Now That's Some Serious Pressure

I really don't consider myself a high adventure gal. I guess some would say I've done some pretty high adventure things (I'm thinking moving to Communist China with a 7 month old would count), but as far as extreme sports type things, I have no desire. I do enjoy more "medium adventure" things like riding on the 4-wheeler, a jet ski, or riding Jason's sidecar. Notice I said "riding", not "driving". So when Jason decided I should be the one to take JR snowmobiling with Gary and Anita (while he stayed home with the babies), I was a little nervous. And very quickly I went from nervous to feeling some serious pressure.
They lined up all the snowmobiles and I was to follow the guide, and right behind me was Anita. Now, had I had one of my other silly, giggly girlfriends behind me I wouldn't have felt any pressure. I would have cared less if we'd held up the line, laughed when we stalled the snowmobiles, and felt comfortable that neither of us would have any idea what we were doing. But Anita's not my typical, giggly girlfriend. She rides her own Harley and had her own sidecar in Beijing. And she likes to go fast. We did a sidecar ride to the Great Wall and I've seen first hand that she doesn't like getting stuck behind somebody slow. So yeah, I was under some pressure. When we stopped for a break and Anita told me I was doing a good job, I was so relieved and empowered I was even able to restart my own snowmobile! And to make the day even more perfect, JR told Jason I was faster than him (Jason) and "did the jumps bigger". I am woman snowmobile driver...Hear me roar!
(Although I'll be happy to go back to being the rider anytime!)

JR and Madison enjoying our break.


I did let JR drive when we got to an open field area. This is my view from behind JR. And to be fair to Jason, JR reported that Daddy let him drive faster than I did.


More JR at the wheel. (Sorry Grandmothers for JR's face being cut off, my arms just aren't long enough for self portraits.)

Gotta Get Me Some Girls In This Place

The babies are down for a nap and *whew* am I wore out. I'm also quite depressed since my two full time babysitters boarded a plane back to South Carolina this morning. I haven't seen much of Kyle and Reed for the last few days (hence today's wore-outness), and as you can see, they've been well taken care of.

I'd just like to go on record right now: If you have a girl (or even better, girls) over the age of 7 and then other little ones at home, I am completely jealous. In fact, you've got it so easy, everyday must be like a spa-vacay in your house. I was telling my mom how Meredith and Madison had taken over Kyle and Reed and she said, "You must feel like Michelle Duggar!" Yep, that's right, I've been feeling a little Michelle Duggarish these past few days (just not the being pregnant, nursing, and homeschooling all at the same time part...just the having young girls take care of my kids part).

Not only are young girls amazing babysitters, but they're also super funny. JR and Madison slept on the couches in our game room and when Anita went to check on them one morning Madison told her, "Um, Mommy, can you leave? JR and I are trying to talk." Ha! I love it!

Happy ValenTiger Dear!

How do you like my celebrity couple name for the two holidays we celebrated today? Of course it's Valentine's Day, but it's also Chinese New Year (Year of the Tiger). I think we did an awesome job celebrating both since it feels like we've partied all day.

Starting off the morning celebrating Valentine's Day.

There were so many presents it almost looked like Christmas. You moms might recognize that huge bear face sitting on Kyle's highchair. The babies are obsessed with Bear these days and really loved their Bear in the Big Blue House presents.

Tonight was our Chinese New Year Celebration. (The Chinese restaurant we like here in Durango is surprisingly good.) And you know it's not a real party unless costumes are involved. I so love that Meredith, Madison, and JR love costuming as much as Anita and I do.

Reed was pretty excited when the dumplings arrived at the table.

But not as excited as JR!


Past Chinese New Years with Gary and Anita have included fireworks so fantastic trees have been known to burst into flames. And although we couldn't light up the night sky, we did have dumplings, Tsingtao, and just getting to hang out with each other to make it a great night!

Top Chef...Here I Come!

