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First BBQ of the summer!

After church, all of Ryan's family wanted to get together, so we were going to go to the park or something. At Ryan's invitation everyone came over to our house for a BBQ in the backyard. The rule was that everyone stayed outside unless they had to use the restroom. Ha ha! Yes, really.

The biggest reason for the rule is because our house is a wreck and we have painting stuff all over the entryway (yes, I'm still working on it). As well, I didn't want to have to pick up anymore of a mess than already existed. :) It worked out perfectly since most of our backyard is shaded by trees and we have new outside toys to keep the kids happy.

Yeah for summer!

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B's new toy! A trampoline! Her momma might be just as excited as she is! ;)

Ryan finishing putting it together.

Jump, jump, jump!

Not sure what she's doing here, other than that she just decided to lie down on the grass and close her eyes. Ha ha!

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Time with Grandpa and Grandma today!

Grandpa and B love to go on walks together!

Love this picture of the two of them.

She wanted to hold Rowdy.

Too funny...we were trying to get B to look and the camera and smile.

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Bushes are planted! Well, two of them anyway. I still have to figure out where to put the third, because it won't work where I was planning.

And my dad and mom came for a visit and are staying the night! Yeah for some Grandpa and Grandma time for B!

As soon as they got here, B got excited and told Grandpa, "thanks for coming to visit me!" Too cute!

A very crooked picture of the two bushes. :)

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Holes got dug today! Our dirt is ridiculously hard to dig. Seriously. Lots and lots of water made it easier, but man did it take me forever to dig just one hole. Ryan took pity on me and dug the other hole. :)

B was over at her cousins while I got that and a couple of other things done. When I went to pick her up just before naptime, I ended up talking with Crystal for a long while. That means it was too late for B to nap, which also means that I didn't want to take B home and deal with a grumpy two year old. Ha ha! So, we just stayed.

I let Ryan know where we were and he met us over there after work. After visiting for a bit, he headed home to do some yard work (which is when he dug the hole). Since it was dinnertime by then, we decided that I would order pizza for all of us and he would pick it up and bring it over. Yum! It's been a while since we've ordered pizza.

This next part of my day is so hard for me to write and brings tears to my eyes and a lump to my throat just thinking about it again.

The scariest moment of my life as a mom happened after dinner.

The cousins were playing in the yard while Kathy, Crystal and I sat around the table chatting. B decided she was going to run away over into Auntie's yard. Ah, we have been working on stopping, listening, and obeying instead of running, but she still doesn't follow that all the time. Then to add on top of that her cousins started running after her to try and stop her. Of course, she thought they were playing and kept running, turning down the driveway towards the road and running some more until I couldn't see her anymore.

She felt so far away and in danger. I felt helpless and all I could do was jump up and run. I ran through the gate and into the road, because I figured that would be my best chance to see where she was and if there were any cars since it is a somewhat busy road that people often speed down.

And I ran.

As fast as I could.

Thankfully, I didn't see her in the road and there were not any cars.

At the same time, Crystal had jumped up and was running through the yard. I think she's faster than me. :) She got there first. I am so thankful that B's cousins had reached her and one of them had grabbed her by the arm just before she had gotten to the road. When I saw her, I lost it. I knelt down and just hugged her and cried, telling her how much she had scared momma. I think she understood. She kept repeating throughout the evening with a sad look on her face that she had scared momma.

Ok, so I just lost it again even writing about it. Thankful isn't even a strong enough word to describe how I feel about the outcome when it could have been a tragedy. Thankful for more time with my sweet baby girl! Thank you, Jesus!

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Plant/bush shopping at the local nursery today! So much fun! I could spend so much money. Ha ha. But, thankfully only a small portion of our yard is ready for new plants. :)

In order to get the ground ready for planting, I had to do some dirt moving, weeding, and raking all of which took a little longer than expected so the plants are still in their pots, but that's ok. We are one step closer.

