 18 month old.
Here are my buddies enjoying a picnic lunch at the train park. Trent, Tori, Kylee, and Tia.
Despite the craziness, I still love the family time that we get together. I love spending tons of time with my kids, but especially love the time I get to spend with Gaupo and my girls together. This Saturday was one of those super fun time. We started off the morning with a great breakfast on the griddle and then we found out we were suppose to clean the church so we hurried and helped over there for a bit. Then we got some good deals at a garage sale across the street and went home. There we worked on Kylee's bike trying to get the back tire to be more free spinning and I made a picnic lunch. Then we loaded our bikes and lunch in the van and went out to Sandstone Ranch. There we parked the van and rode the perfect length trial to the visitors center there. We first went and saw an old barn and Tia was so disappointed that there were no chickens or cows with that barn. Then we sat down at one of the visitors center's little picnic tables and had lunch. The girls thought it was so great to be at a picnic table that was just their size, and so it was fun to enjoy sandwiches, cookies, and chips in the lovely shade.
The family at the picnic table.
Kylee enjoying lunch. I know it doesn't look it, but she did.
Tia loving a cookie.
Gaupo at the picnic.
After lunch we went inside the visitor's center. It is an oldish house and so it was fun to see the layout. I have been pretty spoiled with all the great complete restorations of sites that I grew up seeing in Utah, but it was still fun to see and wonder what it would have been like. They have a playroom for the kids and Tia found an old fashioned stroller and baby and loved pushing that around. Kylee loved the butterfly wings and cool kitchen stuff they had. Eventually we had to go, much to our dismay. But, we left and rode the trial back to the car. However, along the way Kylee's tire decide to come out of the rim. Actually she had the wire that holds it into the rim come out on Friday and I couldn't figure out what it was so I just cut it off, but come to find out it hold the tire around the tube. We tried to get it to work just so she could finish the ride, but it wasn't happening, so she had to ride with me on Gaupo's bike while he rode my bike with her bike and while we both had bike fulls we were trying to keep Tia going or not going. It was pretty wild, but we made it, and on the way home we stopped by Wal-Mart and got a new tire, so Kylee is once again happy because she has her bike. I know its simple, but it really was a great family day. We were able to not only go somewhere peaceful, but we were able to do an activity together as a family. It was so great.

Sorry for the horrible pic, but this is the entry of the upstairs.
Another fun thing we have done recently is have a slumber/stay-cation party at Aunt Kitt's house. We went down to Littleton about 3:30 and were through some miracle able to catch 5:00 session. We met Kitt at the temple and then hurried to change and get to the chapel. We made with a couple of minutes to spare. I wish we had more time, but I was ready and it was so nice to b there. We had a great temple session and got to spend a little bit in the Celestial Room and then we went back to Kitt's house. Kitt and Peter had taken the girls to the park and were having a blast, so we just collected Kitt's house key and went home and enjoyed a little dinner alone. It was kind of nice once again to be just the two of us. The kids all got back and the girls and I told Gaupo good-bye because he had to go home to work on Saturday. Then we hung out for a bit and then I put the girls to bed. That was a little bit of a trick, but not near as bad as I thought it would be. I think that was a tender mercy as well. Then Kitt, Peter, and I stayed up talking until like 12:30. It was crazy late. This mama is not use to those times of night, but it was fun and I got to know a little more about Peter. After Peter left, Kitt and I of course had to spend some time talking and then we finally went to bed. In the morning, we got up and played for a bit while Aunt Kitt slept and interviewed Uncle Jack. Then we made waffles for breakfast and got ready for the day. Once ready we headed to a new park and played until lunch. It was so nice to go to a new park. The girls had their bikes and enjoyed exploring new toys. We had Mac and Cheese with hot dogs for lunch and then took naps. When we woke up from naps we headed home. It was nice to stay somewhere else and stay up and talk, but only have to do it for one night. It is kind of hard to go for a long time with kids, but do able and worth it. However, I am so glad we got a fun get away at Aunt Kitt's.

This is how Tia slept.
Kylee. Please note her baby is sleeping the same way.
Tia and the ducks. She probably rode her bike to this spot 5 times just to see the ducks.
Playing in the 'sand' toy. I am pretty sure it was meant for water at one point, but its sand now.
The super fun slide at Aunt Kitt's.
In other fun stuff, about 2 weeks ago my old roommate Sacha and her family stopped by and visited and had dinner with us. They were on their way to North Carolina and their flight wasn't till late at night so they came and chilled here for bit. It was fun to watch the kids play and to catch up with them. I really haven't seen any of my roommates since I was first married, so it was fun to see just one. Also are kids are pretty close in age, so it was fun to watch them figure out how to play together.

