So we kind of like hockey...

The analysts agreed she was pretty cute. ;)

Fanatics.com is an online sports superstore where you can find just about any official licensed apparel that you are looking for! Everything is authentic and they are constantly updating their selection. The prices are excellent and they offer an awesome 365 day return policy! It's the perfect place for my family because if you haven't gathered from my blog already, we are sports fanatics. Ok, hockey fanatics to be more specific. Ok, ok, Colorado Avalanche fanatics to be entirely truthful. Though we also root for the Denver Cutthroats.

Baby's first Avs gear!

R got her first Avalanche gear while she was still in the womb. In fact, she attended many games in utero. I joked that her first words were going to be something profane about hockey because she heard so much of it while I was pregnant with her (most of hockey season- August through May.)

At her first training camp!

First period of a game...

...Third period of a game.

When she was born we wasted no time in initiating her as a full blown Avs fan. She attended her first training camp, and many games all before she was 1 years old. Those were actually the easiest times to take her. She'd watch the first two periods and then be out by the third. She wouldn't even wake up for the sound of the goal horn and accompanying cheers. Especially since the loudest cheers may have come from the seat next to her (me.)

R’s first birthday party was Avs themed. We had the adorable Avalanche mascot Bernie come out to drop off gifts and have a special photo-shoot. R had loved meeting Bernie at games but I was anxious to she how she'd do with him for an extended period of time. When I was little I was deathly afraid of mascots! Luckily she was over the moon and we captured what are still today some of my favorite pictures of her.

Last season R got to go to a very special game with me. A friend offered us front row seats for free and of course I couldn't refuse. We hadn't taken R to any games in awhile because she has so much energy that it's hard for her to sit still for an entire game. But when N, my mom, and none of my friends could go with me I decided we'd have a mommy-daughter date. I was really nervous because I'd never even gone by myself (without another adult) to a game before, let alone taken crazy R by myself. But I was determined not to let my anxiety get the best of me.

Before the game my friend said she looked at the tickets and they weren't actually first row but a few rows back, and that she was sorry. I of course didn't mind at all, a free ticket is a free ticket and Avs tickets don't come cheap!

When R and I were making our way to our seats I noticed the third row didn't seem to be three rows up from the bottom. It turns out it was in the front row- BEHIND THE AVS BENCH. I had a mini heart attack from excitement and had to text everyone I knew. Not only were we on the glass and behind the bench, we were also on the end closest to the players tunnel so we could get hand slaps between periods. It was stressful trying to corral R during the game and keep her quiet, but it was also one of of the best times I've ever had at a game. And we did it together!

A bunch of my friends saw us on TV and we made sure to record the replay of the game later. We had a good time pausing the TV when it panned over us and I got some great pictures. R may not remember the game when she's older but she'll always have the picture of her mere inches from Patrick Roy! I can't wait to make many, many more Avalanche memories with her when she's older.

One of the best places on the web to get sports, NHL, and Avalanche gear is fanatics.com N was actually pricing jerseys on Fanatics a few weeks ago! With the recent drama regarding Avalanche forward Ryan O'Reilly (the namesake of my current and only jersey) I think it's high time I start looking for a new jersey. N and I have been arguing for awhile who was going to get the next jersey, but it's definitely going to be me. ;) We still have awhile before we've saved up enough for a new jersey, but when it's time to pull the trigger we'll for sure be using Fanatics!

Fun fact: A random drunk guy also took a picture of R.

*I was contacted by Fanatics to write a post for them but was not compensated in any way. All opinions are my own! You know I never sugar coat! ;)

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

The troubles:

- WE'RE HOME! And being home and not floating around in a gorgeous lake is definitely my biggest trouble right now. ;) I'll have a full vacation recap up sometime as well as the traveling with anxiety post I promised (whoo boy did I learn a lot about that!) so watch out for those!

- Being home from vacation means unpacking and lots of laundry which are two of my most hated chores. It looks like a tornado came through our bottom room and I've totally been avoiding it. I think I might try and tackle it today... Maybe...

