Happy Day

Got a new hair cut and I feel like a NEW person. Oh my goodness I can't believe what a difference, yay! I can even do it myself, a first as far as haircuts go. I got it highlighted too, I am so in love! It cost way too much money though and I was totally stressing, but I guess its worth it now that its over and I feel so good. I have a new favorite website you have to check out! www.annies.com We bought Annie's graham crackers today and they are the BEST! No hydrogenated oils OR SUGAR! They're sweetened with organic evaporated cane juice- don't really know what that is, but its NOT refined sugar, so score! I love their site and how it totally makes me want to be healthy and earthy.

Can you really ever go home again?

We're going back to Vegas as official nonresidents and it seems so strange! We don't have a house there?? Well just me and the girls are going in Aug. for 5 days, Ryan doesn't want to miss any work and he's having a very hard time emotionally when he even thinks of once again stepping foot on desert ground- weirdo! Southwest Airlines was having awesome ticket prices for Aug, so we couldn't pass it up, especially since Holly will have just had her baby, I had to be there! (A real friend would WAIT for me to get there, but since it is scorching, I will let her give birth when she wants to). Speaking of the heat, I am so very scared to be back in it. Our bodies, minds, and souls have been in a blissful "it's about time" state of peace, enjoying a summer that has only cracked 100 degrees three times all season, and we haven't slept one night with airconditioning on. It's been wonderful! My mind has seriously blocked the intense heat out and I am not sure how I, or especially the girlies are going to handle it. In a sadistic sort of way I am looking forward to it, just to suffer so that when I get back to CO I will be that much happier.
What will it be like to be "home" but not be at our home?
I am reading a book right now that is set in 1990 Las Vegas, the author is so completely desperate to show she grew up in Vegas, it's a bit much, but I still get this crazy satisfaction from knowing exactly where or what she is talking about. She mentions Luv It frozen yogurt, a place Ryan introduced me to. He went there as a little kid all the time on the back of his parent's bike. It's a little shack in downtown, seems like you'd really have to be a native to know about it. The author also talks about Odyssey Records (no longer in existence) and Walden Books on Maryland(also no longer in existence). Really it is so weird how that kind of familiarity is like a warm blanket from my memory to my heart. Ryan and I often wonder if we will ever know CO like we know Vegas.
Life here in Castle Rock moves ahead, we have been having FHE- silly ones really. Three weeks ago we had to clean the minivan (Im a bit obsessive about it right now with it being new) so we did a whole "clean" theme. Last week we had a root beer tasting contest and then went to the library. Ryan swore up and down that he could tell the expensive root beer from the others, so I tested him and he was right! He's in LOVE with Weinhard's Root Beer. It is way good, but should be since it is so expensive! I was loving IBC the best, but my sugar addicted butt will down warm MUG too, so I'm not really the root beer connoisseur Ryan is. Jules got in on the action and tried to guess if she was drinking her chocolate milk- she was- what a champ! Now tonight we had an impromptu Sesame Street puppet show. I did the first scene and Julia did the next, which it then quickly turned into a game of hide and seek in which we had to go find the dolls. FUN MAN! You can't beat these days. I was thinking how great it is, and how much I take for granted that she wants to hang out with us. When she's driving me crazy for attention, I should cherish it because all too soon will come the days when I will probably have to beg her to talk to me. I hope not though!
And last but not least I think I have "baby fever". Is that crazy? I think about being pregnant all the time. HELLO? I still have a baby! Really the infertility trauma probably messed with my head, now I feel like we have to have them as fast as possible, plus Lauren is such a doll she makes me want 50 more! Anyway that's a huge part of where my head is a lot lately. I have good signs though that my body is at least not menopausal- the lovely PMS. I think Sunday I put on 4 different outfits, literally pulled my hair out and swore to shave my head; I was just a beast. Gotta love those hormones fluxes!

Castle Rock Bugs

Well we did it, we found ONE thing we don't like about Castle Rock... MOSQUITOES!!!
We got a good taste of them this week, Ryan and I both are all bit up from head to toe! It is so yucky; I am freaked out and feel a bit trapped in our house. I don't really trust the sprays, you know spraying insecticide on your skin can't be good, although West Nile Virus isn't either, so who knows what we'll do! For now we're taking turns scratching each other and we nixed a camping trip. Sad.

