HAPPY 19TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

I honestly can't believe it's been 19 years that we have been married ... but the picture shows that it HAS been at least a few years!! Lots of fun years and some trying years but I can honestly say that our marriage is stronger and sweeter and better than it has ever been. I am so thankful to have such a wonderful husband as Kraig William Naylor!!!

 

We spent the late afternoon and evening in Downtown Denver at a very cute Bed and Breakfast -- The Gregory Inn. Went to P.F. Chang's on the 16th Street Mall for lettuce wraps (which I had never been to before) and had a wonderful evening celebrating this milestone in our lives. We were the only one's staying at the Inn on a Monday night and had a wonderful room -- enjoyed watching the Laker Game from the bathtub! The chef created a special breakfast for us and then the magic ended and it was back to the reality of work and home. However, it was great little get-away and Kraig is such a good sport to go out to eat and to a hotel when that is what he does 90% of the time -- gotta love that man that I married!!

PROM NIGHT

Prom night 2009 came off without a hitch -- the weather was good and they all had a great time! The whole group are really just friends so it made it all the more fun. We had a little dinner party for the 7 of them in our basement (Katy didn't take a date) -- all the mothers helped bring stuff so that really helped! Kelsey looked beautiful and Matt was a nice "date" even though they are just good friends too. They all made it safely home from the "after-prom" festivities at 3:30 am! Ohhhh to be young again!

2009 High Adventure - "We Can Do Hard Things"

Jacob and his Scout Troop are going on an amazing hike/camp out to Durango -- Chicago Basin on July 20-26. They will be setting up a base camp and then scaling 3 of Colorado's "Fourteeners" -- Windom - 14,082 ft., Sunlight -- 14,059 ft. -- Eolus 14,083 ft.

We have been accumulating equipment (Kraig is going also) and this weekend was the first of many "prep" camp outs and practice hikes.

His "stuff" is really cool (not to mention REALLY EXPENSIVE!!!) and he was really excited. He has almost everything he will need except more food and more clothes for that week. His pack weighed 29lbs ... so not too bad. Of course my biggest fear as a mother is him falling off a cliff. Randy Smith his leader promised there would be no "cliff diving."

A Night at our Church "Dry-Pack" Cannery

Jacob and I went down to help at the Aurora Dry-Pack Cannery last night. Our church has canneries all over the world where the monies we donate go to help feed people of our world when disaster strikes. There is a "wet" pack cannery there, as well, where they can everything you can imagine. You don't have to be "Mormon" to provide service at the cannery and you can buy any product you want after you have helped canned any of the products they need at that time.

It's a lot of fun and kind of reminds me of a couple of "Lucy" episodes! Jacob had fun running the canning machine most of the night. We canned flour, sugar, rice, black beans, pinto beans, dried apples, powdered milk, dried carrots, hot chocolate mix, potato pearls and flakes, dried onions, etc. Crazy messy too! But they have it down to a science there and it ends up being a lot of fun. We came home with several cases of stuff to add to my food storage. I am now proud to say that we have 6-months of staple foods for our family to live on in case of an emergency or if we became unemployed. That gives you a great deal of comfort -- especially becuase I can't imagine being without FOOD!!!

A PACKAGE IN THE MAIL

I was outside a few days ago, when the mailman pulled up and handed me a package. I didn't order a package! It was from a company called "Improvements" and was adressed to me! I was so excited to open it and see what was in it and who had sent it!

It was from my daughter, Jessica and it was an early Mother's Day present!!! She said they told her that it was on back order but I guess it came early -- lucky for me!

I have been wanting a door stop for my door leading to the basement. When I have the front door open in the summer -- it continually slams that door shut. So she suprised me with a really cool one. I don't want to sound "worldly", but there is something to be said when the child-rearing dividends kick in and you receive fun, thoughtful, gifts from your children that THEY picked out and spent THEIR own money on. Not that I don't still treasure the macaroni pencil cup-type gifts but it's fun to get suprises from them and know that they really do love you!

Thanks Jess and Nate!!! I LOVE IT!!!