- Even with his week of rest Hank is still limping pretty badly. I need to call the vet this week. And while I'm calling people I also need to find a preschool for R, make her first dentist appointment (fun), and there's probably more I'm forgetting.

- Somehow I pinched the screen of my Kindle too hard and it broke the screen! I am SO SO SO bummed out because this is the second Kindle that I've broken the screen on and this was a really nice paperwhite that my mom got. I am going to try and send it back to see if Amazon can possibly fix it. Uggh!!! Fingers crossed!

The non-troubles:

- I am so tan right now it looks great! I'm going to be really sad when it fades, I think I'm going to have to go out in the sun more here, haha. I've never been the outdoorsy type.

- I got a permanent souvenir in Montana and I love it! I can't wait to show you pics and tell you the story. ;)

- I missed my car (the Trans Am) so much while we were gone so one of the first things I had to do when I got home was to fire her up! N disabled her and the rest of the cars while we were gone so they'd be harder to steal (we've been paranoid ever since we were robbed!) and I managed to re-able her all by myself with N talking me through it on the phone.

She started up beautifully and has been driving like a dream. She still needs a new tranny but we're working on that. Tomorrow she's getting a new windshield which she is in DESPERATE need of. I'm not sure hers has ever been replaced and it's so pitted that it's crazy hard to see out of.

- Even though I miss the lake like crazy it's so nice to sleep in my own bed and not share a bathroom with 11 other people- even though I love all those other people! I love my bed so, so much!

Happy Tuesday from R!

Subscriptions: Ipsy July 2014 Review

Subscriptions: Birchbox July 2014 Review

Mean Girls Start Early

A few weeks ago we had a new family rent the house next door. We were really relieved because the old renters had been a bit... strange, and the people who own the house (who we knew) said the new family had two young girls. The older girl looks like a pre-teen at least, but the younger girls is probably around 8 or so. R was even more excited to see the trampoline go up in the backyard.

Last week the younger girl invited R over to jump on the trampoline with her, and R was absolutely giddy. I went over and watched them for awhile (the older sister was also on duty) and for the rest of the time I sat in my backyard and listed in. R was being a typical three year old, bossy, difficult to boss around, and loud. She's also a very, very sweet little girl who loves to have fun.

A few days later I was outside with R and Hank when the little neighbor girl and some of the other neighborhood girls walked by. They asked if Hank could play with them and when I said no he's hurt they turned tail and left. They just completely ignored R. R started bawling and asking why her "friends didn't like her." It broke my heart and made me think of how mean kids could be.

But today was the icing on the cake. Hank had run out into our front yard and the neighbor knocked on the door and told N. She asked if he could play (seriously kids, our dog cannot play with you) and when he said no she asked if R could play. As I was putting clothes on R she was scream-squaling and shaking with excitement. When I took her outside the neighbor girl was walking down the street. When she saw us she went, "Oh, I forgot I was actually playing with some other people so I have to go" and she didn't even acknowledge R.

R burst into tears and asked where her friends went. Not only was I sad for her, this time I was LIVID. That girl is old enough to know how to be kind and courteous, and ditching a three year old like that is unacceptable. It may not be bullying but it's well on the way to being a mean girl. Dealing with mean kids has been the hardest lesson I've had to teach R so far. It breaks my heart into a thousand pieces that she, and any kid, have to deal with this, and I wish parents would teach their children how to be kind and inclusive.

R is the youngest little girl on our block by many years and she doesn't have any friends in our neighborhood. Thank god for some of my amazing friends and their amazing kids so R gets to see what real friendship is like. This wasn't something I wanted her to learn about the world for a long time to come but what are you going to do. I hope that I'm able to raise her to be a good, nice child who would never dream of doing something so rude. And if she ever does- you know she'll be in DEEP doo-doo.

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

I'm late to the game today but I'm here!

The troubles:

- Today is my baby sister's 21st birthday which is a trouble because it makes me feel so old! I'm going to be 26 in October and while I'm not particularly concerned with getting older, it still feels strange. Then again I have a 3 year old so I feel super old every day!

