Random Update

What's that Cora?
You've got an important test coming up and you need to study?

You are very studious.
Got the dash-1 almost memorized?
Good girl!
Oh, wait what's that? You're not the one who needs to study.
It's your daddy that has a test coming up?
Does he know you've got his dash-1?

I didn't think so.

Hey, it's time for a blog update. I put some pictures in a folder to blog about before Christmas. Then our computer stopped working the week before Christmas, so I never got to put these pics on the blog.

I decided a post out of order is better than no post at all.
So here is my random post. Random because the pictures are out of order and because this post isn't going to flow very nicely.
Here are the boys wrestling on the couch in their jammies.

Not too unusual.
Except now Cora wants to join in on the fun.

The boys usually let her play until she starts getting mean. She plays dirty, pulling hair and pinching faces are her usual moves.

So I had to have a 2nd procedure done on my shoulder. It wasn't as bad as the first and really helped me to get my range of motion back. Joe's parents were nice enough to come on short notice to help us.
Here is the awesome chair that I had to sit in for 6 hours a day. Yeah I said 6 hours, that's why Joe's parents came to help.
So the chair started out like this with the arm next to the body.

Then the motor would start and move my arm up.
I had to adjust it to move a few more degrees every time I sat down to do a session in it.

After I maxed it out I got to return it. It was pretty awesome and by awesome I mean boring and hurty. I can use my shoulder a lot more now. I can even put my hair in a pony tail. Let me just say that any cute hair requires two good arms. Think about it. A blow dryer and a brush requires two good arms, even using a straightener or curling iron takes two hands.
I'm practically back to normal. Reaching up is still hard. My next goal is working on putting things in and out of the cabinets with my right arm. After that things on the top shelf!

Amber got to come hang with us for Thanksgiving.

She got to be here for Ezra's birthday.
Ezra is now 9 years old. Can you believe it? Me niether.

Since Joe's parents were here for the surgery they got to stay for the Christmas program at Ez and Riv's school.
Here are the boys before the program started.

Sure they look cute, that morning River told me,"Don't forget we need Christmas shirts for the program tonight." I'm pretty sure that was the first time I heard about it. That's why they just got green t-shirts.

Here is miss Coco with a pair of swim goggles that we had floating around the house.

How long ago was Halloween?

Two rock stars and a pink cheetah.

River turned 6. Can you believe it? Me neither.

Riv also got to be on his first soccer team.
He was adorable. On his first game he would wave at us every time he ran by.

How long ago was the first day of school?
Here are the boys. Riv is in Kindergarten and Ez is a big third grader.

Cora likes to hide in the cabinets.
Here she is under the bathroom sink.

Cora's new favorite pastime is taking everything out of the cabinets and throwing it wherever she wants.

If she wasn't so cute I might get tired of picking them up 24/7.
She has a new best friend in the kitchen. Her friend in the oven.

She talks to her reflection quite a bit.
Here is a glimpse of my kitchen floor. She is also good at taking things out of the drawers too.

Got to put that Cora only drawer in soon.

Here is a note that I had to put on the blog.
It's from River.
One night(way past bedtime) he came down stairs and told me he was hungry.
I told him it was too late and if he was asleep he wouldn't be hungry.
A few minutes later he comes down the stairs and hands me this gem.
I'll translate the kindergarten writing for you.

Oh Oh o
I'm Hungry
From: Riv
To: Mom

The note didn't work. I made him go back to bed. A good effort though, don't you think?

Best summer ever....

We had such a great summer. It was so fun and I took a lot of pictures. I was going to blog about it earlier, but this shoulder surgery was rougher than I thought.

So here are some of the fun things from our trip to AZ this summer.

It started out pretty cool.
Some where in Colorado we see a woman in a truck waving a red flag out of her window and wonder why. Then we see why. A big herd of cattle being moved. We almost threw an apple to the cows, but then decided against it.


Our first order of business:
In-n-Out Burger, of course.
Here is Miss Cora enjoying her first french fry.
She couldn't believe we were holding out on her.

This thing is delicious!

Joe spent time doing manly things.
He got to shoot guns.

I don't know the specifics of this gun, but he does look pretty bad a**, don't you think?

