We Have Green Thumbs

Jon and I planted our front garden this weekend. I am proud to say that we got it done under budget and in the time frame we wanted. It was a little overwhelming, but with the help of my Aunt and the nice lady at the nursery we got it all figured out. We bought a Weeping White Spruce, a Dwarf Dog Wood, two Blue Star Juniper’s, Fountain Grass, three Mum’s, and about 150 bulbs. Surprisingly we were able to fit all of this, including the two bags of compost soil and six bags of mulch, in our car! It was a forest on wheels.

We had to finish removing the root ball from the ugly spider bush that was there when we bought the house, and re-grade the area before we could start on our own landscape design.

Things you find when you redo 50+ year old landscaping:
1. HORSE (ok, so it was a little toy figurine, but still a horse)
2. Spoon
3. Bullet (Yes, a real bullet- Jon thinks it is for a revolver)
4. Piece of a chain link
5. Ball of yarn
6. Glass
7. Sock
8. Wonder Bread Bag with plastic tie
9. Peanut Shells
10. Concrete
11. Brick Pieces
The cats were very excited to be out all day on Saturday and Sunday. They would check in every now and then to see how the new jungle was coming along. We let Stella hang out in the front yard with us on her long leash. She did a very good job as “Middle Management”.

Overall I am very pleased with how it turned out. I hope that all of our bulbs make it through the winter- it will be so pretty in the spring if they do. It was nice to spend time with Jon doing a project together. I feel like that our time together is rarer than it used to be, and it is not very often that it is just the two of us working on the same project at home.



(The little sticks are where the bulbs are planted)

Pee Wee Flag Football

Last Tuesday, Jon and I went to watch one of my little cousins play pee wee flag football. Joe is 7 and he did a great job out there! Pee Wee flag football is one of those sports for kids where “everybody is a winner” and “everybody gets to play”. Because everybody gets to play- at the same time- there are probably 15-20 kids on one side and 15-20 kids on the other. Since these boys are just learning the sport they don’t really know where to go or stand, so every time the QB gets the ball, a pile of boys in bright shirts and flags appears in the middle of the field- regardless if the ball is there or not. Despite the dog pile practice, there were several good plays, and Joe was a star and was handed the ball several times. Some times he became one with the pile, and a few times he was able to avoid before one of his flags was torn off. Ma and Pa came to watch the game too. It is always nice to see them. Andrew, the youngest brother, was so cute... he is getting so big :(

A Wedding and then a Bee Sting

Last weekend Jon’s childhood friend Bo got married to Dawn. Jon was the Best Man, and I think that he did a great job with his responsibilities. He was prepared with snacks and water for the groomsmen. He made sure the bride and groom, parents, and wedding party were sitting where they were supposed to when there was no apparent set seating at the reception. And he kept his cool when he was told there would be no toasts, and then informed that the Maid of Honor was going to give a toast, even though he had already prepared a speech. On Sunday we went over to Bo and Dawn’s house for a post wedding BBQ, only to find that it was a BBQ for Bo’s family, and Dawn was having a BBQ at her parents house with her family…. The food was good though. It was great to see our friends Trevor and Jenny who came in to town from Massachusetts for the Big Day. We are looking forward to their wedding next spring.

On Sunday Jon and I went to the driving range and I got stung by an invisible bee in the middle of my middle finger! My finger swelled up so bad that I had to take my wedding ring off, then the swelling went down, and then back up worse than the first time that night. I never even saw the bee or wasp- but it sure did hurt!

Oh- in other news- we bought our plane tickets to go to Brazil for Ana’s graduation in January!$!$!$!!!!!

As always visit the "Pictures" link on the right for more visual aids.

The Boys (Trevor, Bo, and Jon) at the rehearsal dinner



The Best Man making sure the Groom looks good.



Dawn and Bo



Trevor and Jenny



Jon and I

Happy Birthday Jon!!

Just a quick note to my wonderful husband for all the world to see. Happy Quarter-of-a-Century-Birthday! I love you!

Spider Bushes B-Gone!