I was looking at a party idea blog the other day and noticed a Chinese themed birthday party. Everything they served was so completely un-Chinese, including fortune cookies (Sorry, but Chinese have no idea what a fortune cookie is...it's totally American.) and sushi. (Sushi is Japanese.) But after further inspection I saw the "sushi" was actually Rice Krispie treats. It was so super cute I called JR over to look at it. He thought it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen, and begged me to make them for his Valentine's party at school. Without any instructions, and just a picture to look at, I would be winging it, to say the least. But with Anita here to help me, I felt empowered enough to give it a try. I don't have any pictures of the actual Sushi Krispie making process because 'sticky' is an understatement. But they were seriously easy! Anita suggest rolling them into a log and slicing them like you would real sushi, and it worked. It also works to just roll and shape them individually. The "seaweed" is strawberry Fruit Roll-Up and the "salmon", as we were calling the insides, is just sprinkles. I used red since it was Valentine's Day, but if I were making them for another time, I would use green Fruit Roll-Up and green and orange candies to make them look more realistic. The kids in JR's class loved them! They loved them so much that some of the kids ate them before their cupcakes, and one of the moms took a picture of them! And since I just couldn't bring myself to say they were in honor of Chinese New Year, I said, "They're in honor of Lunar New Year", since pretty much all Asians outside of China refer to it as such. And while not Chinese, sushi is definitely Asian.

Photo evidence: Sushi Krispies about to be eaten....Yummy looking cupcake still on plate!

They Made It!

It was just yesterday that Dulles Airport was shut down due to a blizzard, so I was seriously concerned our friends from Beijing, Gary and Anita, wouldn't make it here today. But their flight from Dulles to Denver left without a problem, and they're here! Here's JR and Madison enjoying Rice Krispie treats, more on that later. (Their other daughter, Meredith, was already sleeping off her jetlag.) They'll be lots of skiing and snow sports for this bunch in the next few days!

Serious Sliding

Last week our Houston friends, Kevin and April, were in Durango for a family reunion and came over to have dinner with us. As we were eating I noticed that all the skin was missing from patches of Kevin's arms. I then heard the story about how Kevin and his brothers had raced the Alpine Slides at Purgatory (the ski mountain in the winter). After learning that all of them had "burned" the skin off their arms, I was a bit nervous about trying the Alpine Slide myself. April assured me that if you "went at a reasonable speed" your arms wouldn't look like this:


So while my parents were here I got up the nerve to try the slide with JR. JR beat me by a mile since I was determined to stay injury free. (Which we both did.) I don't have any pictures of us on the track since I was busy trying to keep my arm skin, but here's JR at the start.


This morning was JR's first day of a week long camp at Purgatory. When he got off the bus from the mountain I saw the tale-tale sign that he'd been on the Alpine Slide. He said that the girl in front of him had gone so slow (she must have been trying to keep her arm skin too) that he ran into her...then the boy behind him ran into him. So it's not hard to guess what JR's arm looks like now. Yep, check it out.

My Turn

After all the Ingy rafting that's been going on this summer, I finally got to experience some myself. That's my cousin, Quinn, in the front with the hat, and you'll find JR and me in the back. I was happy to learn that our rafting guide does not live in a bus behind the rafting store (like Jason's guides on his trip), and that he hadn't had anybody thrown out of his raft in quite awhile.

The highlight of the trip for JR was when they let him hang on the front of the boat while we "surfed". Squeals of delight were heard all around.

So now that I've rafted the lower Animas River I'm trying to figure out if that makes me more of a local or more of a Texan. I'm thinking Texan....pretty sure locals do this in innertubes and their own kayaks.

"Green Table" Part 2

Some great scenery pictures from yesterday...

Mesa Verde

We took the kids to Mesa Verde yesterday. (I still think "Mesa Verde" sounds like a name for a Mexican Food restaurant.) And I couldn't believe they actually let you walk around on the cliff dwellings! We hiked down (the path is paved, but I'm still going to call it a hike) to Spruce Tree House. The kids thought it was just about the neatest thing ever, and especially loved climbing down into the kiva (an underground chamber). If you're ever in the 4 Corners area, I highly recommend a visit.

