Sunday, November 11, 2007

For Grandma Peanut!

Thanks for the CUTE dresses! Its quite the accomplishment to get a good picture of the both of them! But the out takes are sooo funny! They are precious and hilarious!
















FINALLY!!!



And here is a silly one Ryan took of her tonight- she did this all onher own, thought it was funny to do what the turkey was doing! :) (She has her bike helmet on!!! )

Saturday, August 11, 2007

All We Need Is Help

See HERE please! The beauty is we're not asking for donations, any items of clothing or household appliances you may no longer need, OR aluminum cans. We just need your time and skills.
THANKS!!!!

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Rainy Rockies

Ryan's work got everyone and their family Rockies tickets for this weekend's game against the Dodgers. We were EXCITED!!! FREE TICKETS, and not rock pile tickets either!!!

Yeah it rained.

It rained hard.

But being the ever optimists we still headed for the train station and went downtown. We did hear on the radio that the game was never started, but GREAT, we were already like an hour late so ha ha ha everyone that shows up on time, WE were still going to make it, I mean it was barely sprinkling.

So we take the train, oh how we love mass transportation! It reminded me so much of England it was freaking me out! I was actually feeling homesick (My emotion of choice for the three months we lived there)! Then I felt like Harry Potter, well not like I was him, but that I was cool and he really really liked me because I was riding on a train. (yeah I'm crazy!).



Soooo, we make it downtown and masses of people are heading for the train...hmmmm... no it couldn't be. We ask someone, they say the game was called. No we push on, not believing we paid $11 to ride a train for nothing. Its the Rockies, they can handle rain, right?

Apparently not.

So we headed back for the train and chucked it up to something better to do than sitting at home.

Man if the girls weren't with us we kept thinking of all the fun things we would do downtown in the rain. How romantic. But the girls were with us, and instead of romance we got lots of laughs.






Anyway Colorado still rules!

Monday, July 09, 2007

BYE BYE CCC

So I think the Colorado Cool Cats should be ending. I have thought this for a while. We started this to chronicle our Colorado Adventure and I think we have done a great job. I am now completely addicted to blogging and can't stop, no matter how many times Blogger tries to sabotage me. So I have a new blog here! It is going to be private, I have put the addresses in that I know, but it isn't a huge list. If you're not sent there, just email me and I will add your name right away, because as sad as it is, I live for comments. ryanchanel@msn.com
THANKS!
And who knows maybe I'll post here every now and then. Everyone has a bunch of blogs right? Yeah that and really cool headers that I wish I had. One step at a time!

SUE IS MY HERO!!!!!!!

THANK YOU SUE!!!
I HAVE MY TITLES BACK!
I am OCD.
Blogger knows this and hates me.
It will not let me title my blogs anymore and due to my OCD, I am finding it very hard to blog. What am I going to do? I even started a new blog in hopes of tricking Blogger, but the Blogger can not be fooled. It will not allow titles there either! SAD!
I know you want to know about the fresh CO peaches I got today, the 11 tomatoes growing in my garden, and all about my talk in church yesterday, but without a title I just don't think I can blog.
Yes I have checked my title bar settings and it is set to YES, I WANT A TITLE. But again, the Blogger's vengeance is all encompassing and it does not care about settings. I am scared, what's next, no spell check???? That would completely do me in.

Thursday, July 05, 2007

God Bless....

1. MY CUTE PATRIOTIC GIRLS! Can I just say I love dressing them up! Yeah you see right, Julia's sporting a side ponytail, she's AWESOME! And Lulu really liked that she had a "Fie cacka" on her shirt!

2. PF Changs for giving us one of the best lunches I have ever had in my life! We ate out on the patio (which I LOVE doing), the food was amazing, the girls were perfect, and the conversation with my BEST FRIEND was wonderful- lots of laughs!!

3. The freedom to change our minds one hundred million thousand billion times. Do we want to move from Castle Rock? (Currently voted one of the TOP 10 BEST places to live in America by Family Circle magazine!!)??? We talked a lot about our options, and we just know we'd be leaving A LOT if we left for Ryan to go to school. He's going to look into a few different jobs for a little more here. We're just praying to follow the Lord's direction on this one.

