Working Away

About four months back, the trustees at church recommended that we stop looking for another church building and remodel/upgrade the one we have.  This was agreed to and so three weeks ago they started remodeling.  They said we would be out of the church for 6 weeks, but I am pretty sure we will be back on Sunday. (3 Sundays we were in clubhouses around the city.)  It's funny because there are a lot of differences, but it already feels normal.  The basement is still a disaster but the main level looks wonderful.

If you can't remember the church before, the differences shown are; new carpet, light fixtures, paint, bench covers, coat area, and room back by the ladies bathroom removed. The outside (not pictured) is being covered with a greenish stucco.   The wood siding was all rotten.  The stucco in place of the brick and wood will probably be the most notable difference.  I am glad we ended up remodeling, I never felt comfortable with the building search.

We also babysat Harper a couple nights this week.  Always a great time.  Monday, he had found one of Jake's guitar picks on our counter and with an exclamation of joy, ran to Jake's guitar and immediately dropped it in the sound hole.  Jake was telling me this last night as he was trying to get his pick out.  He actually retrieved 3 picks instead of just one.  Hmmm...I think maybe Harper had done that before : )  He is soooo busy right now.  Por ejemplo, I was putting his car seat in place on Wednesday and thought he was standing next to me.  When I looked up, a van was sitting in the entrance to the parking lot right behind my car and Harper was standing in a big pothole filled with water in front of the van stomping around in it.  I am glad the lady in the van was 'aware' of her surroundings.  Less than 15 minutes later, I left him playing with Slate in the front yard while I put some things away inside.  I came back out, wondered where he went, then found the little stinker rummaging through my car.  I do believe he found what he was looking for.  He must have a 6th sense for candy. Obviously...I am not a mom!

One of his favorite things to do when he comes over right now is play with our mail slot.  It's quite common to find items hanging out in the slot when we retrieve our mail.  The mailman, thankfully, hasn't thought they were gifts for him yet. : ) I was very disappointed someone called and ended the taping below, it was capturing his enthrallment perfectly!

On a completely random note, in the last couple days I have gotten really homesick for my family.  My Bahr side hasn't all been together since Chel's wedding last May (a year next weekend?!?!) and even then, ninguno de los sobrinos estaban allí. (none of the kiddos were there)  With a new baby in Mexico and the rest of us all more than 7 hours minimum from each other, the outlook of us all getting together soon makes me emotionally disheartened : (  So I'll just lament by posting some fun pictures I stole from other peoples visits to Mexico : )

L - Ithan : R - Candi, Diego, Klint Fiechter

L - 3 wk old Eric : R - Aaron

Ithan and Marcos

Making the Best of It

Last week we accepted resumes and interviewed for an entry level landscape position.  We need 5 to 10 workers.  Position openings always make for an interesting week.  Some of the happenings:
- Comment on a resume cover letter: I love the outdoors, and have steel toe shoes. Please consider my resume. Has steel toed shoes...qualified?!?
- Response to a job offer: "I'm am thankful got the opportunity to work for your company, but at this time I can't except the position. I thought that it would be more money."  Thank you for not reading the job ad and wasting my time.  Shakes head at people.
- Resume: I feel I am a consistent, hard working, Highly motivated person. I enjoy working with the public. I feel that I am friendly, outgoing and dependable person. I feel it is crucial to demonstrate the importance of my job duties and expectations. Jake's response  "There sure are a lot of feelings in this resume."
- Resume: Learned how to get stuff done right the first time and hard work was instilled in my fragile little body. Ha!
- When do you wear a hardhat and safety glasses? Response: Safety. Uh...
- Individual with 2 nose, 3 lip, 10-15 ear piercings did not look at me once during the whole interview.  How does that even happen?!?!

Needless to say, not much of a pool of potential workers : ( Back to the drawing board and prayers would be appreciated.

Saturday after cleaning and working at church, since it had snowed Jared, Jake and I decided to go cross country skiing.  We never feel graceful as we crash a lot, so that makes for an always really fun time!  A couple examples: Jared decided to pick up an elk antler and tie it to my back pack.  Then he stopped right in front of me going down a hill and to keep from running in to him, I did a 'russian dance' movement and fell backwards.  I landed right on the elk antler and speared myself to the ground.  Quite seriously.  The guys had to pull the antler out of the ground to get me unstuck.  Our favorite moment was Jake's right ski getting stuck in a mud puddle.  It threw off his balance enough that for a good 15 seconds and 20 ft, he kept running forward (on skies mind you) but his body getting closer and closer to the ground until...wham...he face planted.  I'm not sure how Jared and I made it down the same incline as we were both in hysteria by that point.

Not a ton of snow, but enough to make it an enjoyable time.

