Squaw Pass

We went on a long, gorgeous, autumn drive today up to Squaw Pass. We had a picnic.

 I LOVE YOU FALL.

 And Rosie.

 And Evie. 

 And Ben.

 And goldfish crackers.

Time Out

Oh what a wonderful weekend I had. I went to Time Out For Women with some fabulous gals from my ward. It was exactly what I needed and I can't believe I had never gone before. Such awesome speakers and music. Virginia Pierce and Chris Williams both on Forgiveness were my favorites.

I had been feeling a little burnt out after a Thursday that I don't wish to remember. We had a horrendous episode in the bathtub that I won't recount but it required a lot of bleach and another bath to repair. Then that same afternoon while I was reading to both girls in the front room, Rosie snuck away and grabbed a red crayon from their easel tray. She colored everywhere she possibly could in the 5 minutes she was unobserved. It was actually quite impressive how fast she worked. There were red scribbles on the wood floor in the hall, on the bathroom door, on the toilet seat lid, on her mini potty, on the end table in the family room, on the wall behind the end table, and all over the arm of the white and gray chair. I was so frustrated when I saw what she had done and even more so as she led me around the house showing me more places and saying "no, no, no" while wagging her little finger at me. I screamed that it was nap time and for them to get their bums up stairs while I worked on the chair. They surprisingly went. When I came upstairs they were in their bedroom with the door shut lying on the floor in a pile of blankets. Evie had her eyes closed pretending to be asleep. Pretty darn cute.

All was forgiven until this happened after nap. No more red crayon on the walls, toilet, or chair...but this is a different story.  A little time out and some lessons on forgiveness did me some good this weekend.

Surrey

 

We drove into Denver last weekend on the hunt for some good Cafe Rio and it didn't disappoint.We decided to explore City Park on the way home and ended up renting a surrey for a lovely ride around the lake. Ben did most (read all)  the work because for some reason it didn't seem to make a difference whether I peddled or not. Weird. It was a great time.

My favorite part was when we stopped at a play ground to let the girls play for a bit. A squirrely 4 year old boy kept trying to talk to Evie and she of course, had nothing but mumbo jumbo to say back. We were encouraging her to go down the slide and the little boy pushed around her and turned to say:

 "Hey meat box, watch and learn." 

MEAT BOX???? It was hilarious. 

 

  The girls and I had a lovely, romantic evening and Ben got a great workout.

Blue Moon Weekend

 

A blue moon is the second full moon occurring in one calendar month which only happens every few years. We celebrated it (or Labor Day weekend) by trying to get out and do some things that happen only "once in a blue moon". We drove up to Estes Park for the night and had such a great time. We ate delicious BBQ on a deck overshadowed by the mountains, strolled the river walk, ate ice cream, hot tubbed and swam. The next morning we went to a street fair and I had french toast that smelled deliciously reminiscent of Disney Land.
Ben and I finally finished the 2nd season of Downton Abby and now I'm eager to start it all over. I made homemade bread which we devoured with strawberry rhubarb jam we bought at the fair. We picniced at the Peter Pan splash park which Ben had never been lucky enough to visit. Ben cut down and ripped a giant bush from the front yard (to Rosie's delight) and now we have so much more light and visibility from the front window. We finished off the weekend right with unbelievable sushi.

 

 

In retrospect, our weekend revolved completely around the pleasures of delicious food which hardly seems "once in a blue moon" for us...

The next blue moon will be July 31, 2015 and maybe we'll try to be more creative then.

Elder Meakin

Ben's little brother Steven got home from his mission to Provo, UT a little over two weeks ago. He only got to spend a few short days in Maryland and then it was time to get packed up and hit the road. Ben's dad and Steven drove across country back to Provo for Steven to start school and we were lucky enough to be a pit stop on the way and to have many more members of the family join us. Ben's mom and older brother Craig flew in, Cindy, Chris and Sadie came down from Greeley, and Daniel and Becca surprised everyone and drove up from Salt Lake.

We had a house overflowing with Meakins and it was a fun few days to have everyone (minus Teresa and family) together. We went to Boondocks and ate at Cheesecake factory in Boulder, had a weenie roast, went to the zoo, and played games. Rosie and Evie adored having so much company and followed their aunts around all over the house and called for their grandparents incessantly. 

The girls were only 2 months old when Steven left and it was so fun to see how much all three of them have grown up. Time sure does fly.

I have realized since moving to Colorado and having occasion to have company (actually quite frequently) that I'm not the hostess with the mostess or the laid back person I would love to think that I am. Having 8 extra bodies sleeping all over the house stressed me out a bit and definitely gave me a renewed sense of appreciation for my mom, my mother in law, and all moms that welcome their grown children into their homes for holidays, Sundays, and visits. I'm hoping I get better at it over time and a become a little less frazzled and a little more gracious.