Visit from friends

We had some friends come down last weekend from Idaho and we had a total blast. The best part was just getting visited in the first place! Being in Denver means not getting visited very often so I was thrilled to have Rachel, Jesse, Kim and Josh visit (and also Jesse's cousin and GF). While all us girly folk went to the relief society broadcast the boys went to a UFC fight in downtown and apparently had a blast. Gage and Atreyu had a lot of fun and we're super cute together. They're still at the age where they don't really "play" together but there was plenty of stealing, crying and biting going on so I consider that interaction of a sort. We also went the the denver aquiarium and it was a really neat place. Wish I had brought my camera! And it made me miss the ocean all the more! All in all it was an awesome weekend that really reminded me that I've got wonderful friends who love me so much!

In other news I'm sure everyone saw on facebook but my phone got toasted. Gage has been watching me put things in the oven for awhile now and just recently started "helping" me take care of things. I hadn't seen my phone for most of the day...never a good sign... and decided to make corn dogs. After about 5 mins of the oven heating up I smelled something plastic burning. I thought it would be one of his plastic building blocks but was very disappointed to see my phone in their bubbling from the heat. It's his first time putting anything in there and I can't believe I was unlucky enough for it to have been my phone. At least we're phasing out of Sprint so this is my chance to get a new phone on a new plan. Oh well!

Playset!!!

It only took us 5 months to finally set up my birthday present from May but the wait was worth it. Let me introduce the coolest addition to our home yet! A play set!

I've been keeping an eye out for one of these but our budget just didn't allow us to spend the $500-$1,000 other play sets were going for. Around my birthday I spotted this one and sweet Cody went along with my compulsive craigslist spending crave. We got this awesome set for only $125 and it was well worth it! The first picture is one of three pictures we got from the owner. He had already disassembled it for us which was nice in some ways but terrible in that it was super hard to put back together again with just 3 pictures, all from the same angle. The guy had really thoroughly taken it apart so it just looked like a big heap of wood. It's funny cause when I looked at his picture I thought- "this will be so easy to put together. It doesn't have that many parts. We'll have it up and going in half a day". Wrong. Try two very long, very full days. Putting it together was just like a puzzle figuring out which posts were side and which ones corners. We also got a gallon sized Ziploc bag full of bolts that we also had to figure out. Plus the guy had never put up the swing set part so that was done totally blind. And the wood was in pretty rough state so we sanded some of it and painted the whole thing. It looks almost new! The only thing still missing in the set is a rope net to climb right in the front next to the slide. We're going to get that up this weekend hopefully. And I'd like to paint the rock climbing wall on the back brown. I just couldn't wait to post pictures of it! I've got to say that I have the most wonderful, willing husband in the world. I always pull him into these crazy projects during his precious law-school free weekends and I always think they will go fast but Cody's much more realistic than me. Gage's reaction to the play set has been great. He loves the middle swing so much and especially when I get on with him. He also really likes the picnic table that sits under the fort and has eaten out there a couple of times. The neighborhood kids also love it and had really put it through the ringer with their rough teenager play. I'm happy to report that it's proven to be solid as a rock and I'm so happy to have a great backyard to contribute to my mom's group. It'll be such a sad thing to leave with this house when we do move but I'm not sure it's the kind of thing I want to take apart and put back together again. Maybe it'll be one more thing to the house that'll help sell it when the time comes.

A quick run to Idaho

So Cody decided to head to Idaho for Labor Day and me, being the wonderful, supportive wife that I am origionally wanted him to take Gage and leave me with some peace and quiet for the weekend. But then that wonderful suportivness took over and I decided to go with him and not leave him with the boy on a 9 hour drive. Actually a huge reason I wanted to go was that our fillies (baby girl horses) finally got done with training and were ready to be riden. And let me say it was a blast. It is a totally different riding experience being on a horse you've had since they were born and knowing that you'll have them in your family for the next 20 years or more. They couldn't be different personalities and strangly enough Cody and I got comfortable with the opposite horses we thought we'd love. Gage had a blast too playing with his cousins and discovering the joys of ATV rides with his dad and grandpa. And he was also filthy dirty most of the time. Also a givin when camping. He was so cute with his cousin mercedes. They would climb on the ATV and fight over who got to be in front. Tipsy was a huge hit amoungst the little kids. Especially when they learned she could sit, shake and lay down. It only took her a day of it to realize she never got any treats for doing the tricks. She would finally find a quiet place to take a nap and the kids would come running to tell me that she must be sick cause they poked and poked her and she wouldn't get up. Bless her heart she never got fed up or frustrated with the kids. She's such a good dog! The nice part was that Cody's grandma lives just up the road so we didn't even bother with a tent. We just slept there at night. Now that we're back safe and sound I get to hang out with a horribly grumpy teether and relish in the joys of getting up in the night with him and enduring his whinning in the day. I just feel so bad for him that so far he'd endured a third of his life with terrible teething. Also I have some really cute 18 month pictures coming up that I'll post next. They turned out sooooo cute and I should hope they did cause they were a ton!