Before and After

I recently found a blog called "Better After". This is a blog that features projects done by ordinary average non professional people and the transformations are astonishing. After seeing what is possible, I felt inspired.

I recently purchased this book case at a garage sale (another new obsession) and I knew it had potential to be perfect for Eliza's room.

So after some sanding, priming and painting. . . . here is my attempt at "Better After"!

I think it turned out pretty cute and now Eliza has a place to put all of her books. If you are looking to be inspired and need some decorating ideas . . . click here to check out Better After.

San Antonio Zoo

We ended our vacation with a stop over in the Hill Country to visit Grammy for a few days. Stephen had a conference to attend in Austin, so Eliza and I had some serious "Girl Time" with Grammy. We originally thought we would take Eliza to Sea World, but after some thought we decided the zoo would be a better fit for us.

The San Antonio Zoo was really wonderful and I hope we can go back soon - maybe when it is not so hot!

For some reason we didn't take very many pictures but we sure had a great time. Eliza is still talking about all the animals she saw with Grammy.

Favorite Photo Recreated

The first time we took Eliza to Colorado, she was only 4 months old. I know she doesn't remember it but she sure did have a good time. Luckily Stephen and I have fantastic memories of that trip and one of our all time favorite pictures of Eliza was snapped while playing out in the yard.

While we were in Colorado this summer, Stephen decided that we should try to recreate this picture. Not exactly the same but cute none the less.

One of Those Days: AKA Our Trip to Silverton

Stephen and I had planned on taking one day for ourselves in order to go rafting, but the morning of our planned trip, Eliza had many many many meltdowns - so we decided we were going to spare Aunt Jeanne from experiencing the "Wrath of Eliza" and we cancelled our plans.

Instead of rafting we took a drive up to Silverton to have lunch and show Eliza the trains. She really could have cared less about the trains and our lunch was HORRIBLE. Bad food - Bad service - just all around bad.

We did have fun doing a little shopping around town and before we headed back we had a very yummy funnel cake for dessert.

As we climbed back down the mountain we came across this beautiful water fall, so we decided to stop for a photo op.

The water fall was just gorgeous, unfortunately Eliza's behavior was not. Seconds after this photo was snapped, Eliza was sitting on a rock for time out because she smacked her Dad in the face. Yup - it was one of those kind of days.

The Cowboy Show

One of the traditions for vacationing at the Colorado House is attending dinner and a show at the Bar D Chuck wagon. The last time Stephen and I went to the Bar D, we left Eliza at the house with Aunt Sunny and Aunt Jeanne, but this year we decided that she was old enough to come along.

The scenery is absolutely breath taking, the food is really good and the show is also fun, but we knew Eliza didn't care about any of that. She had her sights set on riding the little train that goes around the property. She had been talking non stop about going to the cowboy show to ride the train the entire day.

When we arrived, we were greeted with the sad news that the train had encountered some problems earlier and was currently not working! They hoped that they could it running again in time to do one or two more runs before dinner. Eliza was beyond disappointed but lucky for us the train was fixed and Eliza and Mommy caught the last ride before dinner.

While we stood in line for the train, we entertained ourselves by taking pictures. (Side Note - one of the reasons we like going to Colorado is because it is a nice escape from the blistering Texas heat. However while we were there they were experiencing a bit of a heat wave . . .as if you couldn't tell that by looking at my red sweaty face.!)

Finally it was our turn to go and we waved bye - bye to Daddy.

She was a little uneasy about how loud the engine was. I think she would have liked it better if we had not sat in the front car.
Overall, we had a great time and look forward to continuing this tradition in years to come!

The Continuing Story of Our Days in Colorado

While we were on vacation we had the opportunity to take Eliza to the park twice.  The first park we visited was very close to the Animus River and we were able to spend some time watching the kayaks and rafters.  Apparently the snow melt in Colorado happened very quickly this year, so the rapids were really moving.

Eliza was quite enamored with the slides at this park.  She must have gone up and down these two slides about 50 times.  When it was time to go, we had to pick her up and carry her to the car because she kept running back to try to slide one more time!

Later in the week we visited a pesticide free toddler park.  This was a great park.  It had a ton of shade and had a creek running through it with a sandy area for kids to play in the water.  I loved that the play equipment was smaller and easier for Eliza to climb on. She was once again pretty obsessed with the slide.

I think Stephen's favorite part about this park was our snack of  GIGANTIC chocolate chip cookies we picked up at a local bakery called Bread.  If you are ever in the Durango area, I highly recommend it.

Splish Splash

One of Eliza's favorite activities at the Colorado house was splashing in the ditch.  Even though the water was pretty darn cold - she didn't seem to mind.  If we had let her, I think she would have stayed in the water for hours. 

She did have a few problems with her boots though.  They were too big for her and she sometimes had problems walking in them.  Her favorite part of playing in the ditch was when Bob joined in on the splashing.

Father's Day

Eliza had a great time today cuddling with two of her favorite guys . . . . her Daddy and her Grandpa. She loved the time she spent in the pool with her Dad and she and Grandpa had a ball playing with her school bus and her schoolhouse. She also helped me prepare a great lunch for her guys.

This is my 11th Father's Day without my Dad. For the majority of those 11 years, I have done my very best to ignore the day with the ostrich approach of burying my head in the proverbial sand until the day passes. I miss my Dad everyday, but days like today make my heart ache in a whole different way. Days like today really hit home because I feel so very sad that my Dad never had a chance to meet Stephen and Eliza and that they never had the opportunity to know him.

I know without a doubt that it would have been a love fest all around. My Dad would have loved these two as much as I do. He would have been impressed with what a genuinely kind, funny, generous and loving father and husband Stephen is. He would have been charmed, enthralled and entertained by Eliza, and I have no doubt that she would have adored him as well. I have so many stories that I can't wait to tell her as she grows up.

Even though, a day like today brings a flood of tears with it, I feel so blessed and humbled to have been raised and loved by a man like my Dad. I feel doubly blessed that my daughter has a father who loves her unconditionally and will continue to raise her with honor and integrity.

Happy Father's Day Dad.

The Colorado House

During a vacation in the 1950's, Stephen's grandparents purchased a house and land in the Durango area. His mom and her sisters spent their summers in this house as did Stephen. This house holds many special memories for Stephen and he was eager to share this place with his precious girl. We took Eliza there for the first time when she was 4 months old, and we couldn't get over how much she enjoyed being outside.


A lot has changed since the last time Eliza visited the Colorado house but one thing stayed the same - this little girl LOVED being outside!







This house is a Victorian that was built in the late 1800's. My favorite thing about it is the wrap around porch. I could just sit for hours and stare at the amazing views. This picture doesn't really so justice to the beautiful landscape you see from the porch.



The grounds of this house are home to some pretty spectacular trees- or as Eliza calls them "the forests." She had a grand time running around these trees, chasing all the dogs and hiding from her parents.

Eliza was also impressed with the flower gardens. She picked about a million daisies. I think it is probably a good thing that these poppies have prickly stems, or she would have picked all of them as well!

I was really in love with these gorgeous pink peonies. I would LOVE to have some in my garden at home, but I don't think they would like the brutal Texas sun!

Just in case you were wondering . . .

We have not fallen off the face of the earth or been abducted by aliens. We have just been super super B - U - S - Y! The end of the school year always kicks me in the booty (after 16 years, you would think I would learn) and as soon as school was over, we packed our bags and hit the open road. We had a marvelous vacation and I have TONS of pictures to share soon.