Eats without meats

Lovin dinner last night- great for the heat of summer- try it you'll love it too!
Italian Summer Salad
16oz. Farfalle (bowtie pasta)
1/3 C. virgin olive oil
1/3 C. balsamic vinegar
1-1/2 C. chopped tomatoes
3/4 C. black olives broken (or whole if your 3 year old likes putting them on her fingers)
2 C. fresh spinach leaves chopped
1/4 C. green onion chopped
1/4 C. Romano cheese, grated (in the same isle as the parmesan)
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
Cook pasta, rinse until cool. Toss well with remaining ingredients. Chill and serve.

Now top the healthy dinner off with COOKIE PIZZA and you'll be in heaven! It makes extra "frosting" which I am currently dipping raspberries and strawberries in right now, DELISH!

COOKIE PIZZA
1 18oz package refrigerated choc. chip cookie dough
1 8oz package cream cheese
1 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa
1/3 C Sugar
2 C. Cool Whip ( i used chocolate cool whip)
slices strawberries
chocolate chips
Press Cookie dough in 12 inch pizza pan. Bake 350 for 20 minutes OR until golden.
Cool.
Beat softened cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa until blended. Fold in cool whip.
Spread cream cheese mixture over crust, top with fruit and chips. Serve right away or cover and refrigerate.

Worked out again last night and felt really great! Traded in my Ben & Jerry's for frozen yogurt, yeah baby!

Julia is such a great artist- totally Picaso! Look at this portrait of her dad! She observes so much! I never taught her how to make faces, besides pumpkins, last Halloween, and now she busts these out and amazes us. Today was the first time she made eyeballs and lashes. Two days ago she drew herself ( a little head) with two lines going down the entire length of the paper and excitedly told me they were her feet. SO CUTE!
I am trying to spend quality time with these little loves of mine. During the day it feels like it is dragging and I have so much to do, trying to clean up last night's dishes, do laundry, pick up the continual messes, take out garbage, and then there are the "other" chores that might get done every now and then like toilets, tubs, windows, floors, etc. Then we have to eat and get dressed, but all Jules wants to do is play. She was in the sandbox today, we fed birds, she colored, and we played The Crocodile Game ,where we line up the kitchen chairs across the livingroom to the couch and jump from chair to chair until we land safely on the couch out of the croc's reach. Lauren just watches like we're nuts. Sometimes I get to jump, but mostly I am the crocodile. So as I put Julia in the bath she says, "thanks for the fun time mom". Ahhhhhhh! Could there be anything more heartmelting???? Chores will just keep piling up, because Julia taught me today how important it is to PLAY, and here it is late afternoon, the girls are napping and the day has flown.
PS- I have just licked clean the rest of the cookie pizza frosting- who needs fruit?? YUM!

Castle Rock Never Let's Us Down

It was one of those wonderful Castle Rock weekends. We are continually amazed by this place! Our homeowners' association put on this HUGE picnic at the park. They had hamburgers and hot dogs with lots of other goodies, jumpy houses and slides, carnival games with a ticket redemption program that rivals Pistol Pete's. It was fun, although it was reminiscent of Vegas with the record heat (102). Next we went swimming, or as Ryan called it, the ultimate bath- ewww. After dinner we went downtown to watch Madagascar on a big outdoor screen. It was super cool! I will spare you the negative whining moments and let you assume it was a truly perfect day, but as I'm sure you can surmise, being in all that heat with all that activity we were a little on the cranky side, at least mom was.
We look forward to the weekends so much, there is always something to do and it's so fun being together as a family!

Why do I work out

only to come home and eat twice the amount of calories I just spent what felt like eternity working off? Seriously I'm killing myself on the stair climber, at all of level 4 out of like 20, (okay level 20 on the stair climber is insane- who does that???) then come home and polish off a whole pint of Ben and Jerry's! Make any sense? I did have a bit more energy and my muscles are hurting today, so maybe in some round about-talk -myself- into- it- way it did some good.
Anyway Julia did awesome in her swim lessons. I am pretty sure the only thing they are teaching her is to trust an adult in the water, because what they were doing seems useless when it comes to actually swimming. I think private lessons are the only way to go with her.
Lauren went in the swing at the park for the first time yesterday! YAY! She really liked it in her mellow, this is cool, way. Colorado is definitely keeping us active!

