Soldier's Angels

Our family has adopted a soldier who is deployed overseas.  This is something I've been wanting to do for a while.  I've had my students send cards and letters to veterans every year for Veteran's day, and we also sent cards and letters to my friend Keith Hood's unit when he was deployed.  But I wanted to do something for a soldier who maybe isn't getting all the support and love from home that every soldier deserves.  Back in high school during the Persian Gulf war, I had a pen pal that I wrote, he was a PFC, I don't remember his name, though.  It was good to make a personal connection.  Through Soldiersangels.org, I have signed up to adopt a soldier.  This means committing to sending several letters and/or cards per month and at least one care package a month.  The soldier we have been assigned is named Amber.  I don't know much about her yet, but I'm hoping that we will be able to get to know her over the next year, her anticipated return is August 2009.  I'd like to invite anyone who reads this blog to join our family in supporting Amber.  You can do this by helping out with cards/letters, or contributing to care packages from time to time.  Or, if your family is interested, check out the Soldiers Angels website (the link is on the side) and see how you can help out too!

Thanks in advance!!

I Saw God Today...

There's a song by George Strait called "I Saw God Today."  It's all about finding God's presence in the simplest things if we just stop to look.  It's a great song.  

A couple days ago I gave Riley my old digital camera to take pictures of anything he wanted.  He's been taking lots of pictures of his fingers, the wall, and the floor.  Yesterday we were outside with my mom watching the dogs play, and he was taking pictures of the garden and other things.  Then he raised the camera to the sky and told us, "I'm taking a picture of God."  It took my breath away.

Riley saw God here...

...and here...
And I see God here, every single day.  What a blessing this little boy is.  
Here is some more amateur photography from Riley:

The Garden...
Gran-Gran bringing Aretha inside
The Aspen tree in our garden...actually a really cool shot
And feet!
Here is a slideshow set to the George Strait song, technology is so cool!

By the way, the first picture on the slideshow is a picture of a rainbow cloud that my cousin Tisa's son, Russell, saw right as our cousin Renee was called home after battling cancer back in 2004.

Who says we aren't visited...

Mom told me a crazy story today, and I have to share it.

Last weekend my cousin David celebrated his wedding.  Unfortunately, my Aunt Blez, who passed away just over a month ago, wasn't there in body to share, but I'm pretty sure she was there in spirit.  A few days before the wedding, my Uncle Ed was driving Aunt Blez's car, and his cell phone rang.  On the caller ID, it said, "Blez."  He was receiving a phone call from my Aunt Blez's cell phone, which was in the glove compartment of the car.  When he opened the glove compartment, he saw that there was one outgoing call, just a minute before he received it, to his phone.  Keep in mind, this phone has been in the glove compartment of the car for over a month now.  How could it have kept a charge, much less been on, much less dialed, even if Uncle Ed had hit a bump?  Somehow, the record of the outgoing call erased itself, but Uncle Ed still has the record of the incoming call on his phone.  

Another story that my Grandmother shared when we were out for Aunt Blez's funeral was also goose-bump inducing.  My Aunt had planned a surprise 90th birthday party for Grandma, and had asked everyone to wear pink, my Grandmother's favorite color.  Grandma knew nothing about this party.  Shortly after Aunt Blez secretly sent out the invitations, Grandma had a strange dream.  The next morning she told Aunt Blez that she'd had a dream that Grandpa had visited her, and that for some strange reason he was wearing a pink shirt!  She asked, "Why on earth would he be wearing a pink shirt, he never would have worn pink!"  I guess he must have gotten his invitation!

We have so many stories like this on both mom and dad's sides of the family.  It must be true that the ones we love never truly leave us!

Dog Days of Summer!

We have a new addition to our family, and it's not the baby boy yet.  Her name is Aretha, and she's my new little sister!  Mom and dad had to put their beloved 15 year-old Bearded Collie, Carson, to sleep a few weeks ago.  He had a great life, but he just got much older than expected for a dog his size, and the time had come.  Mom and dad promised themselves three things: 1)We will wait a while before getting another dog, and let Taylor (the Border Collie) be the only dog for a while; 2) When we do get another dog, it will not be a puppy, it will be an older, trained dog and 3) We won't get a girl dog because Taylor won't like it.

Well...a week later, they went to the Humane Society in Colorado Springs, and came home with Aretha, an 8-week old female Heeler/Aussie mix!  Isn't she the cutest!?  She's already full of beans and keeping up with the other dogs in the family.  Mom is here for a few days to visit and little Aretha is quickly getting to know the fam.

Gran-Gran with her new baby!
Harley's not super impressed, but happy for the break while Melo entertains the little one.
Seriously, how cute is she!?  I love this picture!!

Riley's our resident Dr. Doolittle, and he is in puppy heaven!
Melo is not a pit bull, but he kind of looks pittish here.  He's basically a big goofball!
Melo and Aretha engaged in quite a kung fu wrestling match!  At one point Melo flipped Aretha karate-style over his head.  But he was actually quite gentle with her, letting her wrestle him down and pretending to bite her.  

Looks like Aretha is fitting right in!

A Town that's Tiny...

Today Riley, Charline and I met up with Allison and Ian at Tiny Town.  Tiny Town is exactly what it sounds like...a town that's tiny!  It was made by a railroad bigwig back in 1915 for his daughter, and is basically a town of miniature houses and a railroad. The kids can play in some of the little buildings, but a lot of them are just for show.  You can look inside and they're all furnished with different scenes.  They had just about every kind of building you can imagine.  

