Looky! Looky!

For years John has acquired one gun each year.  Some years he's purchased more than one but it is always at least one... until the last couple of years.  With moving and unemployment, we just couldn't swing it (I did buy him a gun controller for the Wii one year and a gun-shaped house key the next year).  This year, with the new job, he is back again hoping for a gun.  I gave him a budget of what we could swing at the time and he chose to purchase a pair of field glasses with part of the money.  (Disclaimer #1 - It was HIS choice, 100%.  He still might get the gun, but if he doesn't, it's because of his own choice.  Disclaimer #2 - We have been married for 16 1/2 years.  He owns 24 guns.  I'm sure you can do the math... He can still go another few years and not be short any guns.  Sidenote - He has his eye on a specific kind of gun to kill the badgers that live in the fields.  I told him to include it in the farm budget he submits to the owner and boss.  We'll see if that flies.)

John with his field glasses.  He really has enjoyed them and gotten his money out of them.

Can you see the deer between the trees?  This is at the ranch where John sees TONS of deer every time he's out there.

Some are mule deer and some are white tail.

The other day John said he saw a herd of 31 at the same time.

It's been fun for John to watch the deer habits change and evolve once the cows arrived on the ranch.  Next year he'll get a tag or two and fill our freezer with venison roasts.

The BIG 4-OH!

 It was bound to happen sometime....

With my favorite dessert ... pumpkin pie cake!  (And yes, I was hot and sweaty.  Our apartment doesn't have any air conditioning.)

 I turned the big 4-OH on the 5th.  Really, it's not a big deal.  I've been saying I was 40 for nearly a year so actually being 40 isn't so bad.   (In my head, though, I'm still only 32!)

Just a field full of beautiful sunflowers that you can see from the highway on the way to Colorado Springs.

Limon Day!

I've decided we are going to live here for a long, long, LONG (forever kind of long) time.  So what better way to become acclimated to a new town than to jump right in with both feet (and three quilts)?  (Seriously, trust me on this... I've had a lot of experience acclimating to new towns.)

Limon Days was on August 4th.  The librarian (the town info queen) convinced me to display three quilts in quilt show.  When I dropped off my quilts I visited with the lady in charge.  Joy and I agreed that we needed a quilt club in Limon.  She set out sign up to see who would be interested.  More on that venture when I finally get around to blogging October's events.

Kelly with the Dropped Nine-Patch John Deere quilt that Grandma Layton made for her.

Kelly with the Flower Garden quilt I made for her.

The piano runner I made to use during the month of July.

In addition to the quilt show and old-type craft demos (there was even a tatting demo), there were a lot of outside things - petting zoo, farm equipment display and tours at the museums.

Leslie and Kelly petting a bunny

Kelly with a beautiful white horse.  Leslie did NOT want to get close to the horse.

Wagon wheel rug demonstration

Kelly trying her hand at a miniature wagon wheel rug.  We've talked about making a large one for her new bedroom.

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The kids in front of John Deere Series G tractor.

Fun Around Town!

We quickly discovered a few fun things to do around town.

Farm Day at Library Story Time

Christopher and Leslie made a pig.  I couldn't get Leslie to show me both her face and the pig's face.  It was so funny.

Leslie's first trip to story time at the library.  I didn't get a picture of him, but Christopher was there, too.

There is a great history/railroad museum here.  On the museum grounds is an old schoolhouse, playground, empty railroad cars to walk through and this empty boxcar that is filled with Mr. Bailey's collection of antique and modern saddles.  All the kids had fun sitting on this horse.

Finally SIX!

Christopher waited a LONG time to turn SIX! Because he has a summer birthday he had to watch all of the kids in his class turn six before he finally did. Before we moved, we had a mini-party for him with the Smith cousins at Chuck E. Cheese. While he was super happy to celebrate at Chuck E. Cheese, he was even more excited to actually turn six soon after we moved to Colorado.

