Baby Chesebro bash...

Cody and I hosted a baby shower for our friend Brooke...which we eeked in just in time since she gave birth not long after (that blog to come). We ate some delicious food brought by Cody and played a bunch of games. However, I am hosting another shower shortly and don't want to give away the games so they are not posted on here. :)

Here is Brooke with her diaper cake made by Brea
Here's the mama to be with Cody and me

Lyons Folks Festival

DAY 1- Rain rain go away...

I'd say that was our motto for the first day of the folks festival. It rained ALL day long. After a while you just got used to it and realized you were just going to be wet so it was ok. My friend Mandy from work flew in for the weekend and the first day we went with Helen. Sam came when he got off of work too.

Day One Lineup-

Boulder Acoustic Society

Shawn Mullins

Dar Williams

Josh Ritter

(that's who we came to see!!)

Patty Griffin

Amos Lee This is pretty much what the entire day looked like
They called it the soaks festival instead...
I LOVE my green boots...Helen and Mandy were a little jealous. :)
Mandy having her picture taken to make sure her hair looked ok for a picture with Josh...yes Mandy it does look fine, especially for being in the rain for the last 6 hours!
take 1

take 2
take 1
take 2
take 1...oh wait the only take
Josh was really nice and talked to us for quite a while...we were discussing the upcoming DNC. We were supposed to camp Friday night but because of being soaking wet we didn't think we'd sleep well because there was really no way to dry off before going to sleep...so off to casa de Russell we went.

Day 2- Beer, more beer...

we were not doing the second day of the music festival so we decided we would head to Ft. Collins and show Mandy a few of the local breweries. First stop Odell Brewing Co.
Next stop New Belgium Brewing Co.
as always I am a good addition to a brewery tour since I don't drink beer...more for Sam and Mandy...
Mandy at New Belgium

Sam and I at New Belgium...you can see part of the brewery in the background

leaving the breweries we ran into this sign...and couldn't pass it up. not sure if it is the fact that the sign looks like it was written in dripping blood, that it was just sitting outside of the feed and supply, or that there is no number actually listed so you must just yell "Ben...Ben...where are your hogs?"

After our day out in Fort Collins we hopped in the car and headed back to Lyons for the late night show with STEPHEN KELLOGG and the SIXERS, but we made it back a bit early so we had time for some washers...some food in town...and a little guitar:

mandy's blair witch approach...

to this...which you can't really see in the video!

Then it was off to the show!!! I think I have expressed my love of this band before but just in case it hasn't come through...they are my absolute favorites. They are such a fun show and have so many songs I love! The late night show was fun because it was a really small room and we were RIGHT up front. (you'll see in the videos)

Stephen

Goose

Boots...who has somewhat of an Amish aura this tour
The set list

Day3- the sun will come out...

The third day came with sun but after all the rain it just meant lots of...MUD!!
The whole place was so muddy!

we weren't loving the main stage shows so we went to the side stage and heard some really good song writers...

Beth Amsel (who did one song with SK)

Dan Craig

Then back to the main stage for Stephen Kellogg take 2
Goose doing his dance onthe main stage...sans stripping this time.

Sam had mentioned how much he liked the watches the guys were wearing in the flyers we were handing out for the band so we got a watch shot for him.
and a shot for Mandy
and me!

And as with any festival there are always a few added extra that just make you laugh:
nice sign...try spell checknext time before you print and LAMINATE!
great shirt

not so gret shirt...pretty sure he lost a bet
this is what mandy does when left alone too long
shirtless guy...shirtless guy in a kilt...why not?!
who wears short shorts...
and this beauty from the Fort Collins festival...Mandy did not realize the couple to the left was in the shot...oh look what she could have missed!

and the dancing...ohhhhhh...the dancing!! I am not sure which is better...the music or our dancing friend!!

Well I know I am still playing catch up but will get there eventually.

She is soooooo good!!!

