Thanksgiving in Burns

We drove from Wray to Burns for Thanksgiving. There we enjoyed lots of delicious food, catching up with family and playing Nertz. Ted and Jeanette were our hosts. They have done beautiful work to Lela's old house and really made it their own. It was wonderful to visit. I hope that we will be invited back. Jace spilled the jug of punch all over the kitchen floor. Luckily, someone had decided to serve white punch (instead of the traditional staining red).

We spent the night at Little America resort in Cheyenne. It was a great time.

We are so thankful for all our amazing family.

Jace and Bonnie played piano.

Sledding with Daddy

It was fun until Jace tried to get off the sled and fell face down in the snow. Joel and I were both laughing but Joel was the one who helped Jace. I just kept snapping photos.

Coloring

I thought all Crayola markers were washable. I was wrong.

Harvest help

Joel worked in Wray for most of November, driving a grain cart for corn harvest. Jace and I spent a lot of time driving back and forth between Wray and Denver. I still had to go to class twice a week. It was hectic but we had some fun times with my parents. Jace and I only actually made it out to the field where they were harvesting twice. The first time was in early November. I was able to take these cute photos of Jace, Joel and Dad. The second time was after dark on the last day of harvest, Friday, December 4th. Jace I rode with Joel in the tractor as the last rows were cut. Jace drove the tractor with Grandad for a few minutes, honking the horn and flashing the lights.

Harvest 2009

something to talk about

Ok, I think it is pretty normal for a toddler to be fascinated with the telephone and imitate dialing and talking on the phone. I also know that my toddler loves to press buttons, any buttons. If it has a button on it Jace will find it and push it.

The problem we have found is that my parent's phone has a special button. It has one brightly marked, red button that direct dials 911. Jace called 911 twice in the two days we were visiting Wray last week! Needless to say we had to implement stricter rules about playing with the phone at grandma's house. Hopefully we won't have any more calls to emergency services. How many times can you tell them, "sorry, the toddler is playing with the phone" before they fine you or ticket you or something? And why do my parents have a one touch dial to 911?

Jace is allowed to play with an old phone at home. He will not be doing this at Grandma Joy and Grandad Doug's house.

Mile High Monday Night

What an amazing experience. My Dad and I got to go to the Broncos/Steelers game at Investco last Monday night. Wow. Mom got a cold and I got a Broncos ticket. I know that is not fair but it is hard for me to feel sorry about it. Of course it would have been better if the Broncos could have won (or even scraped together a decent Offence) but it was awesome to experience Monday Night Football at Mile High.
The crowd celebrates the only Bronco's touchdown of the night (scored by the Defense) with and eruption of noise and color. Smoke still hangs in the air from the fireworks.

Candy, candy, candy

The few days after Halloween looked like this at our house. Jace is, surprisingly, not that interested in eating the candy. He loves sorting through it, carrying it around in a bucket and dumping it out all over the floor. One night I moved the candy bowl off the kitchen table so that we could have dinner. You would have thought I broke the kid's heart. He cried and cried. I was a really sad cry, not the usual angry at Mom for taking something away cry. I think he really thought he would never see the candy bowl again.

Crazy Daze

Our schedule is extra crazy right now. Joel successfully requested time off from his job (where he was traveling all the time) to go and work corn harvest this fall for my Dad. It is nice to have him in Colorado but it still means that we are NEVER home. Harvest has had a rough start. There was so much moisture late in the season that the corn is not drying out as quickly as it should. Joel threw his back out this week helping cover the wet pit at the feedlot. Jace and I were in Wray for a couple days but had to be back to Denver today so that I can go to class. It was so hard to leave Joel. I'm not sure what the next week will bring. I am desperately trying to make it through the end of the semester. It seemed like such a good idea to get 9 of the 15 credits that I need done this fall. Now I'm having some doubts. I am barely keeping up. Assignment due dates are one on top of the other for the next 5 weeks. Obviously, I have lost most of the time that I used to keep up with the blog posts. I've also been relying heavily on Joel and the Grandparents to help with Jace.

