GABF Here we come!!

Tickets to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) go on sale to the general public today! Jeff and I already bought our tickets in the "members only" presale for members of the American Homebrewers Association. The GABF is a blast for beer lovers young and old, last year Jeff's dad joined us and had fun.
We bought tickets for the Thursday night session and the Saturday afternoon "members only" session. These are the two least roudy sessions, they are more about enjoying fine beer than about "getting your money's worth". The Saturday sessions are usually the first to sell out, but all 4 sessions will be sold out well before the event, probably in the next few weeks.

It isn't too late to buy your tickets, then fire up those pretzel necklaces and meet us in September!

Kitchen window.... OPEN!

This......made my day!

High heels

She is loving these new high heel shoes (notice she is wearing them at 7am with her jammies). They only came in size6 so they wont last long, but they are getting enough wear anyway.

Bird House

Several weeks ago we went to a festival called the People's Fair (always a fav of ours) and hit the kids' area. There was a booth sponsored by Home Depot, with (free) kids crafts involving pounding and glueing- sure to be a hit for all ages. Lauren made a bird house and still talks about hammering in the nails (POUND- POUND-POUND). She loved it, and it was all precut with nail-holes started. And they had candy to chew on while you worked. And, the giant bubble machine was just outside, who could ask for anything more? Well, they also had Sabra Hummus samples FOR FREE, which happens to be one of her favorite snacks (we are brand loyal and like Sabra roasted pine nut the best!). Later she got a humongo pickle on a stick from a German foodstand, and needless to say, Lauren is a huge fan of the People's Fair in Denver. 

A few days later I bought some (non-washable) acrylic paints and she got to work painting her bird house.


Always singing, as usual....



We were so impressed by how thorough she was, she spent over an hour going over every inch of it to be sure it was covered. She even painted the inside through the tiny opening for the birdie!

 Ooops- I tried to sneak a moment to make lunch, this is NOT washable paint!

The final product. Still waiting for the birds. It was precious when she was painting it, I set her up outside and we could hear birds singing. She kept telling them, "just hold on a couple minutes, I am trying to make your house for you" " just wait birdie- almost done".  It was too cute and kept cracking me up. I seriously hope a bird comes to live here- if anyone has tips to lure them in, please share!

Laundry Day

None of my sheets stayed folded until she went down for a nap, but it was fun!

Father's Day 2011

We were quite impressed at her abilities for a two year old! She got even better once we remembered she was a lefty and showed her how to cast left handed. If you cannot watch it here, this is posted on youtube, if you just search for the title above. Enjoy!

Chillin at the skate park

Wish i wouldve gotten a shot of her riding her trike

Mother's Day 2011

*I know this post is way late, but with the loss of my hard drive I haven't had pics to post. Luckily I made a disk for my mom with these*

Mothers Day 2011. My mom came to visit and we had a nice (but quick) weekend. We picked her up at the airport- and Lauren and I waited at the top of the escalator with a cute sign she had made.

We also got a ton of yardwork done with my mom there to help keep an eye on the little girl. Jeff said "I love it when your mom comes out!" We really feel the pain of how hard it is with no family around us when we have the brief glimpse of what it would be if they lived closer.

On Sunday we ran a 5k race that ended in Coors Field. It was  a really fun time. I registered us for the race on my mom's birthday and emailed her the registration as part of her bday gift. She claimed she thought I was trying to kill her, but she trained for it and had a good time.  She broke her hand the week prior to the race, so us girlies ended up walking more than running, since the cast on her arm made it seem ridiculous for running. We had a great walk, and joked as we passed a crazy girl in stilletos and an older man on crutches. There may have been a very pregnant lady on the walk that we will not be mentioning (as we watched her swinging pony tail get farther and farther away...).

Book Review- Room

Last weekend I read the book Room by Emma Donogue. I have had several people recommend it to me, but the story sounded disturbing so I was hessitent. Well, it was disturbing, but I loved it none-the-less. The story is about a woman who is kidnapped and held prisoner in a small room for years, it is based on a real-life story of a woman held captive for 24 years in Austria. The story is told from the perspective of her 5 year old son, who was born while she was captive. The woman is so imaginitive in the ways she teaches her son life lessons, and makes the best of a terrible situation for his sake. I read it in about a day and a half- it is a super quick read and not as disturbing as it might sound. If anyone checks it out, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Rockies game with my TV star

Tonight we went to the Rockies game and had a great time. They had an event on the field, and the camera man and PR people walked back up from the field on the aisle near us (we were in the middle, but not that far from the aisle). I had a feeling that they wouldn't be able to resist the beauty and charm of our little doll- and I was right. The camera man stopped dead in his tracks and had his camera about a foot from her face as she smiled and flirted into the Jumbo-tron. Our section was wild cheering her on, it was so cute!! Wish I could have gotten the footage. We are so proud of our lovely little girl!!!!!!!!!!!

Computer Crash!

Yes, I am alive. Just not in the mood to blog. My laptop crashed again- the entire harddrive was erased and I am trying to get it back. This happened the night before I had big plans to back up all of my pictures on my new external harddrive. So, I have lost all of my photos and movies once again. How stupid am I for not backing them up since last summer when it crashed and I lost everything?

One word of advice? DO NOT EVER BUY A DELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lauren 2 1/2 years Old

School pictures. Cheap and easy- I love this one!

Girl's Night Out

Tonight I went out with some good girlfriends. We went to a place called http://www.canvasandcocktails.com/, where you can paint on canvas while enjoying a cocktail with friends. So fun!