Durango Part II

The second day we were in Durango the Thigpen family left that morning and headed back to the Springs. We kissed all our babies and they were on their way. The plan had been to ride dirt bikes all day but Paul's dirt bike had been having issues. They issues were big enough that it had to go into town and see the dirt bike Dr. My Dad and Paul went into town as soon as they opened and Mom, the kids and I hung back to wait to see how long it was going to take. They called and it was going to be a few hours so we decided to join them in Durango and do our hanging out on Mainstreet day. We just walked around, of course hit the toy shop and train depot, had lunch and
then some ice cream. It was a perfect day outside. Paul's Dr. finished the bike and we headed back home where we then packed up all the bikes and drove to base of a great trail. We rode to the halfway point with no issues's (whew that is good when you have 6 machines one is always going to be causing problems). Delaney rode with her Gramma Jeanne. Here are some pictures of us half way up!!

Delaney with her Poppies!
She likes to go fast so she hopped on Poppies bike
for the second half of the ride!

We had a few issues with Drew's quad on the second half of the ride. It always has to be someones bike...Drama, Drama, Drama...It wasn't liking the altitude and we blamed China. Why China? Well they did make the bike and they don't think about how high the mountains go in Colorado. We got to the top and the views were amazing. More pictures? Okay if you insist!!

Me, Mommy and Little!!

What is that? Is it a bird? A plane? No it's Paul
bringing up the back....wait what is that there
are feet hanging behind yours...yep Drew's quad
gave up (Darn those Chinese bikes)
and he came up with his Daddy!!
Gramma Jeanne teaches Jared how to work the BIG QUAD!Little is making sure her lungs still work in this altitudeMy Favorite Picture
Seriously....Could they be any cuter!!

It was starting to get dark so we knew we needed to head down....and pick up Drew's quad on the way. Off we went and we come up to Drew's quad and Paul gets it to run again...What a stud (he could work in China). Drew rode with Gramma Jeanne and while they are working on Drew's quad I look over at Mama bear and she is looking a little grim. "What's up Mom?" "I'm fine. I just was shifting up there and missed the peg and my foot hit the wheel and my whole leg twisted and my knee hurts." As she is rubbing her leg..."Are you okay do you need to ride with someone?" "No it just hurts...as long as I put pressure on it I'll make it down." She is still rubbing. "Did you tell Daddy?" "No, I'll tell him when were down..." I look at her still rubbing..."Daddy! Mom hurt her leg!" (She looks at me like Tattle Tail....Hey now it's okay to tell if someone is hurt remember!!) She proceeds to tell Dad and she thinks she just stretched the muscles....Hmmm we will see about that...Drama...Drama...Drama...We head down the mountain and we stop at the half way point and oh no...Drew's quad is soooooo done!! We leave it and keep heading down the mountain...As we are going down there are a ton of cows just all over. I enjoyed the view and my occasional mooing to them and we come around another corner and there is a big ole' group of cows with a calf in the middle. Now this is what I saw...It was a gray fluffy animal in front of them...I have seen a lot of coyote in my day and it certainly wasn't that. That is a WOLF!! It had it's tongue hanging out of the side of it's mouth and had backed up the cows into what I would refer to as a huddle!! NO WAY...It's like Wild Kingdom right in front of me....then I start thinking to my self...Self I say, "You are amazing...Please don't chase us...Stay with the cows....We are cute people and all the gear we are wearing is expensive and we would not look good chewed up...don't chase us...don't chase us..." and he didn't. He could have cared less about us! So we get down to the bottom we all take our helmets off and I said, "Did you see the wolf?" Then my daddy...yes my precious daddy crushed me. "It was not a WOLF...it was a dog...there are no blonde wolves." I stomp my foot and say, "It was silver not blonde...it was SO a wolf!!" Paul thought it was a wolf too and then my own baby...the one I was in labor with for 20 hours!!! Jared (who is 11 and thinks he is so smart) says, "It had a red collar on!" HMMMPH....It was a wolf....I know it was a wolf and in my memories (and Paul's because he thought it was a wolf too...and not because he has to say that because of the vow things...) it will ALWAYS be a wolf!! If I hadn't been so worried about it chewing me like a rib bone I would have stopped to be my typical self (the paparazzi) and take pictures then I could prove them wrong but it will just have to live in my memory AS A WOLF PEOPLE!!

