Colorado

Between freshman and sophomore years in college, I made the trek to Colorado to work at a family Christian dude ranch for the summer. This was the best summer. I made friends and memories that will last forever. I miss the ranch every day, even more during the summer time. I can't wait to bring my family out there to experience the amazingness that is the ranch.

Colorado is even more on my heart right now with the fires that plague the land. Just last week there was a fire on the outskirts of Estes Park, where the ranch is. Thankfully they were able to contain the fire and put it out so that it didn't spread too far and do too much damage. That however, isn't the story for the rest of the state. Fires are running rampage and it breaks my heart to witness. People have lost their homes, their things, their memories. People are displaced and don't know when they'll be able to get back to their homes, or even if there will be a home to go back to. It breaks my heart.

I wish there was more I could do to help the people. All I've been doing is praying. Praying for strength and courage for the firefighters and praying that rain comes and relieves the dryness of the state.

If there is anything anyone knows that we can do to help the people of Colorado please let me know! My heart goes out to everyone and I hope they know we're praying for them.

Me at the ranch in 2007. Part of my heart will always be here.

Bachelorette...almost hometown

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Hometown. Hometown. Hometown. That was the key word this week. Oh. And the drama between Arie and the former producer. I personally think Emily was paid to make a bigger deal out of it then she really thought about it. Clearly she wasn't too upset about the whole thing. The only time we've seen her really upset, angry-wise, was with Chopper-boy and him calling Ricky "baggage." 

So her and Arie. The first one on one date. They tried to drum up the drama. It wasn't worth drumming it up, she's apparently head over heels for the dude. Hearing about one ex who he dated a million years ago for a brief period of time who happens to be a "friend" of Emily's was a little overkill. She doesn't care. She loves Arie. The end. They will be hanging with his family next week. Done.

Date with John. Or Wolf. Or whatever he wants to be called. He finally opened himself up. Emily appreciated it. He feels confident about their relationship after the few hours they've spent alone together. Maybe hometown? (I'm watching as I'm writing this)

Group date. Chris is having a meltdown. He's showing his age. In my opinion. I'm kinda over him. Sean's got some guts for going after her the night before. I like him. He's a good guy. Poor Doug. He's so awkward. And so sweet. I like him. Too bad Emily's love language is clearly physical touch, and he was just not following. He's a good guy. He'll find someone who's just right for him. The keys. "It's a big key. A man's key." Oh Sean. Thanks for that. I really don't like it when they kiss. Any of them, not specifically Sean and Emily. I just couldn't go from kissing one guy to the next guy to the next. I'm glad she realizes how awkward it is to give a rose out. Wow. Chris is mad Sean got the rose. Very mad. Kinda scary. His age is showing once again.

Jef date. These puppets kinda creep me out. Jef had an afro? It's better than his Jimmy Neutron hair. He seems really young to me. I WANT THAT LIBRARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That would be my heaven. Why do a puppet show in a library?!?!? Look at all those books!!!! I would much rather be playing with books then playing with puppets. What's wrong with these people?! Do you see where my priorities are? Haha. Okay. Enough with these puppets. His parent's are private people doing private things in South Carolina. Sounds sketch to me. Jef is asking some hard questions. They both want babies yesterday. A match made in heaven. Haha

Rose ceremony. Chris is nervous. John is confident. Sean has a rose. Arie and Jef will get a rose no doubt. Chris keeps hashing up the bad feelings and getting himself more and more nervous. Oh hello Chris Harrison. Okay. I love her dress. The color is amazing. Wow. No cocktail party. Chris is going to have a fit! This should be good. John is really confident. I don't know if he should be. Is Chris already crying? Her dress reminds me of a mermaid. I still like it though. Jef gets the first rose. Arie gets the second. Chris is really sweating. I think John is actually getting nervous. Yep. John's nervous. Especially with how long it takes Chris to go and talk with Emily. Of course John was going home. It took them the longest to have a connection where everyone else's connection was already established. Poor thing. He was so confident. I guess the whole lock not wanting to actually lock should have been a sign. There are a lot of moose heads on the lodge behind them in the stairwell. Very rustic. I like it. 

On to hometown dates! This should be interesting. Well. Hopefully it'll be interesting. 

Random question/thought. I wonder if the guys get to go and explore the city they're in while waiting on dates and whatnot or if they're sequestered to the hotel that they're staying in. It would suck to be in a new place and not be allowed out to explore. I would hate it. Oh well. Just a thought.

What the Woodys do for Father's Day

That big gray blob thing is the dogs crate. We had to block his view so he wouldn't bark at everything that moved in the night.

The hubs has been begging me to go camping with him. In the 4.5 years we've been together (dating 2, married 2.5) I can't begin to count the number of times he's asked. Always, I've said no. I know, a real Debby Downer. For the life of me I really don't know why I said no. I'm pretty sure that while we were dating it was the logistics of the whole thing, but now that we've been married, I've guess I've just been a party pooper.