So to balance out the picture of Joe and the gun here is a picture of him and our baby girl. This is from the family pictures that Becca took for us.
Aren't they adorable?
Here is one of my other favorite of the family.
Becca did a really great job.
We only got a few shots because it was seriously 113 degrees.
When we left Cheyenne it was still in the 5o's, so the high temps were too much for us.
We headed back to Joe and Becca's house for some cool drinks.
Joe and Becca also let us have a party at their house. We were so glad too see our friends. It was fun catching up with everyone! Good times.

When we went to visit Joe's parents. The boys got the best surprise ever.....their very own club house!
It was totally awesome. They are still talking about it.
Check out the doghouse.

Joe's dad worked so hard to build it for them and they couldn't believe how cool it was.
Grandpa gave them their very own keys.The pictures don't do it justice. The boys can't wait until our next visit to have fun in the doghouse.

Joe's parents are ridiculously good cooks. Every night we ate the best meal ever.
Here is a shot of the night we had sauce. It cooks all day long, I mean all day. It feels like torture waiting and waiting but in the end it is so worth it.

Meatballs, sausage, pork chops, noodles and sauce. My favorite salad and delicious everything bagels turned into garlic bread.
The only bad thing about eating like this (besides my pants not fitting me anymore, seriously).....
You might go into a food induced coma.
River and Grandpa passed out after a delicious meal.
Not only was there a clubhouse and delicious food, there was also a pool!
Did I mention that we never get out in the sun anymore? River got a bit of sun poisoning the second day. I tried to tell them they were having too much fun in the sun, but they didn't believe me.

River stayed inside for a day and hydrated.
By the next day both boys were back to the fun game of try and push dad in the pool.

Followed by "try to see how many floaties I can wear."

Here is a pic of Cora being cute, she can't help it.
So our visit wasn't all clubhouse, food and fun. There was also some serious competition.
Maybe you heard about the "Golden Taco Challenge of 2009?"
No? I'm surprised.
Lucky for you I documented the action as it happened.
Did I mention Joe's mom and dad are the best cooks?
Joe's mom makes the best tacos ever, they're deep fried, I don't think I need to say more.
The tacos are so good that when you are making them you remember the last time you had them and how many you ate. Joe and his dad were reminiscing about how many tacos they had ever eaten in one sitting and that is how the competition got started.
Joe and his dad decided that it was time for a good old fashioned taco eating contest.
Here is the table set for competition.
Three pans of tacos. One for Joe, one for his dad, and one for everyone else.

Here are the guys posing by the golden taco trophy that they made together, what sportsmanship!
A friendly handshake to get the contest started.

May the best man win.
Let's see how Joe is doing.

Hmm, only 6 tacos and he looks full already.
How about Bruce? Still going strong.

He's putting el pato his taco so he can enjoy the deliciousness of it.
Another check on Joe.

This is where the boys were saying, "Come on Dad, you're really letting us down." They really wanted him to win.

Let's check on Bruce. He's just making sure he gets every last bite.

Here is Joe facing the facts.
He will not be the winner of the golden taco challenge.

Tacos eaten by Bruce =17
Tacos eaten by Joe=10
Bruce wins!

Joe's parents were nice enough to watch our kids while we had a little getaway.
We stayed one night at a resort in Tucson, yeah we used our military discount.
It was beautiful! Check out the pool side view.

We loved being just us two by the pool. Try not to look at our pastiness. I told you we never see the sun anymore.

On our way home we were lucky enough to stop by my cousins farm in Pleasant View Colorado. They really know how to make you feel at home. It was great getting to know my cousins again.
I got to have a nice lunch with the women and Joe got to shoot prairie dogs. The boys had a blast doing things that they never get to do in the city.
Here are some of fun things they did.
Here is River with Jen and Andelin on their way to feed Freddy the calf.

Here is River petting Freddy

The kids helping Jen feed Freddy. He was hungry.

All the boys having fun on the 4 wheeler. Ez and Riv are still talking about that.

They even rounded up a horse for the boys to ride.
Here is River on Clancey.

Here is Ezra on Clancey.

It was great visiting our family on the farm and eating even more delicious food.
On our way to the main road we stopped to take pictures of the amazing scenery.
Pleasant View really lives up to it's name, although I think it's more of a spectacular view.

Amber waves of grain, literally.