Also about two weeks ago was the Boulder County Fair. I look the girls on a Tuesday night. Gaupo wasn't much interested in going, so I thought we would check it out and if it was worth going back we would go when he could go. Well the girls and I got a free shuttle ride from the fair entrance to the Fowl house. Tia loved seeing the chickens and ducks. Man they sure have some crazy birds in that place. Then we went and saw the goats, pigs, and cows. Then we went and 'milked' a cow. It was really a pretend cow that had when you milked it water came out. Kylee loved it and Tia wouldn't even touch it, but they both loved the stickers. After that we went through the vendor/display house. Then we went and looked at the rides and then went home. I thought it was great to see all the animals and enjoy being there, but we didn't go back so I guess that tell you it wasn't epic, but it was fun and the girls I think really enjoyed it and would have liked to go back especially if the animal petting place was open.

Kylee and Tia with the chickens.
I have had a really great summer with my girls. It has been fun to watch them learn and grow. I love watching my family grow. Sometimes I want them to stop growing up and changing, but I do love watching them master new skills, see new things, and try stuff. I think my favorite things have been swimming and learning that we really enjoy biking together as a family. It is fun to have something that everyone enjoys doing.

Here is something else fun we did. We made homemade oreo's. The girls loved frosting them. Or in Tia's case, just eating the frosting.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

How to Burn Threw Money Without Really Trying

Friday we got the wonderful opportunity to have Aunt Kitt with us, and you know what we did with that splendid time...stuff. We just did normal everyday stuff. Actually it wasn't normal everyday stuff, but it wasn't super entertaining like other things, but we did have fun.

Friday morning I needed to go help with food truck, and even though I could just go for the very end part I really like going for all of it. I like helping setup the 'store' and then help fill orders. It is really fun to work with both the volunteers and the people who are receiving the food. It is kind of hard for me to focus on that kind of thing and think clearly with my kids running around, so like I said before Aunt Kitt came. I was so glad Aunt Kitt could come. She took care of the girls while I went and did food truck. They had breakfast, and walked to the park and played. After food truck, I had to take some of the leftover food to some other people and then I was double glad that Kitt was babysitting for me, because I knew she wouldn't care. Anyway, after all that food truck stuff I decided we needed to go find Tia a pair of new sandals. Her sandals had broken and she hates wearing shoes, so I needed something that I could get her to wear. Well it being towards the end of summer I didn't want to spend a whole lot on Tia's sandals, so I thought a good first stop would be Goodwill.

Sometimes Goodwill has good treasures. It did this time...just not in the sandal world. As we first walked in the first thing the girls saw were the bikes. They both hopped on them and tried to ride them. I did convince them to get off of them, but it took some work. One of the bikes they were riding was another 12.5 inch bike and I have been wanting to get Tia a bike since Kylee has learned to ride hers without training wheels. I have really wanted to get her a balance bike, but man those things are so expensive. So, of course Goodwill had to have known I was looking, because here was this bike and it was only $3.00. I passed it up for a bit while we walked around the rest of the store. While doing that I looked through a shoe bin hoping to find some sandals, but instead found a great pair of snow boots that will fit Kylee this winter for only $2.00. So, with those boots in tow, we wandered a bit more. Then I looked at the bike a bit more and decided to go for it. If nothing else the seat was good and that alone is worth the $3.00. (We got a tag-a-long bike for free from our neighbors, but the seat they sent with it was not so great, so I was kind of thinking this one might work.) So, we bought a bike and boots, but still no sandals.

So, then we decided to head down to Ross. At the beginning of summer this is my favorite place to get sandals. They have quality sandals at affordable prices. Anyway, on our way there Kitt says "Don't they have a Maurice's right here?" I say, "Yeah, want to go?" She says, "Yeah, I want to see if they have any business tops." So, we swing by Maurice's. Well I was trying so hard not to look at anything, but then I looked and before I knew it I had an armful of clothes and was headed to the dressing room. Maurice's is pretty smart. They had a box full of Mega Blocks in the dressing room. It worked for Kylee, but sadly Tia was way more interested in the door. Anyway, after trying on the stack of clothes I had I found a pair of jeans that I really like and a skirt I thought was pretty cute too. Well, Kitt tried on clothes and shoes while I thought about it. Finally, I decided to get the jeans and pass on the skirt. I thought the skirt was a bit to casual for church. However, the jeans were really cool, and 50% off. So, yes I bought a pair of jeans for $13.00. So now I have spent about $20.00 and I still have no sandals for Tia.

