A weekend to remember ...

Last weekend was an amazing weekend for me. I was blessed to spend it with my sisters (Sheri and Lori) and one of my favorite cousins (Darci). We laughed, we cried, we embraced the love of God as we spend 2 days (Friday and Saturday) attending Women of Faith in Denver at the Pepsi Center.

~ Lori, Sheri and I ... leaving Fort Collins for a weekend to remember ~

It is impossible to explain how amazing it is to be surrounded by 11,000 women who LOVE Jesus! For those of you who don't know, Women of Faith is a 2 day conference of speakers, musicians, artist, and plain ole inspirational women. This was not my 1st Women of Faith conference. In fact I have been several times before and strongly debated if I really wanted to go. NOT because of the wonderful HIGH you get from a weekend like this but simply … the last conferences I have been to it was with my MOM by my side. Honestly I wasn’t sure what the weekend would bring but I was willing to let the Lord be my strength. When we first walked into the Pepsi Center on Friday morning and sat down in our seats my eyes swelled with tears. I was overwhelmed with an aching lost feeling of being without my mom. As the day went on Sheila Walsh … an INCREDIBLE truly inspirational woman … spoke straight to my heart with a wonderful devotional about trusting God. Praise God I went from feeling lost to feeling the love of mom and how proud she was. I know in heaven she smiled from ear to ear with pride as she watched the weekend unfold.

Sadly this is the 1st time … aside from when we all gather as families … that I have spent a weekend with my sisters. Over dinner on Friday night we decided we MUST TRY to make “sisters weekend” happen more often. I am so blessed to have wonderful, loving and FUN sisters that it seems crazy that we can’t fit more time for each other into our busy lives.

To add an explanation mark to our incredible weekend we ended it with Sheri, Lori and I sitting FRONT ROW at the Denver Broncos / Indianapolis Colts Game.

~ Me, Lori and Sheri ready for some Broncos Madness ~

~ The view from our seats ... Not bad huh ~

~ Our seats were RIGHT NEXT to the visitor tunnel that the players run in and out off ... Peyton Manning entering the field ~

~ Justin's favorite running back ... Eddie Royal ~

~ Broncos Head Coach Josh McDaniels happy about something ~

~ Obviously it wasn't the score :( ~

Seriously do weekends get better than this?? This is going to be a tough one to top!!

New Wheels ...

Makenna and I were strolling around a church rummage sale and BAM … look what we found!! Ah it was love at first sight for Makenna … a pearly purple bike!! The closer I got the better it looked! … a TREK Mystic … MSRP $189.99 … rummage sale price $5.00!

But wait … it gets even better ... half price sale started at NOON it was 12:01 … final price $2.50 for the bike … new basket from Target … training wheels from Lee’s Cyclery and Makenna has some NEW WHEELS!!

Preschool ...

Finally the day came … yesterday Makenna’s preschool started. Makenna attends a FABULOUS private preschool on Monday and Wednesday morning. Since it is not connected to the school district nor does it have any type of day care the schedule is not the same as Justin. Try explaining this to a 3 year old!! She was struggling with the fact that Justin started school but she had to wait 3 weeks.

Yesterday was a big day for her. It took about 10 minutes for her to … drop the stuffed animals … put the hose down … put the sticks down … put the rocks down … stand still … now smile and look at me!! Wow thank goodness we don’t have to take pictures every morning.

~ Makenna skipping into The Learning House ~

Happy Campers ...

I am slowly catching our blog up on some of our summer fun. One of the best weekends was spent camping at Horsetooth Reservoir with the Van Cleave’s. In July we spent 4 days and 3 nights relaxing, boating, fishing and just hanging out! The weather was PERFECT … the fishing was GREAT (Justin out fished both Dwight and JC … not that Dwight would ever admit it but that is how it usually goes) … and the R&R was much NEEDED!! The grand finally to the entire weekend was the 15 minute drive home!! Its official … I believe we will be adding Camping at Horsetooth to our annual summer plans.

~ The Morning Calm ~

~ Each morning Makenna and I would sit down by the lake while Justin and Daddy were out on the boat fishing ~

~ Makenna and Mommy being Silly by the Water ~

~ Makenna and Grace loving the boat ride ~

~ Horsetooth July 2010 ~

~ Hanging around the Campfire ~

~ The Boys ... Dwight and JC ready for a little fun ~

~ Justin on the Boat ~

~ Justin inspecting Dwight fish he Caught ~

Jen, Brody, JC and Grace Van Cleave ~

~ Sunset on the Lake ~

~ Makenna and Elmo Sitting by the Fire ~

~ All Tuckered Out ~

Back 2 School ...

