Check out these photos and you'll see why I, and my children, love this playground!
Monday, October 25, 2010
Visit from Grandma Joyce
At the end of September, Grandma Joyce (my mom) came to visit for a long weekend. Visits to Kansas apparently will be no different from her visits to Kingman, Grandma will earn her keep. As hard as I tried not to, I still put her to work. It is difficult to turn down the help when there was so much to do and she is so willing. So we painted. We painted my living room, my kitchen, my dining room, and hallway.
(See that blue smudge on the ceiling? Yep, still there. I should fix that.)
We also tore up baseboards and patched walls. Thanks to her help, it was all done in no time!
There was definitely time to play. Gracey had school during the days so Grandma and Emily got to play dress ups, soccer, and even took some trips to the park. Emily was loving the attention and I was loving that I could show off our great new town to someone.
When Gracey was finished with school, we spent a good amount of time at the park and zoo! Gracey and Emily are pretty familiar with the zoo and the animals so it was fun to have them as Grandma's little tour guides.
No trip would be complete here without eating at Bella Vita. (Okay, so we ate at Braum's as well. People know their food here!) Bella Vita though, and their pizza is just too good to pass up.
We really loved having my mom visit. It is sometimes hard to not live an easy drive away from family and we really appreciated my mom's efforts to make this visit work. We also are thankful for Allegiant Air and their cheap tickets from Las Vegas to Wichita. If anyone wants to visit, we'd love to have you!!
Monday, October 11, 2010
Hilarious Rainfall!
As if the rain didn't already have me convinced that it was the most awesome thing ever, it just earned some more cool points for making me laugh! I hope I don't forget today. In fact, as it was happening my first thought, "Dang, I wish Corky was home from work to see this!" I swear, the funny stuff always happens during the day.
It's been a little cloudy today but it hasn't rained at all, so after a trip to the grocery store, the girls resumed their playing outside. I kept the door to the open garage open so I could hear them outside if anything was needed. As I was putting groceries away, I hear a big thunder and all of the sudden the clouds just dropped the rain! I run to the garage to see the girls running and screaming towards the house. Gracey on her bike and Emily on foot! Luckily both were laughing as I cheered them on to the safety of the garage. They were soaked!!
Wouldn't you know it? Emily loses a shoe about 20 yards away from the house, having to turn around to get it.
I was dying! It was so funny. Now they are in the garage daring each other to run out to the driveway, neither one of them hesitating!
I also hear this conversation:
Emily - "We didn't get rain like that in Kingman!"
Gracey - "Sometimes we did but not very often!"
Emily - "Well, it wasn't this hard!"
Gracey - "Or this cold!"
Love those girls of mine!
It's been a little cloudy today but it hasn't rained at all, so after a trip to the grocery store, the girls resumed their playing outside. I kept the door to the open garage open so I could hear them outside if anything was needed. As I was putting groceries away, I hear a big thunder and all of the sudden the clouds just dropped the rain! I run to the garage to see the girls running and screaming towards the house. Gracey on her bike and Emily on foot! Luckily both were laughing as I cheered them on to the safety of the garage. They were soaked!!
Wouldn't you know it? Emily loses a shoe about 20 yards away from the house, having to turn around to get it.
I was dying! It was so funny. Now they are in the garage daring each other to run out to the driveway, neither one of them hesitating!
I also hear this conversation:
Emily - "We didn't get rain like that in Kingman!"
Gracey - "Sometimes we did but not very often!"
Emily - "Well, it wasn't this hard!"
Gracey - "Or this cold!"
Love those girls of mine!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Elk City State Park
One Sunday afternoon last month we took a drive, a whole 3 miles, to Elk City State Park. The girls and I had been before when we were looking at houses in May and have been anxious to return. It is so beautiful there. The weather had finally started to cool down a bit and not be so miserably humid in the evenings, so we took advantage!
We drove up to the lookout and saw the beginning of a short nature walk. I didn't really anticipate a hike so I didn't equip myself or the girls with good hiking shoes. Luckily we weren't in a hurry and could take slow, careful steps in our sandals..
Gracey lead the way most of the time while searching for the trail markers so we wouldn't get lost. Corky assured the girls that snakes really like tasty little girls but they didn't like boys, so they would be safe with him!
