Storm Captured

Well last night we got storms. And the clouds these things produced were AWESOME! The rain was UNREAL. And we got it again this morning!

So here is the really exciting thing!!!! I sent my weather pictures into one of our local news stations last night and they put my picture on the news! Along w/ my name and where the picture was taken.! I was super excited. Can't tell you which picture they put on though. They all look quite similar. So anyway, here they are! I took these off our front porch.


This one above is my favorite. You can see the wall of rain moving in behind the clouds. It was more like torrential downpour.

I Am Thankful For...

I am not sure what made want to make this post, but I am sure it is lots of things. I know lots of people that have had babies in the last couple of weeks, so I guess I was thinking back.....back to our first baby. And how life changed a lot in the weeks after she was born.

This was her and I minutes after her birth


She looked smashed, puffy, purple and PERFECT!

Her daddy was the first to dress her, he was so gentle and loving.


5 wks of adjusting to our new little family went by....
Then I got the phone call, and time stood still....
No need to explain, I think you all know the story.

She was so small and yet you could see her love and concern for him. The tables had turned and we were dressing Daddy!

I was thankful........thankful he was alive. Thankful he could walk, thankful he could talk. Thankful we had insurance. Thankful to all the awesome people at his job. Thankful to the Mitchells for giving him a lift to work everyday. They were great. Thankful for the patience that God gave me w/ him while he wore that collar for the next 80 days. Thankful for the patience God gave him.


Thankful for my husband. Thankful that he was still here to love me.


THANKFUL the weeks following the birth of our second daughter were much calmer!

Thankful we have the two most beautiful, precious, perfect daughters on earth.

I am truly blessed. Oh...and did I mention, Thankful?

Bucking Bronco

Gentry got this from Dana's parents for Christmas this past year. At that time she didn't quite weigh enough to make the zebra go down or spin. But now she does......and she is crazy!

Colorado Part 3

Gentry and her grandpa Larry.

This is Gentry's favorite thing. She'll tell Dana "Tatoes" and that means she wants carried like a sack of potatos. He wears out before she ever does.

Kennedy drawing pictures for everyone. She wanted to be in the card game but she's just not quite there yet.

Many card games were played. And our family card games are........competitive. Especially if my mother is playing. It's in her blood. She can't help it.



My cousin Taylor and Kennedy. Kennedy adores her.......and Taylor was a huge help w/ the girls. She is my one and only girl cousin on my dad's side of the fam.

The girls hanging out in their chairs. This turned out to be my most well spent money before vacation.

Last year Dana, Taylor and I went on a 2hr horse back ride and Kennedy got to ride a pony around for about 30 minutes. The time didn't present itself for us to do the big ride. But Kennedy got to ride a pony again. Last year she rode Angel. But this year Angel was gone so she got to ride Sparkles. She loved it and begged to ride longer when it was over.




This was the whole crew. Left to right are: my aunt Deanne (my dad's older sister), their dog Sadie, My uncle Don, My aunt Krisit (my dad's younger sister), my cousin Taylor, Gentry, behind them is my uncle Bruce, my Mom, my Dad, Kennedy, Me, and Dana.

Leaving the mountains. Not the best picture but I had it on a timer, on the hood of the explorer, facing into the sun. You got to work w/ what ya have.

Colorado Part 2

Every year on our annual camping trip there is an auction in an old mining town called St. Elmo. It is close to where we camp. It's higher up in the range but absolutely beautiful. My family plans the dates of our camping trip around this auction....LITERALLY. Most everything is donated and the rest is consigned. And most everything auctions off for an unbelievably cheap price. All proceeds go to rebuilding the town. They have been fixing up all the old buildings slowly with a little help from the auction. St. Elmo's population is ......11.


Chipmunks aka "Chick"munks as Kennedy calls them,in Colorado are like cats in KS. They are everywhere, always digging in your food, overpopulated....and homeless. BUT at least they are cute. The girls loved them. And the "chick"munks loved me. They would climb on my arms, legs and back. Guess I was the only camper that smelled good!



"The Auction"
The St. Elmo auction is pretty much the GOD of all auctions for my family. And this is why......

This BEAUTIFUL table went home with my Mom and Dad! This was the one piece she knew she couldn't live with out. And she's not. Solid Oak, beautiful legs...ha ha! that sounds funny...but they are, perfect condition. And it's old, whichs makes it AWESOME in my antique obsessed brain. It survived the crash on the way home. My parents camper was totaled west of Stockton when a guy didn't see them & pulled out on the highway. He missed their truck by inches....but not the camper. He totaled it.

This buffet was screaming my name from the second we laid eyes on each other. It would seriously go perfect in my future home. (My future huge, old, historic home that I have had a love affair w/ for sometime now. Can't tell you where or even what it looks like. That's top secret. But someday it WILL be ours. I just know it.) I had a meltdown when I later found out that this solid oak piece auctioned for around $200. That is a STEAL of a DEAL. And I wanted it sooooooo bad.

This was the auctioneer. Check out the bleach blond hottie behind him!!!

Okay......this picture makes me truly sick. This authentic old retro table and chairs sold on the auction for only $100. I was drooling the whole time. I have always wanted to have this. BUT there was no room in our convoy to get it home. It especially made my stomach turn when the the auctioneer said "SOLD". I think I cried but no one knew it.

I think old glass bottles of any kind are awesome. They make the coolest vases for hand picked wild flowers or flowers out of your back yard!

Colorado Part 1

Well we returned home from the San Isabel National Forest tues. evening. The trip seriously went way too fast. The girls, however, were ready to be home. The trip out took 12hrs & only 11hrs on the way home. They did awesome in the car. Could not have begged for them to be any better. Gentry ended up getting a major cold and more teething the day before we left. So we dealt with breathing treatments, a raw, runny, bloody nose and diapers I won't even speak of. But even through that she was a trooper. Kennedy maintained grouch mode very well the first two days and then started to come out of her shell the last two just in time to enjoy it a little bit. Here are just a few pics to get you started............

Sitting around the campfire

Good Morning Colorado air!

Gentry digging in the rocks and dirt. She loved this and so did her sis. However my washing machine is currently screaming "NO".

The beautiful Colorado sun.

Humming birds fly rampid out there. They dive bomb you if you wear bright colors.

This mountain was behind our camp. And that my fellow bloggers is the big dipper. We got to see this almost every night. And it was breath takingly awesome.

We did some mountain driving and drove over some passes. The views are unbelievable. You know only God could have created something that is so ominous yet beautiful at the same time.
If Dana didn't have his eyes closed in this picture it would be a perfect one of these two.

Gentry didn't make it in this picture. She was sleeping in the explorer. And she didn't get much sleep on this trip (along w/ her sister) so any shut eye was well treasured.

This picture could have been really good. Except for my hair......in Dana's face. Should have tied it back! Although it is kind of funny.

These are our campers. There were actually four, you just cant see them all in the pic. And these mountains were what we got to look at everyday from our campsite.

The river water by our camp is snow run off so obviously it is ice cold. I couldn't even keep my hand in for 10 seconds. My daughter however seemed to not notice the water temp. She was even sticking her head in it.