- My sister has spent the past month on a organic, raw, vegan farm in Hawaii and today she's flying to Seattle on her way home. Well it turns out that my dad's climb on Mt. Rainier (in Seattle) ended today, so my mom is flying out to Seattle so they can all celebrate her birthday out there. Fun right? Well my little brother just posted on Facebook that he's there too! WHAT THE HECK?! I am never invited to anything! 

That probably sounds spoiled but I don't really care; it hurts my feelings. My parents fly my brother and sister around all the time (my brother has been living in Tahoe and my sister was going to school at an expensive private school in California, and now she's going to an expensive private school in Boston) and those jerks can't even help me out with some frequent flyer miles so I can get to Montana without the 16 hour car trip- because guess what- I get crazy car sick! Ok, they aren't actually jerks but uggh, what does a girl have to do to get a plane ticket around here?!

- Speaking of that 16 hour car trip it's coming up soon and I am so freaked out. We drove to Vegas a few years ago and the trip was 12 hours and it was a living hell. In the middle of nowhere Utah I almost got sick and had one of the worst panic attacks of my life. I vowed to never do it again but we just couldn't afford to get me a plane ticket. I'm going to call my doctor this week and ask for a prescription motion sickness patch and then I'm probably going to take some Dramamine/ Xanax/ Ambien/ Benadryl/ whatever else will keep me asleep for a LONG TIME without also killing me. Uggh! I'm so excited to be there but I am not excited to drive there.

The non-troubles:

- In an effort to eat more vegetables (which R dearly needs, and I need as much as my stomach can handle) I signed up for a service that delivers fresh, organic produce to your house every week (or every 2 weeks if you want.) We got our first basket yesterday and it was awesome! It had beets, broccolini, kale, nectarines, peaches, peppers, plums, pluots, and zucchinis! I have no idea how to cook any of that so I've been scouring Pinterest!

- Today I successfully meal planned for the whole week, went grocery shopping, and cleaned the kitchen! Maybe I'll even make dinner too! ;) (No but really my OCD makes me weird about touching raw food so I usually don't cook.)

- The new (iced) peach green tea at Starbucks is AMAZING. I got one at the grocery store today and man I wish I had that on tap. So, so good. I need to work at a Starbucks for real.

- N has been working his buns off lately (summer is the busiest time for mechanics- everyone wants to repair their a/c even if their engine is about to blow up) and he's really excited for the vacation coming up. I wish I was as excited but that's life with an anxiety disorder. I may have a post on that coming up. :)

Subscriptions: Orange Glad July 2014 Review

 

Tuesday, er, Thursday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

Whoops this was supposed to auto-post on Tuesday and it looks like it didn't. Tuesday and Thursday are kind of the same days, right? Like it matters?

The troubles:

- I turned off the captcha to see if I'd still get spam comments and yup, I got a bunch. I apologize to you, actual readers, for having it on but this spam thing is a little out of control.

- The day after the 4th I was SO SORE from the slip 'n slide. N could barely walk! When did we get so old?! 

- It looks like the preschool I wanted to send R to closed down. Their phone number and website don't work anymore. I am SO bummed out because the tuition there was only $250 a month. I want her to go to a Montessori school but the tuition at all the other local places is over $700 a month. Seriously! We could never afford that so I'm back to square one.

- It's bumming me out to have to keep Hank home and as inactive as possible. His favorite place in the world is our local 70 acre dog park and he's currently banned from all running and playing until further notice. I'm going to keep monitoring his progress until we get back from our Summer vacation at the end of July, and then it will be back to the vet to see more x-rays. I am hoping we will see healing, but if we don't (and especially if his shoulder joint has gotten worse) it'll be time for surgery. He's only one and shouldn't have to deal with this. :(

- The weather has been oppressively hot lately. How do all you guys who live with humidity do it? If we had even an ounce of humidity I'm pretty sure I'd fall over dead. We don't have air conditioning in our house (we do have two window a/c units but one is broken) and while we can keep things relatively cool during the day by keeping blinds/ windows/ doors shut, there's nothing we can do if it heats up. I always say I love the summer heat but this year it's just sapped all my motivation!