Close to the end of the little hike, it opened into a really pretty meadow. While I said to myself that it reminded a little of the "twilight meadow" it was Corky that actually said it out loud!
Corky is awesome. :)
For a minute, that meadow seemed little a bit of a hidden wonder. Just as I was imagining a blanket and packed lunch in a nice secluded area, we realized it wasn't as secluded as we thought. A car drove on the paved road that leads you to the look out.
And just like that, the magic was gone. But that's okay. I would be lying if I said the thought of a stampede of deer ruining my picnic and stomping on my children didn't go through my mind either.
We circled back around and played at the lookout for a while by trying to balance on the handrails and watch a gorgeous sunset! Corky and Gracey talked about how the trail markers helped us not get lost. He compared them to the things we have on earth that help us get back to Heavenly Father, such as parents, primary, scriptures, and praying. It was Sunday after all, we try to throw in gospel lessons sometimes you know!
We drove up to the lookout and saw the beginning of a short nature walk. I didn't really anticipate a hike so I didn't equip myself or the girls with good hiking shoes. Luckily we weren't in a hurry and could take slow, careful steps in our sandals..
Gracey lead the way most of the time while searching for the trail markers so we wouldn't get lost. Corky assured the girls that snakes really like tasty little girls but they didn't like boys, so they would be safe with him!
Close to the end of the little hike, it opened into a really pretty meadow. While I said to myself that it reminded a little of the "twilight meadow" it was Corky that actually said it out loud!
Corky is awesome. :)
For a minute, that meadow seemed little a bit of a hidden wonder. Just as I was imagining a blanket and packed lunch in a nice secluded area, we realized it wasn't as secluded as we thought. A car drove on the paved road that leads you to the look out.
And just like that, the magic was gone. But that's okay. I would be lying if I said the thought of a stampede of deer ruining my picnic and stomping on my children didn't go through my mind either.
We circled back around and played at the lookout for a while by trying to balance on the handrails and watch a gorgeous sunset! Corky and Gracey talked about how the trail markers helped us not get lost. He compared them to the things we have on earth that help us get back to Heavenly Father, such as parents, primary, scriptures, and praying. It was Sunday after all, we try to throw in gospel lessons sometimes you know!
Monday, October 4, 2010
Itty Bitty Soccer
We moved here right in time to sign the girls (and Corky and myself) up for this Fall's soccer season.
And who else should the Rec Center call when they are short a few coaches? Well, of course, the mama that has 2 kids on the same team! I will admit, I was NOT excited! Then soon came to the realization that if I wasn't going to willingly volunteer then why would I expect anyone else to do it either? I also realized how low-key this league is.
- 2 games a week
- 2 10-minute halves
- 6 kids on a team, but a 3 vs. 3 game.
My goal as a coach? To tell the kids over and over and over to kick the ball in the right direction. That's pretty much it.
Easy!
I have to admit, it is so cute. This is Emily's first season in soccer and she is doing great. She even scored a goal!
I also have to admit, with it being Gracey's 2nd season of soccer, she pretty much rocks at it! She rocked it last year on her soccer team and she was the youngest there, playing on a soccer field 4 times the size that they play on now. Now she is the oldest and is definitely a standout.
This is their last week of games. I will be happy to have more uninterrupted evenings during the week, but I do look forward to next season already.
And who else should the Rec Center call when they are short a few coaches? Well, of course, the mama that has 2 kids on the same team! I will admit, I was NOT excited! Then soon came to the realization that if I wasn't going to willingly volunteer then why would I expect anyone else to do it either? I also realized how low-key this league is.
- 2 games a week
- 2 10-minute halves
- 6 kids on a team, but a 3 vs. 3 game.
My goal as a coach? To tell the kids over and over and over to kick the ball in the right direction. That's pretty much it.
Easy!
I have to admit, it is so cute. This is Emily's first season in soccer and she is doing great. She even scored a goal!
I also have to admit, with it being Gracey's 2nd season of soccer, she pretty much rocks at it! She rocked it last year on her soccer team and she was the youngest there, playing on a soccer field 4 times the size that they play on now. Now she is the oldest and is definitely a standout.
This is their last week of games. I will be happy to have more uninterrupted evenings during the week, but I do look forward to next season already.
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