What January???

No, really, I don't even know what happened to this month. It went by so extremely fast. We had so much going on this month that here we are at the very end.

We rang in the new year with all 3 of us getting flu/head colds. I think for 3 weeks straight one or more of us were sick. And it couldn't have been just your normal head cold with a runny nose. It involved vomiting and soar throats and sinus infections. It was NO fun!

After we began to feel better we got a phone call in the middle of the night from Gary's sisters that his dad wasn't doing to well. Actually not very well at all. He had taken a turn for the worse and was put on Life Support. They wanted all the family to come because they were taking him off of support that next day. It was kind of a sudden thing. His dad had gotten sick right after Christmas and he had been in the hospital since then. But he was getting better. Then the one night he had a sudden change for the worse. We met all the family up at the hospital so everyone could say goodbye. It happened very fast. I think it was good for the family so they wouldn't have to see any suffering. Though I know it was still very hard and always is to lose a loved one!

Gary just recently reconnected with his dad after a long period of not talking. They have been working on their relationship for about 2 years now. I don't know all of the exact details of why they quit talking nor do I care that much. It was in the past and I was just glad that Gary was able to reconnect and working on getting to know his dad. I learned that it doesn't matter how close you are to a parent, it's still hard losing one. Although it didn't seem to have an affect until days later on Gary, you know, realizing he was really gone. Death affects people differently in so many ways. I was grateful to know Gary's dad and I am grateful to be a part of his wonderful family. The service was very nice and so many loved ones came and supported the family.


Gary Willard Mesch 1959 - 2012

This past weekend we spontaneously decided to go up to Breckenridge for the Ice Sculpture Fest. Gary's aunt generously allowed us to use her condo. We had so much fun. Our friends met us up there and we had a fun freezing time! Another tradition started for sure!

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No wonder why I don't know what happened to January. We had something going I think every single weekend.

YaY for February! Valentines day and Anniversary this month! Looking for to it!

"Mooo... , Naaaaaay"

Every year we try to go to the National Western Stock Show. We have so much fun and it's even more fun now that Brayden is totally into it! He is going to have to be since his mama is a total country girl at heart! Every time Brayden saw a cow or a horse he would say the sound. Which means he said it all day and a lot. Because they were EVERYWHERE!

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We also celebrated Brayden's Birthday party here at home last weekend. He had lots of fun!

December 2011

Ok...here may go one of my longest posts ever! I have been so far behind and then with December being one of the busiest months ever I had no time to post what we were up to!

The month started off with our traditional family outing to the Parade of Lights downtown. We always have fun doing this no matter the weather so far. And boy was it cold out there this year. Luckily myself and my sister-n-law are married to rednecks and they brought a propane heater along to keep us warm. My mom may have been the biggest redneck of them all. She brought her sleeping bag and cozied right on in. It was pretty funny. I think the parade was even shorter this time due to the cold because I don't think it lasted longer than a 1/2 hour. The kids all had so much fun though. I love watching Brayden and seeing his excitement at the things he see's.

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While due to unfortunate circumstances, my mom and Brayden and I, got to take a trip to Florida for 4 days. My moms Aunt Alice passed away and we headed there for her funeral and memorial service. She actually had just moved out here from there a month earlier to be closer to us since we were really the only family she had left. She is missed so much already and we were so looking forward to having her near us. She was so sweet and so funny! She had moved from St. Augustine, Fl. I had never been there and it truly is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. We took a few days aside from the services and did some sightseeing. Brayden got to see the ocean for the first time. He didn't like it! I was shocked! But it was windy and cold and sea shells were EVERYWHERE. So I don't think he liked that feeling under his toes. I had fun though. I love the ocean! One of my favorite places! We also did some sightseeing in town. It is one of the oldest and most beautiful city's I have ever been too! I would love to go back. Probably one of the biggest highlights of the trip are the people I met. My aunt was very loved by her friends there. They helped us with whatever we needed. I met a one of her friends that I just fell in love with. Her name is Elke(L-Key). She is from Germany originally. We talked a lot and she told me lots and lots of stories from her childhood and on. I was so drawn in. I felt so lucky to meet her. If anyone knows me well you know I love love love history and I am especially taken when it comes to wars and I am even more taken when it comes to WWII. It just so happens that Elsie lived in Germany during that time. She was young but she remembers a lot and had translated a story from her mother. Which I read and it was beautiful. The love her mother had for the children. I wanted to share just a few things she told me because it really just touched me and I appreciate her willingness and openness to share. Elke was the youngest 5 I think she said. Her father was in the military. He became a prisoner of war at one point and was sent to Egypt. They didn't know where their father was for 2 years. Elke's mother traveled by foot many hours and days with those children to find safe havens during the war. Here are a few things she told me that really had such an overwhelming feeling on me...