4. Harry Potter. I finished reading the 6th book for a second time, to brush up on the story line in anticipation for book 7! TWO WEEKS BABY! I am completely obsessed with this book. I love Harry Potter and seriously want to be a witch. The church would have no problem with that statement right?

5. Free 4th Festivals, but better yet, being local and knowing better. See we went to check out the festival our top 10 city put on, ummmmm, a couple jumpy houses and some FREAKY entertainment sums it up. (Pictured is the SCARY weirdo playing his bell contraption. It was a piano that sounds like doorbells. WHY oh WHY was he wearing a mask?? Ryan and I couldn't stop laughing. Even more disturbing than phantom bell guy was the complete interest of our fellow Castle Rockians. WHAT?)
The 45minute+ firework extravaganza was sweet, but our girls were fading so we headed to the car early- good thing! There were thousands of people OUTSIDE the fair grounds. SMART people, that's what we'll do next year. The girls loved the fireworks and we had a great evening.

6. Sparklers at home. There really isn't anything more 4th of Julyish than that. Although I did miss having a BBQ!

Sunday, July 01, 2007

Crayons and Camping

We made some wicked cool crayons Thursday. It was a fun EASY project, the best part was watching them melt. Well Julia also really liked taking the cupcake wrappers off them too.





















We went camping Friday and it was really fun. The best part was watching the girls have a camping experience. Julia LOVES to camp, she said so all night long. Lauren was awesome, camping agrees with her too. Poor thing had to share a sleeping bag with me and this for a girl who does not like to be covered up, it was challenging, but she only woke up once, although the whole camp knew she was up, we were both pretty agitated.
I LOVED making Hawaiian haystacks for dinner- they are THE best and we only have then when camping so its a cool little tradition we started last year. The girls eat them up which is also why I love them.

There was some SCARY lightening for about 20 minutes so we made sure to roast our marshmallows and head for bed. So glad it didn't storm!!!

Jules Bean

"Tell me how you got hurt when you were my age". This is what is said after EVERY boo-boo she gets. Scrapes, bug bites, scratches, aches, splinters, anything is cured by telling her of my own heroic childhood survival stories.
I can just picture 25 years from now, "Mom, tell me how it was when you were in labor."

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Happy Birthday Rebecca!!!

So my first best friend in Castle Rock, Rebecca Ann Carlton Jones, turned 26 today! Last year I dropped the ball, but we had barely known each other, right, right?, then again I am her Visiting Teacher so there is no excuse. This year though, I made it right.

I brought the troops over to her house and made her breakfast. It was super fun and she is the prettiest person I know, wakes up gorgeous, but maybe back when I was 26 it was that way too, Im just saying. We had pancakes and eggs and best of all, chit chat. Lovely morning!

For lunch Kristen joined us and we all ate some more! I LOVE birthdays, holidays, any day where there is lots of food! Boston Cream Pie (its really a cake... who knew?) was divine, thanks to Kristen throwing caution to the wind and not going by the high altitude instructions! WILD WOMAN.

Rebecca always always always makes me laugh, she defends TX til the end, loves BYU, and will not let me move from CO without a lot of lip (shoot me in the head)- HA I love that one the best! She doesn't think she is creative but she totally is- you should see her CUTE decorated house! She was even more excited than me to make jam and is the all time best stirrer. I love her to death and am so grateful for her friendship!

PS just so yall know, Pearl Harbor Day is December 7, just one of the MANY crazy dates she has memorized.

***(all "Rebecca famous" phrases are in red)

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Stay Puft Marshmallow Man

So you all remember the final seen in Ghostbusters? Yeah that was pretty much our night last night. There was some wicked lightening and then the whole world went orange. Ryan and I were contemplating if this perhaps was the end. I'm glad to say I am able to blog about it this morning so the end has not come.

Tell me what you think these clouds look like. I will tell you what Ryan and I both blurted out after we hear your thoughts.