Well this year I decided to surprise him with a camping trip for Father's Day weekend. I use the term "surprise" lightly. I couldn't really just up and say, "hey we're going camping today." I kinda needed him to help get things ready and seeing as he's the camper of the family he knew what we needed while I just went along with it. 

So reservations were made. Bags were packed. Liberty was stowed at the parent's house. Hank was loaded in his kennel. And off we went. Note that "off we went" was at 8:00pm Friday. We had roughly an hour and a half drive to get to the camping site and the park closed at around 9:30. I was panicked. The hubs was trying his best to get there as fast as we could, without over doing it of course. We really wanted to beat the sunset. Ha. Even though complete sunset around here is 9ish we knew were pushing it.

Good news is, we made it. And we weren't even the last ones checking in the for the night! Talk about pushing it to the last minute though. Things were getting close. But we found our site, got everything unloaded and went straight to sleep. Or tried to sleep. You see, we had the bright idea of bringing our dog Hank with us (Liberty had to stay at my parent's house because she's too old to make the trip). Well. He decided to bark at us. For hours. Okay. Really it wasn't that long. It just felt like it. So we had to finagle something where we put his kennel under the tarp right next to the tent so he could "see" us as we were sleeping. Spoiled dog with separation anxiety...

We soon learned the ball was not our friend and conveniently "lost" this item. 

Nothing beats percolated coffee heated up on a camp grill.  

Very attractive hubs, very attractive.

It wouldn't have been a trip without my traditional "feet" picture. 

First time for Hank in the water! He loved it!

Watching his daddy fish. In true Woody fashion, we caught all of nothing. Not a bite all weekend long. It could be because that yellow thing kept jumping in the water.

The hubs trying to convince Hank to actually swim in the water instead of just paddle around in the waves. He wasn't having any of it.

It was the perfect weekend with the perfect weather. We couldn't have asked for anything more!

All in all the trip was a success and it's a new tradition. Camping for father's day! I think the hubs is pleased with the idea. I know I am! Especially if we can find a pop-up trailer for next year. ;)

Introducing:

Elliot David 

This little man came into the world May 30 with a head full of hair and bright eyes. Such a precious little man and I can't wait to see him grow!

Wish Lists

Summer is here and that means I get to spend countless hours at the house. This brings along plenty of day dreaming, which brings along a wish list of things I would like to do around the house before big changes take place (more on that later on). 

On the list:

• Change all the doors so that they match. Right now we have 4 doors that are the same and 1 that's the odd man out. I like the odd man out and want all the other ones to match.
• Replace the toilet in the guest bathroom. We, aka the hubs, has done everything he possibly could to fix this stupid toilet. But no matter what, we've replaced everything, it still runs constantly. I'm so tired of jiggling the stupid handle!
• Move the laundry room to the main floor. I hate, hate having it in the basement. I'm done lugging load after load up and down the stairs. Stupid laundry room in the basement that will probably always remain in the basement.
• Repaint. Hahaha. The hubs would kill me if I repainted. 
• New front door. Our front door is ugly! I want one with a window in it. Something that will let in some light in that dark corner. Or at least something with a peephole in it. Now whenever someone comes to the door I have to try to peek out the window without being seen. Yeah. It's not fun.

This is just the short list. Will any of it get done? Of course not! That's why I'm calling this a "wish list." Something for me to dream about and play around with, but not something that I ever expect to really get done. 

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My Guilty Pleasure

The Bachelorette. This week was rather entertaining. The whole Scotland thing in Croatia. Come on, if you wanted to play the highland games, actually do it in Scotland! It's not like it wouldn't be hard. Did anybody else find that a little odd? I know I did.

I can honestly say I am glad to see Ryan go. At first I liked him. Then I got a little worried. The more he spoke, the more worried I became. The whole "trophy wife" thing killed it for me. And I think it killed it for Emily as well.

I'm really starting to like Emily though. The way she stood up to Kalon/Chopper/whatever his name was last week sealed the deal for me. I didn't mind watching her go all "backwoods West Virginia" on his behind. 

Apparently there's drama next week involving Arie. Not too worried there. I'm pretty sure he's the one she ends up with. That whole racing thing just ties them together. Of course I wouldn't mind if she chose Sean. I really like him. He seems like a really good and decent guy. I don't know. Those are my top two. We'll see who she goes for. I'm trying my best not to go searching for spoilers. I will make it through this season. Last season I had to go and see who won Ben's heart. This time I will last. I must.

Send Something Good

My package arrived the day before we left for Disney. I was so excited to receive it! Thank you so much Shelby @ Sweetness In Starlight! You did well!! Let me just say, I LOVE Chicago. My father is from there and it's been years since I've gotten to go to the windy city. I hope to go back one day! Those gluten free cookies were amazing! I tried not to eat them all at once, but boy was it hard! They were so good! 

For my Something Good partner I had Deona @ http://abcs-123s.tumblr.com/. My photography skills lacked before I shipped her package and therefore I don't have pictures. Life was crazy! Life is crazy! But that's for another post at another time ;)