Oh my gosh...I had to look closely to even realize this wasn't Palin! Looks like we'll have fun weeks ahead of Tina doing Palin!!

Rockies vs. Nationals=

one LAME ball game but fun with the family!!

Still catching up on the blog...John and Tanya (my uncle and aunt) were in town in August with their two kiddos Makena and Kinler so we met them for dinner at the Spaghetti Factory along with my family and my other uncle and aunt and cousins...it was quite the family outing!!

Landon...once again wearing the WRONG hat!!
me and Scott...who is not smiling because he is at a baseball game...just because he is getting his picture taken...I am pretty sure he slept for most of the game (I don't blame him!)
Kinler and Tara
Denver sure has one beautiful ballpark...now if they just got a team to match! :)

Thanks...but NO THANKS!!!

As Palin Stars, McCain Goes Along for Ride: Margaret Carlson 2008-09-11 04:02:00.0 GMTCommentary by Margaret Carlson Sept. 11 (Bloomberg) --

By this time, you know more aboutAlaska Governor Sarah Palin than John McCain did when he picked her as his running mate, which isn't to say you've gotten answers to the big questions.

As I headed out to see Palin yesterday in Virginia, I wanted to sort out how much of what McCain said about his vice presidential choice in the first blush of new love was true.

For instance, the colorful detail that Palin sold the state's private jet on EBay isn't exactly so. A broker disposed of it, so she keeps the sentiment by saying she ``put it'' on EBay. She's still claiming she said, ``Thanks, but no thanks'' to the ``Bridge to Nowhere,'' when it's been shown she loved the project until she saw it wasn't going anywhere.

In any event, are you really a frugal steward of the taxpayer's money if you charge a per diem for you and your family for 312 days out of the year when you're at home in Wasilla?

As for the earmark-seekers that McCain vows to name and shame when he vetoes legislation with pork in it? She used to be one of those people and hired a lobbyist associated with Jack Abramoff to land money for such undertakings, some of which McCain, in a former life, ridiculed.

Palin is an action figure akin to Jesse Ventura with a high body count. She dismissed two law-enforcement officials -- one of whom coincidentally wouldn't fire Palin's former brother-in-law,who was locked in a custody fight with her sister, and another for allegedly wanting to close bars in Wasilla at 2 a.m. insteadof 5 a.m.

There was her top legislative director, whom she praised publicly to high heaven but got rid of for ``poor job performance'' after she learned he was having an affair with a married friend of hers.

Banning Books

As for the town librarian being fired, the official story is that Palin did call to ask how you would go about banning books if you wanted to do such a thing, a purely hypothetical inquiry. And yes, the librarian was reluctant to ban books and yes she was terminated but supposedly for some other undisclosed reason. Anyway, she eventually got her job back.

Palin, who said parents of special-needs children would havean advocate in the White House, cut funds for the SpecialOlympics, Catholic Charities and Covenant House. It would be good to know what she favors that parents need.

But for the moment, for all the facts matter, Palin could have laid the caissons for the Bridge to Nowhere and burned books in the town square. To the huge audience in Virginia, she hung the moon and the stars. Crowds and celebrity were on the list of Obama's flaws until Palin started attracting the first and became the latter. Now McCain doesn't leave home without her.

Just Like Them

The 20 people I asked said they supported Palin because she's just like them. I wouldn't want a vice president just like me. I'd prefer someone who graduated close to the top of the class from a respected university, tested intellectually in any number of jobs, with a cogent philosophy about what government should do and with a lucid plan to do it.

But for many, being a mother of five, a frontierswoman who can field dress a moose and run over the good old boys in Juneau like a pit bull, is more important. Some might think a pregnant woman bypassing hospitals and traveling 22 hours to a clinic after her water broke is unwise if not reckless. But for others it's one more example of just how spunky Palin is.

According to recent polls, a lot of undecided voters prefer spunk to, say, health care. Obama wants to expand coverage and lower costs. McCain wants to give tax credits for buying insurance and to tax as income health benefits an employee gets through an employer. It takes a powerful amount of spunk to overcome that difference.