Three of our bazillion juniper bushes in our front yard are finally gone! Now we can put something pretty there that will (hopefully) not house large ugly spiders and their families. Jon did a great job cutting these out. It took all summer, but it is progress, and now is the perfect time to plant for next year. I must admit I am very overwhelmed with the prospect of deciding what to plant, how much to plant, and how to take care of said plants once planted. My thumb needs some greening. Next year we will do the other side and maybe get to the backyard too. For now we are just doing baby steps.

They WON!!! & My Super Builder Dad

Jon, Stella, and I headed up to my parents for the weekend. We sat in horrendous traffic on Friday night which lent itself to plenty of political conversation.

On Saturday we went into Fairplay to watch the first South Park High School football game of the season. My brother Petey(#84) is a Senior this year and he has never won a football game in his entire high school career. The game started with a SP fumble, not a very good sign. Then the other team fumbled and SP got the ball. You should have seen these boys when the pile of spandex, pads, and helmets unfolded to reveal that SP had indeed got the ball back- they were jumping all over the field like green and gold popcorn! It was so amazing when they got their first touchdown and field goal- the home crowd that had gathered didn't quite know what to do, given the track record that the Burro's have had since 2004. By have time the score was 35 to 0, and shortly after half time the score went to 42 to 0 which put the 'Mercy Rule' into affect. For those of you that have never witnessed a SPHS football game before- the Mercy Rule is when they let the clock run the second half of the game if one team is more than 40 points ahead of the other team. This rule has never been put into effect by the SPHS Burro's, it has ALWAYS been put into effect by the other team playing the Burro's. The excitement in the crowd would have made an outsider think that it was a state championship game. The principal (who is awesome), Jane Newman, was just beside herself with glee. I heard one mom say "this is when it is fun to be a mom!" My mom even got the crowd going by directing those still in the bleachers to do the wave. The final score of the game was 48 to 6! The smiles on the players and coaches faces could not be forced. GO BURRO'S!

In other news- I am so in awe of my Daddy! He has been building a house for a couple for about the past year now. The couple is moving in to the house as soon as it is finished. My Daddy has built this gorgeous house all by him self (for the most part) from the ground up. He is Super Builder Dad. It is so cool to see my Dad make the dreams of this couple come true. GO Ambrose Home Builders!!

Sigh- the Invasion is Over

I made it, and so did Denver, through the DNC. I was very worried last week about the prospect of 50,000 people of media and politic crazies descending on Denver. Given that I work in the Chase Bank Building which is in the very center of the city and received several emails with information such as:

"our building is right next to approved demonstration sites, and because there are high profile tenants in this building, access to the building will be limited."

and "Also note that given our building is centrally located between other well known locations, companies and hotels, police will be setting up a command post in our building."

and "If things get ugly outside, Management has purchased plywood to protect broken windows, cots, and extra water and food for emergency purposes. If you are here and something occurs, they would prefer and ask that you stay here (although they can not force you). NO ONE will be allowed in however. If you choose to leave, you will not be allowed back in."

and "In case of tear gas, outside air intakes will be shut down, entry doors will be covered with tarps and duct tape, and elevators may not run."

I also found out that the Obama camp was staying at the Westin Hotel which is literally across the street from my building. All of this put together sounded like so much fun that I thought that I should pass and work from home. I worked from home on Monday but I had to come in to the office on Tuesday because I had to print and I can't from home. There were ton's of people! No really- TONS! Nothing too exciting though. I worked from home on Wednesday but decided to come in and risk it on Thursday. In the afternoon there were a bunch of police on motorcycles outside the Westin and a group of us went outside to see what was going to happen. The BMOC left in his motorcade and waved to the crowd. It was cool to see him- even though I am not a fan. You have to respect anybody that can have such a profound affect on that many people. It was neat to see him in the flesh, not just on the TV or Internet.

My cousin AJ works at Earls downtown- he is a chef. I had heard that Oprah was going to be eating there so I sent him a text message to ask if he had seen her. He replied with "yes, and Danny Glover, Zoe Dechanel, Anne Hathoway, Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, the kings list goes on, it was pretty sweet!" How cool is that! I am not one to be a celebrity gaulker, but I wouldn't mind running into a few celebrities.

I am glad that today is almost back to normal in Denver. I am glad that building management didn't have to get the plywood out and that I wasn't voluntarily forced to stay at work. I am anxious for the Republican Convention to begin now and I hope that it goes just as smoothly if not more so than the DNC.