Don't Bet On It.

Last weekend was sunny, here in Colorado Springs. So we decided to take off on a road trip. I just accidentally wrote the word "tirp" for trip and I thought it was funny. Maybe that will be the name of our next kid, "Tirp Wilkins" only it sounds like a bully. And it's too close to the word twerp.

Now, I love ghost towns, so I wanted to visit this little town called Victor. However, in order to get to Victor, you have to go through this town called Cripple Creek.

Everyone in this town is crippled. Not really. And that was an awful joke. For real though, Cripple Creek is a famous gambling town. Actually, if you are reading this right now and you are a recovering gambling addict, don't go to Cripple Creek. Although you'll be pleasantly surprised at your winnings. So, we decided to stop in Cripple Creek because we were starving and I had to pee like nobodies business. We had Dawson with us, so we were trying to find the first family friendly place to enter and get food and pee without getting Dawson arrested for underage gambling. We stopped in this little restaurant called "Parrot Dice Grill" and there were teenagers working the grill. That's the first red flag for me. No offense teenagers who cook. But these were all guys. Next, I couldn't see a bathroom because directly attached to this restaurant was a casino. A gentleman who was seated must have noticed my discomfort (I think I was standing with my legs crossed, bouncing up and down) and came over to me to ask me if he could help me find anything. So I told him I needed a restroom. Pronto. He pointed to the restrooms which I would to get to by walking through the casino. Then he asked me if I was 21. I said "I'm 32, thank you very much!" Only, I didn't have my driver's license on me, because I didn't bring my purse. I was willing to be arrested for the sake of my bladder. I ran to the bathroom which was guarded by a security guard. Took care of business and walked out and we left. I'm gonna bet you were all hoping that I was going to gamble and tell this great story about how I dropped a quarter in the slot machine and won hundreds, and then got arrested by the security guard because I didn't have my license. And now, I'm really wishing I could tell that story. I did gamble on our cruise way back in 2004 and won $50.00 even though I started out with $11.00 in quarters. And then I lost it all because I thought the slot machines were so cute. And that is the true story of our stop in Cripple Creek.

The drive to Victor is pretty scenic:

On the way I found my first ghost town representative:

Jason and I both noticed a house we love:

This shot is mainly to give you a glimpse of the awesome scenery we'd have. Now I'll zoom in so that you can get a good look at the house:

I'm fairly certain it's a repo so we should get a good deal on it. I have so much vision to make this a home.

2 skips and hop... and we're in Victor.

I will say Jason wouldn't let me out of the car in Victor to take pictures because he feels this town is ghetto so I had to do drive by shooting. Get it?!

I love this old truck. It reminds me of Tuh-Mater without the "tuh".

And look at this quaint old church:

Not very ghost-townish, but very haunting. If I were a gambling addict, I'd go to church there.

And that ends our non-gambling, ghost town road trip we took last weekend.

Now I'll leave you with a few pictures I took just this morning of Dawson:

He received these green teeth at his daycare yesterday. He tells me "Mommy, they're not scary, they're just real!

And check out this bling:

A spider ring. I told him it'd save him a ton of money to hold on to that and use it for an engagement ring someday

Daycare and stuff.

Dawson started his first day of daycare today, since living in Colorado Springs. Up until now, he has been a member of Daddy daycare.

I made Jason drop him off this morning on his way in to work, because even though Dawson is now 3, I still couldn't handle the idea of him getting teary eyed or crying and wanting to go home.

On the contrary, what does my little man do? According to Jason, Dawson walked right into his new environment and made some friends!

Of course, we're talking about a kid who walks up to every kid at the park playground and says "hey, will you be my friend?" I'm not sure where he gets that from. I'm certainly more selective with my friends... (I would never publicly ask on Facebook for anyone to be my friend just so I could reach the 200 friend mark, I mean seriously people!)

When I came to pick Dawson up on my way home from work this afternoon, he was playing outside and seemed as happy as can be.

And now for the "stuff" part.

This has nothing to do with anything, which makes it blog worthy.

My sister watched Dawson for us on a Saturday afternoon before we moved so that we could be efficient packers. Any of you who have ever tried packing up a house with children in it know what I mean. One of the activities they did at her house was make sugar cookies.

My little man got selected to smash the cookies down. Here he is showing off this acquired skill:

The next order of business was to go ride the 4wheeler (which Dawson will not be allowed to see this picture for another 10 or more years, because if he sees it, he will beg for one for Christmas. And right now, the only thing he's getting is a Larry Boy car courtesy of our friend Jess. (Thank you Jess, remind me of what Clayton likes to eat!)

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And as you can plainly see by the picture, the reason we do not want him getting one of these for Christmas is because Jason will want to ride it and Dawson will cry to me that he doesn't ever get a turn.

The end.

Deliroius? Wooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went to the Delirious? farewell concert last night. In Colorado Springs. Where we LIVE! Do you know how incredibly awesome that makes us sound?

I am the biggest Delirious? fan ever. All day I was like a giddy school girl waiting to go to the concert. The concert was held at a church near us, and we took the youth with us. They got to see me in rare form.

Here we are, at the church ready to carpool to the concert:

The youth group has actually doubled in size since we started. Our first day we had 4. We're good ay?

When we got to the church where the concert was being held I was quite excited because the sanctuary itself is not that huge. I could probably go up on stage! It was first come first serve seating so we got as close as we could, which really was not that far away.

Here we are waiting for the concert to commence:

Alas, it was time for the concert to begin. This guy who was opening for Delirious? was not that great. So I sat in eager, giddy school girl anticipation.

And then...

THEY came onto the stage!

And I peed my pants.

Actually there were 3 things I noticed immediately:

#1. Martin Smith has beady eyes

#2. He is also a skinny punk.