Paul, Jared, and Poppies hop in the Suburban (after Poppies carries Gramma Jeanne to the 4-runner) and go back up the hill to collect Drew's quad in the dark and I take the rest of the gang back to the cabin. As the boys get up to Drew's quad and get ready to unlock the trailer to throw that Chinese wonder in...My dad says an inappropriate word for the blog and they then realize they gave me the keys and it included the trailer keys. Ummm it's dark, cold, and there are wolves up here. What are the men to do? They squished and repacked the suburban and put that quad in my car....yes the gas smelling broken quad on my seats....oh they make me tired. They couldn't call because there is no service in the mountains. And I personally know that they were nervous about wolves so that is why they put that smelly quad in my car so they could get down the hill before they were pushed into a huddle around Jared by a WOLF!! Back to us at the cabin...You know the ones that have all the keys...I carry Gramma Jeanne in....good thing she is a stick and doesn't eat much more than her bowl of soup (see soup nazi story from July posts). We all get jammies on and get Gramma Jeanne comfortable on the couch with some ice. The boys all come back, no WOLF bites, and we watch some more olympics and end the night. I will finish off our last day in Part III. XOXOXO

Durango FINALLY! Part I

I know it has taken me way to long but I am so ready to tell you all about our awesome trip, but it will have to come in two parts. You all know me I have a lot to say. :) We packed up the kids, the suburban, our trailer holding 3 dirt bikes and a quad and we set out sights to the other side of Colorado. It was pouring rain when we left but we knew the majority of the storm was on the front range (code for Denver). The thrifty mom in me has to mentioned that we stopped at Chick Fila on the way for lunch and we asked for a military discount and our $30 order became $15....Half off Score!! Moving on so the drive was very pretty through the mountains and we came in and out of little storms but pretty uneventful until about half way.

The boys were sleeping and Laney had on her "Ipod"

I had just laid my head down on my pillow. I realized that we forgot to pray for our trip when we got in the car so in my little head I prayed for our trip and safety while we travel. Literally, two minutes later all of the sudden I feel the wheels slip and hail on the windshield. Did I mention we were pulling a trailer with all our bikes. I look up and there is a ton of ice on the ground and we are sliding around and are in the oncoming lane. My eyes are huge and Paul is very slowly inching the wheel to the right so not to over correct to try and get the wheels to catch again. I am of no help going..."there's a car coming towards us...a car...a car....go over...go over...go over..." like he wasn't trying...The wheels finally grip and we go back on to our side in the nick of time and on the side of the road a tahoe is flipped over...he obviously over corrected. Did I mention again we had a trailer. Paul is such a stud...The ice was for about 300 feet...YES THAT IS IT...300 feet...and then sunshine.

Said that prayer in the nick of time. God is Good to US!! So we press through some strange weather. Sun, clouds, sun, rain, foggy, sun, storm to the left....Crazy here are some pics from the car. We finally made it to the cabin, a little later than we hoped but we got there. Mom, Dad, Erin, Bryan and her boys were all waiting and it was fun to be together. Jared took the kids to the park and we had smore's that night. Doesn't get much better than that. We all hung out watched some Micheal Phellps in the Olympics. The next day my Mom and Dad (they are awesome) rented a pontoon boat and we hit the lake for some exploring and a picnic. It was super fun, for everyone but Landon (he hated his life jacket...do you blame him) Here are some pictures of our adventures on the water.

Laney and Logan having fun in the pack n play!

The boys take a minute to enjoy the scenery :)
Lookin' Good J-RED!Drew's doing a little mind fishing?

Paul and I having a little fun!!

I WIN!!

Meatloaf (aka Landon)...Yep he is still not happy...
but to bad for him it doesn't bother a Daddy with 3 kiddos so scream away:0)

Blow that whistle Gramma Jeanne and we will all come
a runnin'...well at least that's what were suppose to do...
what's so funny Poppies? Do you know something we don't?

The kids all had fun taking
taking turns driving!

Look at us sisters! Where you goin' Meatloaf? Cute bumper J-Red....
Don't you AHHH MOM Me!!

That's a fake smile Poppies...Next time say, "Cheeese!"

Delaney and Loggies attack Poppies!

Drew hangin' out with the life jackets

But where are more pictures of Gramma Jeanne...She was hiding under a blanket cause she was COLD!! Poor Gramma Jeanne...By the time we were were done all the little kiddos had joined her. No pictures, but I am sure you can pict ure it.It was a super fun ride and we all had a great time. Thanks Poppies and Gramma Jeanne...You rock! Then we napped. I love naps. Part II of the trip to come tomorrow.XOXOX

We had a Tornado YES a TORNADO!!

