The Goods, the Bads, and the Uglies

Good: I finally got the Back to School Pics up

Bad: The Back to School pics are two weeks late.

Good: The boys were very excited for school.

Bad: The excitement wore off after just one day.

Ryan and the boys. Aren't all my men so handsome?

The boys and me at school. They couldn't wait to get to their class. They were almost late for their first day because I had to get pictures. Come on Mom!!!!

Big B-Dog going to 2nd grade (Ms. Jarboe's class)

Super big K-dog going to 4th grade (Mrs. Love's class)

Bad: I missed them so much the first day. I couldn't wait for them to get home.

Ugly: I waited and waited for them to get home. I cleaned the house to pass the time, not because it needed (ha ha). They got home, messed up my clean house and drove me crazy....how is that possible?

The Weekly Goods, Bads, and Uglies:

Good: I was talking with Kole about how big he was getting and I asked my soon to be 4th grader, where all the time had gone, he patted his heart and said, "right here." Isn't that enough to make an already emotional mom cry?

Good: My brother A.D. and his wife Serene, came over to Denver for a visit. We had so much fun. I have a real soft spot for my baby brother and his wife is cool wife too.

Adrian with Kole and Braydon.

Good: Swimming fun with Uncle A.D.

Adrian and Kole under the water. Can you see them?

Good/Bad: The swimmer who can't stop for photos, previously known as Kole.

Good: Braydon loves to pose for pictures. I'm definitely not a photographer, but I do love these pictures, perhaps it is the subject.

Good: We went to Elitch Gardens. It was more fun than we remembered.
Did you realize that part of the roller coaster is shaped like a heart? I didn't, my perceptive Braydon did.

Only $30 and we won these amazing stuffed animals that we had to have. Where are they now? In the basement.

Waiting in line. What do you see up so high Braydon and down so low Kole?

Braydon's favorite ride. He had to wear his sneakers with the tallest heal, and a hat that was propped up on his head so he could get on the "big" rides. He did inform us that he is going to eat more now so we don't have to do this next year.

Ryan loves loves loves the Merry Go Round.

My two scary boys.

Ugly: My baby brother posing in his swim trunks and the Texas Cape he won at Elitch Gardens, while I'm saying "you're a tiger." The people walking by didn't know what to think. I don't know what to think now either. Okay A.D. I'm sorry I called your photo session ugly....I'll now just call it BAD.

The Weekly Goods, Bads, and Uglies

Good: This blog is only truths. No more lies, I promise......well let's not be too hasty, no more lies for awhile :)

Good: We went on a family vacation!

Bad/Good: We took the kids to Las Vegas. Crazy right? You have to listen to why we went there, and then it makes perfect sense, at least it does in my crazy world. Ryan decided that we needed to save $$$ this year, so we would be taking a vacation to the beautiful Colorado Mountains. This did not seem like a vacation to me. I begged and pleaded, but he stayed firm. Then one day a telemarketer from the Hilton called offering us a free hotel suite in Vegas if we just went to a tiny little 2 hour meeting. Harmless right? I signed Ryan and I up, knowing that he would be so proud of me. Now we could drive to Vegas and stay for free. Our vacation would cost us almost nothing. I decided we had better take the kids with us, that would be selfish if our "family vacation" didn't include the boys :} Oh, Ryan was not as happy with me as I thought he would be. I had to put a deposit down that we would get back after attending that silly little time share meeting, so regardless of his not so happy reaction, our plans were set. So off we went on another Griswold Family Vacation.

Good: We rented a speed boat and hung out on Lake Mead one day. We had so much fun diving off the boat and swimming in the huge lake and teaching the boys to drive the boat. We left the camera in the car :{ but we had it when we stopped after at Lake Mead to check out the Hoover Dam. It really is huge with a whole lot of concrete.

Good: We went to Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

Good: We had a great time swimming. Braydon didn't even shiver when he got out of the pool. The boys even created an act fit for Vegas.

Good: We went to the Knights of the Roundtable. It was really cool, and the boys loved it. Okay, Ryan and I thought it was pretty cool too.

Bad: According to Braydon we had to walk and walk and walk. It is true. We didn't remember how far you had to walk to get to everything, and what you might see on your way to your destination. Oops.

Good: The kids were tired out every night, and slept in each day, so we got to sleep in too.

