Colorado Crockers

When Matt and I worked at Id-Ra-Ha- Je , they had horses, I suppose they still do. These were not the "cream of the crop" kinda ponies, we are not talking any award winners here. Most of the horses were old, donations or rescues, many not far from the glue factory. Sometimes all of the above. These horses were not used for hard labor or races, only for taking kids 7-16 on trail rides. At night the horses were let loose on the property to graze and wander. Some of them spent the evening and nights taking themselves on trail rides. They could walk the meadows , explore the mountains or whatever, but they chose to take the trails they walked during the day to get from one place to another. Like I said, these horse were not the brightest. During the day, not all of the horses were used on all the rides. If they were not corralled when a trail ride left, they would join the line, rider or not. They were the lamest kind of creatures of habit. Our culture is changing at a fantast...

I love a good deal. Craigslist and Good Will are my favorite kind of shopping. This may be due to dressing a family of 4 on a budget, but, when it comes right down to it, I blame my mother. She is the queen of cheep shopping, after all, she had to dress a family of 5! I think of it this way: I am currently bringing in very little money. Funny how moms work really hard but don't make much. Since I am not bringing in the big bucks, the only way I can contribute to the budget is by making it stretch. So I do a lot of my own baking. I bought a clothes line, it keeps the house cooler by not running the dryer and saves money too. I shop sales. Most of all, I love to shop Goodwill, garage sales, Freecycle and Craigslist. My Current good deals: 1-Single bike trailer for Matt and Amanda, Burley-$10 Goodwill 2- Wooden table and chair for Elie's room-$6 Goodwill 3- Loving Family Doll house-$5 Garage Sale 4- 20 outfits for Elie and Addie-$5 Garage Sale 5- Train Table- Free Freecycle Some m...

Well, here I am back in Colorado and missing Jenny. We had such a nice time together. Roanoke is beautiful, Pierce is a doll, it was so fun to see T and ,of course, gab with Jen. My bag never made it on the trip. My wonderful husband tracked it down and he picked it up when he came to pick me up from the airport. By the sound of everyones stories, I think I got off good! Matt met me in the waiting area with a bunch of flowers and a slap happy two year old. I got down to give her a hug and she ran right past me to see her baby sister. Nice to know how things stack up in this family! Addilyn squeeled when she saw Elie and they held on to each other most of the way home. Here are some highlights of my trip, done, as usual, in slide show form.

Ok, guess where I am...most of you already know, but Jenny didn't! I am in Roanoke! I decided a few months ago (with help and prompting from my husband) to come out for a visit, oh yeah, and NOT let Jenny know about my plan. Well, it worked, I managed to keep it a secret and she was very suprised. Here is how it went down: after a full day of travel (3 different airplanes)I arrived in Roanoke about 7 pm. Mark met me at the airport and we waited for my bag, which has yet to show up (a whole different story). He takes me to the house and brings Addilyn in, who he takes up the stairs and tells Jen he found left on the front step. Jen is not fooled, she recognizes Addilyn right away from her pictures, and starts crying " The Crockers are here?!". I come up the stairs and we hug and cry. Gosh, I've missed her! We have had a lot of fun so far, just hanging out and getting caught up. T and I have been playing and baby P is just as cute as he looks in the pictures. I have tak...

Some random pictures of us in the last week or two. Matt has a camera full of cute pictures, but alas, he is not yet home from NYC. In the last picture, Addilyn is eatting red pepper tomatoe soup, which she LOVES. She is still totally uninterested in real "baby food". Oh well.

We spent the weekend up at the condo in Breckenridge. Many years ago, we discovered a little place there called " Mountain Mary's Cookies". As many of you know, my husband has a profound weakness for chocolate chip cookies and I will eat just about anything with sugar in it. I love that little cookie store, but alas, they are not Celiac friendly. I have been known to eat a cookie anyway, but this year I just couldn't bring myself to do it. The best thing (in my opinion) that they make are these huge chocolate chip cookies sandwiched with thick chocolate frosting. My husband, knowing of my love of those cookies, went there and asked for a cup of frosting so that I could make my own, GF cookie sandwich . I love that man, maybe even more than those cookies.

So, yeah, I'm the queen of slide shows. Here are pictures from our celebration, that was actually on the 3ed. We did the "Red, White, and You" thing that we do every year. We listen to a cover band, drink yummy drinks, eat good food, and watch fire works. Elie loves fire works, and so did Addilyn. On the 4th, we just took it easy. BBQ with the Osness' and McCrady's. I love summer.

We went camping last weekend, it was a kick. We had fun in a no sleep, smell like smoke, everything is dirty kind of way. Elie has been asking to go again since we came home. It wasn't as hard as I thought it might be. We bought all the gear we needed and are keeping it in a box, so when we are ready to go, all we have to do is toss the box in the van, add a cooler of food and we are off!