Finally a Fireplace

Fun little surprises have crept into my busy schedule and days. Brian and I were at date night at Costco(silly I know) and we came across a beautiful fireplace. Brian who knows I have been wanting one for five years jokingly said we could put it in out room. That got he wheels turning and although in our room would be nice, I wanted to have one for all to see the stockings at Christmas time and to have around as ambiance as we eat dinner and play our family games. I told my mom to check at R C Willey since she was going there and she found this one on clearance. After getting clearance myself from Brian we got it. I am pleased with this purchase and how it creates ambiance even without heat. We can enjoy the lights and not have to run the heater. Celia and Spence seem to be all smiles about it and it is a fun new addition to our home at an extremely affordable price. Sometimes things are worth the wait.

My mom left her phone at my house while checking out the new fireplace. I went o bring it back to her and Emmy and I ended up joining her for manicure and pedicures. It was fun and relaxing. We checked the health of our nails, found our favorite colors, and spent quality time together wihtout it even being planned.

Another surprise was  Joe up and made a  resume and went to apply for a job today. He just went into to somewhere his friend is working and said I'd like to have a job here. Good luck and best wishes to him on his initiative and his growing up!

San Francisco Trip

It is almost time for Emmy to go back to school and Spencer too. We have been working hard on Dr. appointments and running the house, so we thought a ride to the beach would be great and it was! Stinson beach has such beautiful trees on the way there. The eucalyptus trees and other pine trees mixed with the ocean air make a wonderful smell. Spence did better to stay at the beach a little longer this time than last we came. He and Emmy are buddies. He listens to her and is able to wait a little longer for less preferred activities if she is around giving him attention. After the beach we crossed the Golden Gate bridge and made our way to the Golden gate park. We had a picnic on the grass right outside the botanical garden and Japanese Tea garden. The weather was beautiful and the trees and plants were lush and around us. Even the weeds had daisy looking flowers in the grass nearby. Spence came out of the van for a few minutes to walk and see what was going on. He was kind and gentle and we didn't push him too much. It was a short time, but successful. Emmy drove us a lot of the way home and we home in time for Celia's new tutor (lyric) to come over.

 

 

Quite the Month

Brian and I had a day date for our 23rd  Wedding Anniversary. We went to brunch at La Province restaurant and terrace. They were serving brunch so I had a fancy bleu cheese burger and Brian had an Au Jus cheesesteak sandwich. It is such a beautiful and romantic restaurant. We reminisced of going there for a wedding reception and enjoyed the beautiful views. The waiter found out it was our Anniversary and brought us a free Creme Brulee for dessert. August is just a celebratory month and we take respite when we can. On a Thursday Connie was available so Brian and I took Emmy and Joseph to Flame Fire. We had a Groupon for this pricey yet fabulous place. We used our green go markers and had quite a few different Brazilian meats an the delicious pineapple. Joseph was the first to get full, but the rest of us quit shortly after.

I love having Emmy in town and going for our Saturday rides. We went on our usual run, but stopped off at Dunkin Donuts and tried it out. Bavarian creme filled donuts and peppermint hot chocolate It was very yummy. After stopping in at half price books,  we went to the nature preserve behind Costco in our old stopping grounds. I love to get out and walk a  little with the kids.  I don't know what it is a bout being out an about, but we come together for family time really well!
Celia and Joe started school this month an so far so good. Although Joseph rear eneded someone in his Landcruiser, ran out of batteries and locked his keys in the car all within the month, we are doing well and much has been learned.

 We have had kind of a lot of bother with cars lately. After all the fun in Colorado, we needed two new tires , an alignment and new brakes. For some reason the new brakes they installed at Les Scuab were making the car smoke a lot like billows of dark smoke an it had a terrible odor. I turned around and we got that taken car of the next day. Meanwhile.. Brian's car from work died. It turned out to be a faulty part on recall and we got him back in business. Emmy got a new grill part to fix up her vehicle completely an I checked the brakes on my black car since it had been squeaking. They were fine, but it took a lot of time hanging at the mall and being away from home to get that one checked up on.  We still have Joe's car to look at a little fixing going on soon, but wow having a bunch of cars is a lot sometimes, hehe.

Celia is looking at getting braces. I may have bribed(reinforcement) her to get  them. She will  be able to get a comfort dog at sometime within the two years of having braces. We went and had her first ortho appt. on the 21st. The day of the eclipse. We watched with her at her school. It was neat and so great to feel the energy of all excite for this event.

Bucks, bears, elk and a hike.~

We saw a beautiful buck in our backyard of the cabin after my folks left. We also saw some bear prints from an assault on the hummingbird feeder.  My folks did get to see elk up close and had a grand time with the gators. We went to Taos ski valley and saw a cute bear in the parking lot there. It was a beautiful alpine ski resort nicer than park city or North star, I would say. My favorite part of the day was talking a walk through the stations of Christ in San Luis. I was impressed by the sculptures and of course a walk through the suffering our lord endured for us. Bri had been meaning to visit that area and all who went up with us was glad they did.

Creede and the smiles and giggles from Spence

Bri took most of the kids and went to see Grandma Jean in Albuquerque.  My folks and Spencer drove in their car to Creede,Co. What a beautiful mountain town it was, I loved the red cliffs. We ate outside a grilling hamburger joint. Spence sat with us at the picnic tables and just smiled at the surroundings. I gave the folks some time to shop and Spence and I explored in their infinity.:) I ended finding his cool mining town and a road up a hill. It turned out to be off-roading. I didn't quite go up to the top to see the waterfall, but Spence was loving the steep views and the roar of the river coming down next to us. The whole town seemed to have great roads to take an SUV on. In order to avoid being driven by my Dad through all these high and dangerous roads I drove us out of town quickly. We ended up being on the wrong road, but found Lake City which is worth stopping. We  went on a gorgeous pass that was 11,500ft elevation. It all worked out despite the stress of being lost. It was so beautiful and worth the extra time out and about.  Bri and I went off-roading by accident right after that in our minivan. I did get to go up to see the Mogote peaks like I had desired and we were blessed to get out of mud and heavy rain with a rainbow and more giggle and smiles from Spence in the back seat.