Denver...what is Denver known for...Bronco's, The Rockies, the Rocky Mountains....but a Tornado...NO WAY GET REAL....Travel back with me to Sunday evening...We just got to Jared's third tournament game for the weekend and the clouds start up and it is just about time for them to get on the field. Then it starts to rain and there is some lighting so they send everyone to their cars. We sit in our cars for the delay of game and the rain starts to lighten up so everyone heads back out and gets under a gazebo. (I personally would call it a ramada but I have come to realize unless you are from Tucson people have NO IDEA what a ramada is other than a hotel :) The clouds are all swirly then we all see this small little funnel cloud come out of the sky. Very cool! We are all oooohhhing and ahhhhing because it is small and the clouds are really high...Definitely to high for it to touch the ground. Because of the funnel cloud, which by the way will never touch down because it is to high in the clouds, the referee's call the game and again we all head back to our cars. As everyone is getting to their cars out of no where from the ground the bottom forms a tornado and meets the top in the middle. NO WAY!!!! AWESOME!!! Wait that tornado looks like it is just a couple miles away. (We are in Castle Rock which is the suburb that is 15 minutes south of Parker which is the suburb we live in) Have I mentioned my two little ones Drew and Laney are at my nieces house in Parker because they were tired of the tournament and Jordyn said she would babysit! HMMM...that Tornado is heading staight for Parker...We have to go...NOW! After a phone call to Jordyn who says, "WHAT??" and runs outside to look then I in my very calm Auntie voice say, "Honey...Would you please get all the kids in the basement and stay there until I call you and tell you all is good. Thanks pumpkin." They only live about 3 minutes from our house. Now some of you will know that there is a short cut from Castle Rock to Parker on the back road Crowfoot Valley that basically drops off at my nieces house and then our house. We are flying down I-25 ready to get off on Founders to take the short cut. It is now HAILING yes HAILING ping pong size to golf ball size hail on my car. And, hmmmm that tornado looks like it is right on the back road heading towards Parker. Self I say, "That's not good" so we blast off and take the longer way on the freeway home to Parker. To finish off the story the Tornado headed straight towards Parker and the area we live and came within about a 1/2 mile. There was no damage done in Parker except to children's psyche...but later we found out that there were two tornado's that touched down in our area and one more north. CRAZY!!!! Enjoy the pictures!

****Disclaimer****
No Children or Animals Were Harmed In Filming of This Tornado

This is the little funnel cloud that definitely

will not turn into a tornado...Wrong!

The next two pictures are views from the
football field in Castle Rock

The next two pictures are the tornado
as we saw it at Jordyn's my neice's.
Yes, the kids were safe in the basement:)

The next 2 are pictures of the tornado next to Horse Creek
on Hess which is a subdivision that is one minute from our
house. About 3 streets away. About 2 minutes from Jordyn's.
(The two pictures below were taken by a cameraman we
saw on Hess next to our house who submitted them to our
news where I copied them. I didn't have
time to get out the telephoto lens :) )

This is a view from my girlfriend Jodie's
house. She lives in Horse Creek.

This is a picture my NEXT DOOR neighbor Jen took!After the tornado the end of the storm. Picture
was taken at Jordyn's house.

XOXOXOXO I promise the Durango post is next :)

Good Morning!

Good Morning all my peeps!! I am so sorry I have not had a chance to put up our Durango trip. It was so fun but the pictures are even better. I have been crazy around here. Paul has Guard drill so I have barely seen him since we got back, I have been madly searching the internet and on the phone with hotels to book our four purity retreats for our Girls Ministry Retreats at our church (60 people with catering not easy but love it) and Jared is in this huge football tournament. Love the tournament but doesn't leave me much time for my favorite new pastime blogging. I will start writing about it tonight and then should have it up by tomorrow. Now am I off two a 11:00 game then a 4:30 game and lunch in between. Love you all so check back tomorrow. XOXOXOXO

Durango Here We Come!

We are off!! We are headed to Durango, Co. I vacationed here growing up and have so many great memories of the Pine River Lodge. Some memories are from being really little and playing with my sister on the playground with the owners daughter. Another, from being older and having my friend Aubre with me and gallivanting all over the place like we owned it...chasing boys of course. I remember being in highschool and call the boyfriends on the pay phone telling him how much I missed him and how lame this place was with no mall. (The only lame thing now looking back as a mother was how lame I acted geeesh!!Sorry Mom and Dad!) Paul has never been to Durango. Yes, out of almost 13 years of marriage he ahs never gotten to see our special vacation spot. Our boys got to go 5 years ago. My parents came down to Texas when our precious Delaney was born and scooped up the boys and took them with them to Durango for a Gramma Jeanne, Poppies, and BOYS ONLY vacation. They had a blast while I (and my sister who came to help me) dealt with a uterine infection, a the most precious girl with jaundice, oh yea did I mention that we were moving from Texas back to Tucson. I had to go back into the hospital for antibiotics, Erin stayed out our house while the movers took everything, Paul graduated from intelligence school, we moved into temporary housing on base (the size of a shoe box), and Little Laney had to wear a billy light and she looked like the sweetest little gloworm! Then when Laney girl was 11 days old we moved back to Tucson (yes, nursing the whole car ride home every 3 hours...fun for Erin :) ) Did I mention I have the most amazing sister!! Back to today...we are leaving in 2 hours (after Jared's required football weigh in) and everyone is super excited! We are taking all our dirt bikes so it will be fun packed. Keep checking back for updates on the trip and pictures. Because yes the have internet at the cabins...but no cell phone service...go figure! Okay so I cannot help putting in a few pictures of my little girl since the memories are flooding my head :) xoxoxoxo
Look at those excited Gramma's and
Boys...The Papa's must be pacing!

"We LOVE Her!"









That's our New Girl

Mama's Little Gloworm!