Cowboy Up...

I went to the RODEO! YA!

Yep it was pretty much the most awesome thing ever. Ryan, Louise, the boys, Ryan's little sister, and I got all packed up and went to the Stock show on Saturday. The stock show is a month long exhibition and stock sale that helps remind Coloradians that they are still cowboys (even if it is only for one month out of the year =) ). I was really excited that we all got to go, usually someone has to stay home with the boys and we had a blast.

There was a light show complete with lasers, fireworks and cowgirls in glow in the dark costumes. We were worried that the boys were going to freak out but they did really well. Actually a loud firework went off and I jumped more than Danny did!

There was calf roping, huge stage coaches, liberty style horse exhibitions, a llama and alpaca show and so much more. My favorite part however was the bull riding. I know I said a few months ago that I wanted to be an opera singer, but I changed my mind. I want to be a rodeo star! The fringe, the boots, the glory! The sound the buzzer makes when you have stayed on the back of a rampaging bull for 8 seconds without permenatly injuring yourself and the sweet yet tangy smell of fried twinkies mixed with horse manure! Does life get any better than this? Hey maybe I could be an opera singing, bull rider! That would really be perfect!

The boys also loved the rodeo. Danny didn't want to take a nap because he was so busy watching all of the horses. I guess this is only fitting as he is a little sherriff. His brother, who is a train conductor, also had a good time, but a had a little bit of a melt down towards the end of the night. We promised to go to the train mueseum next time. The highlight of my evening though was when we went and saw the llamas and alpacas. I have a tiny stuffed llama named Griffith that was given to me by some friends. It is the boys favorite toy. So imagine thier excitment when we wandered into the stable area and found a WHOLE ROOM filled with gigantic Griffiths! It was very exciting and very cute. We had a wonderful time and I hope to go back again before it is all over.

Life in Oz...

My sweet Aunt Keke, who lives in California, always says she feels like she somehow got transported to Oz. California can be a kooky place sometimes! So I made my sweet little Dorthy a pair of Ruby slippers a few months back. It's my own basic slipper pattern and then I hand stitched over 500 "rubies" or red sequins all over them. I took some pictures but they got lost in the 100s of photos saved on my computer. I found them today and thought I would do a post. I LOVE YOU Aunt Keke...

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage....

Last night I had the privilege of spending some time with my Michigan boys! I have been baby-sitting Gabe and Garrett since they were 3 and 5 and we always have so much fun together. Last night I was watching them and their new baby brother and eventually it came time for bed.

They tried every trick in the book to stay up later. "I am hungry..." "I am thirsty..." "Will you read a story?". Finally as I was just about to turn off the lights Gabe says "Are you married now?" "No" "Why not?" "Because I haven't found anyone nice enough yet." "When you do find someone nice enough, will you marry him?" "Probably...." I move towards the door and just as I put my hand on the light switch... "What do you do at a wedding?" "Well you promise God that you will love and take care of each other forever. Then you have a big party with your friends and family, with cake and food and presents. Goodnight." "But what kind of cake are you going to have!" They shouted urgently, as if I didn't tell them the world would end. "Chocolate I think, that's my favourite. It will have white frosting and flowers on top." "Hey! I know!" shouts Gabe sitting up in bed. "You could have a giant cake and hollow it out in the inside and then Garrett and I can put on tuxedos and wait inside and then at the party we could jump out of the cake and surprise everyone!"

Everything went downhill from there in spiraling arcs of hilarity. I knew it was past their bedtime, but I couldn't help but listen to their funny ideas. They decided that they are going to be my "Wedding Managers". Some of their great ideas were my groom and I getting married in a tree, so that way everyone can sing the "sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G" song. There are going to be fireworks for our kiss, I get shot out of a cannon instead of walking down the aisle, and all the boys at the wedding reception get a whoopee cushion on their seats (the girls don't because that isn't lady-like...)

It went on for awhile like that and then their parents got home. Dad came upstairs to tell them goodnight. "No! We can't go to sleep yet! We have so many more good ideas!" "Don't worry boys, I am not getting married anytime soon." I said, "You can marry ME" shouts Garrett as I tell them goodnight one last time and turn off the light.

DONE!

Whew! What a whirlwind semester.... but it is finally done! I am FRRRRREEEEEEEEEE!


It was a very long and scary semester. Taking online classes this semester presented a new set of challenges. The worst part was missing out on all of the fun stories I get to tell about my crazy classmates like the lady last semester who sat behind me and made duck noises when she wrote in her notebook, or the guy who sat next to me and was training to be a matador (true story! The guy in my psych class last semester showed me pictures on his phone!).

The scariest part of the semester had to be when I almost failed my Chemistry class. I was checking my grades online and discovered that I currently had an F in my Chem class! I sort of freaked out.... I had never failed a class before! I was going to have to take it over again, and it was really expensive, and really boring and I was really mad at myself.

I talked (cried) to my Mom about it and she made me feel a lot better but I was still feeling pretty blue that night when I came up for dinner. Ryan and Louise asked me what was wrong and I said that I was failing my Chem class and almost started crying again. They were so sweet. Louise was like "Your stupid professor! How can this happen! Don't worry Bo, we are going to get a B! We can do this! I can come home early from work and help you study!" I explained that I had NO idea how we could go from a F to B with only a few weeks left of school. I also explained how if I didn't get a good grade then my GPA would go down, and then I wouldn't be able to get into the nursing program because they let the smartest people in first... Ryan interrupted me at that point and said "No they let the people with the best grades in first. There is a difference between getting good grades and being smart. I am one of the smartest people I know and I got horrible grades my whole life.... and just because you are getting a bad grade in this one class doesn't mean you aren't smart because you are, you are brilliant." They are both so sweet....