Jace is teething but otherwise doing great. He has spent hours outdoors the last two weeks "helping" rake the leaves. Helping is a bit of a stretch. While Elaine and I raked leaves he found an ankle deep puddle to stomp in soaking his jeans up to his knees. Then, two days later, while Mom and I were raking leaves he tipped over the bucket that was already full and rolled it across the yard leaving a trail of spilled leaves on the freshly raked lawn. He is fun and exhausting at the same time. His personality is increasingly mischievous and playful. He is not a baby anymore.

Trick-or-Treat

We had a super fun Halloween. Last night's party at the Marsik's was great. We were all in costume. Jace was the cutest little dragon ever. I was a princess and Joel was my knight in shining poly-blend. During the party Jace took his first swing at a pinata. He was the littlest kiddo in the group. The next youngest participant was 4.

Today we enjoyed the warm weather by carving pumpkins on our front step and having a snowball fight. Then we took Jace out for some quick trick-or-treating. Jace loves his costume! (That's Emma in her Tigger costume greeting Jace when we stopped at Aunt Jessica and Uncle Don's house.)

Grandma and Papa Palmer joined us at our house for dinner and to answer the door this evening. Jace was nervous whenever anyone knocked on the door but he always wanted to see who was there. Once, just after I closed the door, he decided that he really wanted to give fist bumps to the kids. I told him they were gone already. He walked over and gave a fist bump to the closed door.

We could not have asked for a better day.

We might continue our Halloween celebration tomorrow with a trip to Boo at the Zoo.

We missed our annual pumpkin carving with the Sullivan family. We only got three pumpkins hastily carved and only two of them were done in time to decorate our porch on Halloween. Jace calls them bumbums (it sounds vaguely like pumpkin - at least it has 2 syllables)

Vegas Saturday 10-17-09

Our last full day of vacation was just that - a full day. We started it late because of the late night on Friday. First stop of the day: 7-11 for coffee and donuts.
We toured the Ethel M chocolate factory and cactus garden. The factory was not running on Saturday but we had fun exploring the grounds and sampling the chocolates in their store. Sarah, Aaron, Joel and I spent the afternoon at the top of the Stratosphere, a space needle type hotel/casino with amusement park rides at the top. I was content just photographing the experience. The others braved the Big Shot ride that took them up to the top of the 1,149ft structure and then dropped them 45 feet. Yikes. Sarah and I watched as the boys also tried the Insanity, a spinning ride that hangs out over the edge of the tower.
We all made it, just in time, to Bill and Kelly's wedding at the Little Chapel of the West. It was nice, mostly. There was some drama when we realized the bride's ring had been left at the rental house. To bad the couple didn't go for the $100 "bill" ring that Grant cleverly crafted. LaRae made a dash back to the house to fetch the ring right after the ceremony. Sarah was a huge help shuttling people around after the wedding. Sarah's taxi service should have been charging (I definitely owe her for saving my poor sore feet in ridiculous shoes). Joel and I got in a confrontation with a guy randomly enforcing the chapel's rule against SLR cameras. He could not explain to us why every other camera was allowed in but not ours. At first I thought the rule may have been because of the noise that the SLR makes but now I'm fairly certain they just didn't want anyone to be able to take GOOD photos during the ceremony. There were lots of photos taken but I don't have any.
Afterward we got take out, and watched Viva Las Vegas (Elvis and Ann Margaret) at the rental house. It was relaxing and fun. The birthday celebration for LaRae and Bill that was the original reason for the trip took place late Saturday evening. Joel, as a special gift for LaRae, did his Marlyn Monroe Birthday song. It was memorable. LaRae has the photos.
Early Sunday morning we woke up to say goodbye to Sarah who had to go to work.
The best part of Sunday was picking Jace up at Gary and Elaine's house. His eyes got big and he threw his hands up when he saw us. It was great to get home.

Friday already!

Where did the week go?

