Surprise, surprise

A few weeks ago, Jeremy told me that his old friend, Bryce, and his wife were coming to town for a visit. They were flying into Denver at midnight and Jeremy was going to pick them up.  So on the appointed day (or rather, night) Jeremy left for the airport and I, being a gracious hostess, went to bed. :) At about 2:00am, Jeremy came into our room and said he needed my help.  Apparently Bryce's wife was really sick.  I'm not the most coherent in the middle of the night and not the happiest either. I asked in my nicest 2am voice what he wanted me to do about it, and pointed out that he knew where all the medicine was.  He said, "I mean, it's like a....GIRL problem."  I told him where all THOSE supplies were, but he refused to give up.  "Look, I'm not going downstairs to hand a strange woman a box of tampons", I not-so-sweetly said.   Still not giving up, he handed me my robe and said I had to come.  At this point, I was fuming and I stumbled down the stairs with, what I'm sure, was the crustiest look on my face.  As I rounded the corner, I saw a little girl sitting on the bed and when I walk through the door I see my college roommate and dearest friend, Heidi, standing there.  I think if Jeremy had waited until morning I would have been jumping out of my skin with excitement, but at 2:00am, my brain wasn't functioning at full capacity and it took me several minutes of standing there with my jaw hanging open to grasp that it was Heidi.  The euphoric glee kicked in the next day.

Heidi and I always wistfully talk about getting together, but with her in North Carolina and me in Colorado we figured it would be years before we would be able to make it happen.  Apparently, Jeremy, Mr. Sneaky Pants, called Heidi in April and asked her and her two girls to come out for a visit.  I still can't believe that they kept it a secret from me for nearly 2 months.  I don't think I've ever been more surprised in my life.  Jeremy just earned major brownie points for this!

Heidi, Madi and Gracie were here for 2 weeks and we were able to do lots of fun things.  We went to The North Pole, The Garden of the Gods, the aquarium and the Flying W Ranch.  We drove up to Pikes Peak, went to the pool several times and the park.  We started off our adventure with a trip to the zoo where Madi promptly got sick and threw up on the side of the road and then in various bathrooms at the zoo.  We ended up turning around and trying to drive home, but Madi couldn't make the drive back home and they ended up staying in a hotel for the night while Madi "cleansed" her system. :)  Poor Madi (and Heidi!).  We also ended our 2 weeks of fun with another throw up episode.  It just wouldn't be fun if oodles of vomit weren't involved, right?

Madi, in her own words, says she is "horse crazy", and likes to be referred to as "Cowgirl Madi".  Her one wish while here in the Wild West was to see a REAL rodeo, not the poor-excuse-for-a-rodeo that they have in North Carolina. :)  So we search on-line and finally found the nearest rodeo that would take place while they were in town.  It was in Evergreen, about an hour and 40 minute drive from here.  I'd never been there, but we mapquested it and Heidi bought tickets on-line, so come Saturday we were ready to go.  Although, things didn't go as smoothly as planned.

Gracie ended up not sleeping well and had to take a morning nap.  While we were waiting for Gracie to wake up, Gannon started having extreme stomach pain and we had to wait until he got everything out.  So, we had a late start, but all seemed well.  Until we were 20 minutes out and Heidi realized that she'd forgotten her wallet.  Going back to retrieve her wallet put us another hour behind.  I've decided that whoever gives the directions on mapquest must get a real kick out of giving the most out-of-the-way and completely misleading directions possible.  After several turn-arounds and backtracking we were within 15 minutes of the rodeo when Gracie started heaving.  A LOT.  All over her clothes, her car seat and the seat in front of her.  We pulled over on the side of the road and striped her down to her diaper.  There was no way we could clean her car seat in the middle of nowhere with no supplies,  so we ended up leaving Heidi and Gracie on the side of the road (there was a senior center nearby) and the rest of the kids and I headed out to find Walmart, a new car seat and a change of clothes for Gracie.  After all was said and done, we'd missed the rodeo.  Madi was such a trooper.  She didn't complain once and kept giving me helpful suggestions.  And to top it all off, Heidi had taken Dramamine in the morning to help her combat car sickness. :)  She didn't throw up (thank goodness!), but it made her so sleepy she was comatose for most of the day.  All in all, it was a bust, but will make for some vivid memories.

This blog thing...

I'm always the last to get on the band wagon for anything.  Like cellphones (I still use a phone with no camera capabilities...gasp!), ipods, or DVDs...Jeremy and I were both slow to convert.  Blogging is another technology I've been resisting.  I don't like the idea of complete strangers reading what I write and seeing photos of my family.  But a few friends of mine recently told me how they have turned their blogs into books that are bound.  I love to journal, but run out of steam when I am writing by hand.  I would much rather type.  And I've lost any desire to scrapbook our photos.  So, I've decided to try this blog thing, solely for the purpose of a journal, with pictures and all that can be bound as a book at the end of the year. I'm kind of excited.  Without further ado...here I go.  Hello, blogosphere!