Anyway's we did it. I have no idea how, but somehow the three of us (Louise helping me with homework and Ryan bringing us snacks and doing everything else) managed to go from an F to a B in the last two weeks of the semester. Maybe this blog post is a little brag-ey but I can't help it I am just so excited. I have an amazing family that loves me in MI and I have a wonderful family that loves me in CO and I NEVER HAVE TO TAKE CHEMISTRY AGAIN! That is something worth celebrating if I say so myself.

Plus with the way that the nursing program is structured I have a whole next semester off of school, something I am very excited about. I have a whole stack of books that I have been waiting to get to but haven't had the time with my gypsy life this year and all of the school work. I can't wait for a little break!

"And what we know.... We don't know...."

When I first arrived I didn't know Louise and Ryan at all.... So I started making a list of things that I could find out about them. Here are some silly things I learned about them in the first week....

She....
Used to work at a Russian Orphanage.
Loves chocolate cupcakes.
Plays the flute
Hates Broccoli
Has an adorable mother with an irrational fear of mustard

He....
Abhors fish.
Doesn't believe in recycling
Is obsessed with Wolverine
Is really into carpentry
Wears suspenders.... tehehe....

They...
Have been married since I was 13
Love tea
Watch Red Dwarf and Mythbusters
Are obsessed with Baseball and the Rockies, even though neither of them play
Are very sweet...

The Donut Saga...

Louise has been ordering her groceries online through a very convenient service offered by a local grocery store. You can hop on their website, place an order, and they come to your house and deliver it the next day! It's wonderful! However sometimes they get things wrong. This just happened to be one of those times....

Louise loves pumpkin flavored donuts and the bakery has some really good ones. So when she was shopping online she added 12 pumpkin donuts to the list as a treat for the three of us and decided to keep it a surprise. The next day while she was at work, the delivery man came and dropped off the groceries. He was very nice and as he was carrying in the groceries he asked if we were having a party. I said no, and asked him why he would think that, "Oh no reason, it just seems like you have a lot of donuts.". Which we did. Three bags full of boxed donuts in fact! I was a little surprised but signed for the groceries. The man left and I had just shut the door and went into the kitchen to start putting things away when the door bell rang. "I found one more bag in the back" the delivery guy said and sheepishly handed me another bag of donuts!

Louise calls a little later from work to just check in and see how the day is going "Everything's going fine... we did get the groceries today though... and.... there were a lot of donuts." I said. "Oh yes," she replied "I thought we could freeze some for later" I didn't think anything of it. I figured Louise knew what she was doing and we would just be set on donuts for the next year.

Louise came home later that afternoon and walked in the door and moaned, "I was afraid of this! I wanted 12 donuts, not 12 dozen!" As it turns out they people at the grocery store got the quantity wrong and instead of 12 donuts they had sent us 144! The worst part of it though was that they ran out of the good pumpkin kind, and ended up sending us a bunch of dry cake donuts instead! So now it is sort of the running joke around here "What's for dinner?" "Donuts.". "I packed you a lunch Ryan, it's donuts" and tonight Ryan sat down in front of the TV with three donuts and simply said "Hey I am just doing my part!"

We called the store several times and they are avoiding our calls, so we have become resigned to the fact that we are now the proud owners of 144 donuts. Some of them have been eaten, but we are currently looking for more creative ways to use them up like, donut bread pudding, donut baby food, perhaps an addition to the house made out of donuts and covered in resin, donut sandwiches, donut pancakes, I even mentioned giving them names and poems and selling them as "Donut Babies". I am sure they will be the number one gift of the Holiday season! Anyways if YOU have any ideas on what to do with a 144 donuts, please leave a comment! We are getting a little desperate....

School of ROCK!!!!!

So Ryan and Louise had both been in college for a few years by the time I turned ten. So there is a little bit of an age gap there. They like to talk about movies and songs and make witty pop culture references that I never get because at the time I was watching more "Barney" than "The Breakfast Club". I don't really mind though. It's actually pretty funny. Whenever I miss something and explain that it was before my time, Louise gets upset and starts moaning about how old she is and Ryan just asks if I want him to make me a PB and J sandwich and says he will turn on the new "Ice age" movie for me "only if you finsh all of your vegtables, young lady!". But yesterday when Ryan made a reference to "Savage Gardens" "The animal song" and I admitted I had no idea who they were, much less heard the song, Louise drew a line. "That's it!" she said "I am going downstairs and making you CD!" She came up a few minutes later with a CD entitled "School of Rock" that contained all of the most important rock songs from the 80s and 90s.



So I have been listening to it and some of it is pretty good.... some of its not.... I think some of it might be a "You had to be there" kind of thing. Anyways I have had Tom Petty's "Refugee" song along with "Don't fear the Reaper" by "Blue oyster cult" stuck in my head ALL DAY LONG! I was even humming it during my pottery class! It won't get out of my head! CURSE YOU CATCHY 90S ROCK MUSIC!!!