Anniversary #25

Yesterday was our 25th wedding anniversary.  Quarter of a century with Jim - that sort of blows my mind a little bit.  For one thing, I am 29 years old, so how is that even possible?  We had one of the "normal" days for us.  The ones where he had a meeting, I had a meeting, kids needed picked up, Halloween costumes weren't finished, treats needed making, kids had not carved pumpkins, to go along with the normal day to day stuff.  I did not really get to see him much at all!  It is just how our life is right now.  We understand it, we embrace it, and we tackle it together, like we have done for a long, long time now!   Even though we did not have a romantic dinner, (or even a romantic moment) I am thankful for this man.  He is my everything.  My rock, my sanity saver, my best friend.  I am proud that we have made it this far, and I am looking forward to all that is to come.

I am also thankful that I was blessed with amazing children.  Mallory took the kids to get pumpkins, since there were none left in Overbrook.  Usually, we venture to the pumpkin patch.  Vacation made time get away from me.  While she was gone, I worked around the house a little on treats, costumes etc.  I blew off my meeting because I was feeling like I could not spare the time.  Everything got done and the kids are extremely happy!  They had to get gourdes rather than pumpkins, because apparently the stores are sold out!  No matter, they had fun decorating rather than carving!  :)  Flexibility is the name of the game!

Some randomness

This weekend, Cameron was a groomsman in his friend’s wedding.  There was a little problem and the minister failed to show up.  Luckily, Cameron is an ordained minister so he jumped in and performed the ceremony.  For some reason that cracks me up.  He called and said “I just knew that online ordination would come in handy!”    I am glad he got the chance to practice since he is supposed to marry Madison and Andrew!  

Last week, of course our kids were not at school.  It was spirit week though, and one of the days was dress as your favorite teacher or dress as your favorite student day.  Mr. Hug decided to dress up as Preston.  Since Preston wasn’t there, they sent me a photo!  He looks just like him doesn’t he?

We were gone for 1 week.  I cannot get over how much the leaves changed in that week.  Everything went straight to fall.  Luckily, I love fall, and am happy to see it!

Derby boys

Colin (in the black car with green 13 above) and Gavin (in the black A55 car below) were both in a demolition derby today.  I was so excited to go watch them.  There was a little nervousness when the heat before Colin’s had a door hit and a guy got hurt.  Luckily, I hear he is just badly bruised and had a concussion.      Colin was here bright and early this morning to finish his car up.   He has done a lot of work and the girls were tickled that he let them write their names on it.
Colin’s transmission blew out after he had a couple of good hits.  I know it wasn’t how he planned it....but I do think he had fun!

Gavin had a great run, and actually drove his car out of the arena but was knocked on the barrier and high centered so he didn’t finish the heat.  I am tickled to see the boys doing stuff together!  Redneck cousin fun!

Day 7 aka vacation ends

We woke up early and took the kids to Mesa Verde National Park.  This is a beautiful park, but the little girls and I did not enjoy the crazy heights, lack of guard rails, curving narrow roads and fear of plunging to your death.
Luckily Jim is not as wimpy and was able to get us through the park.  We all really loved seeing the cliff dwellings.  None of us can imagine living in the side of a cliff or having to climb up and down to get home!  I am thankful I am not a cliff dweller as I can barely make it up there in a car!

Thursday night’s hotel just made us all determined that we needed to make the 12 hour drive home.  We left Mesa Verde around noon, thinking that we would be home around midnight.  Well, Siri did guide us home but her estimate of driving time did not account for half of the way being through the mountains.  It was a beautiful fall drive with the aspens all bright yellow, and we saw snow in several places.  I will say again, we are flat landers.  Nobody really enjoys mountain drives in our family.   The idea that 10 miles might take 45 minutes is not a concept we can accept.  We were all exceptionally happy to see the Kansas state line!  We made it home around 2:30 this morning.  We are all glad to be out of the car!  It was a great trip but there really is no place like home!

Day 6

We left Madison in Mesa with a lot of tears.  Saying goodbye to her always tears a piece of my heart out.  I am happy that they will be home in a couple weeks!  We really enjoyed our time with her and Andrew.  

We headed north to the Grand Canyon.  We were greeted with some wildlife and a view that made us overwhelmed with appreciation of God’s amazingness. 

We stopped at the south rim and enjoyed walking around.  We drove the east rim and were continually awed.  I am so glad I got to see it again, and I am very happy that we took the kids!   It was a definite highlight of this trip!  

Our original plan was to head to Vegas for a night, however we decided it would be just as much fun to do a couple of things in Colorado and cut the driving time down a little bit.  We severely underestimated the time it would take to get to the 4 Corners monument, and it was closed by the time we arrived.  We won’t be circling back, but we feel like we can count it if we took a picture at the gate.  Jim even did his Vacation quote of “sorry folks the park’s closed!”   

We have stopped for the night in Cortez, Colorado.  The kids are completely underwhelmed with my booking.com hotel.  It is a little shady.  No matter, tomorrow we will get up early and resume travel toward more fun and are homeward bound!