Getting Lush

With the craziness of May I lost track of photographing the tree. It is, growing full and lush!

Horsetooth rock is there just to the left. It was a little hazy yesterday when I took it.

It was pouring rain later in the day, that would have been fun too!!

I bet I can get a certain little boy to sneak up the road to get a closer look at the tree.

This summer I'll be blogging about it from underneath the tree... I hope!!

Peeps

Raise your hand if you like Peeps. You know those little squishy marshmallow ducks, bunnies, or whatever they are at the various holidays? There is only one person I know who likes Peeps, my dad. Whenever any of us see them we think of him. He likes them stale. Yep, stale. He does that by cutting the bag a bit and putting them in the fridge until they are good and ready. Maybe that's the key to liking them?!

My dad just had a birthday so I decided that the Peeps cake featured in the April Food Network magazine was perfect for him. The crazy thing is I don't bake, or let's say this... I don't like to bake, like I like to cook. I must really love him for the pressure I put on myself to make this the best darn cake a 73 year old ever did have.

Here goes the photo journal of my morning baking the Peep!!

We'll see.

I baked the cakes the night before or this would have never come together!

How pretty is that?

Amazing to me what a teaspoon of yellow food coloring can do.

Yea, baby!

He loved it!

So he posed with his Peep cake!

His cake with 3 of the 73 candles... otherwise we might have had problems.

The cake was a huge success and worth all of it. Even the 52 toothpicks (exaggeration) and/or skewers I used to keep that tail and beak up.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

The '80's Baby!

Today was '80's day at the middle school. Because I am a genius, I saved a few of my most favorite clothing items from the day. Unfortunately they aren't my Madonna lace outfits or rubber bracelets, you know what I'm talking about! In case you forgot... just look on your daughter's wrist. Or, look at those there. I'd show you what I mean by my Madonna items, but when I googled her I was frightened. Trust me, my parents didn't allow me to really look like her, just some things to think I was cool.

What did I save? Take a peek...

Yep, the Black Sheep sweatshirt.

Thanks to Princess Diana who made it famous.

I also saved a few of my Ralph Lauren items.

Whitney is sporting the very '80's plaid Polo button down.

If she went full '80's she'd have popped the collar and added a layer or 2!

Like, the '80's were totally rad dude. If you don't believe me,

then gag me with a spoon. Like, whatever!

I wonder what items these two should save that screams their generation? Hmmm... skinny jeans? If we're lucky those won't recycle like most trends!!

Park Tour Circa 2012

Quite a few years ago I got this crazy idea to hit as many parks as we possibly could in a summer. I went to the City of Fort Collins website and printed off the map of parks. I laminated it so I could date it with a Sharpie... kind of a way to keep track. Funny thing is, some of the parks we now love weren't even built yet. Guess what that means, now that I look at my newly printed map? That our fave Fossil Creek Park (a.k.a. Mammoth Park with the big woolly mammoth in the middle) was built in 2003. It is edging 10 years old, which means our initial park tour was THAT long ago. Wow, time flies!!

I think it is time for Park Tour Circa 2012. It forces us to hop out of the car, try a new place and create new memories. Some "parks" are no more than a grassy area with an official sign... so those go fast. Our one rule was everyone had to get out of the car, run around and then we could mark it off. We often stopped for ice cream on days when we hit more than one

Here is to a fun summer and trying out some new things!

The link for parks here: http://www.fcgov.com/parks/map/

A Good Read!

June Parker is trying to complete a "things to do" list for a woman who died before she could finish it herself—but can someone who's never given thought to her own dreams really make someone else's come to life?

I love it when I go to the library looking for a new book and stumble upon a great read! I'm a totally visual book picker... isn't that a smart sentence? The whole, Don't judge a book by it's cover thing, has never worked for me. So when I saw this on the shelf of new books, I got a little giddy. Hot pink, lists (I love lists) and light-hearted... I'm in.

I think I want to write my own list of things to do. The kind of list that stretches you, not potentially kills you. Little things to try that you'll be happy you did. Not the biggies like skydiving or bungee jumping that might cause me to be another Disney movie. You know, a dead mother leaving her children behind.

Enjoy!

Wellies

Boy did it ever rain Sunday and Monday!! Loved it. I loved it because I live in Colorado. I wouldn't have loved it if I lived in Seattle. Because of the rain, Reagan got to wear her wellies. Wellies you ask? The Wellington boot, also known as rubber-boots, wellies, wellingtons, topboots, billy-boots, gumboots, gumbies, gummies, barnboots, wellieboots, muckboots, sheepboots, poopkickers, or rainboots.

Or as I've called 'em... mukluks.

Too cute!!

She looks ready for Paris.

Here is to a rainy May so we don't have water restrictions in June!!