Story #1 - She talked about a time that they had to move to France but all Germans were eventually being told to go back home to Germany. So there was basically a mass exodus. Many many people walking back to cross the border. Elke's mother tied a leather strap around her waist and then tied each end to the 2 younger children. Elke being one of them. The 3 older children walked directly in front of them to kind of block and guide the way. So no one would get lost. She said that 3,000 children were lost that day and families were separated because it was so crowded. I guess this story really affected me because I just thought of the love of this mother who had to tie her children to her so they wouldn't get lost. She led her family through so much and kept them safe and fed (even though some days were not as much as others) I read her story and cried the whole way through. I couldn't imagine having to do this. And yet I know I would if I were ever in this same situation.

Story #2 - Eventually the family was able to come to America. They sailed from Europe and landed in Houston, Texas. Elke told me she was so excited because of all the free food and the breakfast they were served everyday. She said it was the first time she ever got to try corn flakes. YES, corn flakes. She said she chose this for breakfast everyday because it was all the sugar and milk she could eat. I loved this story because just made me realize all the more things I take for granted.

Florida was wonderful and beautiful and I'm grateful to have met those new friends.

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We came home and continued to get ready for the holidays. I did some crafts this year for Christmas gifts. I loved how they turned out and everyone that received one seemed to really like them. So I was glad for that!




We also did some decorating of gingerbread houses. The kids always enjoy this but I think us adults enjoyed it even more.

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So Gary, Brayden and I along with my step mom planned a surprise trip out to Chicago to see my dad for Christmas. We have actually been planning it since September. You would not believe all the fibbing Lynn and I had to do to my dad to throw him off. And it wasn't easy either! I should say my dad didn't make it easy on us. He was trying to get us to come but I had to make up excuse after excuse of different plans we had(or didn't have) to throw him off. I was so happy to finally get there. And what a surprise it was!!! My dad was so excited. The plan was to have Brayden ring the doorbell in his Santa suit but of course he fell asleep on the way home so I had Lynn just walk in holding him. My dad hadn't seen my behind her yet so when he saw Lynn he was like ... "who the hell is that?" Until I chimed in with "Merry Christmas"... so funny and so much fun to surprise him! We had a wonderful 2 weeks there and time went by too quickly. Brayden ate up all the attention though! We celebrated his birthday there too and he loved it. Lynn had made reservations at a little diner called "All Aboard". I swear the place was put on this earth just for my son. He was so excited and loved all the trains! They even serve the food in little baskets that is brought out on the train. Very cute! We enjoyed our time very much!

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Since we went to Chicago for Christmas we did all of Christmas celebrations with Gary's family before hand. Like I said we were very busy this past month. We enjoyed all of the family time. I look forward to this time of year every year.

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We have one more celebration to go... Brayden's birthday celebration here at home this weekend! So yes probably more pictures to follow!

I am so excited for this new year! We have some fun family vacations planned(a trip to the Caribbean in November), our 3 year Anniversary (Vegas Style!), camping trips, and some personal goals I am looking forward to accomplishing! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wishing you all a very Happy New Year!

New Traditions

Wow... Halloween and Thanksgiving, done. Now we are celebrating Christmas all month long! Well that seems how we do it anyway. We started it off with Black Friday... no we didn't stay out all night shopping. Those days are in the past and now that you can buy everything online why waste my sleep! So we headed up to the North Pole. This is now going to be our new family tradition. Brayden loved it and we had so much fun. He was tall enough to go on most of the kiddie rides and he loved every single one of them! He is definitely my kid. I have loved amusement park rides ever since I can remember! We tried to visit Santa but again this year Brayden was having no part in it. Oh well... we will just keep trying until he loves it! :)

So here we go ... a month of craziness. We have holiday plans every weekend this month. Filled with Christmas parades, family recitals, holiday fests, and family gatherings! Oh and did I mention... Brayden is turning 2 at the end of the month. YES, I said 2! HOLY CRAP!!! My baby is getting so so big!!! Check it out yourself in the slideshow!