Wanna Good Read?

I just finished this book and it was the best thing I have read in a LONG time!!! I saw it at Barnes & Noble a few months ago and figured I'd get it some other time. Well thankfully Michelle left a copy for me and I absolutely drank it up! If you're a dog lover you will really appreciate the mentality of the author, it has great insight to life and parenthood and is a great reminder to live and have a good time doing it. I don't think I will ruin it if I tell you about the end, but in case you don't want to know, don't read the following in red...
You can kind of figure from the beginning that the end of the book is the end of Marley's life, but in the midst of reading you are so entertained with him, as well as with the lives of his humans. The end kills though, you will absolutely fall in love with the pup, and to see him pass on is soooo sad, but it also leaves you with a sense that life goes on. For me it was like really experiencing his death, I of course am a quite good at crying, so I was a mess this morning.
It also made me think of my best dog Snickers, any of you who might had have the pleasure of knowing him also probably had the pleasure of being bit by him, but he was my baby, before my real babies got here. It also made me reflect on how I treat Moby. Getting a dog right before my girls were born was probably the most inhumane thing we could have done to an animal, she's so neglected. I am going to try and be more loving and patient with her.
There was one part I marked to remember because the author describes it so well, he writes about how he and his wife felt about their kids and why they wanted another one, " Even on the worst days, we usually managed to find something to smile over, knowing by now what every parent sooner or later figures out, that these wonderous days of early parenthood- of diapered bottoms and first teeth and incomprehensible jabber- are but a brilliant, brief flash in the vastness of an otherwise ordinary lifetime." That is such a beautiful description of what my life is right now! I can really tell I am in the midst of a brilliant flash right now and I love it! Here are my silly girls- Julia came out of the bathroom looking oh so beautiful after applying handsoap to hair like some kind of hair gel. And Lauren Grace chopping on a teether biscuit, but looking much more like she's enjoying a good cigar. Always something to smile and even laugh about around here!

Brusha-brusha-brusha

NO CAVITIES! It was such a fun experience, Julia was AWESOME! She always makes me so proud! She wasn't at all scared, although she did ask me to hold her hand when she was laying down having her teeth cleaned (made me feel so good I could comfort her). Dentists sure have come a long way let me tell ya! There were flat screen t.v.s on the ceilings above each "bed" so kids can watch a movie while they're having their teeth cleaned and examined. Jules was totally in to Madagascar- she likes to "move it move it".
My only memory of the dentist as a kid is having the gas put up my nose and the doctor saying "doesn't it smell like hamburgers and pizza", umm NO! It smelled like YUCK and I was not at all trusting what was going to happen. To this day I can't stand the dentist, I seriously rather give birth! At least then you have this great pay off for all the pain.



Princess Julia getting x-rays of her teeth! So cool!

Time Heals All Wounds...

and a few hundred miles doesn't hurt.
Ryan's parents and brother were here for the weekend. It went exceptionally well, much to everyone's relief, I'm sure. It rained all weekend, but we still caught the first 4 innings of a Rockies game (way fun!) and saw almost all of the zoo under umbrellas and ponchos. We celebrated Papa and Uncle Alex's birthdays Sunday night and then said good-bye.
The big news of the weekend- Lauren started saying mama and baba- without meaning, but it won't long and she'll know who she's calling! yay!

Oh and I change the settings so now EVERYONE can comment- that means you too Holly!!! yahoo!