Julia said "look mittens". Good call.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The rest of our weekend

Saturday our ward's Girls Camp Fundraiser was held. We had a service auction and Ryan was the auctioneer- if he's looking for school, I think he should look into auctioneer school, he's a natural. He had everyone completely entertained as you can imagine; Ryan + microphone + cowboy hat = funny things. Plus he pinched quite a few pennies out of people! nice!!


This morning I made Caitlin's muffins. Soooooo BERRY good. I used the (organic) raspberry and blackberry combo, they were so delicious, so fresh tasting, nothing artificial and I could really tell. Pure and yummy. It was way fun making them with the girls too. Julia was my super mixer and Lauren my super batter eater.
Tonight Ryan has left for Montana for some dumb work thing. I HATE it when he leaves, especially on a puddle jumper plane!!! All my nervous energy has been spent on reprimanding the children. Here they are in time out, can you tell it was kind of a half butt attempt to punish them? You can't put two kids next to each other in timeout, I know that. But I was also just being cranky. What got them there was Lauren colored marker on Julia and Julia let her, so I figured they both needed severe discipline...whatever. Since they were both butt naked and in timeout I thought I'd take their picture, I just love them!!!

Had such a good day today. I love uplifting Sundays. Our Sunday school lesson was awesome. It was titled Love One Another. I really really needed it after having a bad taste in my mouth with some people over the above mentioned auction. Serving people is easy, but not getting the appreciation is hard. I think I am a very thankful person, so when crap is given in return for honest effort and diligence on the behalf of others I get irked. Anyway HF came through for me on this one and gave me this great lesson, which I took a lot away from it. I love this gospel, I love Christ's teachings, and I really love serving Him, even when its thankless ( I just have to remember its about doing His will.)

Friday, June 22, 2007

Let Me Take You To

Funky Town!

Actually it's Tiny Town, it's an actual town, I think? It's one of those places when you live in Colorado you have to see and store the madness in the back of your subconscious. Miniature houses? Honestly I was hoping miniature people LIVED there and we would have been walking into a complete real life freak show (I'm not right am I?), but it was just doll houses and some of them the kids could go in. The whole reason we went was the in-laws are in town and one must stay busy with the in-laws. For the first part I stayed in the car with a sleeping Lauren who just got her 18month shots- POOR BABE! Her leg is so sore! DUMB NURSE! Anyway here are the pictures I found on my camera....we managed to create our own freak shows. :)
This one makes me laugh! It's Ryan and his brother.






So yesterday m.i.l and I took the girls to The Butterfly Pavilion- now that was cool! They have a room with some NAS-TAY Fear Factor bugs, but the redeeming factor is the rain forest room which is just that and there are literally HUNDREDS of butterflies flying around! It was kinda magical. All the magic ended however when a big A butterfly landed its insect self on my precious baby's forehead! Now I know all you better creative moms would have taken this once in a lifetime moment and gotten a surefire blue ribbon incredible scrapbook page picture, what I did on the other hand was flip my lid and manage to not only scar my child for life with my screaming but flicked the glorious creature off her head with the little guide book we were given, and then proceeded to release another blood curdling scream just for good measure. The rest of the time I had to assure Lauren we were leaving as she kept putting her hand to her head and frowning then making a car noise to let me know she wanted to GO! I think I have brainwashed her enough now that she believes the butterfly was just giving her a kiss and a hug. Fun times! In retrospect it was really cool that the BIG (Im talking covered Luaren's entire forehead big) white butterfly so delicately landed on this angel of mine, like they are just one with each other. What did I think a butterfly would do? Anyway, I am a mother bear, and I will take down ANYTHING that threatens my cubs, yes even gentle butterflies.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

loved this quote

we are standing at the meeting of two eternities: the vast past and future. we can't possibly live in either of those two eternities...but by trying to do so we can wreck both our bodies and our minds. so live from now until bedtime. 'anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall,' wrote robert lewis stevenson, 'anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. and this is all life really means.'"

found it here

we're thinking about moving to Atlanta Georgia so Ryan can go to this Rad Ad School. Trying to take it one day at a time- but Im freaking excited to live in the SOUTH!

