Twenty-three

So, I'm a few days behind here, but my Noah turned 23 on Thursday. 

Thursday, itself, was a pretty quiet day. Noah took the day off from work and we just hung out at home...chatting and watching shows and such. 

Saturday, with both brothers home for the weekend, we went out to dinner, grabbed desserts at Whole Foods and played new Jackbox games together. 

It was a low-key but lovely evening. :) 

Noah continues to live here and enjoy his colleagues at his banking job while looking for a job more in his field of study (mechanical engineering) now that he has more work experience under his belt. He continues to learn more about photography, hasn't been climbing as much lately and has hopes to do some traveling in the coming years.

Without much else new to report, I'll share this series of photos from June of 2002...when we lived back in Eugene and I was still pregnant with Asher. They're some of my favorite photos of my Noah...

These were taken in a field just off the walking path near our duplex. I love his intention and precision and delight...things he still displays to this day. :)

Happy birthday, my Noah! Here's to a 24th year of life filled with joy and adventure!

Three on the third

Hi. Apparently it's November. :) Catching up a bit...

1. Football and drinks. Last Sunday, Lynne and I journeyed down to Denver and the Stanley Marketplace Beer Hall to watch the Broncos game. We had a fabulous time...eating and drinking and enjoying the game! It was so nice watching football together; none of the guys in my house care or watch with me.

Plus, it was a great game and the Broncos actually won! ;)

2. Micah as Ken. For Halloween, Micah dressed as Ken from the Barbie movie, complete with the official Kenough hoodie. I got this photo from him. He picked up the turkey leg headband in Chicago (I think) and appears to really like it. 

3. Halloween. We had a quiet Halloween here. I got the full sized candy bars again (because the bite size candies are too easy to snitch, lol) but we had very few trick or treaters so ended up with too many left over. (I've since put together bags for Asher and Micah to take back to college with them, so that should help.)

And we didn't put up any decorations again because there seems to be no point in competing with the house across the street. (He has way more inflatables than what he put out, btw. He has to rotate through them and claims to have enough to fill multiple additional yards.)

Instead, we moved our Solo Stove to the driveway and sat out there to hand out candy (easier than opening the door multiple times and our neighbor came and joined us and we had a lovely visit).

We also threw some color packets into the fire and enjoyed the fun colors for awhile. 

And that's my three for today. :) 

Breckenridge

So, we've lived in Colorado more than 21 years now and had never been to Breckenridge. We fixed that yesterday. :) 

Nathan took the day off from work and we drove the 2+ hours down to Breckenridge. Our main goal was to find the troll, Isak Heartstone...and we did!

He was pretty impressive. :) We also did a short hike from the same trailhead and enjoyed the gorgeous fall day and sunshine. (The hike is how we got the picture of the troll from the back.)

Beyond Isak, we enjoyed a great lunch at Ollie's, appreciated the railroad park for kids (and reminisced about when Noah and Asher were once enamoured with trains), wandered a number of shops in town, took in some of the random art around town, had yummy chocolate orange gelato, and had a fabulous dinner at the Blue Stag.

No offense to Montrose, but the food in Breckenridge (and Fort Collins and a lot of other places, lol) is way better. :) 

After all that, we got back on the road. We hit some unexpected fog for a bit but finally descended the mountains enough to enjoy the rest of the drive home. So thankful that we live in such a fabulous state and have the ability to take in its many wonders together. 

Four on Friday

Nathan and I were on the road yesterday (will post about that in a bit) so I missed my Thankful Thursday post. Instead, then, here's a Four on Friday list...

1. A solid foundation. I've been particularly thankful lately for the thirteen years of karate experience that Asher and Micah have so far. Just incredibly grateful for all they've learned and the family they've gained and the confidence they've built. And now, they've both continued their karate experience in college...with each of them joining his college's Taekwondo Club. I love that this foundation has helped them find their people. 

Before I get into more, here's a picture from their very first class at Karate West in June of 2010. Aren't they adorable?!

Anyhow. As I said, both boys are enjoying their Taekwondo Clubs...the people they're meeting and the familiarity of regular exercise and practice.