The non-troubles:

 

- We went to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday and it was SO MUCH FUN. Our friends Travis and Courtney and their girls came (they are the ones we had over for the 4th) and it was such a blast. We spent way more money on food than we should have, and I shouldn't have eaten any of the things that went into my mouth, but you only live once right?! The stomach pain was well worth it.

- N finally got my Commander fixed (one missing engine bolt and the entire car rattled when going over 50mph), and he took it to work early to change the oil! You'd think mechanics would be very on top of their own car maintenance but the truth is they're usually too busy/ too sick of working on cars to take care of their own. N is actually pretty good to our cars (especially mine) but it's hard to find time to work on them.

- I finally bit the bullet and ordered an Erin Condren planner (referral link- you should get a $10 off coupon e-mail if you sign up via that link!) and I'm so excited for it to get here. It's supposed to ship this Friday and I wish it would ship sooner! N thinks I'm ridiculous for wanting a paper planner, and yes I mostly bought it because of peer pressure, but I am pretty sure I needed this. ;)

- N cleaned out the garage today and things got more than a little redneck. The best part is that there's another crappy car sitting behind the house that you can't see.

Subscriptions: Citrus Lane June 2014 Review

Our 4th of July a.k.a. The 100ft Water Slip 'n Slide

Today I woke up and I felt like a train had run over me. And no, I didn't have one drop of alcohol yesterday! I don't know when I got so old, but careening down a slip 'n slide and running up a hill for a few hours really took it out of me. I think N was actually in worse shape this morning but he was also 1) being way crazier on the slide and 2) already has bad knees and a bad back. Either way the pain is totally worth it because yesterday was the best 4th of July ever!

One of my favorite 4th of July traditions is the free mini flags realtors leave on your lawn!

R and I slept in yesterday while N gathered the supplies for the slip 'n slide. It was really sunny and hot in the morning and N thought it was going to be the perfect day for the slip 'n slide, but by the time we headed over to my parents house at 2pm the weather had cooled and gotten stormy. I was really worried we were going to get rained out, but the weather held and stayed just hot enough for water activities to be enjoyable.

I'm pretty sure that the first time N and I saw my parents new backyard (they moved into this house in 2011) we both thought it'd be perfect for slip 'n slides and sledding. We haven't done the latter yet, but thankfully we accomplished the former yesterday.

Yes my friends, this is an (almost- we folded it over at the top) 100ft slip 'n slide. N bought a gigantic roll of plastic sheeting, landscape stakes, and a soaker hose at Home Depot and setting it up was as easy as setting up a regular slip 'n slide- just uh, on a little bit bigger scale. Our original plan had been to buy a bunch of regular slip 'n slides and string them together, but this ended up being a much better idea. We had also planned on putting an inflatable pool at the end, not so much to slide into, but as a cushion to cover the rocks/ fence but we stupidly didn't do that. My leg/ tailbone and N's head/ back/ butt really wish we had done that.

 N doing a belly slide.

Me taking my waterproof phone for a ride. Please pay no mind to my obnoxious laughing.

After a few hours it started to get really cold and windy, and the plastic kept blowing off the ground. We decided to roll up the slide (until next time!) and head inside for some snacks. We made it inside just in time for a decent rain shower to pour down! We chatted and the kids played for awhile before my parents served dinner. 

By that time the rain had stopped and things had dried off a bit so we went back into the backyard to sit around their fire pit and roast s'mores/ light off fireworks. The big fireworks show in their community wasn't far from their house so when it came time for that we all went up to their top deck (it's off their master bedroom) to watch the shows.

Their house sits on a hill and overlooks the entire front range- you can almost see Boulder! This picture doesn't do it an ounce of justice, but we were able to see so many fireworks shows in the distance, it was hard to pick just one spot to look at! We had a great view of their community's fireworks show, and an ever better view of the AWESOME (and totally illegal!) fireworks that their neighbors were setting off. Next year we're going to need to make a trip to Wyoming to get some illegals. ;)

We had a great day with great friends and I couldn't have asked for anything better! My body may hate me today but you better believe that isn't the last time we'll be bringing out the giant slip 'n slide!