Monday, June 18, 2007

Big Daddy

Yahoo for Father's Day! I say that because I didn't have to cook Saturday!!! I forced Ryan to eat out and when all the places he picked were extremely busy or too expensive, we got to go to my favorite- Red Robin! YAY for Father's Day!!! Then Ryan went to use the Gift Card his parents sent to him for Target and while he picked out a watch I picked out a new swim suit and lovely necklace! I LOVE FATHER'S DAY!


The actual Father's Day was slammin. I made him breakfast and then he got his presents! He got a cute little picture foam frame that Julia made in school (it is decorated with crosses and little Jesus fish that you see on the back of people's cars. HA!), 20Q Music addition (we have yet to stump it!), and this wonderful bowl to match his 2004 Father's Day salsa bowl, now he can have chips and salsa! The salsa bowl has Julia's feet and the chip bowl has Lauren's feet. So cute!!
Here they are about to go to church
(yay Lauren can wear a bow!), where Julia sang I Am A Child Of God ( so good!!!) and as protocol Lauren screamed her head off when Julia went up there, so strange! The speakers were really good and it was one of the best church days I have had here! Oh and I have to beem here for a minute, do you see little miss Lauren? Yeah she DRESSED herself today! I am not exaggerating in the least. This little one came walking in my bathroom with her bloomers on and her dress!!! I couldn't believe it! She's incredible!

Afterwards we headed home for our Father's Day BBQ with the Johnsons and Jones. SO FUN! Such amazingly delicious food!!!! I love having my house filled with laughter and love, these will always be some of my BEST memories!!!
And a garden update: we ate the peas, they were super good. And now we have two tomatoes growing!!! I'M SO EXCITED!!!! Common Strawberries!!

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

A Maaaaaavelous Day

Yesterday turned out soooo great! The girls and I headed out to get Ryan's Father's Day gift. It didn't work out exactly how I wanted but that turned into a good thing because we got to stop and have lunch. We went to Panerra, now I realize I am probably the last person in the middle class of America that hasn't eaten there, so forgive me for freaking out here, but that place is AWESOME! I don't know why I have been so skeptical, everyone likes it. I just thought bread? soup? big deal! Yeah dude, its a big deal! I loved loved loved that the kids meal came with organic milk or juice and organic yogurt! How cool is that? Food was GREAT! I'm in love. The most fun part though was just having lunch with my girls. Oh how I love them and am so grateful for them. My little buddies, my best friends, my daughters! Sometimes the weight that I am their mother hits me full force and I am so humbled by this. Lauren is turning into her own little person and I know before I know it she is going to be this intellectual having conversations with us, and I am going to miss this "baby" time where she repeats the same hard to make out word over and over and cracks us up. She and Julia are in full communication which is just adorable. Lauren calls her "JooJa", that's the same way Julia said her own name at that age. Well anyway we watched a "Bear In The Big Blue House" episode the night before and there was a tea party seen where they kept saying every thing was "simply Maaavelous!" so Julia and I began saying that at our lunch and it was just so cute and fun. As we were leaving she called me by saying, "Maaaavelous girl....", she is soooo funny!
We got Ryan's Father's Day presents taken care of and then the girls got to go to Gymboree. Lauren was the only one that showed up so Julia got to go in with her and play, oh they had fun!


This morning when Lauren woke up Julia ran in their room and said, "Remember we went to Gymbazee together Lolinn", so precious! They are just the best of friends and I love it!


So the clincher of the night was DINNER! Candace this one's for you.... Chicken tacos, but here are the secrets..
Guacamole- 3 ripe avocados
1/4- 1/2 c. chopped onion
1Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. salt
Mash it all together- HEAVEN! You can add tomatoes if you like.

Then put a little oil in a pan and cook your tortillas (corn or flour) until light golden, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, oh its soooo fabulous!
I put the chicken on the grill first then shredded it and cooked it with taco seasoning.
Fill the tortillas with the guacamole, diced tomatoes, lettuce, cheese, and chicken, its the best dinner EVER! We had beans with it, but who cares, you just can't stop eating the tacos and guacamole!
ENJOY!