Ugly: The "little meeting" was not so fun. They seem to think you are out of your mind if you don't want to pay $30,000 up front, and $350 a month for an amazing time share in lovely Las Vegas. Ryan told our salesman, Sevren, that we were not interested in a time share. He then decided the best sales approach was to talk to me and insult Ryan. That didn't work for us. Shocking! After the meeting, Ryan told me that if I sign us up for another time share meeting, he will not go on vacation with me for 5 years. I'm pretty sure he meant it!

The Good, the Bad, and the Uglies:

I can't believe that I didn't post a blog last week. It was such an amazing week!

Good: Ryan got a promotion with a huge raise. Thanks sugar daddy!

Good: Kim was accepted into Mensa.

Good: Kole tested out of the 4th grade and will be going to 5th grade a year early. Way to go Kole.

Good; Braydon got a small part in a local commercial. Wish us luck!

Good; The boys' dreams have come true. We purchased two horses. Let us know if you would like to go for a ride sometime.

Bad: None of the above Goods are true.

Ugly; I'm a big fat liar, but in my defense, nothing of interest happened last week, although I could get into Mensa if I wanted to.

The Weekly Good, Bad, and Uglies

My brother and his family came out. We had so much fun just hanging out, going shopping, swimming, eating at the White Chocolate Grill, playing at The Children's Museum, and more shopping (without kids).

Good: We had a lot of fun at the Children's Museum.

Our firemen

Tire fun

Ryan is under my brother somewhere.

Braydon and Connor

Good: Another great meet by my two little fish.

Kole tearing it up.

Braydon ready to dive.

Bad: Where do you have to go if you come to Colorado? Casa Bonita! Right? Wrong. It is run down and a little scary inside. So, of course the kids loved it! Ryan grew up in Colorado and loved this place. He still loves it, but I'm sorry babe, we will probably not be making a trip back there.

at the fountain

"we are models, ya know what I mean....."

right, like walking is an option

Ugly: I had gorgeous new bedding for an entire night. Then one of the cats peed on, my did I mention new, bedspread? What the crap (sorry for my harsh language). They have never done that before, so I guess they decided to make it count. They almost went back to Dumb Friends League for that. Oh, but the story gets better, I shoved the giant bedding in the washer, knowing it was too big, and turned on the washer. The washer overflowed with water all over my laundry room. So my sister-in-law and I mopped all the water up. We pulled the bedspread out of the washer and noticed a huge tear that was not there before. I guess I am just not meant to have a new bedspread. No one sees our bedroom anyway right?

The Weekly Goods, Bads, and Uglies

GOOD: My boys are home from Utah! They had a great time fishing, making forts, attending the Ute Stampede and playing with grandma, grandpa, and their cousins.

GOOD: My boys are also artists. Kole would like everyone to know that his paintings are for sale if you are interested.

Kole at work

Braydon at work.

One of Kole's paintings that I framed and put in the bathroom.

A masterpiece by Kole titled "Look into My Eyes".

GOOD: My brother, Shane and his wife, Rochelle are coming to visit this Wednesday.

BAD: My house is not "company ready." I had/have so many projects on my list, okay, on Ryan's list, "we" will be pushing it to get them all done. Ryan is convinced that we haven't done this many projects in the last two years. He is probably right because that is the last time we have had family out, besides my mom and dad (who know how we really live).

GOOD: The guest bedroom which was our "throw it in that room" room is now beautiful and newly decorated. (except the paint, Ryan can't do everything sigh)

GOOD: The loft is officially clean. It has been my "scrap room" as Braydon calls it and craft room for the last two years. Which translates into another diasaster that has needed a good cleaning for a long time. It only took me 6 hours no biggie right?

Ugly: Braydon's uneaten ice cream sandwich in the bathroom trash, just after I cleaned the bathroom.

BAD: As in good bad. Ryan completed one of the projects on his list. He put trim around the mirror in the guest bathroom. Okay, that sounds much more simple that it was. It looks awesome. What a handy man I married.

before

during

after

GOOD: The boys had so much fun and did really well in their first swim meet. Kole took 1st in the freestyle and Braydon, well, as he put it "I did great, I wasn't even last." He is actually doing really well. He couldn't even swim by himself last summer, and this summer he is swimming laps. Yeah! They are both better swimmers than me, which isn't saying much.