Belated Anniversary Dinner

Our wedding anniversary was on July 29th, but last night was the first night that we had a chance to celebrate it, just the two of us.

Samuel spent the night with my ILs, so we took the opportunity to go out to a very nice dinner downtown at The Oceanaire Seafood Room.

Brian ordered a Michelob Ultra and I took the liberty of ordering a glass of the wonderful Santa Margherita Pinot Grisio. It's the same wine that he purchased for our wedding night and we have drunk on (or near) every anniversary since then.

I'm not a big fan of oysters, but since this was a high quality place, Brian deferred to the server's recommendation about which two types of oysters he should order. He ended up eating Shigoky and Kusshi styles (both from Washington). He said they were very good, but you won't catch me eating any. Yuck!

Brian ordered the "Black and Bleu" Hawaiian Swordfish and I ordered the Alaskan King Salmon. Both were extraordinary and we shared a side dish of Sour cream mashed Yukon Gold potatoes.

My Salmon

We then went to our local Redbox location and rented-

It was funnier than I thought it would be, and I got to see a Johnny Depp cameo.

Adams County Fair

While Brian was putting test colors on the exterior of our house (before the big painting job starts), Sam and I headed to the Adams County Fair.

This was the only animal that he actually touched. Right after I took this picture, a bunch of animals converged on our location and Sam didn't take it very well.

Strawberry Limeade. Yummy!

My big, tall boy.

A monster truck that's a fire engine.
Sam was in heaven.

Bowling With Friends

We did our best, but we were only able to get through 6 frames of our 4 person bowling game at Boondocks last night. Our friends on this bowling adventure were Dana and her son Zachary.

They were so good at sharing and pushing the ball down the ramp together and also taking their turns. I'm so proud of the boys.

We are so glad that they go along so well. I hope that we are able to also get our husbands to come along, too next time.

Mother's Day

Since my ILs live close by, we all went to brunch at The Olde Neighborhood in Arvada for Mother's Day. The brunch was okay, but the best thing was hanging out with Samuel for Mother's Day. I couldn't ask for a better present.

Then Sam grabbed the camera and started shooting some interesting photos. Nice try kiddo!

Selling a Fridge Shouldn't Involve the Fire Department

Lowe's called me on Wednesday to let me know that our new fridge was in stock and wanted to set up at time to deliver it. Because Brian and I both work full-time, that dropped the availability for delivery to the weekend. I scheduled it for between 8-10am on Saturday morning.


We had debated about keeping the old fridge in our garage, but finally realized that it would be an energy suck and since there are only 3 of us in the house, would be completely useless.


Brian wanted Lowe's to haul the old one away, but I thought that we could make a few bucks by selling it on Craigslist. Of course, I won that discussion. Brian's only concern was that he didn't want the thing taking up room in our garage for weeks while I find someone to purchase it.


I knew that it wouldn't take long to find a buyer, but I was even surprised when only 5 minutes after it posted, I received a call from Debbi about buying it and having it hauled away around 9am. I was thrilled. In the mean time, I moved some items in our garage so that the old fridge had a spot.


I received a call from Lowe's at 8:15 saying that they were on their way. Yea!!! A new fridge and $75 for the old fridge. I was thrilled.


The removal of the old fridge went like clockwork. Installation of the new fridge, on the other hand, included removing our front door and some of the hardware from the fridge. No biggie. It looked perfect in our kitchen.


Lowe's had me sign the delivery information, and shortly afterwards, I received a call from Debbie saying that the people that would be helping them move the fridge would be at my house in an hour. Great.


When the 2 men arrived, in a rented Home Depot truck, Debbi came to the door and let me know that they were ready to haul it away. About 10 minutes later I hear "Oh Shit!!" and a big thud. Sam was asleep on the couch, so I couldn't run out, but I did open the door slightly to see one of the men holding his knee and the fridge on it's side in the driveway.


My guess was that the fridge fell on the guy (that was confirmed later). I was worried to run out there and offer any type of assistance, because this happened on my property and I was worried about any legal ramifications of assistance.


Brian cam home shortly after, looked at the scene and came to the same conclusion. The rental truck was there about 25 minutes before I heard a fire engine's siren around the corner with an ambulance right behind it.

