Durango Palmers: July 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Early birthday fun!

My friend Tiff and I started a tradition a few years ago of getting pedicures together for our birthdays. Her birthday is May 30th and mine is July 30th so we figured if we go get our toes somewhere in between then we're successfully celebrating each others birthdays.

I didn't hardly take pictures :( Bad bloggers we were! We had our eyebrows waxed (first time ever owie!). Then we had our toes done. It always feels so fabulous! And they really do look so much better than when I do them myself! It's such a wonderful treat...

Here are my pretty toes.

And here's a picture of me taking the above picture :) Tiffany was laughing at me taking the picture so I could text it to Mark. So she whipped out her camera to capture the moment. Hilarious!

After the pedis we went to do a little shopping and then a little window shopping. We walked around downtown for a bit, taking time to actually go in the stores instead of breezing right by them like we normally would with children.

We had dinner at Tequila's {we both love Mexican food!} and talked and talked about life, God, children...it was really nice.

Afterwards we grabbed some coffee then went back to her house so I could dye her hair. Doesn't that sound like a serious girl's night?! It was a great early birthday celebration.

And just to add a bit of my children...
We spent yesterday morning in town so we filled in time in between appointments at the park.
The kids blew bubbles.

And played on the swings...forever! They would swing all day if I let them

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Bar D!

Sunday evening we headed out to the Bar D Chuckwagon for some good ole fashioned entertainment and to celebrate our friend (and one of our awesome babysitters), Ashley's 13th birthday. The last time I was there was, we think, 10 years ago with our youth group. Before the Missionary Ridge fire and that was before Kale was born....too much math. It was a while ago. I also have a fond memory there because Mark and I went with some friends for my birthday back before we even started dating! Awwww.... the Bar D.

Anyway, we'd obviously never taken our kids. We've seen the Bar D Wranglers play many times either at our church or somewhere in town - they are local celebrities - but there's just something about being at the Bar D that makes them that much more enjoyable. It must be the chuck-wagon dinner....

There's a little bit to do before dinner. You have to get your meal tickets first. Then you can tour the shops, ride the train (we did not ride the train much to the disappointment of our children), visit the chapel, buy a CD and have the Wranglers autograph it or go on a nature hike.

Jerome and Mark

I forgot one more thing you can do there...pose for pictures. That's a must :) especially if your mom blogs!
Katrina, Violet, Kale, Kate, Jack and Madi

Here's the beautiful little chapel where they do cowboy poetry readings. We did not stay for a reading because we didn't think the kids would last long. It was pretty warm and stuffy in there.

Just outside the chapel.

Also outside the chapel is the well. I promise it's not deep. The water was right there. Kate just insisted on seeing in.

We realized after the quick chapel tour that we had lots of time to kill before the 7:30 dinner so we took the kids on a hike. It was actually a very successful hike.

Missionary Ridge. You can see where the fire was. This was the view on our hike.

He was crying very loudly at first because I wasn't going to carry him on the hike. I finally told him that if we were really quiet we might see a chipmunk. So he quieted down and was on the look-out for a "chick-munk". I kept making chipmunk noises to keep him looking. Seriously I did my best chipmunk impression to keep him quiet and walking. It was funny.

Here's a fun looking beetle Jack and I discovered while looking for the chipmunks.

The hikers!

I caught a picture of Tiff laughing at my daughter. She was doing her best Ariel impression on the rock.

Jack playing with the big bear trap. Apparently he was quite fascinated with the traps...

Our table.

We had a delicious chuckwagon dinner: BBQ beef or chicken, applesauce, beans, baked potato, a roll and a piece of spice cake. Lemonade, water and coffee to drink.
I wish I'd gotten a picture of the meal. The tin plates and cups were fun.

The show was great. Jack danced a bit before he got tired. Kate snuggled with Ms. Kim. Kale put the moves on 2 of the Bleger girls. We were sitting behind him and he was sitting next to Katrina and Madi. All of a sudden he puts his arm around Katrina's shoulders and sat back. It was hilarious! Katrina responded by removing his arm :) He tried again and did both arms this time. Katrina moved his arm again. Madi didn't seem to mind for a bit. We all laughed at his "moves".

