Well, I can hardly believe that it has been so long since I last posted on the blog! Is it really almost July? Holy...wow! So, let me just catch everyone up quickly!
Project Backyard commenced in May. We have a really great backyard, but we have never used it! It was the dog's domain and the fence between us and the house behind us was falling down. Rotten wood and nails didn't really invite much. The neighbors behind us FINALLY replaced the fence in April, so when we started to get more consistent warm weather, I became a mom on a mission! Friends gave us their old sandbox, we found a toddler sized swing set, made a raised garden bed, and got chairs and a table. BAM! Our backyard became FUN! Our backyard is a place we love to spend evenings and mornings. The new fence transformed the backyard and the rest was easy and inexpensive to put together. (Although, Nick might disagree about the swing set he put together all by himself while the girls and I were out of town.) Our garden is flourishing, and we love to watch it grow! I am sure we planted too much in our tiny garden bed, but we are learning. This is our first attempt at gardening, and we are loving it! Q and T love to water the garden with Daddy every night, and Q is always asking Daddy to mow so she can follow him around the yard and run away from the mower. She actually loves to "help" Daddy pick up dog poop, which mostly consists of her carrying a bag and telling him where he missed some.
Later in May, Q and T and I went to Montrose to participate with Grandad in his first 5K race. Kelli, Dad, Uncle Dan and I all walked it. We had a great time, and the girls got their faces painted, jumped in the bouncy house and played with Gramma, Grandma Gray, Great-Aunt Linda, Grandpa Gray, and Uncle Tyler for the hour it took us to walk the race. They had lots of fun too!
The Denver Zoo is one of our very favorite places. Q asks weekly, sometimes daily, to go see the animals at the zoo. I'm happy to oblige every chance we get. We are zoo members, so it is easy to load up and just walk right in! We usually last only a few short hours at the zoo, so a membership was the way to go! Want to come with us? We can bring a guest for free too. LOVE IT! Q mostly loves the Merry-Go-Round, but T does not. Oh, she likes to look at it. She will not sit on a horse or any other animal and ride--unless she has a death grip on me. Although, I did take the girls to the Denver Aquarium the other day, and she rode the horses on the Merry-Go-Round there and repeated over and over, "I got ya! I got ya! Yee-haw! Yee-haw!" while squeezing me tightly. She is too cute! Yee-haw has become her word to indicate that she is enjoying herself. She yelled it yesterday in a public restroom while drying her hands under the automatic dryer. She is my funny girl!
June has brought us new adventures, like gymnastics! I signed Q up for gymnastics at PDRC kind of last minute. I have wanted to do this for her for a while, and finally bit the bullet and did it! She seems to like it, although the argument is always whether she can wear a dress to gymnastics--to which I have to remind her that she doesn't need to flash her underwear to the whole world. She will then ask me if panties are private...say a phrase once to this kid and it sticks. Panties are private; keep our bottoms clean and healthy; come here, sweetheart: are her most frequently used ones. Oh, three is such an interesting age!
We had a really fun night at the Denver Aquarium when we went. We had planned to meet Uncle JB and Aunt Savanna there, but it just didn't work out to see them when they came through Denver on their way to Casper. However, Q had been promised the aquarium and the fishes, so we went in the early evening and had a great time!
This last weekend the girls and I trekked over the mountain again for another 5K. This time with Dad, Holly and Eric, Lisa and Hondo, and Kelli and Tyler. Everyone took their own pace this time (Kelli stayed with Dad again), and I think we were all happy with the results. This was my best time ever, and I did jog over half of it. So, yay for me! (I really hate running!) I then hurt for the remainder of the day, but it was worth it.
The girls and I stayed a few extra days in Grand Junction and met Daddy there. Nick was training all this week for his new job. He has been working hard for the past six months or so to get a job in the oil fields, and it has finally happened! While he was training, we played with Aunt Kelli--swimming and visiting the dinosaurs. For those of you who may not know, I am terrified of dinosaurs. Like, TERRIFIED! Yes, I know that they are extinct. I know they cannot come back and eat me, but tell that to my racing heart. I have to leave the room when commercials for Jurassic Park come on. Cartoons are okay. Anything else is not. So, visiting Dinosaur Journey in Fruita was a little outside my comfort zone, but I did it. Only because I love my children.
May 1st, Nick and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. As we are staring in the face of another big transition for our little family, I am grateful for the hard work he has put in to take care of this family. I am grateful for the demons he has faced head-on these past few years and will continue to fight. I am thankful for the patience he has with me as I deal with the trauma of our life over these last three years. Every day we move forward. Every day we face our challenges and share our joys together, and I am still happy to call him mine.