I can't believe it has been a week ago already that we had that crazy, fun day in Vegas. The photos tell a lot of the story. We were in costume much of the day because our afternoon was spent at the Let's Make a Deal taping. Sarah is in Vegas working for the art department on this remake of the old game show. It was a great game show to sit in the audience of because the bulk of the show is filmed in the audience. Our show will probably be on in the first week of November. Our group took up the entire top center row. I'm not really sure if we will be visible. Most of the time it seemed like this weird guy in a tiki costume was standing up in front of me. Grant definitely got on camera because he was on the isle when Wayne Brady entered and even gave him a high-five. We yelled ourselves horse during the taping which lasted over two hours. "Keep the Money!" "Curtain #2!" "Open the box!" Everyone was screaming at the same time. We had a terrific time. Sarah said later that she never noticed an audience that sang along as much as ours did during the commercial breaks. I think that was definitely our influence. We were really in to singing (and Grant knew all the lyrics to every song they played).

A big thank you to Sarah for getting us in! It was awesome and I hope we didn't embarrass you.

After the taping we were starving. It was 3 o'clock. We walked across the street and into the MGM Casino for lunch. After lunch there was a shuffle of shuttling people back to their various hotels. We all met back up at the Graceland Chapel before 6 for Grant and LaRae's vow renewal. We thought we were late but they have ceremonies booked every 15 min. (wow) and there were still 2 groups waiting ahead of us. We had plenty of time to goof around and take lots of photos. They didn't allow cameras (besides their own) inside the chapel. The service was fun and hilarious and surprisingly touching. My smile muscles were sore when we were finished.

The rest of the evening was mostly uneventful. We had a fun dinner at the Mandalay Bay Casino. We laughed a lot. Joel was told he was "Peacocking" by some random guy in the men's room. That made us laugh. We did stand out a bit at the Palms Casino where everyone was trying too hard to be "cool" and we were still in our goofy outfits. We headed back to the rental house where we played pool and watched movies for the rest of the night.

I'm bummed that we didn't get a photo of the group later in the evening when Sarah was with us. Her dress was beautiful.

Photos: Above - Chris and Deanna, Grant, Joel, Aaron, Me, and LaRae at the Graceland Chapel in Las Vegas (in costume and enjoying the fun).

Left - Self portrait of Joel and I in our costumes taken in front of a mirrored wall at the casino. (I like the crazy effect the seam had on Joel's forehead. It looks "Elvis".)

Vegas Friday

Back from Vegas

Wow, what a weekend. Joel and I had an incredible trip to Las Vegas with our crazy friends. I have almost 200 photos to sort through so I'll post a few at a time. The photos below are ones I took Thursday night when we arrived. We spent some time exploring the strip. Joel, Aaron, and I walked between the Bellagio and the Tropicana a couple of times. When Sarah finished working she joined us for dinner. Joel, Sarah, and I finished the evening at O, the incredible Cirque du Soleil show at the Bellagio. It was indescribable. More about the Vegas trip later.

Jace did great at Gary and Elaine's house over the weekend. He was very glad to see us when we got home. We were even more glad to see him. Today we enjoyed a quiet day at home.

This evening, as we were getting ready to give Jace his bath, Joel and I realized that Jace was unrolling the toilet paper. Jace was standing outside the bathroom door holding on the the end of the roll. He must have realized from the looks we were giving that he was in trouble because he dropped the paper and ran down the hall. It was funny so I chased after him (not really mad, just playing). I couldn't see him in his room. I found him hiding behind the door with a huge grin on his face. He giggled, screamed and ran away again. Mischievous.

Vegas Thursday

outdoor chores

I've been taking lots of photos. I always intend to post them at the end of the day but I have been exhausted. With Joel gone the days feel extra long. On top of that, Jace usually spends most of the afternoon outside playing. That was not possible for a few days when the weather got extra cold.

I am so thankful that Joel made it home this evening. He got back in time to keep Jace while I went to class. We have tons of errands to run tomorrow and we have to get packed for Vegas.

I may not get a chance to post anything again before the trip. There should be lots of fun stories when we get back.

