Whew...What a Week!!

Well, it's been quite the week but I can honestly say that I'm feeling very satisfied with the work that has been completed :) Monday I moved on to the basement. Not to say that the upstairs is completely finished but we are on to minor touch ups and projects. I have about 1/2 of the basement completed and I have my list of to-do's for next week and I'm feeling pretty confident (at the moment) that I will be able to complete the basement project (painting, trim, etc.) next week by the time our visitors arrive.

Last Saturday Levi and I celebrated our birthdays. Now his isn't until October and mine isn't until December but we found some great tickets to a Cirque Du Soleil show in Denver and just couldn't pass them up...Happy Early B'day to Us!!! :) We had a fantastic time and the show was amazing...now if you haven't seen a Cirque show, find one nearest you and get tickets!!

Levi looking studly before going into the "big tent."

Yum!! It wouldn't be the circus without a little pop and popcorn!

Kooza!!

Levi standing in line at the restrooms...believe or not, they were super clean!

Dinner in Westminster at a steak house...it reminded me of Texas Roadhouse :)

On Monday we were excited to be able to visit with our friend Bailey, in from Huntsville to Colorado Springs for work. It worked out that we were able to pick her up from the Denver airport and take her to Colorado Springs. It was a great drive and we were able to catch up on the way there. We ate at a great little mexican place called Hose Muldoons. We are getting a little spoiled to see her. She stopped through a couple of weeks ago (long lay over and we met her at the airport to catch up). Here is a picture from our first visit with her. Good thing we don't have to wait long to see here again, we will be traveling back to HSV in a couple of weeks!!

This week we had some colder weather...the sun didn't appear from Sunday afternoon through Wednesday. So here is Levi improvising on one of those cold nights.

We are headed out tomorrow late morning to go camping. Levi has been chomping at the bits to go camping but with all of our visitors and other activities, we just haven't had any time. With the weather turning cooler and with our weekends booked up for the next month, we don't have any other choice but to go NOW :) Here is a link to where we are headed! http://www.protrails.com/viewgallery.php?id=136

Laundry Nook (as of right now)

Meet my laundry nook.

It used to be an unruley mess of old wood, wallpaper (which you don't get to see b/c in these pics it has already been taken off the wall), and wonderful gold adornments.

This is what it used to look like...

And this is what it looks like now...it's amazing what a fresh coat of paint will do!

It's a great little space that sits right off the kitchen. And that my friends is why we are making our great little laundry nook into a....PANTRY! We thought we had it all worked out. We were going to make half the space into a pantry and the other half would remain the laundry area (with front loading w/d that we could stack). We went so far as to buy a new front loading w/d, rip out the cabinets, take out the old w/d, put back the washer b/c it didn't have it's own water shut off (grr....older homes!!), and have Lowes come to install them. That is where the fun ended. We thought we had all our little duckies in a row and we had measured but we were wrong. We didn't measure (or even think about) the washer and dryer sticking out too far. The new w/d that we purchased would stick out an additional SIX inches into the hallway. Now, the hallway is very narrow as is so we were back to the drawing board. The dryer was moved back in and now I'm cabinetless...arg! Chances are we will be putting the w/d in the basement but we haven't decided yet. Once we figure out the plans for the new laundry area we can move along with my new pantry. Here is just a sneak peek of the laundry area but I will update once all the changes come about and show you my new pantry!

Weekend

Well...it's Monday and I'm feeling a bit unproductive today. My husband asked me to do one thing today, update the blog! So here I am, filling you in on our wonderful weekend. It's okay if you snooze through this, it's not that exciting! I am also in the works on the house posts but as most of you know, I'm a little anal when it comes to my house and looking "nice." Nice meaning presentable, not outstanding...and frankly, I don't think that it fits my expectations to show...but that's just me! I feel like every room has something that still needs to be done (and we don't even have anything on the walls yet), so maybe by the weeks end I'll put together a post of a few of the smaller rooms that we've brought up to 2009.

Levi also wanted me to post that he has killed his 2nd squirrel. I was not around this time to witness the hunt but I'm sure he did a great job at roping in his prey and taking him down! I think we are going to try a new method soon, so I'll let you all know how that goes.

Okay, back to the weekend. Friday we spent at home. We did a few little things such as hang our mailbox (that has been sitting on the front hand railing for the past 4 weeks), and hung new house numbers. Gretchen, my mother-in-law, has been nice enough to ship us starts of plants and flowers for next spring. That will be a huge moneysaver come next spring and I know everything will look gorgeous. We checked on the starts that she's sent us to make sure we hadn't killed them. Levi also went ahead and packed for our hiking/camping trip in case the weather was to cooperate with us on Saturday.

This weekend we had planned on going camping in the mountains but knew the weather wasn't supposed to be very cooperative. Some may call me a sissy but I'm not the most fun hiker/camper when it's freezing and rainy...which most of my hiking/camping experiences it has rained :( We decided to wait until Saturday to make the final decision. It didn't take us long to realize with the highs in the 50's and overcast and rainy that this trip would have to be postponed. Saturday was an unusual weather day here in Boulder. It was the kind of chill that goes right to your bones and you can't seem to warm up no matter how many blankets you cuddle up in! Since camping was out we decided to brave the farmers market to pick up some sage that Levi had saw last week. From the farmers market we ran some errands and then picked up some hot soup and bread bowls from Panera and brought that home. It was the perfect day to relax on the couch under the blanket, watch movies, and take cat naps. I had every intention of throwing together some chili and let it simmer all afternoon...but it was cold people and I wasn't about to go back outside! So no chili for us, maybe later this week. We ended up watching 3 movies, snips of college football games, and caught the updated scores of the Bama game...which they won by the way, ROLL TIDE! All in all it was a great day to just enjoy our house!

