Fort Collins Adventure (day one)

I threw it out into the universe a few months ago that I wanted to go to Fort Collins some time this summer. I also wanted to go to several other places but because Summer is Nathan's busiest time of the year at work with traveling and such I figured we wouldn't be able to go any where. This is fine with me because it is just one of those things we can't get around and it makes traveling during the school year just that much more fun for us. :)

Well, Nathan surprised us all by telling me on Thursday that we are going on a trip and to have the van packed. I did, and on Friday night we headed to Fort Collins, a total suprise to me since I thought we were going camping! Hahaha. We stayed at the beautiful Hilton downtown and when we got there, my man had an entire itinerary planned and printed! He loves schedules almost as much as me! :)
So... Here goes our Saturday Morning:

We went to the Discovery Science Museum and learned all about the pioneers and went upstairs to check out the Dinosaur exhibits and the energy exhibits. Here are a few highlights...

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Then we went to Noodles and Co for lunch. I haven't been there since Hilary took me there almost 6 years ago! Oh, and I really liked it!
Then we followed a bunch of crazily dressed bikers to the Tour de Fat at New Belgium. Apparently Fort Collins has this trade your car for a bike program to promote bike usage in their city. Since it is a college town you can probably guess what some people were dressed like...I had to cover the kids eyes only once! Haha. They had food and music and it was an all around good time!

We then went to the Campus and checked it out...Booo! Go Buffs not Rams! Haha.
They had their annual flowers in bloom where you could check out the beautiful colors and pick which ones you wanted to plant yourself. The perfumes were beautiful from all of the flowers there and to see the vibrant colors in the seas of flowers was amazing.
On our way back to the van we saw this bear of a dog. If you have heard Bridget scream at Abby (Keegan's dog), this scream was nothing compared to that. The dog looked like it was going to cry. It was pretty funny.
After that horrific scare we went and walked through a few little bike trails. I am SOOOO glad we brought the single stroller because Bridget wanted to walk the entire time and it would have been more of a hassle than a help.

We went to IHOP for dinner since kids eat free and headed back to the hotel for some hot tub fun. The pool water was a little cold, but that didn't bother the kids.
We quickly ran up to our room and took bubble baths and finished our evening with Fudge Striped Cookies and Hot Chocolate.
What a fun day and because our hotel was free our total cost for day one was $25.89!

Darling

I was packing for our Mystery Trip this morning and Bridget comes to me and says "pretty hair mommy?" I said thank you! She then stomped her feet and said "no me" She wanted her hair redone I guess so we went into the kids bathroom and started doing her hair. She started to whimper and said "I need da stick too mommy." I am looking around and realize she was talking about the curling iron! Haha.

So I obliged...



Nathan and Lucas come down the stairs and Nathan says how cute she looks and Lucas says "Oh Bridgey you look darling!"
It made me laugh.
I still don't know what Nathan has in store for us this weekend but I will
be sure to post all about it!

Berry Fun Day

Laura and her kids came to visit me (and her parents) so I thought hitting up Berry Patch Farms again would be fun...and it was until I smashed Maddi's finger in the van door and while we were tending to her Bridget got her leg pecked by a rooster 2x! Its funny how when it is someone else's kid you feel so terrible and guilty, but when it is your own kid your first response is "You shouldn't have had your hand there in the first place!" :)

Here are the kids picking Razzies and Strawberries...


My baby who was a little fussy today...it was so weird.

They really liked the tractor ride over there...

More berries.

I have never seen such shiny strawberries. They were such a cute size too!


Then we parted ways so my kids could nap and then they came over to play and Laura and I could share fun stories. We also did an art project that will be posted tomorrow. HERE. We had so much fun chatting while the kids were playing out back that Nathan who got home 15 minutes late even got to say hello to the kids. Time just flew by so fast.

It was such an awesome day for me and my kids and I am glad they could fit us in on their short trip to Denver!

Bad Choices

Today while I went to check the mail Lucas asked if he could come with me since everyone else was still taking a nap. I said sure and as I walk past my tree Super Hot Fireman Brian opens his garage.