Tonight we're having this! Im sure it will be incredible!

And on a spiritual note, if you haven't read or heard this talk from conference, take a peek. Holly told me about it forever ago and when I finally read it, man hit me like a ton of bricks. Thanks Hol!


Monday, June 11, 2007

More trip tid bits

Great Pictures of Nauvoo! Erica took the pictures I wish I had! Seriously Nauvoo is the greatest.
I bought this dinner roll basket from a real life Amish man. He was selling them on the side of the road and I was sooooo excited! If you haven't figured out I have a little Amish fetish. I want to be Amish, at least for a day. I was so embarrassed when I bought it because I pull up to his horse drawn wagon in my minivan with DVD players strapped in front of my children and realize I only have a debit card to pay with! DUH! I want to kick my butt for not making a good impression. How am I suppose to get invite to their farm if I am so obviously not Amish? Dang it! Whatever, I at least got a sweet basket!

Then on our way back from Chicago we stopped at my dream store- IKEA! Yeah baby! Ryan and I just walked around dreaming of a life in which we sold all our crap we have now and replace it with Ikea crap, that would be so wonderful! I only got a set of towels (to put in my Amish basket to cover my rolls) and some big ol Ikea bags to bring to the grocery store- NO MORE PLASTIC OR PAPER BAGS! And the best part is the bags were only 59 cents!!!! BEAT THAT suckas! Oprah and her $10 bags, pa-sha!

Newnesses


WE HAVE PEAS!!!!

I was a little sad when I got home and found my garden in sad dry shape. Im trying to nurse it back to health and was shocked to find some pea pods!!! YAHOO!!! I was sooooooooo happy! I don't even really like peas, but I will now! I WILL LOVE THEM!

Some funny things Lauren has started saying-

"OP!" for stop, which she screams all the time at her sister, and at me when I sing along to the CD in the car.

"Bob" for Mobe, our dog. She calls "bob" out the window to try and get Moby to come in.

She also sings "popcorn" from church. She has the tune and will belt out a couple words like "eyes" and "pop pop pop" and "ball".

She's so dang smart!

And one more new thing around here- I moved all the toys and kid furniture into the basement bedroom and now have a very neat more livable basement family room and it feels soooo great! My mom always moved furniture around with the change of seasons, I must have picked up on it, because I do love change.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

Home Again Home Again

Yay for being home! Yay for a super stupendous vacation! Driving wasn't nearly as awful as I thought it was going to be. Besides Lauren throwing up only three hours after we left all went very smoothly.
Some observations about the states we went through....
Kansas: Why did Dorthy WANT to go back there? Oz is way more interesting! Pretty much just cows and fields, and religious billboards.
Missouri: Well Missourians can eat, lets put it that way. I have never been to a nicer Walmart, it was seriously like the TajMahal of Walmarts. And by the way can I just profess my love for the Walmarts around this great nation. You really never need to pack well again with these havens splatter from sea to shinning sea. I know WalMart gives everyone the cooties, but man they're like a nice warm blanket to me. Maybe I am just white trash. I know I am because I am too cheap to buy the new people so I read it in the book section as my kids tear every children's book off the shelves. Whatever they were stuck in the car for like 14 hours, and its Walmart, like anyone is going to say anything.
Illinois: well I just really like Illinois. But I promise you this, if we ever hear B.S. about there not being enough corn, "THEY" are LYING!!!! That's all we drove past, billions and billions of rows of corn stalks!
Iowa: Kinda sad. Just seemed so dreary and slowpokey.
Nebraska: It has possibilities, but from what we saw it was disappointing.
Colorado: YOU RULE!
Nauvoo was awesome! We stayed in this sweet Bed and Breakfast, an original home from the pioneer time. It was so amazing to see all the church history in Nauvoo. We took a horse carriage ride, went through homes (John Taylor, Lucy Mack Smith, Heber C. Kimball), went through the old school house and the brickyard, and the bakery. There a lot of things for the kids to do, but we had to tell the tour guides to give us the short version otherwise Lauren was going to destroy things. Yeah its not really the best place for toddlers. We saw how they made bread, made bricks, and made ropes. We got a sample of each to take home, well the bread we ate! We took a little trip down the road to Carthage, and saw the Carthage jail. That touched us way more than I thought it would. It is sooo crazy to stand in those places. Ryan and I were completely enveloped by the spirit in Nauvoo, you can just feel the sacred nature of that land. It was an extremely spiritual experience. The temple is amazing, you get the most incredible feelings standing before it, knowing how much it meant to the people that built it and had to leave it.