I bet our neighbors are thinking that we are trouble makers. Within the first month of buying our house, we already have a fire truck and an ambulance out front. At least we got to meet one of our neighbors that was coming home, and whose path was blocked by Thornton's finest. Her name is Grace and she lives diagonal from us.

It seems that these 2 guys were trying to lift the fridge vertically (without any help) instead of putting it on it's side. Brian helped the guy push it into the truck on it's side when he got home.

After Sam woke up, the activity was still going on, so I took him over to the fire engine and he read each letter that I pointed to. Good boy! He loves letters and numbers.


He was so excited to see these vehicles up close, but didn't like how loud they were driving in.

The guy's knee was wrapped up, splinted and he was put into the back of the ambulance and taken away. I bet there were a bunch of neighbors looking out their windows, but didn't come out to see what was going on up close. I hope that we don't hear any more about it. I'd hate to have to talk to our insurance agent about a claim on our property.

Welcome to the Neighborhood!

New Year's Day Broncos Football

For Brian's Christmas present, I purchased 2 tickets to the New Year's Day Broncos game.


We had great seats, the weather was pretty nice (since we were dressed properly), and there was a lot of energy in our section.


The only downside, was that the Broncos lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Our Seats Were AWESOME!!!!

"Lost" Photos

I was given several CDs, from my MIL Andrea, with photos that I hadn't seen. We hope that you like them like we do.

June - October 2011 Photos

Update on Black Eye

Two Black Eyes-- Thanks Samuel!

On Saturday, Samuel was looking out our back window, standing on the couch while I was laying on it. I asked him to come down. He stood up, turned, sat on me and then, flung his head back, straight into my nose. My husband was across the room and could hear the crack. I immediately had one of the worst headaches I have ever had (I'm still feeling it now). Even with ice, the left side of my nose is swollen and today, you can see the start of 2 black eyes.

I don't think it's broken.

Not the best picture, but you can see what's coming.

Someone needs to come up with a human airbag to help save my poor eyes (and my poor nose).

Our Black Friday

My husband, Brian had to work, so me and Samuel went to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. We got there right at 9am (when they open) and it was almost deserted. We went to the T Rex Encounter exhibit. It was really neat. Sam kept a hold of my hand most of the time, but wasn't visibly worried. He definitely liked the triceratops better than the T Rex, but liked the whole thing.

We also visited the Discovery Zone, Wildlife Exhibits, and Space Odyssey. the only bad thing was that, somewhere during the morning, I lost Samuel's jacket. I stopped by the Lost & Found and left a description and my contact information. I hope that someone turns it in.

Here are some photos that I took.

This was Sam's addition.

Wordless Wednesday- Another Black Eye

Thank you Samuel!!

Mommy really likes being close to you, but stop getting so close, so fast that you give Mommy a black eye.

Sam Was Hungry

Yesterday morning, Sam and I were playing on the floor and he decided to dive on me, head first with his mouth open. At first it was bleeding. Here is what it looks like this morning.

My First Sewing Class Since 8th Grade

I am in the process of taking an 8 week sewing class through the local Parks & Recreation Department.


At the first class, we were given a supply list for use during the sessions to make several items and hone our sewing skills. I'm a complete beginner, so I barely had a sewing machine, let alone everything required for the class.


Since my company changed their logo and tagline, I had at least 8- 3' x 9' vinyl banners that I wanted to use to make bags out of. Little did I know that vinyl is very hard to work with on a normal sewing machine (slippery and thick) and, because of my stubbornness, it has taken every inch of my being to not give up and trash this bag to make a different one. At least the vinyl is helping me know how to work with difficult "fabrics" unlike the other people in the class.

Here are some photos from my first few classes (making a bag with a zipper).

My machine. Very basic.

My first zipper.

My first boxed corner. I'm very proud of this.

I have decided to bring in some "normal" fabric next week, since we are going to be working on hems (which Brian is excited about) and patterns that I won't be using with vinyl.

I'm not completely giving up on this fabric, but I will definitely pick it as a fabric after a lot of thought. 

My next vinyl project- piecing together a drop cloth for Sam's art projects to save the carpeting. :)