Poor little B had a rough day today. :( She woke up early and it was downhill from there. Ha ha ha. Not really, just more disobedience than normal. However, it was the look-you-in-the-face-and-purposely-do-the-opposite-of-what-she-was-supposed-to-do disobedience. I hate days like this because, not only is it hard on her, but it brings out the worst in me as a momma. :(

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Ah, massage day! Not much beats getting a massage. :)

Then this evening I tackled cleaning our shower. Ugh! I know it would be so much easier if I cleaned it every week like I should, but most of the time I just get the tub part cleaned and put off the shower walls for another week... Let's just say it took me WAY longer than it should have, but it's now clean. Maybe, just maybe, I'll wipe them down again next week. Maybe.

Happy Monday!

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I am SO tired today. Needless to say, after church, we didn't do too much. I napped when B napped and then Ryan actually took B and left for a while. I'm wondering if I felt so tired because my eyes were burning all day long from being out in the sun yesterday. Makes sense to me. Guess it's time to get some prescription sunglasses.

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Fun in the sun at Starvation Reservoir!

The beach.

Boating.

 

What a wonderful, relaxing day.

B loved playing in the sand and the chilly water, but boating was her favorite! Watching her smile and giggle with the wind blowing in her hair was so much fun!

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On the road again...

With stops at Target in Silverthorne, Starbucks in Steamboat Springs, lunch in Craig, shopping in Vernal.

And home at last. :)

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More travel today, leaving Trinidad and driving to Evergreen. What a beautiful place Evergreen is AND they have a Beau Jo's Pizza there. Guess where we ate for dinner? :)

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Staying busy in Trinidad is a little trickier than other places since the hotel isn't near anything except Wal-Mart. We did, however, manage just fine today with a little (or a lot of) help from watching "Frozen" on the Kindle (maybe a couple of times). Ha! Oh, and a couple hours spent wandering around Wal-mart.

My intention in going to Wal-Mart was to buy a swimsuit for myself since I had forgotten to bring mine with me so we could swim at the hotel. After spending too much time at the store, we were both a little tired and it was naptime. So, now I have a new swimsuit and we didn't even go swimming. Oh well, really, I needed a new one anyway.

Once Ryan got back to the hotel, we got ready and headed into town to meet his co-worker and her husband for dinner at Rino's where they have singing waiters. So fun!

Breakfast at the hotel

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For the morning Ryan headed into the Denver office to work for a bit, so that left B and I to hang out in our hotel room and then at the mall. Thankfully, our hotel was right by the mall. Although, the walk over wasn't quite as simple as I thought it would be. Once we got to the outskirts of the mall all of the sidewalks ended. There was not a single one that led through the mall parking lot unless we walked all the way around to the other side of the mall. Since it was cold and had snowed the night before, I wasn't about to trek that far. So, through the snow on the grass we went. Good thing we have a rugged and large Jeep stroller that got us up the snowy hill. And B thought it was so much fun. :)

We spent a few hours there walking around, eating lunch, and playing by the "water spill" (aka the water fountain). Ryan picked us up in the early afternoon and we made our way towards Trinidad with a little stopover in Castle Rock to explore.

For some reason she wanted to hang out in her stroller in the hotel room.

Yeah, the "water spill!"

Throwing a coin into the "water spill"

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Road trip to Colorado! This time to Trinidad with a stop in Denver for a night.

And yes, it is May, but this is the Rockies, so I shouldn't be surprised. But, still, who wants to see snow in May? Ha!

 

Someone enjoyed that it was family night at Texas Roadhouse and that she got a balloon ladybug! :)

And my new favorite picture of Ryan and B! This is too precious!

 

(PS. The lighting in Texas Roadhouse is horrible for picture taking.)

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Mother's Day!

Church, lunch with some of Ryan's family, a drive, and hanging out at home all made for a wonderful, relaxing Mother's Day. :)

Oh, and don't forget the 2 hour massage gift certificates that I received from Ryan and B! I can't wait to use them!

B wrote my name on the envelope and her name in the "from" field on one of the certificates. Too cute!

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A little yard work, a little playing, a little drive, a visit to Auntie April's, and fishing. Well, fishing for about 15 minutes. It was COLD, but B wanted to go fishing, so, of course, Ryan obliged. :)

Fishing with daddy!