Here's Riley looking out the window of a miniature Windmill. 

There was a really good playground there for the kids to play on.  Riley and Ian kept a good eye on each other and played for a while, until some other kids who couldn't keep their hands to themselves started horning in.  We decided it was time to check out the rest of the town and ride on the train.
Riley was pretty serious most of the day!
One of the little buildings was a Golf Clubhouse!  Inside were little miniature golfers at the "19th Hole."
We thought it was funny that this was JD's Saloon, since Mary's boyfriend is JD.  I didn't get a good picture of the Barbie "Saloon Girls" inside, drumming up business from the cowboys!  I thought this was a family place!
Off to the Tiny Town Train!  Riley and Ian got to sit in the caboose.  It was amusing, once all the kids were packed into the caboose, the door was closed and latched.  So it was a free-for all in there.  But everyone was pretty well-behaved.  Allison, Charline and I decided it would be a good idea to sit in the last passenger car to keep an eye on things.
Mr. Ian McGann...look at those rosy cheeks!  Riley kept calling him Aedan, which is funny...I guess Ian and Aedan sound similar, and Aedan is also a little blue-eyed towheaded buddy of ours.
Riley said, "That was so cool!"
After the train, we hit the refreshment stand for soft-serve ice creams...but the boys spied the train-shaped lollipops, a less messy alternative!  Charline managed to get Riley's open without breaking it!  Not that she ever would, but Riley tried to instruct her on the proper opening technique.
Here we are!  It was a really fun way to spend the day...and quite a bit cooler up there than down in the 95 degrees of Thornton!

Cute kid with a bad haircut

Just a couple cute pics of Riley from today.  Poor guy got a not-so-great haircut about a month ago, and all of a sudden it looks pretty tragic...Good thing he's cute!  He and Steve will go to Sports Clips next weekend for their monthly father-son haircut excursion!

Below: A play-doh watch!

At Baskin Robbins tonight, all he wanted was a cone.  No ice cream, just the cone with sprinkles!

Garden Update

One of the things I've really enjoyed doing this summer is working on my garden.  I get so happy when I look at all the beautiful flowers in my planting beds in the front and back.    Below is the first picture I took back in May when I first put in this year's plants.

Since then I've added quite a few new ones, and everything has been flourishing!  I love how colorful and crazy everything is.  Below is one of the portulacas that I added.  They're really fun and funky.  They have started to seed themselves in random places around the planting bed as well, I think from the birds and bugs that like to hang out.

The gerberas are doing great!

I recently added these delphinium, which have a purplish-blue glow.  Gorgeous!
This petunia is the biggest one!
In the front I've added a few things, but I really love these "Rocket Red" snapdragons that Brad and Nicole gave me.  They had bought some for their garden, but realized that they would be growing up to 3 feet tall, which was too tall for the area they wanted to plant.  They're so amazing, and make a great backdrop for my rose bushes and other shorter plants. 
So there you have it!  Happy plants!

Summer Bash 08!

To welcome the Lanes back home, celebrate Justin's return and get ready for the impending arrival of Baby Marsh, we decided to throw a big summer party!  Charline and I cooked up some Mexican yumminess, Steve got the patio party-ready, and we gathered up the gang for some summertime fun!  We had a great evening, catching up with friends and hanging out.  It was nice to relax, and the weather was perfect!
Riley and the twin boys loved splashing in the little pool and squirting everyone with the spray bottles!Here's a pic I stole from Charline's Blog! H, CK and LL!

Time to eat, and of course a cheers!

Another pic from Colorado Crazy Pants, B Lane and the King yukking it up before ladderball!

Lindsay brought over her Ladderball game, and Brandon and Justin started off the competition.  Then Linds and I played, she beat me big time!Me-n-CK!Jason, Shawna and Stacey chilling in the Adirondack chairs.  Those things are awesome!Lindsay and Kourtney hanging out.The King-a-lings!Laura shows off her fabulous *sparkling* wine wrapper ring!  (Yes, Lala, I'm doing the sparkly thing with my hands as I'm typing!)Us again!Kristen and Monica watching the Wii competition that broke out.Sorry, no pics of the Wii competition, I was helping get the boys settled down for a movie in the loft.  It was semi-successful! For the first time in a long time, possibly since our wedding, I had three of my bridesmaid ladies together!  Yay!Big hugs for Linds and Laura!No party would be complete without stupid human tricks performed by Brandon, Steve, and usually Zach as well. But I realized that the instigator is ALWAYS Brandon! We've gone 2 years without stupid human tricks, but since the Lanes have been home, it's been happening with frightening regularity...not that B has to twist Steve or Zach's arm very much. It's never boring, and frequently hysterical, so it's a good thing Brandon and Laura are back!  

Well, Zach wasn't with us, but Steve was up for the Mexican Rice eating contest that Brandon challenged him to. Often these things have something to do with eating large quantities in a small amount of time. I don't even know if there was money involved, or just bragging rights. Or maybe Brandon fancies himself an American version of Kobayashi. Either way, the whole party convened outside to watch the carnage. I don't know whether to be appalled or amused. I suppose a bit of both!

So gross.  Steve won, but I gotta give Brandon style points.  He's nothing if not dramatic!

The proud wives....