Gypsies and their Babes

I think Ryan and I have gypsy blood in us, we were already talking about where we want to live next! I think our heart is set on the East Coast- NY, PA, CT, MA, MN, DC any of those states would be awesome, but I think it's a far ways off. We have to see how we deal with the snow here. I think this place is a training ground for our future. I have always loved the saying "Give your children roots and wings", I really got to work on the roots part!!! It is just so fun experiencing new places, I know we could just visit, but there is something so real and unique about incorporating yourself in a new place, it's like you can feel yourself growing and learning, it's cool.
Now my babes..OH I LOVE THEM! I was rocking Lauren this morning so peacefully and all these emotions flooded me. I can remember those first couple weeks of her life, sleeping in the recliner with her on my chest with only the Christmas tree lights on. It was so magical, just holding my baby that I had craved for. There are lots of moments in my mind of holding her and just breathing in her smell and softness. Each night in Vegas before I laid her in her crib, I would just hold her close and sway back and forth, usually welling up with tears for the gratitude and immense love I had for her. I am trying so hard to cherish these days with her being so tiny. Her little smiles and hard laughs when I kiss her tummy while changing her diaper. How she loves clapping, bonking her head against mine, and hearing "The Wheels On The Bus" like it's the most beautiful song she's ever heard. Her groans and hums and squeals as she tries to communicate. Most of all the look in her big round baby eyes when I holkd her close and we smile at each other and I smother her with kisses so she knows her mama loves her so much!
With Julia my memory is so different. I hate to say it but I don't really remember her as a baby. The best I can explain it is, I was absolutely overwhelming drunk with love for her. It was a whirlwind experience becoming a mom, loving my own child that I had dreamed of since being a little girl, and every second of everyday was new and challenging and as much as I tried to take it in, something new would fill it's place in my memory bank. She had me in awe every single day. I think I was able to start really collecting memories of her when she was about 15 months old. I look at her everyday and it seems like a completely different human being than the babe I scrapbooked and journaled about. She is just so incredible!!!! She's beautiful and loving and funny, and wild, and passionate, and creative, and imaginative, and just the most incredible little girl I have ever known!
I love these girls with all my heart, every mom knows what I am talking about, it's truly a miraculous thing to be a mom, even a mom that can't stay in one place for very long!

3 Cheers for the Red, White, and BLUE

We had a great 4th of July. It started out with red, white, and blue sprinkled DOUGHNUTS! YUM! ( I love that doughnuts are a treat now, when I taught I think I ate them every Friday! UGH!)
We then decided to head out to a couple lakes to check them out. Now I had an image in my head of "lake". I saw big beautiful pine trees shading a blue pristine lake with sandy beach area. What we got was the pristine blue lake with sandy beach area, but it had the landscape of Lake Mead, bummer. Still we had a great time!

Ryan was way excited to rent a boat! I am not such a huge fan of the water, I like my chlorinated pools and maybe a boat the size of the Love Boat, and that's about as far as my comfortablilty level goes. So he got us a paddle boat and we all tried doing it. Of course we would get a broken boat and had to bring it back to the dock; by that time Lauren was as big of fan as I was of "boating" so we let Dad and Julia do it alone. They looked so cute out on the water together. I guess on the other side of the lake they could see some wild dogs, so they spent a lot of time over there. They also paddled right by a duck family. I loved it when they would wave to me. After the lake we went to get some lunch and ended up at a very patriotic place- Yuki Sushi Robata. Yeah we had Japanese food on the 4th of July, go figure. It amazes me how much Julia like Japanese food, she downs California rolls and edamame like a champ!
We went home in anticipation of a BBQ that we were invited to by a couple in our ward and then fireworks. The BBQ was really really good. I don't think we fit in real well with the people. They're all from Utah if that explains anything. We were asked if it was hard for us to give up gambling when we converted. Umm...no? It was just a little weird. So anyway a big thunderstorm rolled in and we headed home only to watch NYC's fireworks on t.v. It was a nice 4th. In the back of my heart is that perfect 4th I want to have some day with a red checked tablecloth, watermelon, Ryan at the BBQ, the kids running around with their friends, drinking lemonade with my friends and just LAUGHING, and then ending with the best biggest fireworks show ever. Something to look forward to. :)

Oh Julia Makes Me Laugh, BUT...

she doesn't always see the humor....Today I made her take a nap. She went berserk! All I could do was laugh and grab my camera! She was sooooo dramatic it just cracked me up! I asked her if she wanted to take a nap in my bed and she INSTANTLY stopped crying and said yes, just more proof that she wasn't really crying in the first place. When I showed her this picture she started laughing too. Crazy girl!
All day she has been making me laugh! Her wild imagination and fascination with being married just astounds me. Her dad is really going to get a run for his money when this one starts dating, or just hits puberty and goes ga-ga over boys. You watch he's going to loose his mind.
ANYWAY.... she was in her room pretending her teddy bear was her prince, they were both sitting in chairs (Possibly thrones?). When I came in she introduced me to "Prince Charming" and said, "We got married last week."