The photos from the past three days all ended up being of Jace playing outside at Gary and Elaine's house. We spent a lot of time there while Joel was gone. I can't say enough how helpful they are and how thankful I am for all that they do for us.

We bundled Jace up and sent him outside for as long as we could stand the cold. He found lots of "chores" to do. He moved the marker flags around the backyard. He pushed a bucket around the courtyard and he swept leaves off the sidewalk. He is always busy.

Monday night Janae and Alyssa helped with Jace's bedtime routine. Janae helped me give Jace his bath and Alyssa read his story.

Happy Birthday Curt!

Up to Date

WOO-HOO! I'm finally up to date with the blog posts.

Joel's job is going slow. He is frustrated that there is too much work to complete in the time that they have in NM. It looks like Sage will have to stay longer than 10 days (their usual travel time). They asked Joel to stay also but we have the Vegas trip planned. He hopefully will get home late Tues. but it could be Wed.

I do not enjoy weekends when he is away. Weekdays are not bad but weekends are sad without our family time.

Today was mostly uneventful. Our only outing was to a shoe store to try to find shoes for a Vegas outfit. Jace kept climbing on the stools in the isles so I didn't get any shopping done.

We are back at Palmer's house tonight because I have class early in the morning. We had our usual dinner at Amigos. Our table was near the door so Jace waved Hi and Bye to everyone going in and out of the restaurant. After dinner we watched a Baby Einstein sign language video. Jace seemed to like it and I learned a few more signs.

first snow - Thurs. Oct. 8

The weather is definitely different today.
Jace and I spent most of the day at home. This means that the living room floor is completely covered with toys. The kitchen drawers and shelves that Jace can reach are emptied. There are books and blankets all over his bedroom. I finally had to bundle him up and just go run around outside for half an hour.
It was snowing. The big clusters of flakes were melting quickly. Jace and I tried to catch the flakes as they fell. I snapped lots of photos of Jace in his superman hat and gloves. (Thank you, Uncle Curt.)

enjoy the weather - Wed. Oct. 7

This morning Elaine pointed out the weather report in the paper. It is supposed to get a lot colder. We decided to take complete advantage of the beautiful fall weather today. After breakfast and Sesame Street, Elaine, Jace, and I took a walk around the pond. At the rock garden Jace practiced his climbing skills. He found a grasshopper on one of the rocks. He was fascinated but didn't want to touch it. He poked it with rocks and evergreen needles until it would jump then he would point and chase it. Poor grasshopper. I think it finally got away.

Jace and I spent the afternoon helping Elaine pull branches off of a tree that fell in the back yard and carry them up to a pile next to the street. Jace was right in the middle of the action. He even tried climbing the fallen tree. He really is my little monkey.

I was thrilled to get home for the night. I love my own bed (just wish Joel was home too).

I've captured a few images of Jace's toddler walk. One foot is completely in the air. It looks off balance; a march that relies totally on momentum to keep him upright. It's so full of energy.

homework day - Tues. Oct. 6

I spent the day trying to finish all the homework that was due. Jace spent the day with Gary and Elaine. I am so thankful that they were able to watch him. Elaine got some cute video (see the toy box video) and a beautiful photo on their walk around the pond.

in the toy box - Tues. Oct. 6

manicures and dancing - Mon. Oct. 5

I am finally caught up with posting enough to post the photos I've taken for Joel while he is traveling. I love having a daily post for him but this week was what Sarah called the "perfect storm" combination of Joel leaving and homework due dates. I was overwhelmed for a couple days and it took a while to get back blogging.
Joel left for a long trip to NM again. We have been so spoiled having him working in town and home every night. We knew it couldn't last. So he is off to work with Sage in the mountains north of Santa Fe. He probably won't be home until right before our trip to Las Vegas. (more about that later)
Monday is our Dancing with the Stars day. We pack our bags and head over to Gary and Elaine's house for dinner and overnight. Jessica's family joins us for dinner and to watch the dancing. Jace has to go to bed before the evening is over so it is easier for us to just put him to bed there and stay overnight.
This week Janet joined our group. Jessica, Janae and Alyssa were doing manicures during the show. Jace spent most of his time chasing Emma and playing with Dustin. Just before it was time for him to go to bed he notice what the girls were doing and went in for a closer look. He was so cute sitting there on Jessica's legs watching. About ten seconds after I took this picture Jace decided to reach in there and touch Janae's wet fingernail. The girls all squealed. Jace was silent for 2 seconds and then started crying. Poor guy. The girls all felt bad. It was my cue to put the little man to bed.