*My camera finally died yesterday so some of the pictures aren't the greatest quality since I took them with my camera phone. (BTW, I got a new camera today...Yeah!)

On the hike down. You can see Spruce Tree House in the background.



I still can't believe they let you touch it!


Checking out the kiva.

heading down

Surely you didn't think I'd miss checking it out?


Jumpin' and Jivin' in the kiva. It was a lot bigger in there than I thought it'd be.

Going up


The babies were furious that we didn't let them go in the kiva. They were so mad they tried to wiggle and climb out of their stroller and kept pointing and screaming at it.

Spring Break Numero Uno

We've had the Parker Family here all week for their Spring Break. We've had lots of fun, and with 6 kids all under the age of 7 the house has really been a rockin! We went to Mesa Verde today so I'll have a full report and pictures ready for tomorrow. Until then, I tried my best to get a picture of all the kids together, but somebody was always missing. So put these 2 pictures together and that's everybody.

Thelma and Louise-Part 2

Thelma and Louise loaded up and headed out this morning. Jason talked to Sherry awhile ago and they were almost in Childress, Texas, where they are going to stop for the night. That should leave them with about 7 or so hours of driving tomorrow. Sherry said they were in a hail storm so bad that a piece cracked her windshield and that they were also hit by a bunch of tumbleweed. I can just imagine the squealing, hollering, and praying that was going on in that car. Knowing my mom, she probably told Sherry "just pull over until the storm/tumbleweed pass" no less than 50 times. All kidding aside, it was wonderful having them here and I'm already looking forward to their next visit.

Thelma and Louise

My mom and Jason's mom are hitting the road tomorrow to come visit us. Road Trip! Sherry said, "We'll be like Thelma and Louise!" I'm just hoping their Thelma and Louise-ness doesn't include outrunning the police and driving their car off a cliff. If their Thelma and Louise-ness involves a hitchhiking, shirtless Brad Pitt I told them to give me a call. Not that I'm a big fan of Brad Pitt these days (I'm a card carrying member of Team Aniston), but you just can't deny those 6 pack abs of his back in the day. Thelma and Louise will be driving to Amarillo, Texas tomorrow, and should pull into Durango on Thursday. JR is very excited to see them and told me just while ago, "Mommy! Maw-Maw and Granny Sherry will be here in 2 days, and we're going to play Monopoly!" I just hope Maw-Maw and Granny Sherry have their Monopoly playing clothes packed...although they might want to pack something just a bit hipper in case they do run into Brad Pitt.

#2 and #3

We had visitors number 2 and 3 come see us this past weekend. (We had 36 people come to see us in Beijing, so we're hoping to beat that.) Our friends Caroline and Jason came from Houston. Caroline is my first friend I made at UT, and as you can see from this picture...we're still just as silly as we were at 18....not that we're much older than that now! Speaking of our silliness, I have a great ski mishap to share with you. Saturday morning was really cold and snowy on the mountain, so I had my hood up on my jacket. Caroline and her Jason actually told me I looked like the Unabomber, so that should give you a good visual. Caroline and I were waiting to get on a 2 person ski lift and with the snow and my Unabomber hood in the way, I was having trouble with my peripheral vision. As I sat down on the lift, my left butt cheek didn't make it all the way on, so my left foot and ski was turned behind me as the ski lift took off...ripping my ski off my foot. Of course this caused all kinds of dramatics on our part. We laughed, we panicked, we laughed some more. Caroline was super supportive in my time of need by telling me, "I'm so glad it's you and not me!" As we approached the get off we screamed to Jason and Jason (who were in front of us) to tell the lift operator to slow it down, and I held out my ski-less boot in case he needed a visual. As they were stopping the lift for me to get off I'm thinking, this is so what I get for making fun of the Pentecostal skiers on my blog! So they stopped the lift, but I still had to ski down the lift hill with one ski. It wasn't graceful, in fact I'm surprised it's not a clip on YouTube, but I did manage to get down without falling on my face. The nice (good) skier behind us had my ski and a crisis was averted. Yeah for good times!