The birthday boy with a transformer.

He wanted a BIG box of Legos.

Christopher chose to have pizza for his birthday dinner (no surprise there) and wanted to eat AT Pizza Hut.

Back home for cake and ice cream.

Blowing out candles.

Finally SIX!

Just a few things about my "Tuffer".... He is one funny kid.  Everywhere I go people tell me how funny he is.  He starts almost every sentence with "Didn't you know..."  He loves Legos (LOVES them), playing in the dirt, making a gun out of anything (his current favorite thing to use as a gun is a broken deer antler that John brought home from the farm).  He is a great reader and loves to do anything JJ does.  Christopher will just come up to me several times a day and give me a hug and a kiss on the cheek and tell me he loves me.  He's also pretty good at teasing Leslie.  Most days can become the "best day ever" just by saying we are having pizza for dinner or that we are going to visit the house-building site so he can play in HIS super big sandpile.

Apartment Adventure

John's job compensation package includes housing.  The boss and office manager spent several weeks looking for a house they would like to rent (or buy) for us to live in.  There are a lot of houses for sale in Limon but none of them are large enough for a family with four kids or have ceilings high enough for adults who are both on the semi-tall end.  The company finally decided to build a house next to the farm shop.  So, .... On Monday, July 9, 2012, we started our Apartment Adventure!

I went to the apartment complex about 10 a.m. to sign the paperwork.  I walked through the apartment and, for the most part, it was "fine".  The carpet has some stains, the laundry room closet is missing a bi-fold door and the bathroom door has a huge hole in it.  For a time we only had one toilet that worked and one sink that worked (not in the same bathroom).  The bathtub/shower also had issues. There are very few ceiling lights in the whole apartment and of those rooms that have ceiling lights, only one room worked.  The lights in the kitchen and one bathroom didn't work.  After several days of "adventure", John's boss and the office manager finally arranged for a plumber and electrician to come out.  Aside from being on the small side for a family of six, this is a decent apartment.  The complex is just in receivership right now so getting workmen to come in and fix things is difficult.  Also, it's one of the nicest apartments in Limon.  I just wish I didn't see so many HUGE spiders.  Apartment living in Limon is not for the faint of heart - haha!

The hole in the bathroom door is the size of Leslie, our two year old who wears size 4T clothes.

There are replacement doors available but they've been sitting outside for who-knows-how-long and are probably filled with my arch-nemesis... SPIDERS.  I'd rather have this beautiful duct-tape original, made by my dear husband, John.

Tired of the weeds around the apartment, John sprayed it all with farm-grade weed killer.

Really, it's a cute apartment.

More weeds...

The main floor of the new house.   There are two bedrooms, two living spaces, two bathrooms, a kitchen, dining room and a laundry room on the main level.  The company is sooooo great!  I'm really excited to move in.

The basement of the new house.  It has three bedrooms, a bathroom, living space and a HUGE "Mormon Closet" for storage.  I can't wait.  With just a couple of exceptions, it's my dream house.

Lost Key Adventure

Driving to Limon, the girls were with me and the boys were with John.  Kelly needed to stop for a "private moment" so I pulled off at Sinclair, WY, at a truck stop.  I had called John and told him to keep going, we'd catch up with him in a few minutes.  Kelly and I took turns staying outside with Leslie while the other went into the truck stop.  When I came out, we hopped in and got ready to go.  Unfortunately there wasn't a key on the keyring.  We searched EVERYWHERE.  We retraced our steps, inside and out of the truck stop and pulled the garbage out of the garbage can in front of the truck stop - twice.  (I had emptied the garbage in the pickup while I waited for Kelly.)  We searched all over the truck and couldn't find the key.  After about 30 minutes and several prayers and frantic phone calls to John, we found the key... down the side of the seat next to the center console.  I had looked there several times already.  The key had slipped off the keyring.  We jumped in the pickup and hurried to catch up to where John and the boys waited on the side of the road.