"When you're up, you're up and when you're down, you're down" - Noble Duke of York

May was quite the interesting month for us. 

It started out with a wonderful week of celebrations - Ben's birthday on May 5!  We had a Mexican themed dinner - Ben's tradition :-)  We had fajitas for dinner and home-made g-free sopapillas for dessert.  I was nervous about the sopapilla process, but Ben was willing to share his expert insight and we ended up with some rather warm. tasty, poofy, honey-laden fried deliciousness that I wouldn't object to repeating in the future!

Laiiid back - Anika and Ben relaxing and watching some Shrek.

Innagural sopapilla creation...in the fondue pot!!!
(Betcha didn't think of this use, Dena!)

Birthday Boy showing the world how to properly put honey in the fried deliciousness!

A few days later, it was Mother's Day.  We planned on hitting the Ouray Hot Springs, but ended up going over Red Mountain Pass to Silverton for lunch and then back home...Anika was passed out by the time we got back to the Hot Springs and Baby #2 had been actively squishing my lungs all the way back down the pass.  But, it was a beautiful drive and I was wearing flip flops with multiple feet of snow around me at the top of the pass...I am on a mission to force spring to appear!!!

The view from the top.

Anika and I at the top of the pass.

The Subie is tough...but not THAT tough! 
Driving down County Road 16 is out for the day!

When we got home, Anika was ready to PLAY!  So, we let our little Rock Star have some kid time in the sun.

Silly face!

She has such manners...sharing her rocks with Biz!

Then, it was Peli's birthday - 10 years old!  Her gift: the "Winter that Never Eeeeennnnddddssss!" (insert echoing voice for that one).  No one seemed to tell Old Man Winter to just Let. It. Go.

Check out that incredible springtime view!

Ben made a snowman and a snowboulder :-)

We *did* have hummingbirds flying around!

Peli and Biz enjoying the last winter blast (hopefully)

Her Highness :-)

This is the part that goes with this post's title of "When you're down. you're down": Peli passed away early in the morning on Friday, May 20th from heart issues.  We are slowly healing our own hearts and Anika goes to the windows and doors every once in a while and says "A-woo, a-woo" and looks for Peli, but we're all getting better.  Peli had a great retirement out here and was certainly a "Good Girl", as Anika had just learned to tell her.

(I'm currently working on a post called "The Tails Behind Linstidtails" that will go into more detail on the Pelster among other things, but that's going to take a while...)

Lest you think we didn't get more than one spring day without snow on the ground (we got at least 3 days), here is evidence to the contrary:

Sitting pretty waiting for Daddy.

Whoa - that's pretty cool!

Daddy?  Daddy? Daddy? Daddy?

My Daddy...My Hero

Not to end the month on a boring note, Ben and I celebrated our 12th Wedding Anniversary on May 29th.  We had a family celebration all day long!  Brunch at the Camp Robber, then to the pool, back home to nap, and then a tasty dinner of beef kabobs and shrimp!  Yummo!!!  Anika loved going to the pool and asking Ben to "Splash!" - meaning, "Father, please remove those random children out of the way and show them how you are REALLY supposed to go off of the diving board...and then do it again and again.  Also, I'd like to do the same thing.  It's no problem that I am a teeny tiny toddler, I can do it.  I. Want. To. Splash. Now."

Fueled up with milk and ready to take on the swimming world!

On the family side of things, we also made a decision to shift our vehicles around to accomodate 2 car seats, a Bismarck, Ben & I, and all of the equipment that we will be using for our adventures for the next many years. 

Anika was illustrating how she thought the Subaru was going to feel.
Notice the snowsuit - she wanted that on the baby!

So, the Subaru and the Jeep got together and retired from their adventures with us.  They gave us this Beast for our expanding family as a farewell gift:

2011 Suburban...it should work for us for quite some time!
Beast on the outside...Beauty on the inside :-)

Thus, our May ended - and we are now in June.  We are 6 days away from the due date for kiddo #2...good thing the new baby seat made it into the Beast yesterday!