 

 

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DATE NIGHT!

B's grandma watched her this evening so Ryan and I could go on a date! I love date night! Even when it's as simple as dinner and shopping. :)

We ate at the sushi restaurant in Vernal. Yum! This is the first time I've had sushi out here and it was delicious. Then headed to Wal-mart to buy a ladder so I can finish painting the entryway.

And, yes, I took a picture of my food. Ha ha.

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Ah, freedom. Freedom from a number. A number that I've let define me. That number is the size of pants I wear.

Because I always want to be a size (or two or three) smaller, I don't like buying pants, which means I don't buy them very often (unless they are leggings and stretch, ha ha ha!). Well, I have always wanted a "trendy" pair of jeans that cost a little more than I normally spend and I always told myself that I will buy a pair once I am the size that I want to be. That day never seems to come, of course.

Before I got pregnant, I was pretty close. Since having B, I've struggled with getting down to even my pre-pregnancy weight, let alone a final goal weight. Sigh. Not liking how I look or feel about how much I weigh has held me back. I don't want to buy a pair of pants with "that" size.

Today, I freed myself from that thinking by trying on a pair of "trendy" capris without thinking about the number on the tag and letting it define who I am anymore. I am NOT a number. They were fun and cute and so I BOUGHT THEM! That's a big deal to me! It's not the jeans, rather it's the change in my thought pattern!

Now, this doesn't mean that I'm going to stop working on getting healthier, which will hopefully lead to a smaller pants size. It does mean that I'm just going to love myself with who I am right now and not be defined by anything other than who God created me to be.

That is freeing.

And for something completely different, our nieces had their year end dance performance this evening. All the girls performed in their group routines and Aryka performed her solo routine. All of them did great and Aryka's solo was amazing!

Aryka's dance solo. (Really wish I would have brought my real camera to get some close-ups)

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Who needs one of those road map rugs or a car track when you have masking tape? :)

 

And, we have one yellow wall! Hard to tell in this picture, but it's a very pale, creamy yellow color and I love it!

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More weed pulling, painting, and playing outside!

The lilacs have bloomed and look and smell amazing! B enjoyed smelling and picking them.

Look momma, I got some!

So pretty.

Since I picked some to put in vases in the house to bring the amazing smell inside, she wanted to put hers in water, too. :)

A vase of pretty little purple flowers. It's the little things in life, really. :)

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I'm feeling so productive as of late. :)

I've been pulling weeds in the mornings and then playing outside with B. In the afternoons, I've been priming/painting our entryway while B naps. A prettier yard and a freshly painted entryway are so much fun, although both are still very much in progress. :)

Those darn vaulted ceilings make for some challenging painting, although I do like the openness of them, so I guess I just need to find a taller ladder.

Admittedly, the housework has suffered, but oh well. THAT will ALWAYS be there. Ha ha ha!

These aren't the greatest pictures, but here is the before and the during.

The accent wall (only this wall will be this bright of yellow). Bye bye tan walls, hello color! 

Primed bright white

More bright white primer

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A lazy, stay-at-home-and-do-nothing Sunday at our house.

Ryan went to bed last night around 8:30 not feeling well and woke up this morning not feeling any better. I didn't sleep that well, so we all just stayed home to rest and relax.

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Wedding Day!

April and Allan's wedding was today. Turned out to be a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding. Actually, it felt HOT.

I didn't get any pictures of the ceremony since I was chasing B around. Such a bummer. However, I did get a few cute ones of B (of course). :)

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My dadda and I went on a lunch date today! He is a wonderful dad and I love spending time with him!

Shortly after lunch, my mom and dad headed back home. Again, I'm so thankful that were able to come spend a few days with us.

While yesterday was just a hang out day, I made up for it a little bit today by actually getting a few things accomplished. It feels so good to get something done. Well, at least started. :)

Prepping the entryway, then priming (part) of the entryway, and pulling weeds are all tasks that have been on my list for a while now, so it was great to work on those things.

And to end this beautiful day, Ryan got home from Texas! Wahoo!