Later we were outside trying to feed a bird that was in our birdhouse some bread. I was scared to death so I was using tongs to put the bread in the birdhouse, that in itself creates a hilarious mental picture, but then Julia says, "I'm going to fall down and you be the Daddy say, 'Oh no my ballerina die'". And she proceeded to fall down and close her eyes.

This morning as I was digging out some 4th of July decorations I found a ballerina Halloween costume I bought for $.50 two years ago, I figured I'd use it sometime, and today was the day! I put Lauren Grace in it then got Julia in hers, sooooo CUTE! I then started messing with the edit thing on our computer and came up with these great shots!!! I love what you can do with photography now!
What a Happy Day!!!! Oh yeah and our Vegas house FINALLY closed today!!!!!!!! We're here to stay!

The Dunsmoor's Come to Castle Rock!

YAY! One of our BEST FRIENDS came out to visit us and it was such a great weekend!
Like no time had passed Julia and Avry were playing together like the BEST FRIENDS that they are, it was so sweet. I loved listening to their little conversations, for example...
Julia:(opening up the door to our garage) "Hey Avry wanna see my new car? Look Avry two cars."
Avry: "Oh my goodness, that's too many."
There were so many cute things like that said over the weekend, those little girls are so precious! I love that they're best friends.
It was more refreshing than I knew to have GOOD friends here with us in Castle Rock. All this visiting is great, but it really is so hard to see everyone go back home. Having family and friends, (and friends that are like family) here truly makes this the PERFECT place to live. We miss you all so much!
We went out to dinner Friday night and then got ice cream, which is next door to the fire station, so we stopped by to say hi to the Castle Rock firefighters. They were soooo friendly! Julia and Avry got to sit in the fire truck and wear a helmet, then they got to take home their own helmets. It was very cute.
Saturday we looked at some "Michelle & Spencer" homes. GORGEOUS!!! It made me so excited to think about them living here, it really is a great place to live, but they kept saying they didn't want to live where it snows, so we're out I guess. (sad) We then headed to the zoo. Can you tell we love that place?
It was great fun, but wore us out! The babies were so good! The girls were a blast! It was really really funny to watch them watch a Mama lion clean her cub. Avry was quite concerned the mama was hurting the cub and at one point yelled,"Noooooo". They both really liked the elephants and were very engrossed by the elephant's poo-poo that Michelle pointed out to them. We saw hippos and a rhino, which wanted out of it's indoor quarters and when a zookeeper let it out Julia cried, "Yay you got out!" Jules & Avry loved running around chasing the bunnies that live all over the park grounds. Such a nice afternoon.

We had a BBQ that night, its always so fun to have dinner with friends! After the kids went down we started a movie, the Adams were the only ones left by the end of it! Spencer crashed pretty quick and after a long fight Michelle gave in. Today we went to Sacrament together and then they had to get ready to head to the airport. It worked out well saying goodbye at church, since I cried (like usual when I have to say goodbye), so it was good to have somewhere to go to occupy my attention.

Michelle and Spencer have always been such good friends. I guess when they visited I realized how far away we really are and how we won't get to see each other as much as we use to. The past two months I have been so focused on getting here and getting adjusted and then anticipating these visits, that I hadn't stopped to think about the reality of not seeing my loved ones on a regular basis. Its such a blessing to have these friendship and although we would LOVE for Michelle and Spencer to move here, because as Spencer said, "there are only cool people in Castle Rock", we know everyone has to find their own perfect spot in the world. Thanks guys for coming to share ours for a while, can't wait to have you back!!!!