New School … New Teacher … New Friends … New Experiences

This is school year is full of changes for Justin. He official started 2nd Grade at a new school … Bauder Elementary. His old school (Moore Elementary) actually merged into Bauder so the entire Moore Staff is now Bauder Staff. With 2 schools merging together it makes for one BIG school. Great for funding but made for a very crazy 1st day of school ... 557 students K-5th grade. In addition to starting a new school his best friend Christopher moved and will be attending a different school this year.

None the less Justin was super excited for school to start. Imagine that … mom having more anxiety about a new school year than Justin himself. Ugh … gotta love those Hargrove worry genes I inherited. We went Monday to meet his new teacher Mrs. Palmer and school official started Tuesday morning.

Last Friday we got a call from transportation and to our surprise Justin gets to ride the school bus. Seriously we live less than a ½ mile from the school so I was shocked. Not only does he get a bus to school the bus stop is at the end of our drive-way. I was thrilled … Justin wasn’t excited until after his 1st ride. Now he is so excited he is outside 10 minutes before the bus gets here.

He has already reconnected with old friends and made new friends. I was so happy when he came home from school and was excited about his new friend Micah … “mom he likes football as much as I do”. Ah … looks like we are off to a great start of 2nd grade.

And the winner is ...

This summer Justin and Makenna participated in the Summer Reading Program at our local Poudre River Public Library. They had 2 different age group … Children under 4 and Children age 4 – 5th grade. Each program had age appropriate activities that they had to complete in order to earn prizes. They each had the chance to earn 2 prizes. I was really proud of both of them … they both completed their entire sheet and earned 2 prizes! Justin earned a free game of bowling and a free swim pass for the city pool … Makenna earned a free book and a scoop of ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s … as well as they both got 2 tickets for the grand prize drawing.

Ahhhhhhh … Lucky Makenna!! Out of 8,000+ names Makenna won 1 of the 6 Grand Prizes … she won a $50.00 gift card to Toys R Us. Lucky for Justin he has a great sister who loves to share. On Monday we went to Toys R Us for a little shopping trip. Makenna picked out a My Little Pony car … that she has been wanting for months!! Justin picked out a Camper and Car Lego set.

What a fun way to get rewarded for a summer full of reading.

Bird City Kansas ...

Once again we spent the last weekend in July at the Tractor Show in Bird City, Kansas. For the second year in a row we took the Travel Trailers and set up Camp in the parking lot. 3 trailers, 1 tent, 8 adults and 6 kids + lots to see and do … made for another fun and memorable show.

This was the first year in quite some time that the ENTIRE Wamhoff Clan was at the show … ALL 5 of Grammie’s kids + spouses, 5 grandkids + spouses and 11 great grandkids!!

Customize your own picture slideshow

Broncos Camp ...

Justin has been waiting all summer for the Denver Broncos Camp to start. Well it finally did … so yesterday Dwight and Justin spent the afternoon at Dove Valley watching the Broncos practice. They were able to get a great shady spot on the grass at the 40 yard line for 2 hours of Broncos Practice followed up by player autographs and a HIGH-5 from TIM TEBOW. Justin came home smiling from ear to ear. We now have full blow BRONCO MANIA in our house!

~ Justin and Daddy ready to leave ... Makenna didn't go but wanted to be in the photo :) ~

~ Walking to the field ~

~ Dove Valley Training Center ~

~ The Crowd ~

~ Double Action ~

~ His favorite autograph so far ... Eddie Royal ~

BeHIND ...

We have been having such a busy summer that I don’t even have the time to blog. Yes ... NO time to blog!! Now that means I’m BUSY!!

The bad news is it will take some time to sort through all these fabulous pictures I have been taking.

The good news is we’ve been having lots and lots of fun.

The bad news is Justin has ONLY 12 more days of summer vacation.

The good news is once Justin starts back to school I will have a little more MOMMY time so there is hope that I might just get my blog caught up before the end of August :)

Fireworks Take2 ...

Between the rain and our own bag of Fireworks the kids didn’t really pay much attention to the “Big City Park Fireworks” in the sky on the 4th of July. Lucky for them … this year we got a bonus round of Fireworks. Due to the rain Loveland postponed their Fireworks Show until the 5th of July.

What better reason to take the convertible out for an evening cruise! Dwight and I took Taylor, Brandon, Justin and Makenna to Loveland to watch the Fireworks. We parked on a road near the edge of town and watched from the car.

~ Taylor, Makenna, Justin and Brandson ... Ready for a cruise ~

~ Watching the Fireworks ~

It turned out to be a fun evening for the kids.

Convertible Ride … Fireworks Show … Sleepover with their Cousins!!