PARTY TIME!

The banner, the cake, and the birthday girl

our guests :)

presents!!!!

OK, so her "actual" birthday isn't until Monday, but today we had our family party---and we were so blessed! More family was able to come, the weather was suitable, and we actually fit everyone in our little house! Despite the outlook Friday morning, Riley's pink dinosaur birthday cake turned out quite nice! The food was delicious (thanks everyone for contributing!) and everyone seemed to have a good time. Riley had sooooo many presents! The comments she made and her 0000's and ahhhh's over them are quite priceless! She's such a little nutball :) Thank you everyone for a lovely day and loving our little girl so much. You make us happy!

halloween fun

This year I got to be a Pink Triceratops--ROAR!!! Did I scare you???
I got to go to our church's Trunk or Treat, made some stops at friends houses and then we ended the night at Grandma Pam and Russ' house.
I got a lot of candy!!! Mom and dad even got some candy too! Mom says "it's for the baby"...I think she just says that so she can have two helpings :) I hope you had as fun a night as I did! Love, Riley Joanne

Happy Halloween Everyone!

Reason #57: Why I will NEVER have a cooking show

I thought I would make a nice dinner for my family. I thought I would try a new recipe. Or 3. I also thought I had turned on the back burner. I had not. Thankfully, Dan saw what was happening and grabbed it before the whole thing caught on fire. (who says a husband can't be handy sometimes?)

Yes, this is a picture of my trash. Do you notice all the uncooked rice? That would be my next fiasco...knocking over the "just been opened" box of instant rice. We now have 1/4 box left. *sigh*

This, however, is a picture of my final products. Despite all the craziness, they turned out rather nicely! The fried rice, teriyaki (or yucki sauce as Riley calls it--she can't quite seem to get the TERI part to come out) and the honey butter were all SUPER SUPER DE-LISH!!!
Now that I have hopefully worked out the kinks, I may make them again! Or maybe even try another new recipe....I may wait till the smoke clears a little though....

halloween delight

The other day Riley wanted to make some cookies for Grandma Pam and Papa Russ. I was at the store, and saw some already made cookies with frosting and decorations included...super! I thought...Less mess and less cookies to have around the house!
We brought them home, and got set to decorate :) Riley really enjoyed spreading (and eating) the frosting. She put all the decorations on herself! Okay, so I helped a little with the sprinkles :) All in all the cookies turned out great and Riley had a lot of fun. A special note though...the cookies LOOKED pretty, but tasted AWFUL!!! Next time I think I'll just make a batch and give them ALL away! Ohhh, and more importantly, Grandma Pam and Papa Russ thought they were absolutely delightful!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!

For Dan's birthday we decided to take him to the Wings over the Rockies Museum of Air and Space. There were some really cool airplanes there. You'll see Riley and I in front of a Piper Cub, and the little airplane in the middle with Dan and Riley? I took that picture on purpose to give you scale--that airplane will actually seat 4 people! Amazing what airplanes can do these days. The museum is located in an old hangar from the remnants of the Lowry Airforce Base. So you'll also see some military planes including Riley casually leaning against a AIM 4 missile (if she only knew what it was!!!), the big long black guy in the photo is a B-1 Lancer capable of Mach 2+, bi-planes and so much more. President Eisenhower used the Lowry Air force Base as his "Summer White House" because his wife Mamie had family here, and he could hunt and fish to his heart's content. We all had a great time learning more about airplanes and the history of Lowry Field.

 

We worked up quite an appetite so we met Pam and Russ for dinner at IHOP. Nothing like breakfast for dinner--so yummy! From the look on Dan's face that day, I'd say he had a most fun birthday :) Happy Birthday Dan--we love you!

 

Summer projects

 

 

This last holiday weekend I think officially started summer. Hard to beleive! We've got a few summer projects started, and some yet to come (flowers anyone? yeah...I haven't planted any yet...maybe next weekend!). The main project being a fence for our yard. With farm tractors and trucks coming through and a crazy two year old, we figured a fence would be a darn good idea! There's been some controversy over materials, placement and such, but most have been worked out. Hooray! And, last weekend Dan made some good headway on getting each of the fenceposts in the ground. I helped a little too, I have the sunburn to prove it! I think it looks great and Riley is enjoying the wider area to play in. Dan also got her little house put together as well. I bought it at a garage sale when she was just 6 months old. It is so heartwarming to watch her play in it and see what great joy it brings her. Best $20 ever spent! Maybe now we should look into a pool...hmmm...we'll keep you aprised...