Sunday...the day of rest, NOT! We decided to tackle the garage that was filled with all the rest of our boxes. We sorted through the sea of boxes and decided what needed to go inside and what was to stay and go in the attic. Once the boxes were out we were able to actually sweep out the garage, one word- d-i-r-t-y!! Ugh! I feel much better now that it has atleast been swept out, later I can hose it down. We tested to see if my car would fit and it did...like a glove, literally! :) I decided to let the bikes have the garage for now, just until they get hung. After cleaning out the garage we tackled the leftover boxes. We toted them down to the basement and started going through them. I can pretty much say that we are pretty much unpacked...whoo hoo (except now the basement is a disaster area)!! So if that wasn't enough, we started tooling around in the yard. Levi planted the sage that we purchased the day before while I cut down a few branches that were hanging down too low and then started on the fence row. I cut down little trees, weeds, and just the mess that had taken over the fence area. Levi was right behind me digging out the roots. We are preparing to get a higher fence on that side and then refence the back....more privacy! So this task needed to be done. Finally when it started lightening and sprinkling we decided to call it a night.

What a weekend...no wonder I don't feel like doing anything today!

R.I.P "Little" Squirrel...

...and when I say little, I mean about 10 plus pounds! This squirrel wasn't hurting for food, that's for sure!

So, we have a squirrel problem. I'm afraid when we start doing our outside/yard renovations that these little guys will have a feast in our flowers, so we must put a stop to them and their rediculousness. They steal the veggies from one neighbor's yard and leave the remains in our yard. They heckle the farm animals (yes, I said FARM animals. Not to be confused, we do live IN town...but that's another post) in the same neighbor's yard and get them clucking and making racket. And they munch on the other neighbor's flowers (even though said neighbor's wife was overheard telling someone else that they (the squirrels) don't eat her flowers) and leave them on my front door step as a present...unwanted sir, thank you!

Did I mention that the squirrels around here are HUGE? Don't belive me? Ask anyone who has visited us in the last three weeks, they'll tell ya! Levi got all giddy when he started thinking of ways to off these "little" fellas. And please, please don't be sad for them. If you look up what a squirrel is, it is a rodent...that's right, like a rat! So don't let their cute furry bodies fool you, they are EVIL!

Today was the day...Levi bought a new bb gun and he finally got to use it. After a little target practice with some eggs (courtesy of the previously stated farm animal's owners), and a little shocker to a squirrel this morning, this afternoon Levi got his first squirrel. He tried hard to put it out of its misery quickly. One down, lots more to go. I don't know if this will be the method of choice given its (bb gun) loud pumps and shots...I think the neighbors will catch on and not be too thrilled at our new hobby, but we'll see.

Bring it on squirrels, you are going down!!

Pictures For Previous Post

Here is just a glimpse of some of the fun we had with Lucas and Jen! I may post a link to facebook once I get more pictures uploaded to there!

Standing in front of Bear Lake

Elk in the middle of a pasture

Bear Lake- Rocky Mtn. National Park

Lucas admiring the lake

Hiking around the lake...look at Jen's little belly

Lucas and Jen hiking around the lake

Jen and I at Alberta Falls

Hiking to the top of the falls

At the top...go Jen! This girl is 26 weeks prego and at the top of the mountain!

At the top of the falls

On the way back down it started to rain...but we were prepared! :)

Taking the shuttle back down to the car

Driving through the park we stumbled upon this amazing sight...what a beautiful rainbow!

Folegatti's Visit

We were so happy to have our friends, Jen and Lucas Folegatti, come and visit us over the Labor Day weekend. They got in late Friday evening and the fun began! Saturday we got up and went to the farmer's market. We had a great time sampling all the fun freebies! There was also a little festival going on during the weekend and we decided to eat lunch at the festival/farmer's market. Jen, Lucas, and Levi all ate Philly Cheesesteaks while I went out on a limb with a fish taco...yummy! After we left the farmer's market we walked down to Pearl St. and walked around. We just had to introduce Jen and Lucas to Maiberry...Jen was all a go for the original frozen yogurt while Lucas wasn't such a fan but went with the chocolate flavor. Saturday night was a big night for the Perigo's...Lucas helped Levi put in the other side of the new countertops, also installing our new sink and garbage disposal...WHOO HOO!!! :) My kitchen is coming together! While the boys were playing, Jen and I went to the grocery store and also got some dinner...real hard work! ;) We also watched Bama win their first game of the season....ROLL TIDE!

Sunday we slept in and then went and had a late breakfast (more like brunch) at the Egg and I. After a hardy meal we drove up through Estes Park and went to the Rocky Mtn. National Park, destination- Bear Lake. There were SO many people out and about, it was crazy busy! We finally made it up to the lake and hiked around it. After we finished up at the lake we decided to hike up to Alberta Falls...beautiful! It was an overcast day but it was still beauty at its best. After hiking we drove through the park stopping at Alpine Mtn. and turned back around. We ate dinner at a little mexican restaurant in downtown Estes Park. The trip wouldn't be complete without a stop at the Rocky Mtn. Chocolate Factory for some fudge and an apple!! :)

We still have all day today and a half day tomorrow to have fun with our friends...so that calls for a follow up post later this week!

Have a fantastic Labor Day!