GUESS WHAT???

IT'S STILL SNOWING!!!

A Fresh Spring Look

Since we were literally snowed in today and the basement was teaming with teenage hormones ... I decided I would just sit up here where it was nice and quiet and look at some possibilities for a new blog layout. Well, ... about 5 hours later ... this is my new creation! I made the mistake of not "saving" my old blog so once I deleted -- there was NO going back! What was I thinking?????? Messed around with banners for a cute header but finally gave up ... that's WAY beyond my current blogging capabilities! I like the new look -- something a little different for a change.

SNOW DAY!!!!!!!

The kids got out of school at 12:30 today because of this massave storm that has been raging all day! It's crazy how much snow has already fallen and it's suppose to snow through tonight and into tomorrow! But Tuesday it's going to be 70!!! That's how spring in the Rockies goes!!!

Vegetable Flower Centerpiece and Crudites

Our Recipe Club met last night and we were to bring any fruit or vegetable dishes. I have wanted to learn to make fancy garnishes and decided to attempt to make a vegetable flower centerpiece. I went on-line and found some great ideas and let the creative "vegetable" juices flow! I was so excited with each flower I created! I AM SO PROUD!!! The ladies were amazed! I even AMAZED myself!

My Cluttered and Needs to be Cleaned Fridge

Fridge Tag Instructions:

1) Open your fridge

2) Take a picture

3) Tag 5 people (or 6)

I tag: Camilla and Suzanne (Should be Interesting in China)

Spring Break in Kamas, Utah

Here are some of the highlights from our week in Kamas. It was fun to spend time with Kraig's parents (Keith and Karmen) nephews, friends and of course, Jessica and Nate!

 

BOYS TO MEN

Jacob, Sean and Nathan have been friends since pre-school! I took a picture of them at church while we were there and they have all really grown. Jacob is now officially the tallest at 6'1". What happened to our cute little boys who loved to play in the dirt, fish in the irrigation ditch with their Fisher Price fishing poles, build tree forts and explore anywhere they could on the Wagstaff's farm! Some friendships last forever!

HANGING WITH GRANDMA AND GRANDPA

The weather wasn't very nice -- had snow almost every day!

Woke up to winter again one morning.

My nephews came for dinner, to visit, and play games. Dayton (Tyler's son) wasn't in the mood for a family picture! We brought up the Wii Game and Grandma and Grandpa got a kick out of watching us play. Jessica and Nate came a little later but didn't get any pictures of them for some reason!

Getting ready to go to Salt Lake for the day. Grandpa treated us to Olive Garden!

GRANDMA TAUGHT US HOW TO KNIT

Karmen taught Kelsey and I how to knit while we were there! It was so much fun! We finally got the hang of it and even worked on it this weekend at home.

We'll have to post a some pictures of our finished scarves soon!

A QUICK TRIP TO BYU-IDAHO

Jessica took Friday off and she and Kelsey and I made the quick trip up to the BYU-Idaho campus in Rexburg, Idaho, to give Kelsey a tour of the place. She is thinking of attending there when she graduates. Jessica went there for a couple of years so she gave us the tour. It was fun to visit all the old places she used to hang out. We checked out some housing for Kelsey as well as their music department. Pretty cool! It's changed a lot since Jessica was there and they built a new LDS Temple practically on the campus. It was a fun and CRAZY day. Quite a trip up there and back in one day! Barely made it back in time to pick up Kraig from the airport at 11:30 pm. He flew in for the weekend (from his 2-week business trip to New Zealand) and drove back to Colorado with us.

YOUNG WOMEN'S CONFERENCE AT THE CONFERENCE CENTER IN SALT LAKE

WITH JESSICA'S YOUNG WOMEN GROUP

We met Jessica's Young Women's Group and leaders for pizza before the conference. It was fun to meet everyone and to be in the huge Conference Center across from the Salt Lake Temple. A Young Women Choir filled the seats on the stand, were dressed in pastel colors and sounded like angels. There is such a wonderful, spiritual feeling you get when you are there among so many others who believe as you do! It was a fun and crazy night!