Subscriptions: Bonjour Jolie July 2014 Review

 

Happy 4th of July America!

The 4th of July has always been one of my favorite holidays because 1) Summer! and 2) I've always been a little bit of an American history/ politics nerd (my B.A. is in political science with a domestic/ American focus.)

One of my favorite books ever regarding our first presidency is called A Sacred Union of Citizens and is an analysis of George Washington's farewell address. It's not exactly a beach read but it's not heavy lifting by any means. If you're interested in what Washington hoped for the future of our country I highly suggest you give it a read.

Happy 4th of July to all my fellow Americans, and a happy day to all my readers from other countries! (Especially my near and dear Canada. God bless you every day for hockey.)

Tuesday Troubles

Stolen (with permission!) from Jen at Ramblings of a Suburban Mom!

 

Hello out there! I've been neglecting my blog lately but thankfully it's because I've been feeling better, not worse. I've been trying to get out and about more for R's sake and we've been having a good time. I hope to get more real posts up here this week!

 

The troubles:

 

 

 - Today has been a TERRIBLE day for me as an Avs fan. Not only did we let my favorite player walk away to one one of our biggest rivals, we signed/ traded for a bunch of guys that I don't like. We did make a "big name" signing, but he's 1) old and 2) not that good so I'm really not that excited about it. That and I've never liked the guy. I have been wallowing in self pity all day and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future.

- Last week I was vacuuming our family room couch when I noticed a hole underneath one of our cushions. Somehow a mouse had chewed through the entire couch! I freaked out and made N take the couch outside immediately. I'm not sure I've ever been so grossed out in my life!

- We ended up buying a new couch which is a non-trouble, but on our way to pick up said new couch N left his phone on the trailer we borrowed from my MIL's husband and it fell onto the street and probably got run over a few times. N is due for an upgrade on the 12th, so until then he's using one of my mom's old phones. It's pretty terrible which is actually sort of amazing in that you can really see how far technology has come in just a few short years.

- Hank isn't doing much better. As soon as he starts running around even a little bit he starts limping so I don't think he's healing much. I really suspect that he has the joint disease as opposed to an injury and I'm really upset. I'm going to give him another month and then take him back for another x-ray. Another x-ray and the opinion of an actual veterinary radiologist is going to be $400 and he'll likely need surgery after that and I just can't even think about it right now. I have too many of R's medical bills to pay off.

The non-troubles:

- We had an AMAZING weekend! On Friday R and I went to my parents house to bake goodies for my friend's graduation party because my parents have a gourmet kitchen. The cookies I tried to bake were a major failure, but I also made salted caramel rice crispies and they were so good! Even N liked them which was really surprising because he's super picky and hates everything.

- The party ended up being a complete blast. My best friend just graduated with her masters in education, and one of her friends did the same so they had a joint party. I don't get to see my best friend nearly as often as I'd like so it was great to catch up. And R was the life of the party. She's always very shy at first but when she warms up she is the most outgoing child ever. She was everyone's best friend and it was cracking me up. I didn't think she was going to want to stay long but she never wanted to leave! (She literally told me she was going to live in the park forever.)

 

 

- Yesterday we went to the children's museum in Denver with our good friends who just moved home after being in the Air Force. After the museum we got lunch and then came back here to hang out and we had so much fun. If N and I are anti-social on our own, we are REALLY anti-social when it comes to hanging out with other couples/ kids so this was great for all of us. We're all going to get together at my parents house for the 4th and we're also going to the Renaissance Festival on Sunday. We're trying to get in as much fun as possible before our friend starts the police academy!

- Our new couch is the best thing that's ever happened to us (ok, not literally but it's close.) I can't believe it took us this long to get a couch that's actually good quality and comfortable. We're really moving up in the world!