Sunset May 31, 2011. 
Pretty much sums up the month for us.

April Snow Showers....

...feel pointless until the May flowers pop up.  At least for me...because if it's going to snow, at least let us play in it!  But, that's what we have memories for, right?  And here we are sharing our fun with you...

For your viewing and reading pleasure, here is a summary of the Winter Adventures here at the Linstid Homestid!

Ben worked very hard this past summer revising the cross-country ski course.  He analyzed the slope angles, pitch depths, prevailing winds, vegetation, track of the sun throughout the season, migration patterns of elk - pretty much a varitable variety of variables, and came up with a plan.  Then he executed the track revisions.

Yup - that guy attached to the chainsaw is my hubby!

We've got great neighbors...ones that like to use their tractors and save us TONS of time.
(When I say "us", I mean Ben)

Then we waited for the snow.

Not yet....

Still need some more snow....






Ooooohhhh yeah....just right!

The groomer with his tools - height meter (Anika) and the snowmobile.

Driveway after a fresh snow.

The Homestid as it should be during the winter -
snowy on a bright sunny bluebird sky day :-)

Then we enjoyed the bounty of his work.  A Harvest of sorts, one might say.

Just enjoying the roof top view!



Aerial view of the back trail



Decisions, decisions....

Hill to National Forest

Tree tunnel!!!!

Peli's corner - behind the house with shade nearby in the event she gets too warm.

Yet another beautiful view from the trail!

The artiste enjoying his creation!

Happy man!

We did quite a bit of hiking - Ben generally had Anika in the backpack and I was a sled puller along the trails.

Walking back to the house with Biz in the lead.

One of the last times I wore non-maternity jeans!

We even had some Winter Fest fun!  We invited some friends up on a couple of different weekends and had lunch, hot chocolate, sledding, hiking, skiing and even snow coloring!  (Snow coloring = bottles of colored water sprayed on the snow.  The yellow was a little odd...)

Men carrying the kiddos...yeah, they got their workout in!

Gotta get some motorized fun in, too!

Our one-eyed, titanium kneed, 9 year old Peli girl even challenged Ben to various races all winter long.  Neither of them are competitive in the least (just kidding!).  Biz stayed back to protect Anika and me.  He's willing to give up his adrenaline rush for us.  He loves us. 

My college roomie also came out to visit...and we put her to work.

Peli is advising Dena...

 

Happy Dogs!  The kiddo is coming out to play, too!

Anika is saying: "Keep it up Auntie Dena!  Only 2 more miles to go!"

Biz is checking vitals...Anika is supervising.

Post recovery and pre-sledding!

A side note about the filmer you are going to experience...ummm...I know you can hear me breathe...and at times, not breathe.  I've had a bit of congestion this winter.  For me, it's also known as pregnancy.  I pretty much lost my voice for the better part of 3 months.  It's much better now, but my pregnancy induced laryngitis still rears its head every other week or so.  Believe me, repeating myself multiple times can get annoying...for everyone involved!

This first video still cracks me up...directionally challenged sleds are great fun!

Wanna go again?

In this one you can see for quite a ways.





Anika was tired by this point, but still has her manners!

And lest you think that I didn't get out and do my share of pulling Miss A up the hill, let this photo be evidence:

In the interest of full disclosure - this is how we got to the sledding hill, though...



Walking back through the memories has been fun and soothing...I can't believe I'm looking forward to next winter with the 2 kiddos - does anyone have a sled that the 2 of them will fit into?  Ben was happy with his trail system - just a couple of tweaks are needed.  Peli and Biz had so much fun playing with their doggy buds that visited.  Our adventurous friends and family came out to visit and experience the fun of the Linstid Homestid for themselves...and are looking forward to coming back this summer!  

Now onto planning for a bigger and more robust Winter Fest for next year!!!!

Little Bunny Foo Foo...Threw Snowballs at the Field Mice

Anika decided to spread some Easter greetings this week, so we promptly got our Easter Thinking Caps on and went to work.

