The Last 2 Years: November 2012

This was the first birthday that I celebrated with Aaron gone.  It was a Friday birthday even so I took a moment to be sad that we were not going to take advantage of Aaron being able to take me out fancy because it was Friday.  Fortunately I got over it.  I was, however, excepting 2 things:  a present or flowers from Aaron and for it to be low key.  I got one of them.  The flowers were beautiful!!

I started the day off locking my self out of the house.  This might seem silly but when you have a garage code, you don't really think about not begin able to get inside your home.  Problem was, Ainsley locked the door from the house to the garage without me knowing, so when I closed it, it locked.  I stressed about it for a bit, mostly because I had a lunch date with Kelly Bohnenkamp that I needed to get ready for but in the end, called my neighbor Chris who just took the door off and I was able to get back in.  Moment of panic over.

Kelly and I went to a deli downtown that didn't have my first or second choice of salad/sandwich, so I got my third.  It was good and all but really, if you are down to your third choice of something, there will be some disappointment somewhere.  I did make a small fuss about it being my birthday so I got a free cupcake and that kinda made up for lunch.

I can't remember if I got a massage or not.  I want to say yes but I would have had to find someone to pick up Camryn from preschool so really, your guess is as good as mine.  Let's say that tI did because that would be a fantastic birthday gift to myself!!

My friend Rachel Hammer made me a birthday cake and then her gift to me was to babysit the kids so I could go shopping by myself.  I got skinny jeans and some boots.  The skinny jeans were my first pair and I stressed about them mostly because I didn't think I could pull them off.  Ironic that right now I am wearing that same pair and love them as a favorite go-to pair.

I picked the kids up after shopping and enjoyed a movie and microwave popcorn.  I remember that I made 2 bags because I burned the first one.  Begin older and wiser, I realized even then that I can afford to throw away burnt microwave popcorn.

I also skyped with Aaron.

*Crossfit brownies for my birthday from Bryan Kemper:

*Birthday fun:

Holly Morgan, me, and Rachel Hammer

*Birthday flowers from Aaron:

At the end of the month the kids and I drove down to Ft Collins to spend Thanksgiving with the Rasmussens.  IT was awesome as always!!.  We went to a place called Sweatsville Zoo which is a metal works sculpture garden.  I'm always amazed at what artists think of to make out of everyday items.

*Sweatsville Zoo (Ft Collins):

The culminating event was a hike in the Flat Irons.  IT was the WORST!!  Disclaimer:  we have hiked our kids everywhere in all kids of environments.  Yosemite, Sequoia, Badlands, Estes Park... We aren't new to hiking.  This trip however, all kids acted like we were near killing them.  Luke and Quinn got the point of mutiny, there may have also been some tears, Camryn fell in a cactus and had spines in her leg.  Ainsley refused to walk so I carried her on my shoulders the then her feet fell asleep and couldn't walk, and Jonas cried for the last 1-2 miles because he was cold (which is was).  We survived though.... and will NEVER go back again!

*Flat Irons (Boulder, CO):

*Thanksgiving with Scott Alexander (Ft Collins)

*Alex turns 10! Swimming and Texas Roadhouse birthday:

Right after Christmas 2011 I decided it was time to get a new Christmas tree.  It was a 6.5 footer that we had gotten our first Christmas in Ohio because we couldn't do real trees in the apt because of the fire code (that kids is the reason we, to this day have a fake tree).  It's not a bad gig and I spice up the house with a Christmas tree cancel so it's like the real thing.  I digress.

I wanted a bigger tree because we have great big front windows so went for the 9 foot tree (maybe 10).  Two boxes came in January 2012 and we quickly put them int he garage.  Fast forward to Christmas 2012, Aaron is gone and I get the tree boxes out of the rafters (with help) and start to set it up.  It is huge.  I can't reach the top even with my step ladder and we don't have even close to enough lights!  We had to decorate the top separate and then attach it to the top to get anything on the top.

Luckily, it looks amazing in the front windows!

*Setting up the new and HUGE Christmas tree: