A Little Explaining!!

Where the heck have I been?? I can give a ton of excuses, but why, I'm back !! Now I guess I owe some explaining about The Chapped Lips. It's a real band, yeah right!! My friend Clairissa is in LOVE with Muse and decided to make a girls trip out of going to the concert in AZ. She is an incredible photographer and is a genius on the old Mac, so she had us do a photo shoot and make a video. We had the best time acting like rocker chicks and making dorks of ourselves filming the video. Clairissa then cut it together and put it on You Tube. I think we might be famous!!

Now, how do I know these rocker chicks?? We know each other from our ward in CO. The bummer is Clairissa has moved to Georgia and Kara moved back to CA. The ward has never been the same since! Erin and Susanne still live by me and are proud to be a member of The Chapped Lips. I hope this explained some of your questions, and yeah, I know we're NUTS!!!

What else has been going on? Here's a quick recap:

The Young Women earned a trip up to Grand Lake and we had a blast!!

I said I would pay the 1st girl that jumped into the freezing cold lake $20.

Catherine made me pay up!

View from our hike.

Marc and Karen took us to the Rockies playoff game against the Padres. It was so exciting to be there when they won. You all know what has happened since that game, swept the D'Backs and got spanked my the Red Sox last night. Hopefully they will get their act together. As Jaden says, "Go Rocks!!"

I love Karen cheering behind Doug. Jaden was out of it. We didn't get home until midnight!

Now this past week my Mom came to visit!! We had the best time together. We stayed up in Breckenridge and went to Grand Lake. Fall has arrived and winter is just around the corner!

It was soooooo windy in Grand Lake!!

We had to make a CPK visit and even found some killer deals at Anthropologie!!

Jaden loved wearing Grandma's polka dot glasses!

Grandma played with Jaden outside while I got ready. When I came out, he was only wearing his onesie and boots. You got to love CO weather, one day snow and the next day it's 70!!!
WE MISS YOU GRANDMA!!!!

The Chapped Lips are Back Baby!!!

Yeah, we made a music video- check it out!!
Great work Clairissa, I mean Claire. Seriously.

Happy Birthday Jaden!!

Our little guy is officially 2 (bummer, now he costs a plane ticket)! We packed a lot in this weekend celebrating his b-day!!

We had a b-day party at Belleview Park on Saturday where we rode the train! He has become a train guy for sure!

The b-day crew!

Dad, the b-day boy, Grandma, and Grandpa!

The b-day boy got away with this. . . he was soaked!!

Poor Elmo! He had no idea what was coming!

At first Jaden liked hitting Elmo, but was very SAD when Elmo's neck broke! Thank goodness for a Grandpa who repaired his broken neck!

The b-day bunch! All loaded up on candy!

Jaden loved having everyone sing to him!

It was so cute because all of the kids wanted to help him open his presents!

Grandma and Grandpa had been waiting since Easter to give him these clubs!

No cart for this guy! He'll be walking the course for sure!

Finally his own bike and helmet!

WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH and have been blessed beyond measure as your parents! You truly are a blessing and a joy to be around!
Love, Mom and Dad

Rocker Chick Weekend!!

Henna tatto- - -check
Fake lip ring- - - check
Rocker clothes- - -check
Black make-up- - - check
Muse concert ticket- - -check
Acting like a hard core rocker chick with my girlfriends- - - UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Hot Topic

I leave tomorrow for a Girls Weekend in Scottsdale, AZ and lets just say, for the trip, I had to purchase something from Hot Topic!! Stay Tuned!!!

Didn't get done what I was supposed to get done, but who cares- not the mouse!!

I'm the worst!!! I was supposed to get a number of things done this weekend like:

1. Clean out the garage and buy mouse poison- there's a mouse in there, I have seen the little guy or girl scurry around and found some droppings, I know, gross!!

2. DUST- it's needed- black furniture doesn't hide much!

3. Vacuum- light carpet doesn't hide dark hair or remnants of Jaden's breakfast!

4. Paint my bedroom- who am I kidding, I have been meaning to do that for the last 2 years!!

Instead I:

Got together with Whitney and her sister Chelsea who came to visit from CA.