Getting down and dirty with the finger paints!

She has a colorful diet...blue, red, green, yellow...

And one of the finished products:

Hmmm...looks like CSU inspired the dominant color choices :-)

Starting yesterday we were placed under a Winter Weather Advisory, which is scheduled to last until Monday morning.  We took advantage of the early part of the storminess and trucked it to town (literally...we took the truck) and visited the town pool.  Since their annual Easter Egg Hunt was going on we figured we'd get two birds with one stone while putting all of our eggs in one basket...or something cliche like that. Anika got a beach ball and entirely wore herself and Ben out by swimming around and asking Ben to go off of the diving board. I relished the virtual weightlessness and kiddo #2 relaxed for a bit, which was very nice!


And then this morning came along:

That's the fire ring out front...no roasted Peeps today!

 The rain had an epic battle of wills with snow off and on all day long:

Looks like we're cooking inside today!

Anika didn't have a problem with the weather...she slept in!!!  But once she got up, there was no stopping this independently mobile fair haired cutie pie!


First there was the discovery of what the Easter Bunny brought:

Basket with goodies plus a felt scene of the E.B. himself!

The bubbles in the basket were the initial winner of the attention!

And then there was the Egg Hunt:

Check out that form!  Perfect for grabbing eggs!

Oh, yeah - I've got some good stuff here!

Then there was more back to the basket time...

Then it was time for breakfast (we were able to hold off on the peanut butter egg until lunch...)

Daddy made bunny pancakes!!!

Anika did eventually make it out of her pajamas and into her Easter Dress...and when I said I needed to take her picture, she hopped up on the step we have in the living room (we put it in here to get it out of the guest room which Ben is working hard on making into a little girl's room for Miss A. - it is now an official "fun-thing-to-climb-on-and-practice-balance...and-give-Mommy-14-heart-attacks-in-a-row-while-probably-giving-the-little-brother-or-sister-some-great-ideas-toy").

Here's our Easter Ham (with Bunny and Ephalump...those two are never far away):

Laughing!

She thinks its hillarious to put the bubble wand in her mouth and gross me out...eeewww!

Sweetie pie!

Then we learned a lesson about dresses...which I will venture to say that the majority of uniformed little girls learn and is the main reason that the uniform skirts get short...and nuns just never really "got" the reasoning for. 

Dresses are NOT for climbing!

Right before we had dinner, we did a project that I brought home from my MOPS group (the moms I meet with every month - I linked them to the word "MOPS" if you're interested - these ladies are wonderful!) to help bring the story of Jesus' Last Week "home" to our family.

Its a "crafty devotional" and was fun!  We had 12 empty plastic eggs and a (clean) used egg carton.  In each egg, I placed a slip of paper with a Bible passage and a short phrase summarizing a different part of the Passion.  Along with the paper, I included a symbol such as a little piece of cracker for the part talking about the Last Supper, a die for when the soldiers cast lots for Jeseus' clothes, and a small stone for the part when Jesus was laid in the cave and a stone rolled over the entrance.  For the last egg, there wasn't anything included along with the paper because...Jesus has risen and he's out and about! 

Anika and Ben were so cute going through all of the eggs - I was actually trying to get dinner on our plates and Ben was keeping Anika occupied.  I've been reading "The Last Week" by Borg and Crossan and I popped in with little extra bits every once in a while.  Unfortunately, I didn't finish the book in time for this Easter, but there's always next year!

Wow - she is really taking in what Ben is saying!

On a side note...the sun finally popped out for a bit - pretty much when we were doing our Egg Devotional and lasted past dinner time!  But...it's snowing again.  I don't remember Sister Francita, Father Kidd, or anyone else talking about mud season in biblical times, but that must've been a mess, too!

So that was our Easter in a nut eggshell :-)  I hop hope you had a good one, too!

P.S. Just in case he's checking in - Happy Birthday, Tom!