Hannah's birthday-August 12, 2019

Yesterday was Hannah's 7th birthday. She is 7, going on 27. Knows it all and is never wrong. Yet, we were able to provide her with a fun afternoon. She chose her theme and her cake. She even showed me a picture of exactly what she wanted on the cake. I may not like it, but who am I to tell her no? It is her birthday.

Yes, she wanted this emoji on her cake. The baker called on Wednesday

and said the cake was just too plain with white icing and a chocolate

emoji, so could she be creative? I said yes. So this is what we got!

Actually you can't look at without smiling. Isn't that exactly what

a cake should do? Make you smile or even laugh.

 

We found a balloon and paper plates and napkins.

It is our job to make her birthday fun.

 

The moment when all three saw the cake for the first time.

Both parents thought it was fun, too.

 

So now we have a 7 year old who starts second grade on Thursday of this week. Next Tuesday, Zoey who is 5, starts full day kindergarten. We will then be down to sweet little crazy Daisy. It will be an adjustment for us as well as for her. We are going to try to do a few special things for her to help ease the loss we think she will feel. Who knows? Maybe she will be glad! It's bitter sweet for us.

 

 

Pets and Popsicles-August 10, 2019

Friday we bravely took all three girls to the Pets and Parades in Greeley. We went last year, too. Can't decide which year was hotter. They did have gigantic tress where we were so I could tolerate a little heat. Pets and Parades is somewhat of a petting zoo, but the animals are in old buildings from local history not in a big pen waiting to be petted. After kids walk they entire thing they get a popsicle. This year we got a popsicle, too. 

This is where Pets and Popsicles was held. Many events are held

here. It is a very, very nice complex. The City has put a lot of money

into this museum. It's extremely impressive.

 

There was a litter of 7 week old bunnies. They were

so cute and very soft.

 

Hannah petting a very friendly small goat. The other child is unknown!

 

Ducks. Not sure what type they are.

 

Mother and daughter alpacas. They were adorable. The mother's

name is Summer and her daughter is Sunny. There was a lady there

telling us all about these animals, things we did not know. They do not

spit like llamas. They produce massive amounts of wool. As delicately as I

can tell this, they set aside a spot as their "potty". An entire heard will do

that. And that is where they go. Nowhere else. They are very neat and clean

animals and actually friendly once they get to know you. All three girls

enjoyed the alpacas.

 

The original first Weld County Courthouse from the 1800s.

It has been restored to try to hold it together.

Some one did great work on this restoration.

 

There are a number of original houses and business buildings that have been restored and moved to this location. The story behind each building is carefully documented. All I can say is that those  pioneers were very strong and dedicated people. None of us now could live like they had to live.

  

Our little angels. Actually, they were very good on this trip. They

never complained about the heat (like I did!). They enjoyed seeing

the animals up close. Daisy is not mad in this picture, she is just

making a face. She is a happy little thing so it was surprising

to see this face.

 

It was a fun thing to do. School starts next week so we wanted to do something different before that happened. We have done a couple of other fun things this summer I hope to post soon.

 

 

 

 

 

Heard of this?-August 3, 2019

This happens every week in our neighborhood. These people live 2 doors south of us. I finally decided I had to say something. The pictures are not perfect because I did not want to get caught.

This is a shop vacuum. Our neighbors use it to vacuum their driveway,

street, curb and gutter and....are you ready?.....their lawn!

 

 

And they do it on hands and knees. This is not a joke.

 

So I ask you, have you ever seen anybody do this? But the biggest question is: WHY? If I get to the point I have absolutely nothing to do, I promise you I will not be vacuuming my lawn. I can see sweeping your driveway once in a while but not vacuuming it. To each his own I suppose.

 

Steve-July 27, 2019

We are so busy with all three girls that I am not finding time to take too many pictures. I do have a couple I took yesterday.

On Zoey's birthday in May, she asked us for a BIG penguin. When she said that she would stretch her arms as tall as she could stretch them. We finally found a plush penguin that was a little over 2 feet tall. She loved it. His name is Steve. I think it is from a movie, but don't quote me. So yesterday I was able to finally get some pictures of Steve. However, Steve was playing princess dress-up. The girls thought that was hilarious. I admit I had to help dress him.

