PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 9/3/11

Lots of outside home improvements on our house this including the back patio, new paint, fresh coat of red paint on the doors and new black shutters...really love it.

PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 9/3/11

Very fun to meet up with Annie, Nelson and Greg for our Farmer friend lunch. Ever since we started planning our first mini-reunion it has been fun to meet for lunch when we can and catch up and talk about "old times." This time, there were some funny stories and I was laughing so hard, I was crying. That's what I'm talkin' about...fun times.

PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 9/1/11

Making lunches has not always been my favorite morning task, however, this year, I have realized that doing this is something that I'm glad I can do for the boys and something I will miss when I don't make them anymore. Also, it will be a lot different without Nick here next year so I will appreciate making those 3 sandwiches, fruit, a nutrigrain bar or chips and juice with sometimes, an extra treat mixed in.

PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 8/31/11

So glad to have a good Mexican restaurant nearby. I went here with Daileen Loving for lunch and the food was good and company, even better. Nick and Andrew have been friends since their freshman year when they were low on the ladder for tennis...they worked their way up and up until a few weeks ago, they were both playing. Andrew decided not to play this year as he is hoping to go into golf management and has to get his handicap down. Anyways, his mom and I have been friends since then also and it was nice to be able to just sit down and chat for a while outside of a tennis match.

This building is where the first Highlands Ranch library was. Nick and I spent many hours in this place that was transformed into restaurant space (Dewey's) when the new, big library was built up near SAfeway. Now, it is Salsa Brava and I have to think it will be here to stay for a while. When I think of how life was when NIck and I would go every week for story hour, I can hardly imagine it has been 16 plus years. We would listen to story hour (and Chris joined us once he was born) and then head out to the non-fiction book area and get all the dinosaur books he could find. Many hours were spent browsing through those books and he knew every single kind of dino that ever walked the earth. Between that and trucks (ucks) and coloring, those were his early passions. It has been interesting and somewhat sad to think back on this while I write this post. So much has changed and gone on in Highlands Ranch...huge amount of buildings, grocery stores that you don't have to drive across County Line Road to get to and just a busier pace of life for us and the community. I will always reflect with tears and happy memories of those days spent with my little Nicky T and shortly after, Christopher and Zachary.

PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 8/27/11

Way to go TRHS Boys Tennis. This weekend they came in 2nd or 3rd (depending how you look at it) in the Air Academy Invitational Tournament. Nick and Trevor won 3 out of 4 of their matches and figured out how to play together. When Coach Hanson was handing out the ribbons at the end, he specifically said that Nick was a "leader" and that word means as much to me (and hopefully, to him) as it means to be a good player (which he also said they were). I hope this season, for Nick, is fun, without drama, successful and just a good final summation of 4 years of tennis at TR. He has definitely worked hard, never given up and did his best and is an amazing player...much better than he should be for the time he has spent on the courts in lessons and off season play. I am very proud of him, but more than anything, he should be proud of himself as he is a class act on and off the court (I may have written this same thing in an earlier post, but it is true).

PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 8/29/11

Outside our back window, there sat a Swainson's hawk surveying the wildlife situation, I am sure. There are lots of bunnies back there so I'm betting that was what he was watching for. I'm all for this guy going after the mice so if that is the case, I hope he caught something. It just fascinates me to see wildlife within our daily life. (at least most kind of wildlife not including mice, packrats or any other type of creepy rodent/bug/snake) Almost every day, I look up in the sky and see hawks flying around and often hear the coyotes howling at night. There are bunnies that find refuge in our trees and under our patio and butterflies that fly right in front of me. These are bits of life that I am so grateful to appreciate and enjoy ...right outside my window.

PROJECT 365 PICTURE OF THE DAY 8/28/11

Dad had a book signing at "Mountain Books" on Saturday. I was down in the Springs with Nick so Todd, Chris and Zach headed up there with him and mom to be there. It was a small gathering (which you would expect in a mountain town) with Betty Long (talked about in the book) and her family and Norm Meyer as guests. I hated to have to miss it because this whole thing with dads book has just been pretty incredible...the entire process and I love to hear when there are more sales of books. This next week, Tattered Cover is going to start carrying the books and I will be the first on there to check it out (and I may have to buy a copy just to say I did :) ). Todd did a great job taking this photo...I had asked him to take one of him autographing the books and it is exactly what I wanted.