Micah's club at CU Boulder has about 100 students and is, um, well funded. They have large-ish membership dues and do a lot of fundraising that carries over from year to year. Last weekend, they were able to fly about 50 students to Chicago for two nights to compete in a mock tournament on Saturday to gain some tournament experience with four other college teams. The students stayed in AirBNBs and had a great time in Chinatown after the mock tournament. Of course, Micah says there were so many people that he only did one form and had one sparring partner/match and his AirBNB didn't have enough beds so he slept under a table, but it sounds like he had an awesome time getting to know his own teammates better. :) He's also joined the team demonstration group and is surprisingly one of the flyers. They boost/throw him in the air where he flips and breaks boards on his way down. Fun?

Meanwhile, Asher's club at UNC is considerably smaller with about 10 students total (which is a size Asher prefers). They meet throughout the week and are having a great time. They're currently trying to raise some money for new gear (they don't even have a dedicated space/room). Here's Asher's fundraising page if anyone local is interested. Note. The items apparently will be delivered to Asher who must then be able to deliver them directly around November 9th, so please don't order if you're not local. If you'd like to just donate cash directly, let me know. That's what we'll be doing since we don't "need" baked goods. ;) 

Anyhow, I'm just so glad that both boys have found clubs that "fit" so well. 

2. Fall prep. We haven't done our fall clean up yet and all the leaves in our yard are probably going to be buried in snow tomorrow. But. In terms of fall prep, I did clean and treat all my boots this week...that's what's important, right? 

I try to do this at least every few years to keep them in good condition. Now I just need more occasions to wear them all... ;) 

3. Halloween credit. I didn't do any Halloween decorations this year...because why bother when your neighbor routinely does this?

And this year the neighbors just next to him tried...with witches and zombies and even a crime scene on the sidewalk (complete with ketchup "blood" and crime tape). But it's just hard to compete, ya know? My contribution to Halloween for my neighborhood, then, is that we give out whole candy bars. One, it's fun to see the glee on the kids' faces. And, two, it's easier to keep myself from breaking into the candy because I know I don't need a full bar. (Traditional bite size candies are just too easy to snitch from, lol.) 

And I just want you all to know that I haven't opened any of the Halloween candy packages yet! I should get extra credit for that. :)

4. Christmas. And, speaking of Halloween...that means that Christmas is less than two months away! I feel like I have a decent handle on my shopping and lists at the moment but am always looking for more and new ideas. Grown(ish) sons are harder to shop for than little boys (when legos pretty much took care of everything, lol)...any cool new things I don't know about?

Okay, that's my list today. Happy Friday to you all! I'm off to soak up the last of the day's sunshine before the forecast snow.

Thankful Thursday

Time for another list...

1. Parents weekend. Last weekend was Parents Weekend at both UNC and CU. For the most part, we opted out of the activities at both schools, as we see our sons more than many families. (Plus, the activities at CU were rather expensive and crowded.) After having Asher at home most of the weekend, we followed him back on Sunday to attend the UNC Women's Soccer game. It was their last home game of the season. 

Sadly, the team didn't win. But. It was a very enjoyable time on a beautiful day...

We went to a late lunch after the game in downtown Greeley before saying our goodbyes and heading home. Thankful my boys are finding their own ways and that they remain conveniently close by. 

2. Weird pumpkins. I saw these at Safeway recently. They're weird. As I was looking at one, a gentleman came over and was examining the pumpkin as well. Turns out, his father used to grow pumpkins and so he explained to me about using molds as the pumpkins are growing. 

I love them. :)

3. Fall. I just love the fall colors. That's all. I'm so thankful to live in a place with such beautiful trees and fall foliage...and so glad that the weather is cooperating this year. 

4. Throwback Thursday. I love that Thursdays can be both for thankfulness and throwbacks. Here's a layout from sixteen years ago...October of 2007. I love these pictures of my little Micah and Asher at ages 2 and 5. 

I stopped scrapbooking years ago but continue to document our stories here on this blog and am so thankful for both. I appreciate being able to look back and be reminded of the little details.

That's my list for today. :) Just enjoying this beautiful October and hoping you are, too...