July Wreath

It was time to make the next wreath for July. I did the same thing we had done for the last few wreaths, meaning the curly/rolled technique. For the colors I used a red, whit, blue, and a stripped red, white, and blue. After cutting the squares, I was ready to roll them and put them in bundles. Once I had all the bundles done, I arranged them around the frame the best I could to make sure I didn't have any clumps of one particular color over another. 

Once all the deco mesh was assembled and put on the frame, I could now move onto the fun stuff...the embellishments. I bought a sign for the middle that said "Home of the Free because of the Brave." I loved this saying and was glad that I came across it one day while shopping at Walmart.

Once my sign was in, I then grabbed all the sprigs I bought and placed them randomly around the wreath. I had fireworks, stars, and to finish it off with curly ribbon sequined ones all of which were in red, white, and blue. When I was all done I was in love. It turned out great and it was going to look even better once I hung it up. This was my new favorite, so much I may even hang it up longer than its supposed to be. 

Toy Story

After watching the summer movie, Peter Rabbit. I decided to surprise the kids with another. We stayed to watch the new Toy Story movie. They were all excited when I told them we weren't going home and seeing another movie. They were even more excited when I told them which movie it was. They had seen many different trailers and wanted so badly to see it. Now they could. We refilled our drinks and popcorn and found our seats. 

When the movie was over the kids talked about how much they loved and wished that Ben was there to see it with us. On the way out, they begged me to take a picture of them with the movie poster. Well, it wasn't really a poster it was a movie cutout, and it was huge. Owen had the crazy idea to hide in to see if people could see him, so Gabbi did the same. I tried getting them to come out, but they wouldn't, so I took the picture, and we headed back to Mom and Dad's.

Voicemale

Shantelle told me about an outdoor concert that she and Tyrel were going to go to. It was a free outdoor concert, and I actually knew the band and not just by their songs. One of my college roommates was a sister-in-law to one of the members and I actually got to meet them once while in college. I wanted to go so badly, and convinced Ben that it would be fun and worth it. Since the semester had just started, there wasn't a ton of homework yet and he agreed that we could go. We planned to meet up in the parking lot across from the park and walk over. 

When we got there, there was already people starting to gather. Half of the park was full of white plastic chairs and the other half was just grass. We brought a blanket to sit one instead of sitting in the plastic chairs. When we sat down, we pulled out our dinner and enjoyed our dinner with some music. It was so much fun, and the group made it that way. They really know how to work an audience. It was just as good as their Christmas one that I went to.

Swimming with friends

When we were done with William's graduation, I had the kids change into their swimming suits and we headed to their friend's house. Since we were in town, their friends had asked for a playdate, and it worked out that we both had the afternoon free. The kid were really excited for this playdate. Their friends had talked about a new pool that they were setting up and couldn't wait to have them over. Today was the day and they could wait. When we got there, they literally ran to the door and waited impatiently for them to answer. The next thing I knew, they were in the house and gone. I eventually made my way inside and I was not at all surprised that they had already gone out to the pool.

Their Mom and I sat there and visited while they swam in the pool, but eventually we went inside. It was warm and neither of us wanted to sit out in it. Luckily the pool wasn't that big and neither of us were worried that someone would get hurt. After a few hours, we finally dragged them out, they had a popsicle, and then the kids and I said goodbye. Ben and I had a date that I needed to get to.

Preschool Graduation

Today was the end of a milestone, William was graduating from preschool and would soon be joining his siblings in Elementary School. With Gabbi and Owen I helped teach their preschool as part of a joy school group. With William I was introduced to this amazing program that was all online. He had to log in each day for 30 minutes a day; that's it. If he wanted to do more his could and some days, he did. Some days he loved and worked on it for a long time, other times he didn't and wanted nothing to do with it. The end was finally here. All he had left to do was an end of year evaluation. 

When we got there, we checked in and then went in an got a seat. Shortly after, the director came out and told us what was going to happen. While we watched a presentation, the kids would be taken to a different room to do their final evaluation. When they were done, they would come back in and join the rest of us. The presentation was similar to the one we saw at the beginning of the program. Owen and Gabbi weren't thrilled to be watching it. They were happy when it finally ended.

When the presentation ended the graduation march song turned on. Then one by one as their names were called out, the kids came walking down the aisle with a paper graduation hat on their heads. They also had a certificate in their hand commemorating their grand accomplishment. When they were all announced and at the front of the room, they showed off some of their skills with a few songs. It was cute to see all these little kids sing the songs that helped them throughout preschool. Even Owen and Gabbi knew some of them and sang along.

When all was said and done, they had a dance celebration at the front with the mascots for the program. William had a big grin on his face with they walked in. We were all so proud of him and when we got in the van the kids couldn't wait to give him a graduation present that they had put together...with my help. He was bummed when I told him that he couldn't open it until we got home. As soon as we walked in the house, that is exactly what he did.

Retiring the Flag

Tonight, we were going up to Nelson and Deann for our monthly get together. Since we were going to be cooking s'mores, Ben thought it would be a good time to retire the flag that we hung at our house. It had faded from being outside and Ben said it was time to retire it. He had a little lesson with the kids about why you retire a flag instead of just throwing it away. I'm not sure how much they heard or understood, but Owen heard fire and asked if he could help.

