Peony love.

At last.

Our first peonies in the Castle Rock house.

These beauties survived 3+ hailstorms (after blooming... more than that pre-bloom), and after church on Sunday I noticed that they were looking quite heavy for their wimpy little bush (even though Bill had staked them a week or two ago), so I decided to cut them and bring them inside.

Oh how we have enjoyed them.

I am excited to see how this bush does next year.

We also have about 6 other bushes that are teeny tiny this year... but alive. I can only dream that they'll each produce 4 blooms next year, then be full, lush big bushes in following years.

I can't wait.

Memorial Day + June happenings.

Monday, May 27

Memorial Day

'Twas a cold and cloudy day, but we decided to do an impromptu picnic at O'Brien Park anyway.

Surprisingly, the chicken spots we wanted to grab lunch from (Cane's and The Chicken Shack) were CLOSED. Weird. I don't recall food places closing for Memorial Day, but Chick-fil-a WAS open, so that's where we grabbed lunch.

There was a whole lot o' squirrel action going on at the park. Evie loved it.

After lunch we took the creepy tunnel under Parker Rd (my first time, btw) and walked to the Parker cemetery. It was interesting to read headstones and to reflect on mortality. We found a couple sites of people we knew. V was fascinated by the many ornaments and decorations.

Then we strolled back to the park, again via the creepy tunnel. Mar was the only one who had actually taken the tunnel before. It was creepy because of the strange music that is piped into the tunnel 24/7/365. We wondered who makes sure the music is playing, and the purpose for it... to muffle the screams of someone getting mugged or murdered? Maybe it's solely to up the creep factor so people want to walk through it more. Regardless of it's purpose, we survived the stroll.

 We played at the park for a bit...

...then it started to sprinkle a little. 

We made an Evie sandwich, then said our good-byes to Tay and V (Nae wasn't feeling great, so she had stayed home).

Afterwards, Bill, Mar and I went to see Aladdin at the theater. 

It was definitely a low-key celebration, but good.

Saturday, June 8

Dog Wrangling

Mar and I groomed and washed the dogs. Ugh. Not our favorite chore.

We did it after Mar got home from work, so she decided to hop in the tub with the pups, since she was still in her swimsuit and was going to shower afterwards anyway.

You go, girl.

I had to chuckle about the tank she was wearing...

 It was good to git 'er done.

Sunday, June 9

Taylor's Birthday

This was a BIG one... 30!

We had JDawg copycats and lemon cake, per Tay's request.

We invited the Haynies over for dinner - they are good friends of Tay and Nae's from their time in our ward. It was fun to have extra peeps to help celebrate.

I can't believe my baby boy is 30.

Weird.

Love you, Tay!

Tuesday, June 11

Fiddler on the Roof

Through a work connection, Bill was able to get tickets to see Fiddler on the Roof. We really wanted Mar to be able to come see it with us, but she couldn't get out of work. The joys of being responsible.

There was a pre-show cocktail hour at the Hotel Teatro (we stayed there clear back here), which I was dreading a little. It turned out to be not so bad (even when we're the only peeps not sipping wine or drinking cocktails... we'll take a diet coke, thanks). We visited with another couple from Castle Rock, and although they were a bit younger than us (two kids, ages 9 and 12), we had some things in common (including the town where we live), so it was somewhat easy to keep a meaningful conversation going. We walked to the Buell Theater afterwards to see the show.

We had amazing seats and the show was fantastic. I was sitting next to a young woman who I chatted with for a good 10 minutes prior to the beginning of the show. About 15 minutes into the show, I noticed that she laughed dramatically and loudly at everything she found funny. I was a wee bit annoyed for a few minutes, but decided to focus on the show, not on her {obnoxious} laughter. After the show, we stopped to snap a quick picture by the marquee, and there she was, offering to take our picture if we would take hers in return. I realized that she was there by herself, and I felt empathy for her. From the conversation we had at the beginning of the evening I wondered if she had many friends. I know very little about her, but I felt bad at being annoyed in the first place at the fact that she was openly enjoying the show.

