mountains near Durango

We decided we needed to get out of town one evening so we drove up into the mountains for a few hours with dale. coming up next..yellowstone with grandma and grandpa!!!

cracker fires

Isabella isn't much for "cracker fires" and loud noises...notice even sparklers are just way too loud.

La la to the rescue

after hearing of the tears shed on behalf of the broken jeep, Lala came to the rescue on izzy's bday with a shiny new f150 which, doug proudly brags, she picked herself over the pink stuff. It has a fully functional radio so she can listen to "the uncle dale show" on friday mornings 10;30-12:30 central time (as can you on www.kdur.org)

runners world cover photos

I thought we might make it about 75 feet that first run...oh no...I continually asked her, "does your stomach hurt?" "do your legs hurt?" etc. because she would NOT walk and she was very upset with me when i made her turn around and head for home..she ran at least 3/4 a mile that first day without stopping and she wanted to go for more..unfortunately, her zeal for running has waned, as has mine lately, maybe we'll get back into it soon. I want to run a 1mile with her...

nothing sweeter

and i think there may be nothing sweeter in teh world than your daughter running beside you down the dirt road holding your hand and looking up laughing at you. talk about a runner's high...none could compare to my feelings on that day...

going for a run

Isabella used to do a lot of begging when i "went for a run" so i decided one day we'd see how she liked it if i actually let her "go for a run" we did

all of our stretching and then posed for a quick pic showing off our muscles...

One cute chic

Isn't she a doll? izzy on a sunday morning looked so sweet I had to stop her outside the door at church and snap a quick pic.

4th

so after spending half teh night in the er with our invalid, izzy and i decided to get out to the parade...the biggest town event of the year. she thought everything was way too loud, and being small town folk now, the crowds were disturbing! you wouldn't believe how many people flood into our little town on the 4th! plus it was MISERABLY hot for us fair weather coloridians. so we didn't stay too long.

Mr Macho

So mr. macho decided to become a skateboard star

this summer. on a $7 bet, he dropped in on a half pike and it ended up costing us over a grand and the rest of the summer on crutches...no more 4 wheeling, no more horseback riding, no more camping, no bow hunting, no mountain climbing, no noth'n. whatcha wanna bet he thinks twice next time?

Middle Mountain

One evening we went with the HOuston group up Middle mountain to the huge meadows up above and had a little devo and picnic...it was really nice.

izzy bday cake

Now that is a cake. right smack-dab in the middle of vbs CRAZYNESS week was izzy's bday. David and Jana and family brought a group from Houston to help with vbs so I made a monster cake (75 servings) for everyone one day after vbs. agian, kuddos (however you spell it ) to bakingwithmelinda.com (check out her fab food pics) On the day of izzy's bday all the girls showed up to vbs with their hair in "floopies" becasue that is how izzy wore her hair then and declared it was "izzy day" (she's far too grown up for that now. Now she wears a pony tail so she can shake her head and say "no baby" like momma does..I dont even fully understand that one.)

random stuff

I LOVE the pic of doug and izzy 4 wheeling. isn't that so sweet? I was soooooo proud of myself and my thriftyness on the blue jeep which i found at a garage sale for a steal just a few days before izzy's bday. It only ran for about 2 days and then we were in a real pickle...but, her bday came and you'll see teh snazy replacment in future blogs.

the bryants visit

it was so much fun to get to spend some time with the bryants for a few days. they got to share in the bday celebration adn we went to my favorite place to do my favorite thing..we went to Quray and 4 wheeling in the first of June and the snow was so rediculous this year that there were only about 4 trails open...the snow was UNREAL! Julie, i haven't forgotten that Ineed to burn all these pics to a cd for you...

doug's bday

What an angle! Just look at that beautiful cake, and you wouldn't believe how yummy it was! I never thought a vanilla cake could taste so good! Thanks to my pastry chef teacher who taught me her secrets! tee hee. anyway, doug got a grill for fathers day, bday and any other holiday this year...pretty nice, huh? we've really enjoyed it!

lisa's visit

there is no substitute for Lisa when you needa nutrion boost in your diet! I think I lost 5 lbs the week lisa was here! :) the pic of all the veggies we bought, then the pic of all the purees we made out of them(in a hard day's work) along with my new recipe book "deceptively delicous" which teaches you how to hide things like carrots and spiniach in brownies, as you see here. Even Lisa was scared to try the batter, so Izzy was the guinney pig, and she LOVED it! Now conversations around our dinner table go something like this...Isabella, "Mom, can I have some more green beans?" Judy, "No, you need to eat your brownie first!"