This seems to happen to me EVERY time I go outside and I am not complaining just stating an observation but I always look like frumpy mom when we see each other. (Kinda like when the Schwan's Man or the FedEx man comes before I have put my bra and clothes on for the day) Shut up it happens to you too. Or when you look like crap and decide to go to the grocery store for a quick item and see everyone in your ward there. Mmm hmm.

Anyway...We wave and say our usual hellos and I have my back to him because I was getting the mail out of the box when I hear Lucas SCREAM across the street.
"Hey! You are making a bad choice Mister!"

I turn ghostly white and look across the street and see the not so hot fireman smoking! I run Lucas inside and say with my heart pounding and my loudest voice possible (because I was utterly embarrassed) "What was he doing?"
(because I know he doesn't know what smoking is)

My son's response...
"He was chewing on pens, and we don't do that in this house. It was a very bad choice mom!"

I almost missed the seat I was about to sit in and burst out laughing, to which Lucas replies "It really isn't funny mom, the stink (ink) inside will get all over his shirt!"

I then gave him a hug and said you are right, here is a cookie for being such a good boy.
I love having a 3 year old by the way. :)

Can you tell what our FHE lesson was on last night?

A Movin and A Shakin

Today Veronica came over with her boys to play. Our kids were equally excited to see each other. We made a freaking awesome project that will be posted next week, and we had lunch and then played airplane in the toy cabinet.
But this post is not about that. It is all about my Scarebear. She will be 6 months next week and is well on her way to crawling! (Lucas crawled at 6.2 months, Bridget crawled at 6.1 months) We made these shakers yesterday ->here are the instructions. She liked to shake. I love this fuzzball hair picture...
Align Center
So did the other kids.



Here is a cute 3 minute video for my parents and sister who don't get to see the kids. It showcases Scarlett but everyone is in it and I promised Stef I would share it. :)

And because this is such a disorganized post I thought I would share my current favorite picture of my boy...(taken today too)

If you knew him you would say "This sums up his personality"
He is my sweetie and will hate me later for saying it all of the time. :)

Unexpected

I yell up the stairs:

"Bridget its time to put your shoes on for church" - V
She runs into her room.
Rustle, Rustle, BANG!
"I got it!" - B
"Hurry, or I am leaving you here" - V
"Mmm kay" - B

I go get her shoes and here she is...
She was very proud of this ensemble.
Until I took off the hat, the backpack full of underwear, the baby with the back missing, and the 6 pairs of underwear she was wearing under that dress.
While I did her hair she cried...
"Why Mommy? Why...I is so Pretty" - B

I told her we needed to look our best for church and she just said in the softest little voice.
"Oh, I want to be best" - B
The tears were just streaming from her little face. It was so sad.

Go Lions!

Lucas started soccer today. His friend Robert is on the team and when we decided to pick a name one of the kids said they wanted to be Tigers and Robert quickly told everyone that he wanted to be the Lions. Lucas quickly backed him up and so our team of 8 is now the Lions. Which is great because Team #6 is a dumb name.

We had a fun time at practice. The kids liked to run and dribble and this was more for me to see what we needed to work on for next week. Bridget and Scarlett just tried to keep warm.

We played Team #7 and they had mostly girls which was fine but the coaches daughter which was the star of their team had played 3 other seasons so she played their entire game. Which was a little unfair to our team of beginners. (but whatever)

Our team did well except player #8 Lucas Witte who went to bed at 10 last night thanks to our babysitter who I think didn't realize that he was playing in his room. During the game Lucas cried because he wanted a turn and I was very upset because I have NEVER seen him cry like this before. I mean NEVER. I am also glad that he had this experience today because when we got home and sat him down to have a talk about his unacceptable behavior he completely understood and told us he would try harder next week.

Player #7 Robert W. (Lucas's BFF) scored 2 goals and would have scored more if he realized which way our team was going! :) Lucas congratulated him and Bridget showed her appreciation...

We had three shy players and I did a pretty good job at getting 2 of them out of their shell and actually play the game, one of them is my goal for the next game. It was fun coaching today and I look forward to the next few games...

We lost this game 6-7 but I am confident that next game will be better, I know what our problem was this time and I have a plan of attack for the next practice! :)

These are the only good pictures that Nathan took because I was out on the field coaching and he can't take good pictures! Hahaha.