Mommy Wars

Women are driving the new numbers. Palin has reignited the Mommy Wars and the family values fault line, with some feminists and conservatives switching sides.

Some feminists huff about how a mother with a Down syndrome baby and a pregnant teenager can throw herself into being a heartbeat away from a president who's 72 years old. Conservatives are all for letting mothers decide on balancing career and children, and cheering on Palin's Mr. Mom even though he's away for months at a time working on the North Slope and training forthe Iron Dog snowmobile competition.

But that's not the only switching of hats. Conservatives have long damned teenage pregnancies as the result of a fraying moral fiber induced by the loose sexual mores of liberals, Hollywood and welfare mothers. Now when teen pregnancy comes to a Christian family, it's``beautiful.'' Conservatives have argued that pregnant students be banned from school activities or any honors on the grounds that not censuring them conveyed tacit approval to others.

Between Shame, Celebration

Surely it conveys approval to parade the as-yet-unmarried couple on stage at a national convention. There must be a middle ground between shame and celebration.

Since the convention, the campaign has dissolved into a carnival of personality politics. You would think that after putting the class clown into the Oval Office over the class nerd,with the inevitable results, we might want to forget about who we would prefer to have a beer with and concentrate on who is goingto save the country from financial meltdown and war: Will it be the party that got us there or someone else?

Maybe shooting a moose has something to do with being the leader of the Free World. Maybe McCain thinks Palin is ready to step in on Day Two. It's also likely picking her was, as Karl Rove said, ``not a governing decision but a campaign decision.'' As the argument flares over whether ``lipstick on a pig'' is a sexist comment or one of the world's most shopworn cliches, the question is no longer whether Palin will be put out to campaign alone but whether her sidekick McCain will.

--Margaret Carlson, author of ``Anyone Can Grow Up: HowGeorge Bush and I Made It to the White House'' and former WhiteHouse correspondent for Time magazine, is a Bloomberg Newscolumnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Kentucky...

Straight from Boston I went to Kentucky for work for the ATO congress. Mandy and I were there the whole time and Rob came in for a few days.

We mostly manned our booth and answered questions...

and also played a LOT of WII!! We were giving away a WII in a raffle so we had one at our booth. My arm was seriously sore after just the first day. I also created quite a few Miis that looked JUST like a few of the guys there.

When we weren't at our booth we found other things to do...for example:

When in Lousiville go to the Louisville Slugger Museum

ATO rented out the museum and had ballpark food throughout the whole place.

We also happened to go to the museum on the day the Red Sox traded Manny to the Dodgers.

Louisville Slugger creates bats for the World Series teams each year...here is Boston's set from last year.

The fake ballpark had the pitcher in Red Sox gear...Mandy and I couldn't resist.

We hit some balls in the batting cages, went on a tour of the factory, and watched the speed of actual professional pitches...it was a fun time.

When not at the museum, our booth, or working we spent the rest of the time on 4th Street

Mandy and I with two of the ATO consultants

the BUCKET our drink came in

some dancing with Rick, one of the ATO consultants

us with ATO #2- Arnie

some bull riding...

Mandy and the Oklahoma State guys

and then the Oklahoma State guy...

glad this guy is getting paid for security!

Then it was time for the final banquet. But before the banquet Justin took us to a cool bar on the top floor of one of the other hotels. The bar was amazing...the hotel...

pretty impressive as well (really could they not make them a new sign?!)

however the BEST part about the bar was our mulleted frienddon't worry...we took a few pics (you may need to click on them for the big pic to get the full experience)and one more...why not?!

Then the banquet started...All of the girls in the room (all 5 of us) received roses from the ATO guys while the ATO choir sang us a song...it was pretty funny. and the staff plus GreekBill afterward in the suite

And a few pics of Mandy and I keep in mind we did not have cameras this whole time...we were good at hyjacking others!
we don't know what she is doing either!