Mama likes a bargain

They just had a big ol' consignment sale in Parker and I scored some good stuff. Along with 3 bags of clothes, I scored a couple of fun toys! I have great memories of loving and playing with Mousetrap at my Grandma and Grandpa Duvall's house. The boys have already played with it for hours. I was impressed that after I assembled it for them once that they could reassemble it by themselves and patiently finesse the contraption when it doesn't work perfectly. And then the other great-toy-for-a-rainy-day is this Crayon maker. You put all the little broken crayons in it, wait about 20 minutes to let the crayons melt (although they're not too melty yet in this pic), tip the little tray, and the melted crayons go into molds of different shapes, so you make new crayons of different shapes, like trucks, crocodiles, etc. Awesome!

College football!

A few weeks ago we took the boys to their first college football game, Wyoming-vs-CU. Despite the dismal outcome of the game, it was a fun afternoon and they are looking forward to Wyoming-vs-AFA in a few weeks. And I don't care who you root for, when they run Ralphie around the field, it's just pretty darn cool: We sat in the north end-zone, nice and close to the field. However, we were a little concerned when we noticed the net that catches the footballs after kicks was actually behind us. Seemed like a bit of a design oversight; we were actually sitting between the upright and the net. Surely they wouldn't? Oh yes, they did. They dutifully pulled the net up to protect the brick building behind the stands for each kick. In fairness, the kicks all flew over our heads and were basically smothered by the net, but we certainly made sure to pay attention whenever the teams were kicking! :)

Handbags!

OK, fortunately for our bank account, I am not a designer handbag person, but I have always had a bit of a weak spot for a cute bag. A few weeks ago I started thinking it'd been a while since I got a new purse and I'd noticed a couple other moms looking stylish while sporting cross-body bags and decided I'd like one, so I started poking around on-line. I found 2 super cute ones at REI. "REI? A purse?" is what my husband said. Yes, REI. But I'm kind of utilitarian like that, and these are functional but still feminine. I got this one, which is smaller: How cute is it on? And for those times when everyone hands me their sunglasses, cell phones, wallets, and we need snacks and drinks, the boys are getting me this bigger (kind of crazy) one for Christmas (they were closing out last year's pattern at about 50% off): Look at the organization in those puppies!

Grandparents Day

Two weekends ago, Andrew's parents were in town. What brought them to town was a memorial service honoring Barbara, Andrew's dad's cousin, which sounds like a distant relative, but she was kind of a grandmotherly figure to our boys as she lived in the Denver area also. Barbara passed at the end of August; we were all surprised and remain saddened. Here is a picture from that weekend of the boys with all of their grandparents together. Coincidentally, it was even Grandparents Day!

A Little Bloggy Catching Up

Over Labor Day, we channeled the Griswolds and headed to the Grand Canyon and Arches for some camping and good ol' family fun. We were on the road by 5AM Friday morning for our long drive down - 800 miles towing the tent trailer. Whew! But our kids are road warriors and we totally rocked it out, arriving there in the late afternoon. We camped the first 2 nights at an RV Park (completely paved, not a woodsy camping experience, but a nice facility) because it was adjacent to the train depot. Saturday we rode the Grand Canyon Railway in and out of the Grand Canyon (to the South Rim, not down into the canyon) and just did some sightseeing. Holding onto the kids tightly - look at those little walls! We had two rules: stay back from the edge and hold a hand. The boys with their stuffed mule souvenirs, which were a big hit. On the train ride back to the campsite, we were held up! Robbers!The sheriff: Sunday we moved campsites and camped in Grand Canyon National Park - a beautiful wooded campsite (with flush toilets and running water - nice!). I've become a big fan of national and state park camping facilities; they're usually pretty darn nice! Check out our campsite visitors! We were just packing up Monday morning when we looked up and saw these three. Notice how their size compares to the industrial sized dumpsters and cars in the background. Amazing!! We had perfect weather in the mid-seventies in Arizona. If you haven't been to the Grand Canyon, I highly recommend it. I'm sure we'll go back because we only saw a tiny portion of it - it is mind-boggling how huge it is!

Monday, we drove to Moab and set up camp there. Tuesday morning, we visited Arches National Park.

Balanced Rock. Double Arch. The Delicate Arch, aka Cowboy's Chaps. One smiley boy and one not-so-smiley boy. Andrew and I visited Arches and Canyonlands 10 years ago on a camping trip for our first anniversary. I have to say, Moab was much the same both trips. Hot. Dusty. Windy. Andrew's allergies started going crazy in Moab. So after wearing everyone out hiking around Arches in the morning, we opted not to go to Canyonlands this trip, especially having just been to the Grand Canyon, and drove home one day earlier than planned. Moab to home is only about 6 hours, so leaving early afternoon got us home about bedtime - perfect! A very nice trip, all in all.