When we got up there, Nelson was just getting the fire ready. Owen ran in the backyard and told Nelson that we were going to retire a flag before we started eating. He told him to go ahead, and Owen ran and got the flag from Ben. They walked over to the fire pit, Ben said a few words about the flag and what it stood for, and then he helped the kids place the flag in the fire and stepped back. The kids were enthralled while watching it burn.

After seeing this flag being retired in the fire, Nelson ran and got one out of his garage that he had been meaning to do the same. Owen of course jumped up and asked if he could help, so again he got to place another flag on the fire. He was on cloud-9, despite the fact that the smoke was killing his eyes.

Pack Meeting

It's that time of month again, a scout pack meeting. Much like all the rest we have gone to, they had a skit, merit badges earned were handed out, and then an activity for the kids. A lot of the merit badges that were earned this round were all from when they went to Scout Day Camp. Owen couldn't wait to add them to his belt and scout shirt.

Scout Camp

Today Ben and Owen went to Scout Day Camp. They have been talking about this camp for the last few scout nights. They even made shirts to wear on the day. Owen was so excited and even more so when Ben told him that he could go as an extra adult. They only part he didn't like was that they had to leave very early. They were up and gone before the rest of us woke up. I received a few pictures throughout the day and when he got home, he told me all about it. 

They had so many fun activities planned all day; obstacle course, archery, BB guns, Dino exploration, fishing, knot tying, nature walk, and aquatics. I have been to that camp with the Activity Day girls and some of the things were the same, but there were some that I had never heard of. Owen said it was a toss-up as to his favorite activity. He really liked the aquatics (boating on the lake) and the BB guns. That one did not surprise me at all. I'm just glad he had a lot of fun. He was already talking about going again next year because his scout leaders told them that they get to go every year.

Concert

Forever ago Shantelle asked me if Ben and I wanted to go to a concert with her and Tyrel. It sounded like fun, and I have never seen Brad Paisley in concert, so I said yes. We bought out tickets and then made plans for the evening. We met up at their house and then carpooled to Usana Ampitheater. On the way we stopped to grad some dinner to eat when we got there. We were getting a little worried as we watched the sky. The clouds were turning gray and looked very heavy. 

We pulled into the parking lot and the workers directing the vehicles told us to stay in our cars until they gave the "all clear". They weren't going to have people get out of their cars if it was going to storm and have lighting going one. So, we ate our dinner while we waited for the "all clear". While eating I couldn't help but watch the storm. You could see lighting in the distance, and it was awesome, but I was worried that they would end up cancelling the concert. Luckily it wasn't bad and after 30ish minutes, they gave the "all clear" and people started entering the Ampitheater.

Once we were inside, we found a place to set down our blankets and wait for the concert to start. They had the opening band, which weren't too bad, but we wanted to see the man of the hour, Brad Paisley. It was so much fun to sing along with the songs that I knew. Ben didn't really know many of his songs, but he looked like he was having fun; at least I hope he was. A little into the concert I wasn't so sure anymore. He had laid down and his eye were closed. I have no idea if he was asleep, but I wasn't going to bug him and was fine enjoying the concert. It was a different experience compared to that of the Carrie Underwood concert, but both were so much fun.

Treehouse Museum

Gabbi was invited to go to the Treehouse Museum with Brooklyn and some of her cousins. Since we had a lot going on, I happily told her yes. As their adventure at the museum unfolded, I got pictures of them having fun. They were all over the place and had a smile on their faces at every step. Despite their age difference, I'm so glad she has someone to hang out with.

Colorado day 4

Today was our last day in Colorado. We didn't have much planned for today, but weren't quite ready to go home either. After getting up we all packed our things and then went down for breakfast. When we were done eating we loaded the car and checked out, but decided to go for a walk instead of heading out. The whole town of Glenwood is surrounded by the Colorado River and most places have a walking path to enjoy the vastness of the river. We had one right behind the hotel, so we enjoyed the cool morning and walked along the river. We even had some fun and took pictures in our new sweatshirts (they all matched).

While we were walking along the river, we talked about what we wanted to do or if we should just head home. After some fancy fingerwork and searching online, we decided to go to the town of Marble. We were told it had great views the entire ride up there as well as amazing food once there. It wasn't too far out of the way and decided it would be a great way to end our girl's trip. We got in the car and hit the road. 

The views did not disappoint. We even saw some snow on the highest peaks. It was gorgeous. When we got into the town itself, we saw huge marble slabs all over the place. It almost didn't make sense, they were everywhere. After some thought, it was probably because they were too heavy and costly to move so they left them where they were. It was pretty cool though. Then as we got closer to the center of town the giant slabs turned into sculptures. We even stopped at a store that specialized in making and selling them. The work was amazing, I had never seen anything like it.

After checking out all the marble sculptures, we made our way to the restaurant. We were told this was the best BBQ in Colorado and if you asked some, they'd say in the United States. It was very old school and cute going inside. We had to wait a minute but were taken to a table outside. It was nice outside, just wish it wasn't as warm. We ordered our food and chatted about our fun weekend while we waited. When it finally came, the food definitely stood up to the hype that we heard all about. If ever in the area again I would totally go. It was so good. When we were done eating and paid our bill, we got back in the car and headed home.