Happy Birthday to Sarah

(on the 5th)

Grandparents and Pumpkins - Sat. Oct. 3

It was a beautiful fall weekend. It was one of those days that makes you brag about living in Colorado. Our October calender is so crazy busy that I decided this was the weekend to get Jace to a pumpkin patch. A quick search online told me that most of the local patches don't open till the 10th. Luckily the Four Mile House Historic Park had their fall event scheduled for Oct. 3 & 4. We were making our plans when my parents called on Friday to say they were coming up for a quick visit before corn harvest gets started. The weekend came together nicely.

Saturday, after Jace's nap, we all went down to Cherry Creek and had a delicious lunch at the Cherry Cricket. This awesome burger joint has been around forever and was recently featured on Man Vs. Food. If you haven't seen Man Vs. Food, check it out. The host visits cool, down to earth, restaurants around the country. He describes the food in a way that makes you really want to go order it right now then he takes a food challenge. You know, the challenge on the menu that says you have to eat a crazy amount of the specialty item in X amount of time. This guy does it! It is weird but strangely compelling to watch. He does not always "win" hence the title Man Vs. Food. Anyway, the Cherry Cricket is great and we enjoyed the burgers.

After our late lunch we just had an hour to check out the festival at Four Mile House. It would have been nice to have more time but it was still enjoyable. There were bales of straw set out and kids stuffing their own scarecrows. Jace dove right in to the piles of straw and quickly found himself in the middle of a straw throwing fight that some older boys were having. Grandma Joy picked as much of the straw out of his hair as she could. I found straw in his diaper later. There was caramel sauce heating over a campfire and being served drizzled over apple slices. (to bad we were all stuffed from the burgers) There were horse drawn wagons taking families for rides around the perimeter. There was a pumpkin patch. It was actually just a fenced off field full of pumpkins that were hauled in from somewhere else but it made for some cute photos.

Caught!

Joel snapped this photo last week when he caught Jace red handed, picking green tomatoes!

Zoo trip - Thurs. Oct. 1

The Zoo has so many great programs for families. We signed up for the family book club. It is a 45 minute group for kids 5 and under with their parents. We listened to a story, Bear's new friend. Made a cute craft, a owl shaped magnet with glitter and feathers glued on. It is Jace's first art project that we can display on the refrigerator. The best part of the group is that they bring in animals for the kids to see. We got to see a barn owl up close and pet a hedgehog. We had a great time and can't wait to sign up for the next family book club.

The day was extra special because Joel had the day off and was able to go with us. After the book club was finished we stayed and toured more of the zoo. We saw the elephants being put through their daily exercises. Jace does a great elephant sound.

We let Jace out of the stroller and he tried to leave with a group of preschool kids. He just walked over to them, said Hi, followed along with them when they started moving. I had to pick him up and bring him back.

We had lunch across from the sea lion enclosure. Jace fed a huge chunk of his chicken nugget to one of the peacocks that roam around. When we were leaving the zoo, we spotted two birds watching us from behind the glass. Jace was eye to eye with them from his seat in the stroller. They made the coolest, throaty sounds and pecked at the glass near Jace's feet. Jace thought it was hilarious.

Home office - Mon. Sept. 28

Climbing, climbing everywhere! Jace put his climbing skills to work at the computer desk. He was so happy sitting up in the big chair.

Should I be worried about him starting his own facebook account? WORSE, he could start blogging about all the things I do.