#3. They were all wearing suits.

(this was going to be a classy deal indeed)

This is the best I could do in the way of pictures.

So I screamed and jumped and sang my lungs out all night long. Here is some illegal video I captured:

After about the first 3 songs I realized they could wear suits because they hardly moved. But then again, they didn't have much room. So if you are ever thinking of becoming famous, and singing on a very small stage.. you can sacrifice mobility for fashion. Just remember that I taught you that and pay me.

I'm sad to say farewell to one of my most favorite bands of all time. But I'm grateful that I got to see them in concert before they said good-bye.

One last thing I'd like to mention. There is something about seeing people like Delirious? in concert, or Beth Moore teaching her heart out, or Gene Edwards who is able to pen words on a page that makes me so happy for Jesus. Happy that he has people like these who truly enjoy Him.

Talk Show Host

Sunday night we had family night. As we discussed the options we had in the way of games, Jason mentioned that we should play "Ungame". Have any of you ever heard of "Ungame"?? Jason told me his parents made him and his sister play it when they were little. Of course, this is the CHRISTIAN VERSION. This alone should give you a litlte insight into the quality of the game. Basically, the game is based on answering questions which are printed out on cards. How on earth you actually win the game, is yet to be determined. Here are a few examples of questions posed by the Ungame.
#1. What person in the Bible are you most like?
#2.Complete this sentence: I like to pretend that I am___________.
Yeah, you are all thanking the good Lord that you were never made to play this game as a child aren't you? Anyway, Jason went down to the basement and actually found the game, so he was determined we would all participate. He asked the questions and we answered.
Here is the great thing: There is a special REMINDER card that says: The rule of silence enables players to share without interruption, challenges, or criticism. (seriously? They expect brothers and sisters to play this game?)
All that said... Somehow Dawson got ahold of some of the cards and decided to play his own version of the game. And we were made to play by his rules.

We've determined that with his stamina, he will one day be a Talk Show Host.

It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

It's hard to pinpoint... but... can you see the snow falling in this picture? Can you see the accumulated snow and ice on the roof of the house across the street? It's the view we had from the front porch this morning. This picture represents the justification I have found for all those years of breaking out my Christmas music in early October.
Amen.

Larry Boy

So Dawson wants to be Larry Boy.

He said "Mommy, can I have a Larry Boy car for Christmas?"

And I said yes.

Because, if I say no... all kinds of tantrums will ensue. I would rather say yes and have him never get one, then say no and invite the deep dark recesses of death into my house. That's what good parents do. Actually, Jason stopped at a Christian bookstore yesterday to try and find him one. He came home with this instead:

Speaking of hats...

For whatever reason,

Dawson came into our bedroom the other night with a hat on. No explanation, he just found one in his drawer and put it on, then came to show me. He never wears hats. So I was determined to take his picture. He looks so cute in hats. When he wears them.

He didn't want his picture taken so I encouraged Jason to "help him out".

Once Dawson saw what attention he was getting he was ready to pose:

hat to the right

hat backward

hat to the left with finger in the ear and bunny ears from daddy

hat while picking his nose

Different hat.

Different hat.

Isn't that great?

One last thing:

Conversation between Dawson and I while we played cars:

Dawson's car says to my car: Hey buddy, what's your name?

My car says: My name's 43 (That was the number on the hood and I'm clever like that)

Dawson's car says: No it's not!! Your name's Fivey-six!

Options

Jason, Dawson and I were running some errands last week when we came across a parking area with public access to a trail. Blodgett Peak Open Space, to be exact. We made a mental note to come back to the trail for a nice hike. This is exactly what we did a few days ago. We pull in, park and get ready for the long hike uphill. The first thing I notice at the onset of the trail is a sign, so I walk over to it and read it:

And immediately I anncounce that the hike is over before it begins. I am NOT hiking a trail with mountain lions! Haven't you ever watched the Tru TV episode where they are reenacting the people who get sent to the ER?! The last episode I watched had a woman admitted to the ER for having her face mauled off by a mountain lion! I told Jason to buy a handgun.

Suddenly I remembered another trail which was only about 2 miles down the road from this one. I told Jason we needed to move on, forget the mountain lions until he is fully equipped to protect me. This would include a handgun, crossbow, machete and 2 grenades.

Off we went to the next trail.

Upon arrival to Ute Valley Park, I notice 2 signs this time. I assumed they were signs telling you to pick up poop after your pet! But oh no. These signs read as follows:

 

Seriously? I have to choose between Mountain Lions and Rattlesnakes?!

I chose rattlesnakes.

The reason being that a snake can't maul me. If a snake strikes there's a good chance I won't be permanently disfigured. I could possibly die, but I can have an open casket, you know?

Actually, I don't want an open casket, in case you're reading Jason. Got it?

I will admit that we started this trail:

And 5 steps in I begged to turn around. I was positive I heard rattlesnakes. Jason said it was crickets. I hesitated but he went on without me which left me feeling defensless so I ran to catch up and by then there was no. turning. back. In reality, the trail turned out to be awesome. A beautiful view of the mountains, and one of the trails (there are several to choose from) leads to to top of a cliff where you can sit on a bench and watch the sunset. I told Jason he had to be fully equipped to defend me should he want me to go on this trail at sunset. But the thought was nice.

The amazing thing is the amount of deer that come out in this area when dusk hits. Deer graze right along the side of the road. And I don't mean just a few, there are hundreds! Well, many. That word keeps it vague enough for me not to have to count.

These guys were right along the side of the road and didn't care that I took their picture. It's like they're movie stars and they're used to it. In any case, it appears that rattlesnakes and mountain lions are not on their radar.

So.. if you had to choose, which would it be? Mountain Lions or Rattlesnakes?...