Was psycho and went to the "Day Out with Thomas" in Golden, CO (yeah, the beer capitol for Coors) by myself, since Doug was out of town. We had to be bussed to the Railroad Museum, due to the number of Thomas fans.

Jaden on the bus. He thought it was so cool

Thomas made out of Legos.

He was not a fan of the petting zoo!

The actual Thomas train that drove us around for 25 minutes- ugh!

And went bowling with the Beehives, with some fatherless children!

I have next weekend, right??

The only reason I'm glad summer is over!!

The Office- September 27th!!

What has the Office been up to this summer? Watch this clip, you won't be disappointed!!

FOUND: My Husband and an Adventure!

I don't even know where to begin!! We have had so much fun together since Doug has been home. We're always up for an adventure and this Labor Day Weekend was no exception! Literally, last minute, we booked a hotel up in Winter Park (we got a killer deal!!) and headed up to the mountains for some major fun!

MIA- My husband!

Doug is gone again for work. This time he is in Baltimore. I miss him!

P.S. Some answers to the violin questions:

1) I took violin until 7th grade where apparently I became "to cool" for orchestra!

2) In 6th grade I won a scholarship to Arrowbear Music Camp (I know what you're thinking- BAND CAMP- big nerd), where I went with my sister. Her lips were wrapped around her flute as well as other campers- Cara, you soooo remember the boy with the raccoon skin hat. Way to go with the band boys!

3) To this day, my Dad says that at one of my recitals I played the entire song on the wrong string- I do NOT believe him!

4) My private violin teacher was named Mrs. Snodgrass and when I told her I was quitting, she said, "I'm not surprised!".

I'm in Need of a VIOLIN!!

I will pay big bucks- well, not really, for a violin! I've checked a music store and they run from $500-$7oo (out of my price range). I've signed up for lessons, but for some reason, I think a violin would help with the whole idea of taking lessons. If you know of anyone with an old violin (full size) let me know ASAP!!!

Number 434

So tonight I was a total Stephenie Meyer groupie, along with the other 750 screaming teenagers! It was out of control! My friend Pam and I went to the book signing and question and answer session. We thought we would go early to get a seat- yeah right! The question and answer session started at 7PM and honestly, I think people must have gotten there at 4PM because it was PACKED! It was so fun to see all these teenage girls with their Team Edward and Team Jacob shirts (BTW, I'm on team Jacob right now). Here are a few things I learned:

1. Stephanie is about 3/4 of the way done with book 4, shoot, I just forgot the name of it!

2. Sometimes she has a crush on Charlie.

3. A small movie studio has bought the rights for a movie. All she wants to see done right is the meadow scene from the first book Twilight.

4. She thinks there may be 6 books in the series, but she's not sure.

5. She loved Linkin Park when she wrote Twilight and is now obsessed with the Muse.

6. She LOVES her fans!

It was packed at the Tattered Cover (I love the name of the bookstore)

I thought this girl's shirt was so cute!

Pam and I in front of 1 of the many displays.

I wish I could say Stephanie just told me a fabulous joke as she signed my book, but I have no idea why I am busting up!

It was worth waiting in line for number 434 to be called- yeah that's the number we were!

Double Date, Cherry Creek, and B-day Bashes

Double Date: Jaden and I went on a double date with Heather and Mason to the Colorado Rapids Soccer Game. Mason was a riot! He kept yelling, "Get it in the net! I told you 5 times, get it in the net!!". I think we might ask them out again, but there is a waiting period, we don't want to sound too easy. We won't call until at least Wednesday (using the Esecson Rules of dating)!

It was crazy! They were showing pictures of Beckham every second promoting his game in CO. Do you think I might run into Posh? Hopefully!!

Cherry Creek: Saturday I got together with my 2 friends Becky and Whitney (we were all husbandless) for an adventure to Cherry Creek Reservoir. We all were craving the ocean and found the next best thing. Now we just need a boat!

Connor, Jaden, and Scotty

Catching some major rays!

B-day Bashes: We were able to celebrate Laura's b-day with her Saturday night. Have I said how HAPPY I am that Laura and her family are living here?? I am in heaven! BTW, how HOT is Laura!! She is a Hot Mom for sure!
P.S. Every late afternoon/ evening we have thunderstorms, but look what they bring us! Can't complain (too much)!