The kids were super tired after it ended at 9:30 but overall they did really well and crashed on the ride home. It was a great time!

Monday, July 25, 2011

A Fine Line

There is a fine line between passion and judgement. Sadly many of us, myself very much included, cross it. A lot. God gives us a passion for something. I believe He gives it to us so we can continue on! And do it well. And do it to bring Him glory.

We can have a passion for families, children, homeschooling, breastfeeding, a certain way to give birth, healthy eating, a specific ministry, a cause, a simple lifestyle, the Bible, prayer, disciplining, evangelism, reading, writing, singing etc... (just to name a few different ones, but there are infinite passions!) We have that God-given passion to be motivated, to be more aware, to defend, to pursue...Unfortunately for many of us, we get this passion and look around {in other words, take our eyes off the Passion-Giver!} and we wonder why everyone else doesn't have it.

When I was doing youth ministry it boggled my mind why people wouldn't totally jump on board and support the youth. In Children's ministry I couldn't understand why people wouldn't serve and love on our future! In women's ministry I didn't get why more women didn't get involved. In each season of ministry God gave me His eyes, His heart and His passion for who I was ministering to. He gives me the same passion for my children and for homeschooling them and for being a good wife and mom.

I realize, however, that I can take that passion and look at others and wonder why they don't feel the same. I wonder what's wrong with them- have they not heard God clearly tell them something!? (oh my gosh how prideful of me....) - and pass judgement. I know that God does NOT want us to move from passion to judgement. He, and He alone, works in the hearts of His people. No one told me to be love youth. God did. No one made me love kids. God did. No one forced me to do women's ministry. God moved on my heart to do it. I was drawn and moved by others' passion but it wasn't because they told me to be passionate about it. Does that make sense?

He is the one with the passion and we are the ones who are responsible to steward it according to His will. His passion keeps us going when it's tough. His passion gives us a goal and a direction when we feel lost. His passion tells us we haven't failed, don't give up. His passion fuels us to love, to encourage, to teach, to do something. His passion is used to build up His Kingdom, not tear it down.

Be a good steward with the passion God gives you and He WILL expand it, grow it and encourage it. And He will be glorified in it!

Friday, July 22, 2011

Fun on Friday - 12

We decided for this FF to get the heck outta Dodge and visit the mountains. Take the truck where it was meant to go. On a mountain dirt road. It was a perfect day!

We got up and out of the house by 8:30, gassed up, turned on the iPod (80's music) and hit the road. Our destination was an easy trail - Lime Creek Road. We thought it'd be more fun if we didn't do a long one with the kids till they -and us- were a little more used to it.

Seriously we couldn't have asked for better weather! It was in the 60's and sunny. Such a contrast to our 80* house!

Our first stop for pictures would not have been complete without a little drama. Kale wasn't as excited as the others to get out and walk around. We aren't really sure what his deal was but we made him come anyway.

A little talk of encouragement :)

Didn't totally work...

So Jack decided to join in. We tried to get Kate to cross her arms and pout for the picture but she just kept smiling!

He was done so he walked back to the car.

Here's a view of the road we went on.

We stopped at a campground to find a potty (for me!) and a spot to throw rocks in the river. Throwing rocks always makes them happy. If we have a river or a pond we have a good FF.

While they were throwing rocks I enjoyed some of the gorgeous scenery! God is seriously the best gardener!

You may be thinking, I'm a pretty good gardener. I can keep plants alive. Well I'd like to see you do it without seeds! :) God's creation is amazing!

The big boys went out to the log.

Then Jack asked me to take him but he didn't want to go in the water. I waded out a bit but that water was snow like yesterday! I could only stand the freezingness for a moment or two.