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The busy holiday season is here!!!

Oh my goodness! What a crazy crazy month October was! Every time I would sit down to update my blog something would come up and I never could get caught up. So now I have brought my laptop downstairs while I am baking cookies... so I can get this updated in between baking times.

We had a fun month but I am happy to say that I am glad it is over. I even took down all my Halloween stuff the day before because I was sick of looking at it. I know bah humbug on me. BUT now I am ready for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season!!!

Every year at church that have a day called Super Saturday. I LOVE IT! I love crafts and especially when I can get together with people I love. Here is one of the projects I did...


At the beginning of the month we took a drive to the mountains to see the pretty colors before they were all gone. We drove on a peak to peak highway and it was absolutely beautiful! We stopped at Echo Lake and walked around and let Brayden play in the snow for a bit. He loved it! We drove to Idaho Springs from there with a few stops in between. I love the mountains. I love exploring. I love the fresh air. I love the peace and quiet that comes with being up there. It truly is like heaven on earth. We stopped at Beaujo's Pizza for dinner. YUM! I could eat the crust and honey all day long! We had a great day and I'm glad we did when we did because I think the very next weekend it snowed real bad up there!

I was really excited to take Brayden trick or treating this year. I had chose his costume, which was the fireman. But then Brayden's cousin asked if he wanted to join in the group of costumes they were all dressing up as, Angry Birds. I of course couldn't pass that up. The only downfall to this was we had to make the costumes. They ended up being a little more time consuming then we had all planned but man did they turn out cute!

So this month we had Trunk or Treat, Northglenn Trick or Treat Street, and Boo at the Zoo. This was all days before Halloween. I always love going to Trunk or Treat. It's at my church and we have chili and cinnamon rolls, carnival games, costume parade and then everyone decorates their trunks and we go out to the parking lot and trick or treat. It's always a success and the kids always have so much fun.

We also did Boo at the Zoo again this year. I love it. Not only do the kids get to wear their costumes and get more candy but they get to see all of their favorite animals doing it! Good day and it's always crowded!

We tried something new this year and went to Nortghlenn High Schools Trick or Treat Street. NEVER AGAIN! Complete chaos! Not organized well at all and it takes FOREVER! And not fit for young kids. I understand that Halloween is all about ghosts and goblins, I get that. BUT don't invite a bunch of young kids to a Trick or Treat Street and then try to scare the hell out of them. Advise of an age that is appropriate for those types of places. A clown (like on the move IT) walked right up to Brayden and got in his face and then growled. I have never heard Brayden scream so loud. I was about to get into a huge fight in front of all the little kids. I so wanted to rip that mask off and pop him in the face. (Not sure why I didn't) Anyway the whole night was just annoying and a crazy mess. Like I said... never again!

So we get to Halloween night and Brayden I think was just done! He fell asleep in the car on the way over to my moms and had a hard time waking up once we got there. He was a bear once he woke up and screamed every time I tried to put his costume on. So we hunkered down and just handed out candy for the night at my moms. He loved it and probably had more fun doing that then if we had gone out. It was so cute to see him run to the door every time the doorbell would go off. So the night was still a success!

Also this month I have been taking more pictures and doing some research on photography. I have been tossing around the idea of getting into a photography side business. I love love love taking pictures. I always have a camera on me wherever we go. I love to catch all those memories! I have been told that I do a pretty good job. Now I just need that confidence in myself. My type of work isn't going to be the same as everyone else and I need to quit comparing myself to every detail out there. Or I will never feel good enough! So I am going to try it and see how it goes!

Well October is over and here we are at the end of the year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Brayden's 2nd Birthday!!! Can't believe my little man is going to be 2 years old!!! He is so amazing to me and picking up on things so fast. He is my little music man. He loves anything related to music. He loves to play with drumsticks, he loves to sing and play his Elmo guitar, and he has recently picked up playing the piano. My mom just got one and he loves to play it. Oh and he always rocks it like a rock star in the car! I can't wait to get him started in some sort of musical lesson!

Alright ... well here's to another couple of busy months ahead!

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