Thankful Thursday

Tonight's list...things I'm thankful for...

1. An unexpected afternoon. I came home today to find Noah sitting inside. He and Nathan had gone to lunch and then both come home instead of dropping Noah back off at his apartment. It was a lovely surprise and a nice break for Noah as the semester (and his college career) is coming to an end. We didn't do anything in particular, just enjoyed chatting and catching up. Once Micah was home again, I made them both take a picture with me...

That was the better picture. This was the first attempt...

Yes, that's Micah's arm behind me. Yes, we're all in Asher's room for reasons unknown. 

2. Boys who text pictures to me. Speaking of Asher, he sent me this over the weekend...

He helped organize FrESCO's Engineers Take a Hike Day. A group of more than three dozen students enjoyed a windy time and my boy was thoughtful enough to send me this, unsolicited. 

(Yes, he probably needs a haircut. He's reached the "why bother when I'll be headed back to Fort Collins in a few weeks" stage, lol.)

3. Climbing. I haven't been able to climb as often as I'd like lately (getting older and having mysterious injuries is no fun at all!) so I'm thankful when I can. Earlier today (before I came home and found Noah), Micah and I climbed at Ascent. I didn't do a great job but I climbed and appreciated it. :)

4. Bathroom work scheduled. We finally found someone (knock on wood) to do the bathroom projects we're wanting. Woohoo! He was the third contractor we met with and one of five or six that we'd reached out to over the past month. (Some never got back to us at all, some never returned our calls after coming out and promising an estimate, and some gave an estimate so high we couldn't consider it.) We're not looking for anything fancy...just need to replace floors and toilets for now. Now we're working on details. Whew.

5. Small changes. I mentioned before that I've been doing some spring cleaning. To look around our house, you wouldn't really know it at all. The changes have been small...just purging and reorganizing shelves and cupboards and such. But. I know that I've done it and that makes me happy. (I'm still going, by the way, lol.)

Okay, that's it for tonight. Thankful.

Thankful Thursday

Random things I'm thankful for today...

1. The nice woman at the Safeway pharmacy. At the start of 2022, we had to change our local pharmacy (our insurance suddenly didn't include the pharmacy we'd been going to in network). I was a bit miffed because I really liked the people at our pharmacy. But. What can you do? So. We switched. And the last couple times I was there to refill Micah's prescriptions one of the women working at the new pharmacy has just made my week. She enthusiastically complimented the white in my hair...claiming that she loved how it looked. Love her. ;)

2. Alcohol over gelato. So, during my sisters trip earlier this month, my sisters each introduced me to some new-to-me drinks. (Thanks, sisters!) Back at home, I shared with Nathan and we ended up with this:

Yup, Skrewball Peanut Butter Whiskey over chocolate gelato is a delicious dessert! (For the record, it's yummy over vanilla gelato also, lol.)

3. Spring cleaning. Having been busy enjoying my guys over spring break last month, I now find myself embracing some spring cleaning as April's winding down. Nathan and Micah are thrilled, lol. I mostly keep things pretty purged anyhow and have gone through things fairly recently, so it's not a big ordeal or anything. But I've been enjoying going through cupboards and shelves and have a few other hot spots on my list in the coming weeks. Simplifying and updating makes me happy.

4. Bowling. It's been many years since we'd been bowling. Many. But on Tuesday, Nathan and I joined Micah and his girlfriend for some bowling and had a great time. Overall, Nathan and I definitely beat Micah and his girlfriend. :) But. Micah improved greatly over his previous attempts, so he was happy. And, clearly, he just needed us to show him how it was done. 

5. Date lunches. Nathan and I had our bi-monthly date lunch earlier today. It was pretty fabulous. I took him to the new French bistro place in Old Town and we stuffed ourselves...

Seriously yum!

6. Scheduling things. I find myself scheduling a lot of things lately...follow up ACT and SAT tests for Micah, renewing my driver's license, annual well checks, Asher's fall break flights, another trip in October to visit colleges in CA, time with friends, an oral surgeon consult for Micah, and more. I've also been working on trying to find someone to help with a few bathroom projects here (have scheduled three consults so far). Over the course of all of that, I must say that I definitely appreciate good communication and easy processes for scheduling things. Trying to be thankful for the less than great experiences for helping me to appreciate the easy ones. :)

So, that's what's going on around here and what I'm thankful for today. Happy Thursday to you all!

Sisters Trip!

Sorry. Went missing there for a bit. We've just been busy with life here. Micah's taken his ACT and SAT, he's had his advising appointment and registered for fall classes, he had his quarterly bloodwork, and he's been busy with work and school and hanging out with friends...Asher registered for fall classes and had to head to a tornado shelter last night due to a tornado warning at UNO (everything's fine)...Noah's rocket team is hoping to test things again tomorrow but is having difficulties scheduling launches around all this wind...and Nathan's been out to California to meet some of his co-workers in person and get a new project going.

I've been helping with all of those things (and a few other things). :) Also, apparently I missed National Sibling Day on Sunday. But. I actually spent it with siblings! Last Friday, my sisters and I met up for a first ever Sisters Trip (to celebrate a certain middle sister's milestone birthday next week) and had such a good time. They flew together from Washington state to Denver. I met them at the airport during their layover and we continued on to Palm Springs together. We stepped off the plane to gorgeous 100 degree weather, rented a car, and drove about half an hour to Indio to get settled in our lodging. We went out for pizza (and gelato for Cas) and grabbed some groceries/supplies and headed back for a night of chatting and laughing. 

Saturday, we had spa treatments at the resort we were staying at (yay!)...grabbed some lunch...spent some time at the lazy river enjoying the sunshine...applied temporary tattoos since Cas and I refused Bek's insistent request that we get actual tattoos (hilariously, we got 2/3 of them wrong since we didn't account for the fact that they flipped when applied, lol)...and went into Palm Springs for a delicious dinner and some shopping...

(The evening in our unit was hilarious! Also, I should get points for being able to find my swim suit and towel that blew off of our third floor balcony in the afternoon winds. The flashlight in my purse came in very handy, lol.)

Sunday morning, we grabbed breakfast (Bek uses a LOT of creamer)...spent more time at the lazy river...and grabbed a late lunch at In-N-Out Burger on our way to taking Cas to the airport (she has younger kiddos so couldn't stay away as long)...

After dropping Cas at the airport, Bek and I continued on to the Cabazon Dinosaurs, which just made me happy...

...and some shopping at the Cabazon Outlets before heading back to Indio for some more shopping and dinner and such.

Monday morning, we got pedicures, did some shopping and sunbathed. We had lunch and did some more shopping before catching a movie and heading back to be responsible and eat leftovers for dinner. We put together some crafty gifts that Bek wanted to take home and packed all our stuff up...

Tuesday morning was very early to get to the airport and return the rental car before Bek's flight. I hung out at the airport for awhile before catching my own flight and returning to a windy Colorado.

And that was our first Sisters Trip! I probably should have taken more pictures but was having such a good time just catching up and laughing and laughing. Thankful for my beautiful sisters and that we were able to make this happen. :)