It was a great time with my favorite date.

Sunday, June 16

Father's Day

Seriously... the weather so far this spring/summer in CO has been cold and wet, and Father's Day was no exception.

 (That, luckily, is just a Bill-made snowball of small hail, NOT an individual hail stone.)

I am not a big card person because I AM CHEAP, and cards cost an arm and a leg these days.

As I was contemplating what to do in place of a card, I saw some giant Hershey's bars, and decided to make a cover for them for Bill and Tay. That's a great card replacement, don't you think? It's edible... and CHEAPER. I thought they turned out cute. (There was some fun stuff on the back, too :)

The weather cleared up just in time to grill, although it was still chilly and wet.

Bill tried his hand at smoking T-bones, potatoes, and corn.

Yum.

 

It was fun to celebrate these wonderful men and all the other wonderful fathers in our lives.

I love you all!

The gang's {almost} all here.

Almost everyone came to help celebrate Mar's graduation.

We were missing Austin. Seriously... MISSING him.

There is nothing I love more than having the whole fam together, and this was oh so close.

It was a quick few days that I wish could have lasted longer.

Friday, May 24

The day started with a visit from our TX framily, Rebecca and Lauren. They were in town for Addy Kennedy's wedding, and took time to come visit us. Love them. I'm bummed I didn't snap a pic.

Kody celebrated his birthday at our house for the second year in a row. I'm sure he was thrilled haha. His actual b-day was on Mar's graduation party day, so we celebrated a day late... with lunch, because Lo/Ko had Addy's wedding dinner to attend that evening. We threw some brisket on the Traeger, and finished our meal off with Kody's favorite better-than-sex cake.

Happy 23rd, Kody!

(I just realized it was Kody's golden birthday... 23 on the 23rd. Sorry, Kody, that we didn't make it a bigger deal!!)

Nae and V had come over early in the day to celebrate and spend time with the fam (Tay had to be at work), but getting that girl to stop for a nap took a mama willing to lay down with her for a little bit. Thankfully, the sleep fairy came, and V was a happy girl for the rest of the day.

Meanwhile... Big Billy and Little Billy helped Jase and Lex load up thier U-haul in preparation for their move to Alabama on Saturday.

We are going to miss having Lex and M around all the time, but we are so happy that their family will be together.

After naps and packing, we hit the MAC park to enjoy the beautiful weather.

After playing and swinging a little, Lo/Ko headed off to their dinner.

It was a great day.

Saturday, May 25

At four in the morning (I think)... Lex, Jase, and M headed off for their adventures in AL.

(M mid-yawn)

Good-bye, my loves.

They had originally planned to drive halfway Saturday, the rest of the way on Sunday, but ended up driving straight through.  Lex said M did great until about the last 3 or 4 hours... but they were so close, they just sucked it up and DROVE.

(You can read more about that here... along with some of the cutest pics Lex took when everyone was here. Not only will I miss her and M, I will miss her mad camera skills.)

Grandma & Grandpa G headed home earlier than they told us (before we got up - our alarms were set). Bill and I hit a grad party for a YW in our ward (she had been invited to combine her party with the rest of the graduates, but her family wanted to do something separate), then Bill took Grandma and Big Billy to the airport while I watched the grandkids so mamas + Mar could go to the mall.

Bill, Mar and I met up with Lo/Ko at Addy's ring ceremony that evening.

It was lovely, and it's always so fun to see lots of our old ward members.

Later that night, Scarlett opened her birthday gifts from Gigi and Little Billy. She was just a few days away from turning 5. FIVE. Crazy!

Sunday, May 26th

Britt, Scarlett, and Ellis, Shi and Kody left early in the morning to caravan home.

Good-bye, my loves.

It was a quick few days, with a whole lot o' stuff going on, and I had 15 peeps living in my house at the same time, but it was fantastic. I love my fam. I can't wait until we are all together again!