Zoey and Steve. Steve is in Cinderella clothes.

The cat wearing the "pearls" is Hannah's grumpy cat.

 

Here is Steve as Belle. I was happy that the Beast

did not accompany Beauty!

 

By the time they left last night Steve was back to being Steve.

 

We try to roll with the punches when the girls are here. I doubt Jerry ever dreamed he would know how to dress a princess doll. But whatever it takes to help the girls have fun. We are trying to build memories.

Storm clouds-July 20, 2019

If you have followed this blog for any time you know I love clouds, rainbows and sunsets. The view we have of storm clouds here is so extraordinary that it is hard not to just stand and gawk at the beauty.

Same storm taken from two different locations.

This thunderstorm was actually located over Sydney, Nebraska.

 

 

We have talked about the fact that it is not possible to see thunderstorms far away in other parts of the country like we see them here. Part of it, we think, is just simply the lay of the land. And then there is the fact we have far fewer trees here than other areas especially the South. On Jerry's first trip to Alabama he almost had an attack of claustrophobia because of the dense trees. It really bothered him. He did eventually adjust and found all those trees provided nice shade. Still, I love looking at what is happening in other states.

 

This storm was in extreme eastern Colorado and western Kansas.

 

Storm over Cheyenne, WY.

 

 

I spend so much time looking up it is amazing I have not tripped over my own feet.  

 

 

 

Old Love-July 12, 2019

The following is an email I received today from our South Dakota State Representative, Dusty Johnson. He is a free spirit. I genuinely like him though we sometimes think differently. Obviously the picture was taken 20 years ago. I did not ask his permission to post this but I feel like he would not mind. I am giving him the credit! I love what this says.







July 12, 2019
Dear Cheryl,

I Prefer Old Love

By Rep. Dusty Johnson
July 12, 2019

Reflections as I begin my 20th year of marriage to Jacquelyn (Dice) Johnson: 

New love is fun. It‘s easy to enjoy the excitement, the rush, the sense of opportunity.

I prefer old love, though.

New love is perishable. It‘s easily distracted and fades quickly. Old love is abiding. It’s stubborn, willing to ride out the inevitable storms and maelstroms of marriage.

New love is picky, and can be run off by any manner of shortcoming. Old love knows its every wart. For some blessed reason, old love sticks around.

You don’t have to dress up for old love, but often you do, because you want to.

Old love doesn’t keep score, because there’s only one team. Old love laughs together, cries together, works together, disciplines children together.

New love is noisy. There are so many interesting stories to share and fun secrets to confide. Old love knows how to talk and advise and share and confide, but it has also learned how to be still. It is easy to use silence as a tool of anger or apathy, but old love knows silence can also mean comfort and happiness.

Old love comes from God, and you can feel him within it. New love brings more pleasure, but old love brings more joy.

Old love laughs at jokes no one else understands. Old love exchanges glances, tells stories with a single look, and reads minds.

Old love is a best friend, makes us better, and is a sincere blessing.

New love is fun, but I prefer old love.

Crazy Facebook-July 6, 2019

Anyone who knows me knows I do not like Facebook at all. I am on it to follow family. I generally do not comment often but I had something I wanted to share on the 4th of July.

It is a 4th of July tree made by my brother and sister-in-law.

I think it is so pretty and definitely appropriate for July 4th.

When I saved it to my hard drive I saved it as his MAGA tree,

not his July 4th tree. That was my big mistake.

 

When I posted it on Facebook, I could never find it. Then I received notification from Facebook that they had deleted it. It was allowed online for 6 hours. That was bad enough but they added insult to injury by locking me out of Facebook. It took me an hour of intense work to get Facebook to open again. So I am back on Facebook, but my settings have been drastically changed and it makes it very hard to maneuver. There's not a thing I can do about it. So I have learned my lesson. I changed the name on the picture to 4th of July tree.

 



 Enjoy the tree better late than never.

Hope you had a fun 4th!