Now the girls are getting kind of tired of shopping, but we still have to go to Ross. So, we got to Ross and there are NO sandals. Like none. The girls love all the toys and I encourage Kitt to go look at tops while they are distracted. So, she does. Sadly none of them fit, so we leave. Luckily we made no purchases.

Next stop was what the girls were waiting for Chic-fil-a. They had free milkshake cards and Kylee was so excited that she could pay with her own card. It was so cute to watch them both hand their cards over. I did find out that we didn't have to get the peach shake, so that was a fun surprise because we don't like their peach shakes and that is what the card was for. So, while we waited for their chocolate and cookies and cream milkshakes they went and played at the play place. We would have stayed and ate their and let them play more, but it was packed. Seriously there were people EVERYWHERE. I have never seen it that busy before and there weren't even any specials going on like free breakfast. Anyway, we got our shakes and came home.

After that shopping venture we had lunch and naps. Then we had grill food for dinner and then watched Zootopia with Kitt and went to bed. Kitt had to get up early, so we tried to go to bed at a decent time.

So yeah, Saturday dawned bright and early at 5:00. Oh man, I can not believe I actually woke up at that time the majority of my high school career. I seriously must have been crazy. It is so early. Anyway, I got up and made Kitt some scrambled eggs with cheese, ham, and peppers. They were tasty. I tried some. So, Kitt had breakfast and then was out the door at about 5:45. After I waved her off, I went back to bed. Then of course I couldn't get up. This has been the story of my life since then. I don't know why, but I can seriously not shake the sleep from me in the mornings it is awful. Anyway, after sleeping in, I wake up and get dressed and go downstairs. Guapo has already gone on a walk and made breakfast. What a great guy. Anyway, We decide that we need to go swimming this beautiful Saturday. So, after dropping food off at someones home we head for Kanemoto swimming pool. It was super fun. They have a little kid tube slide and the girls seriously rode down it like 20 times. I am pretty sure Tia would have kept going, but we decided that it was getting a little too crowded and that people were getting hurt on the slide, so we should leave. So, we did, but we didn't stop swimming we just went to the Rec Center instead. That place was barren. There were seriously about 10 people max in the pool. We talked Tia into going down the slide and after going down once that is all she wanted to do. We finally took Kylee the last time and let her go in the hot tub after. We chilled in the hot tub and then Tia did the slides again and then we left for home, lunch, and naps.

After naps it was time to get the shopping done. Because I still had not found sandals we decided to go to Walmart. Here we scored. We found sandals on clearance, but the bad part is there was other stuff on clearance too like swimsuits and flip-flops. Since I hate buying flip-flops at full price we got each girl one pair and then Tia will need a new swimsuit about December, so after much much search I found on in the right size that was bright colored. I still might have to take it in a little bit, but it will do the trick and was only 5 dollars, so I am not too worried about it. Also at Walmart they have all their college stuff out and Gaupo was like I need to show you somethings. So, he took me to the full length mirrors that were on sale and said "You have been wanting one for awhile. Do you like these?" Well once again, I just couldn't pass it up. So now I do have sandals for Tia, but I also have flip-flops, a swimsuit, and a mirror plus wall mounts for it.

I wish I could say that the spending stopped there, but you know we still had to go grocery shopping and it was one of those trips were we shouldn't have gone together. Oh man, we definitely got more than we needed and stuff we didn't truly need, but we did have fun and it wasn't too bad.

So that is how you spend money folk. Go searching for one thing and before you know you will have all kind of things you didn't know you needed. It was quite a weekend and really I love everything I bought. I was a little iffy on the bike, but we have put a lot of effort into getting the bike to ride true and Tia just loves it, so I can't really complain plus it was only 3 dollars. Anyway, I just had to write about it because it was seriously one of those trips were you feel like well we were good all summer and I just blew it in like 2 days. Oh well, it was fun to spend time with Kitt and it was fun to go deal hunting. I do have other stuff to write about, but I will get to that in the next post hopefully.