We were either laughing because Jake kept pushing the wrong button to take this picture or that Jared had split the crotch of his pants open : )

 Sunday we picked up Shayne, Emily, and Maddie from the airport so they could see Denver people during their 6 hour layover.  Always great seeing you guys and will look forward to a longer time in the future!  Dan and Tess took them back so we watched Sophia for them.  The little chunky monkey was in a mood for giggles!

What Happened?

Saturday we planted our "orchard."  Cherry, apple, peach, and pear trees, two of each.  It was a great day to putz around, so we cleaned the garage, etc.  Sunday morning, Jake woke me up early to go on a walk because of the beauty of the morning.  But as we were returning, it got really windy and cold.  And when we looked at the weather, snow?!? Below freezing temps?!?

This screen shot was actually taken today, instead of Sunday.

So yesterday, about 3pm, it started snowing.  And this morning, it looked like this:

Great moisture for a dry state, but, come on winter...END!!

Spring is in the Air!

Last Monday, one of our 30 seasonal employees came up.  He ended up staying with us until Monday when the other 20 seasonal employees arrived.  Needless to say, the last two weeks were a whirlwind of busyness prepping for the season to begin. This year has been very different than the last 4 years as we have work scheduled out through May.  We are even hiring.  Which is a huge blessing.

Even with the busyness of the work week, last Saturday we were able to get our backyard prepped for our "orchard" that should be coming any day. It's a muddy mess now because it snowed on Tuesday, but it's nice to have the sidewalk pulled up, random bricks from previous homeowners moved, apple tree stump removed, and whole yard tilled.

The left picture is the hole from the stump that is in the picture to the right.

While the guys above corrected the grade and used the tiller...I got stuck with the TEDIOUS JOB!  Notice Jake's hat Steph??  Dad gave his away finally.

Cleaning the dirt out of all these bricks... multiplied by 2 more wheelbarrows full!  I will admit that I recruited Dan and Tess for the last 2 wheelbarrows : )  We also were able to get our garden planted and so half of the backyard is now off limits to Slate.  Which he hasn't learned yet, and we haven't caught him in the act yet to correct him.

Saturday was also Harper's 2nd birthday party.  We were super excited because we got him a mini trampoline!  Getting it turned out to be an 'oops' as I didn't realize that it would not fit in my car and had to tie it on top.  With: my bag and a plastic sack.  I also got honked and passed angrily by other drivers because I was going so slow and then topping it all off with a 20 minute 'layover' on a road that was blocked off for the President to enter Denver.  So worth it though, Harps went crazy on it!

Home Again Home Again

When I say I am headed home for the weekend, it is confusing to both my co-workers and husband alike.  I've only lived in Aurora 5 years this coming June so it is hard to refrain from thinking of 13153 SE Black Kettle Rd, Hazelton, KS as home.  Jake and I wanted to go back 'home' 2 weekends ago, but 10 inches of snow kept us in good ole CO shoveling/plowing.  I think it was providence though as Friday was a pretty dead day at work for Jake, so we could take off early afternoon and there ended up being beautiful weather in KS.

Mom worked Saturday morning and Dad, Jake, and I worked at the shop.  Dad and Jake worked on manly things and as for me, I followed directions and assembled a rather LARGE birdhouse.  My Grandpa Joe bought it to replace an old one that had been in place for 30 years.  When the old one came down, I realized that it was actually bigger than the one he had bought.  They have Purple Martins that nest in it, which apparently like to be high off the ground, so the pole is probably 30 ft long!  I actually just checked a website to see what the norm is for those type of bird houses to see if I was exaggerating as I am bad with judging height.  It says the houses can be 10-20 ft. http://purplemartin.org/main/mgt.html  So a minor exaggeration.  My Gpa was thrilled, so much that the only thing he could do was smile, stare at it, and try to pay us : )

The finished product.

How to get the old one down?

Obviously they found a way.

That afternoon when mom got off work, Jake and Dad kept working on the blowers from the grain bin and Mom and I went on a 'walk' through the woods.  When I say 'walk,' I mean Mom driving her Kubota and me jogging (because I was lacking minutes for Walk Colorado) along beside.  It really was a beautiful Spring day.

Slate enjoying the very low frog pond. What a nasty tongue.

First evidence of Spring in this incredibly dry area.

We spent most of the time up at Ralph's, which is a property my parents bought from Ralph, a landlord that Dad farmed for potentially my entire life.  Ralph came to all of our ballgames growing up, and was even mistaken as my dad sometimes, even though he was probably 25 years older than my mom : )  Ralph's wife Alvera was kind of a hoarder, although she hoarded usable stuff...in bulk.  Last fall sometime, my parents drove a trailer full of glass mason jars and old beer pints out to Aurora.  This time, we stalked up on more beer bottles for Kev and Jake's micro-brewery.  Kerry and I are NOT going to be responsible for sanitizing these.

Saturday night was clear so we got to sit outside and converse under the stars.  Sunday was great catching up with church family and then the drive back was...long : )  We were very ready to get home, but also really enjoyed our time 'home.'