We'd been trying to find a Columbine for Kale. He was dying to see what one looked like. Thankfully near the end of the road we saw a little patch of them. They were beautiful!

We drove to just on the other side of Silverton for our picnic lunch.

What's for lunch.

Did we have a gorgeous view or what!?

After lunch we stopped at an ice cream place in Silverton for dessert. YUM!

Despite the sugar they were all out on the way home. Logs were being sawed in the back of the truck as Mark and I listened to some bluegrass on the way home. It was a wonderful FF.

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

What did you do last night?

I'll tell you. Thanks for asking! :)

We went to the emergency room for the first time ever with a trauma instead of an illness. And of course it was Jack.

My dear, sweet, almost-3-yr-old and his big sister were swinging on our deck swing. Yes I took a picture because I tried describing it to the ER doc and had so much trouble. I figured I'd do even worse trying to blog it.

Notice it is free-standing.

Kate and Jack were swinging nicely on it but then decided they wanted to go higher and higher. Mark and I were just behind where this picture was taken, seated at our back table talking.

All of a sudden we hear a big crash and look over to see the swing completely off the back deck! It's only about a foot drop, maybe two (legal to not have a railing mind you...). Kate was off to the side, somewhat in the bush. Jack had fallen directly on top of it. They had tried to swing high, gotten the swing terribly out of balance and launched off the deck.

I quickly assessed who was worse and determined it was Jack since there was blood so I grabbed him first. Mark was there 1 second after to grab Kate in case you thought we were terrible parents :)

Jack had hit his face hard on a bar and he was crying bloody tears. Nasty.

No I did not immediately grab my camera I promise. The pictures were taken at the ER while waiting for the Dr. Anyway, I told Mark that I needed to take him to see a Dr since the scrape was so near his eye. No chances with eyes! There were eyelashes everywhere around his eye. He lost about half of his beautiful upper lashes!

We got to the ER around 7:30 and they got us right in. They were deceptively quick. Because after that, all we did was wait. I had texted my friend Kim, who's been in the ER several times this year and years past, to joke that we were in her favorite place. Within probably about 10 minutes the front desk lady came into the room to tell me that the Chaplain Kim was here to see us and wanted to know if she could come back.

Heck yeah! I'll take company! Sadly no pictures of chaplain Kim :(

Jack was in good spirits.
He was singing songs and wanting to watch a show. No crying and actually no whining. That came later. He even posed for a one-eyebrow-raised picture.

The Dr looked at it and then told me that I needed to clean it up. He figured that Jack wouldn't let them do it. So Kim and I set to work. The Dr had given us some gauze but that wasn't working real well so Kim started going through the cupboards (told you she was comfortable there!) and found some long q-tips and she wet one and I was able to get more blood off. He cried during this. Not fun.

The Dr looked at it again after we got it cleaned up and he said it didn't look like there was any damage to his eyeball and there wasn't a deep cut that needed any stitches. Basically he got a pretty good abrasion on his eye lid and below. Enough to scrape off his eyelashes.

They made us stay till 9:30 to watch him for any head trauma. I'm thinking they just kept forgetting about us. I finally opened the door and flagged down a nurse. He came in and took Jack's vitals and got the ball rolling for us. So very thankful for that. Jack was still doing really well but he was now running around the little room in circles making himself dizzy. We really did not need to stay here with another injury!

On our way out, I stopped to get the discharge papers and Kim was chasing Jack down the hall, when Jack tripped and smacked his head on the floor. *sigh* Thankfully it was just a bonk and we were able to leave. He got some stickers though from a sweet lady working there who felt bad that he hit his head again.

We got home and put him down. It was after 10. Guess who was up before 7 this morning?!

This is him saying cheese. Terrible smile!

Oh yes he was. His eye was still swollen but it is now scabbed. He's gonna have an awesome shiner as it heals. It doesn't seem to bother him. He doesn't touch it or talk about it unless someone asks him what happened. I think we'll come through this with no more issues. I'll be sure to document the progress of healing, especially if it's interesting :)

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