Pindell's Visit

Some surprise friends from Oregon flew in with just a week's notice - they happened to be on their way to Cali and thought they'd stop by - silly Nancy needs to spend a bit more time on her geography :). We were so thankful it was just a bit more to add a layover in Denver on to their trip to Los Angeles. She got my butt in gear to clean out our burned front area. After picking her and Van up at the airport very late at night, she mentioned that she thought we could get some projects done around the house - that may not be the wisest suggestion at this time in my life because do I ever have some projects to accomplish. I started going down the list and Nancy grabbed on to the first one I mentioned. We got to work moving rocks the next day and then I called my good friend across the street and asked her how to hook a chain up to these stumps and pull them out. Well, she didn't want to miss out on the fun so she came in much more appropriate 'farm girl' attire than I had on and we go to work. The first stump was the most difficult, but after spinning out several times, leaving skid marks on the driveway, and cheering the stump on it was released from the ground. The next four after that were a piece of cake. We haven't replaced the landscaping, but it doesn't look so 'white trash' from the street any longer.

This was the toughest stump to remove

We drug them all out to the street to await chopping, so they can go in the trash

The emptied area - now, what to do with it???

Next, we hired Howard to dig a hole for our trampoline. They tend to blow around the yards out here, so we are going to put it close to ground level.

The next day we went down to Colorado Springs where I had to do an info mtg for CC. Nancy dropped me off and then took all the kids to hike around Garden of the Gods. I met them there and then we went to Focus on the Family. For the first time ever (when we've visited) the three story slide was open. Of course we all had to ride it - the boys, several times over. We got some ice cream and then headed to the Academy. I didn't realize it was in-processing day, so all the new Basics were being dropped off. It was also the best day in the skies around there. I've never seen it so busy since I was there.

Gliders were flying

Jumpers jumping and the powered flight training was also going on. It was one busy airfield, but they were putting on a great show for all the parents dropping off their future cadets.

Some of the class of 2015, going through in-processing

Nan and Van at the chapel

On their third day of visiting we hung out at our house again with a less strenuous project. Nancy helped me cut out two sets of state silhouettes which took much longer than we thought it would.

On their last day we didn't want them to feel too lazy, so we headed to the mountains for our favorite hike of the year - Lake Isabel. We've never been there this early in the season and when you couple that with 250% the normal snow fall we found ourselves hiking on 5-20 feet of snow the entire way. The boys in Keens weren't the best prepared, but they made it, and we got a whole different view of the lake this year. Just as beautiful as always though. Aspen was a trooper on her first hike. We went 6.5 miles and I think she went 8mi after all her running between us.

What a great time we had. We're so thankful they thought to stop on their way to L.A.