Teeth, garage sales and snow.

On September 13th, we were able to turn on the fireplace because it was chilly. First time this season and let me tell you how happy Pedro was--he loves to sit right in front of the fireplace and get warm. He won't even set on my lap when that thing is on.



Not much exciting over the last week. Layne did get two teeth pulled on the 16th and that was fun!! I was actually home sick that day and she spent the morning with me. Then her track meet was cancelled that day because of rain.

Not much work in the yard this past weekend. Heath did just a bit on Friday, but we were having a garage sale on Saturday and he helped a bunch with that. It was a community sale, so lots of people out in our neighborhood. Of course we didn't sell everything but it was descent.

The weather was great over the weekend but took a huge turn on Monday. We had a high around 45 and that was in the morning--it just got colder all day. There was even snow--I did see a few flakes but most of the snow fell up north and west. Woodland Park is about 20 miles west and they got 4 inches. Below are some photos of the mountains this morning. They were just beautiful.

Layne has a track meet today and I am not looking forward to sitting on the cold bleachers!! It is cold there when the sun is out and the temp is normal--I don't even want to think about how cold it will be today. I will try to get some action shots to post.

Heath is heading to Westcliffe on Thursday for the annual boys' weekend. His boss has a wonderful mountain home and they go play poker and hike and stuff??? It will be nice for him to have a few days to relax and not work in the yard!! Hopefully he will have some good pics to bring back.

I have made an appointment for Layne to get her hair cut and colored this Saturday at the Paul Mitchell school. Since my mom does hair and has done our hair forever I have two issues: 1. I don't trust others 2. I don't want to pay for a hair cut. They are kind of contradictions because I am sure if you pay more you can get a better cut, but.........the Paul Mitchell school is cheap!!! I will also let you know how this adventure goes.

Dancing With the Stars tonight!!!

More Yard Work

Once again, Heath took last Friday off and did more yard work. It wasn't a great weekend for it, it ended up raining most of the day on Saturday and was very cold. But, this is the area of the yard before--he decided to take out those evergreen shrubs. There were three total.

Now they are gone--completely gone. We borrowed a truck and hauled everything off to the free yard waste recycling center. It looks so much better but now we can see much more of our neighbors.

Our next door neighbor was kind enough to come over on Saturday (before the rain) and help Heath clear out the rocks by the house (photo below) and then more rocks by the fence. It was great for Heath to have some real help--I don't think Layne and I have been much help.

He will again take this coming Friday off and Layne is off school as well!! I think he has plans for her. I hope to have some more great photos of our progress!!!

Track Meet

Layne's first track meet was this past Wednesday. She did two events--long jump and triple jump. She placed 4th in the triple jump and did not place in the long jump with a jump of 10'9. She scratched on her second jump that was over 11'. So, not too bad at all for the first time at those two things. Next week she will be running!!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a very nice but not so much relaxing weekend. We were able to get some things done around the house, played a little sand volleyball and saw a few balloons.



Heath is working in the back most part of the yard--which is probably the worst area. This is a before picture of the corner.

As you can see in this photo, he has gotten all the rocks out and now we have roots. The neighbors tree has these amazing roots that seem to want to come to the surface. Maybe it is because the tree is higher than our yard? We still aren't quite sure how to handle this. Heath is intending to put up two levels of retaining walls to fix the slope in the yard.



The weekend was not great for the balloon classic. They had to cancel the launch on Saturday morning :(. Sunday morning I thought it had been cancelled also, but when we were driving to our sand volleyball tournament, we got to see a few. You can see that it was very cloudy, but still fun to see them.

It was a wonderful day to play sand vb!! It wasn't too hot and it even sprinkled on us. This was our first tournament together--Layne and I. It was a Queen of the Beach format, meaning that we each played one game with each person. So, the person with the most individual wins on the day is the "Queen". I believe I finished last!! Layne did so much better than I did and it was fun to watch her.

Roxy would prefer to lay on something versus the dirty ground!!

Monday morning was the last day of the balloons and this was all we were able to see from our house. They took a different route this year--we were so sad!!

Also on Monday we made some shelves and bench for our little shed. It has been up for two years but we hadn't done much to it. So, we all worked in the tiny little thing and got everything in a good spot!!

Layne is quite the carpenter. Heath makes her do a lot but I think she enjoys it. She will have great skills.

The completed project. Maybe in the future we will paint the bench??





The long weekend was nice but I don't feel rested!! Track meet tomorrow!!

Yard Update.....

Once again, I will add this photo to show the BEFORE picture of the yard. This is the area that Heath is working on now. Last weekend (8/28 & 8/29) he only got two days of work in, Sunday was cold and rainy!! We did some inside stuff!

Now the after shot........

We are planning to put down sod in this area--after possibly putting in the sprinkler system. We have that in the front yard and it is the best thing ever!! Really is almost a necessity in Colorado if you want your grass to grow.

This is just a photo of Sully and Roxy for your enjoyment!! They love being outside all day.

It is a long weekend, but I don't think we will spend it all in the back yard. The Colorado Springs Balloon Classic is this weekend. We don't usually go to it, but the balloons do come to us. Many land very close to our house, so all we have to do it get up early and enjoy. I will definitely take some photos!!

Layne and I will be playing in a Queen of the Beach tourney on Sunday--just some girls from work. Should be fun or painful or both. Will get some shots of that also!!

I wish everyone a wonderful (long) weekend and I hope you are all able to take a day or two off.

Layne News

Layne is Cali--May 2009

So, just thought I would get everyone filled in on Layne. She is having some stuff done in her mouth--the orthodontist just installed a Lower Lingual Arch. Whatever that means!! Just a lot of money. It has been the least painful of all the things they have done so far. We went the the dentist on Monday and they are suggesting we pull a couple more teeth. If you aren't up to speed on Layne's baby teeth issues--she just doesn't loose teeth. She has maybe lost 4 teeth on her own. The others have either been pulled or are still in there--hanging on for dear life. She has just been consistently late. So, they would like to pull a few more to encourage the adult teeth to move in. We will see!!

She has also been complaining about her knees hurting and so we went to the Chiropractor for his thoughts. It seems that maybe there is some over-use, but most likely just growing. She is wearing a knee strap and that seemed to really help yesterday at track. I so want her to stay as active as possible but I hate that she has so much pain at such and early age.

School is going well. She likes all of her teachers so far and that is great. She will have her first track meet next week and is planning to do the 4x400 and some field events. She is looking forward to the holiday weekend--although she just had last Friday off of school.

She has been doing really well about getting up in the mornings without my help!! This has been an area of stress for us--well, since she started school. So BRAVO to Layne for that. Side note: she is going to kill me for all the little things I am blogging about today.

For now, I think that about covers the things worth telling you about. I will take some track photos and try to update regularly on that--maybe even with some video!!