Tuesday...

It's been another fun and busy day!

In lieu of trying to come up with clever banter, today will mostly be pics.

I'm tired.

Night Shifters don't sleep well at night...

apparently even in the mountains with the fan blowing, the river flowing, and rain pitter pattering the deck.

Even when you don't think you could be any more exhausted.

It's a hard life...sigh.

So, today was mostly just shopping and hanging out down town.

Delicious Candy Apples!!

and how does Ace eat his carmel, chocolate, coconut apple???

My idea of heaven in a box...

Seriously folks...

this little shop in downtown makes the BEST cinnamon taffy a girl could ever dream of!

Since we'll be looking for snow tomorrow, Bug and Hubs are sporting some new hiking boots!

The brave among us headed out for some bumper boat fun...

and were absolutely soaked in the process...

and yes, that is my amazing, valiant, fearless Hubs 

hiding behind my 3 y.o. using clever tactical maneuvers in attempt to come out dry...

didn't work out too well...everybody involved was soaked through!

Lucky for them, there were go karts right next door.

By the end of the fun we were pooped!

and needed a boost...

and after dinner...

we could barely keep our eyes open :)

Never fear, he rallied after this shot and had to be wrestled to sleep later.

Wildlife for Grammy...

It's no secret that we love our Gram...well, Grandpa too for that matter.

Bug and Ace were very sad when they couldn't make the trip with us.

Now, Gram, I bet your wishing you were here with us...

you see, Gram, for the last 12+ years we've ventured to RMNP, has been on the lookout for the elusive 

Big Horned Sheep

No matter how hard she tries...she's either too early or too late.

The only time she's seen them, she was so frustrated that Nana insisted (over and over) that she saw those "ram horns" first that she wasn't able to full appreciate the experience :)

So, what did we come across tonight  on our first venture into the park??

You got it!

Look Gram...the Ram Horns :)

In other interesting news, we are excited that a lot of elk are still down in the lower areas...

We saw this big group in a meadow right inside the entrance

then went on to see some really big bucks later...when my camera batteries died :(

Then, something we've never seen here before literally ran right in front of the car...

a badger

Sorry for the behind view...that thing was fast!

Here he is after I blew him up in iphoto.

Whew...I have forgotten how beautiful it is here!

Hope you enjoy your picture Gram...missin ya big time!

Views...

Well, we've finally made it!

Here's a few views from the ride up.

I tried taking a picture of the thermometer on the car, but it didn't turn out...

any guesses on what it said??

73!!!

Amazing!

Memorial Day/Happy Bday JJ...

JJ's birthday fell on Memorial Day this year!

The whole family got together to celebrate.

What happened to his cake, you may ask??

This happened :)

Aunt Christel let the nieces and nephews pitch in with cake decorating duty.

They REALLY got into it!

He didn't mind at all...

come on, who doesn't enjoy a little extra butter cream anyways!

In other important news...

Check out how big baby B's getting!!

Her uncle loves her!!

He's in a race to get sweet girl crawling before Aunt Bec gets back from her honeymoon :)

and she's getting close!

With both of their persistence...who knows?

She could be running soon :)

Reluctant, but necessary...

OK, I've officially decided to break my blogging silence about a certain life event...

one that occurred about 2 months ago.

My cousin has been chiding me about it every chance she gets.

There's been several reasons not to mention it,

but tonight, as I stand thankful, I'll just blurt it out in true bloggy fashion.

Hubs bought me a minivan.

Ick...

OK,

maybe it's not so bad.

After all, I did get 2 of the things I demanded politely asked for:

leather

built in DVD player

After all, a girl can only take so many screams and yells about how Ace just unplugged the DVD with his toes again...

and Ace's whining that he awready saw dis part.

So, after 10+ hrs in the minivan today I am developing a new perspective and have developed a rather reluctant list of things I am thankful for...

built in DVD player that I control

wireless headsets

plenty-o-room

(incl room to separate fighting children...which by some miracle didn't occur much)

aux adapter for ipod

ability to slide door open and become small boy's port-o-pot

pretty good gas mileage.

OK, that's enough.

Hope all is well with everybody!

Oh, and to all our TX friends...

you'll never guess what we saw today.

RAIN!

We had almost forgotten what the stuff was :)

Just A Snippet...

Today was a big day for our family!

Bec had a great wedding...

here's a small smippet of what we've been up to.

How to Throw the Best Party Ever...

Alternately titled:

The Day the Crawfish Died

I'm going to let you guys in on a secret...

Hubs is turning 30 soon!

Shh...

So, we decided to go off the beaten bday party path and have a bone-a-fide 

Crawfish Boil!

Here's a few things we learned...

Crawfish are feisty.

Those pinchers are quick.

So, they should be handled by only by the brave and fearless....

and sometimes shirtless :)  or, 

with the net that Ace bugged you to death about last week at Cabela's 

(a purchase that totally makes sense now!)

Next, you need a big pot...

we went with the 100 qt, it was on sale.

(and now a disclaimer...there are dead things coming up...run!)

I had to step away for the next part.

I'm told that you just throw them in the strainer and sink'em into the boiling water...

but I didn't want to hear the screaming.

I'm just a softy like that.

Next, because I'm not the only softy around, we decided to provide alternative food sources.

My trusty brother JRod was our grill chef extraordinaire for the evening.

He cooked hot dogs for the kids, chicken and veggies for the moms.  

And, let me just add, did an amazing job!

Now, I didn't think they were really going to do this, but I sure didn't want those things in my house...

so the just dumped the craw fish out on the table outside and put a trashcan at the end.

It was for the best.

A big, happy, community table :)

It was a great, fun evening. 

We got to catch up with a few friends we hadn't seen in a while, and enjoy family.

We were once again thankful for our new house and yard that allows us to bring everybody together comfortably for fun and fellowship!

We will definitely try to do this again! 

The kids had a great time too...

Poor Bug was a little outnumbered.

I didn't realize until everybody was there that she was the only girl!

The closest to her was baby B...

who at an astounding 6 mo old wasn't up to enjoying the water slide!