Here is a picture, on the steps of the temple, taken by Julia. Ryan and I celebrated our 7 year anniversary there that day! So special to be at one temple on the day that you were sealed for all eternity years before in another temple.
So I don't know if we're dumb or what but the first place we stopped was the Joseph Smith Center and it wasn't until later that we figured out that that place is run by the Community of Christ (RLDS). I don't know why the missionary in a Hawaiian shirt didn't tip me off, or the fact they didn't know anything about what went on in the town??? Our church pretty much runs the show there, however all the Joseph Smith sites are owned by the RLDS. So we just drove by his home and store. We did get out and see his grave. I was so not sure what they believe or how the divide occurred so I asked one of them what the deal is. Yeah the explanation was eye popping interesting. They were very nice and I appreciated him taking the time to talk to me. It is just so reassuring that the Lord's work pressed forward after Joseph Smith's death and through the faith of the early saints the Lord had a lot to work with.
After we left Nauvoo we stayed the rest of the time at my Aunt's. We hung out a little with my best friend from my childhood, Renee, and her family. They are such FUN people! I love being with them because no matter how long we are apart, when we're together its like no time has passed. That's true friendship!

Then we spent a day in CHICAGO! Oh man, Chicago is so much like NY, we LOVE it!!!!!
WE tore that town up, going to the Sear's Tower, taking a water taxi to Navy Pier, riding the Ferris Wheel, eating Chicago PIZZA,
Almost saw AL GORE! Oh mama that would have been too cool! Instead I got a shirt (more for humor than the actual belief, but it says, "Al Gore America needs You! 2008) I loved wearing that shirt home and seeing people read it and then avert their eyes, HA! So being true to the Adams name, what do we want to do now? Move to Chicago, of course! Ryan's started looking into Ad schools, so WHO KNOWS!!! That fast paced life is much more us. There is a lot to consider, but since I feel like we still have time before Julia starts school, now is the time to figure out where we truly want to raise these girls. Although the Midwest can be a little lame, if we could live right outside Chicago, that would rock. Lauren looks like she'd fit right in the MidWest huh? Got corn?
Most importantly though is Ryan's happiness, and doing advertising it what makes him happy. I think it would be great, The Todd's are such an inspiration to us too!
I took the girls to my Grandpa's house and Julia was so excited to have her hair done in my Grandma's Beauty Shop. My Grandma did hair in her basement, had a little shop and everything down there. I have soooo many cherished memories from that basement and beauty shop, from a little little girl to a teenager. It was very surreal to being doing my little girl's hair in the place my Grandma did mine. That's the one place that is very hard for me to go back to because I miss my Grandma so much and her memory is so vivid there. But Jules and Lauren had a lot of fun and I know my Grandpa enjoyed seeing life around his house again.


We headed home Friday and the drive was a little harder on Lauren, she was way done with her funky vomit smelling car seat. Ryan was very happy we found a good Mexican retuarant to eat at. I got a lovely souvenir in freaking Council Bluffs Iowa- mosquito bite on my head which has ballooned up and I look like the elephant man as I type. (Yes faithful blog readers this happened last September too, crazy I got bit in the same spot!!!) My eye is all but swollen shut and I get to teach the Mia Maids today! WOOHOO!


In Nebraska we found this random Buffalo Bill Trading Post for the girls to run around in. Ryan professed his love for his daughters when they walked right by all the cheap toy guns, knives, and rabbit hides. They each got a sugar stick as I thought that might keep them happy for at least a half hour, and it did, bliss! We made it home and have so many great memories and a few new ideas brewing!!!