Way Back Texas! With a little Pat Green...

Saturday night we went to the Grizzly Rose to see Pat Green. The Stock Show is in town so the good guys always come to the Rose during this time of year. I am very bummed that I won't be able to see Cross Canadian Ragweed w/Randy Rogers Band this Friday!! Ryan will be out of town. Anyhoo.. Mom, Dad, Ronda, Gary, Austin, Ryan, and I all went out for a honky tonk Saturday night and had a blast! Mom and Dad NEVER go out. No.. you seriously don't understand. They NEVER go out! So this night was extra special. I even got to dance with my dad. I don't think I've danced with him since our wedding which was 7 1/2 years ago! We got there before the doors opened because we had to have a table AND a good table at that. It was a good table and good fun for about 3 hours, then the place was packed. I know I'm getting old because the band (not Pat Green) was SO loud and that many people just annoyed me. So.. the next time we go, we'll just go early to eat and listen to good radio music and dance! Oh.. and Ryan and I are going to take dance lessons. He FINALLY gave in!!!

Dad is ready to roll!

Austin ready to go pick up some chicks (his term)
If any of you know my dad, you know that he doesn't go anywhere without his "wheelie cool".
I cannot tell you how hard it is to get a picture of these two. GOT IT!
Ronda showing Austin her old moves from back in the day. The Grizzly Rose truly was her 2nd home. She was just missing the permed hair and purple mascara this time. Oh.. and she dated a bouncer at the Rose once named Sonny.. and he had a mullet.. But he was HOTT!
You have no idea how much she liked her new t-shirt.
No idea.... (she's got the ugly laugh going on here)

She reeaaallly liked her new tshirt!
Ronda and her friend Kristen

No, Dad is not getting ready to duke it out. I promise he's holding Mom's hand!



I had to join in on her t-shirt excitement.
Ahhh... they're so darn cute. 44 years they've been married!!!
This girl came up to Ronda and I and asked if she could dance with Austin. She was so sweet and man, could she dance!!

Then her friend wanted to dance with him too!
All night I kept telling Austin to sit up and look "manly" (he's a sloucher). But look at the 2 pics above! Obviously it worked!!! :-)

This is Mom and Dad after the cover band started. It seriously was so freaking loud!!!

What a joker this boy is!

So.. we had the closest table to the stage and this is what it looked like when Pat Green came out. That's him on the right. PACKED!!!

Whoa nelly!!

These past couple of weeks have been a complete whirlwind but in a good way... I think... My nephew, Austin, moved here and is living with my parents. He is one of the identical twins. They have had what you could call a bit of a rough life. But.. they were famous for a bit when they appeared on Dr. Phil 3 years ago!! HA! Anyhoo.. he is really trying his best to be responsible and all that good stuff. We got him enrolled in college here in Brighton and he starts next week. He is actually very excited for his new start. And it's a genuine excitement! YAY! By the way, he just turned 18. Ryan and I took him to his orientation last night but he was a little freaked out by it all. He wasn't too impressed with the "get-to-know-everyone-and their-dog" game they did to kick it off. He's just a shy guy so it's not his thing. I, on the other hand, had pretty much all the questions filled out by the time the game was over. I don't get much socialization these days I guess! I'm taking him tomorrow to get his license. Yes.. you read that right. He just turned 18 but doesn't have his license yet. No one to take him I guess. We (us and my parents) got him a car the other day. He's working it off with chores. It was only $200 so he won't have far to go. It needs about $500 to get it good and safe though. It's a 1988 Honda Accord and it does run!! I wish I only had a $200 car. I am SO sick of car payments! So... YAY for Austin!!!

On top of that, I enrolled in this fitness challenge through our rec center. That is the only gym we have here in little 'ol Brighton. So far it's going so good. I am painfully sore but I know it's a good kind of sore. It is for 8 weeks and we meet with a personal trainer 3 times a week. She also goes over tons of nutritional information which I need desperately. We have a team and there are 6 of us on a team. I never knew just how helpful a team would be. I actually think it could be key!

So.. I know it's only 8pm but I really am going to go to bed. I know I've left out so much but life is crazy these days!!

Larpers in the DMV???

You have no idea what I went through today. No idea. I took my nephew Austin to the DMV (which of course is like 1/2 hour away from our house) . I should have got my first clue when you could barely make it through the door because the room was SO packed with people. But, I figured since we made the drive we may as well stick it out. No biggie. I went and pulled a ticket. Number 807. Of course when I looked up I saw that they were only on number 759. Again.. we could handle it. Miraculously, there were two seats available so we sat down. Oh no.. here comes the bad part. This freakshow came in and unfortunately noticed Austin's tattoo on his arm. And it just went south from there. To our dismay, the little old lady sitting next to me got up and Mr. Larper man (Live Action Role Play) took her seat. I could go on and on but let me just give you some of the bullet points of what he proceeded to talk (LOUD!) about for the next 28 numbers (remember.. he was LOUD and talked in the most nerdy voice!) :

• "That's a nice tattoo you've got going there (Austin's tattoo of course) I'm getting a tiger on my left arm that will take up my entire arm and the only part you can see will be the tiger in full pounce.. you know.. like he's getting ready to pounce on his meal. Then I'll have a dragon across my shoulders and then down my right arm will be a grim reaper but it will be an angry grim reaper because it will be on fire.* Wow dude.. you are so cool! The bad part is that I couldn't even contain my laughter. I was full on laughing out loud at the guy and he just didn't have a clue.
  
  
• "We used to live in Westminster but had to move to Arvada and move into a ranch house because of my crazy grandma. She smoked so damn much that she could make it up three stairs and then would have to sit down. We had to paint the house three times with Kilz paint because of her temper tantrums." So I had to ask what she would do to require new paint jobs to which he replied, "she would freak out and throw her food all over the place." Again.. wow...
  
  
• He went on and on about how he couldn't get a job. I asked why he was at the DMV and he told me it was to "renew his learner's permit". He said that he would just get his regular license but his mom "freaking stresses him out." Umm.. okay... Then I proceeded to ask him how old he was and he answered "25". Holy crap.. I about choked!! I told him he should join the military if he can't get a job. He then told me that he had certain "issues" that kept him from being able to join the military. Nice... K.. here comes the absolute funniest part of the LOOOOONNNNGGGG conversation. "I almost had a job but then the guy gave it to someone else. You know who he gave it to? A FREAKING MEXICAN!" Yes.. he YELLED that in the DMV!! I told him he better be quiet or he's gonna get his butt kicked. He told me he didn't give a crap and that they blow. Oh my my... we just new we were going to be on the evening news!!
  
  
• After all of that, I just couldn't resist. I asked if he was a "larper". I really thought it might make him mad and I think deep down I really wanted to see his angry reaction. But no... he told me he used to be but the group fell apart!!! HAHAHAHAH!!!!! Oh.. and yes, he (or his friend.. I can't remember) has the ENTIRE Pokemon card collection. Umm.. didn't even know there was such a thing.

I really could go on and on but those were all of the notes Austin took for me. He knew I would need the goods for my blog. Oh.. and in case you were wondering.. Mr. Larper's name was Mike. You know.. Mike from Old Town Arvada. Oh mercy...

New Years 2010 in Winter Park

Yesterday we drove up to Winter Park to meet our friends Weston and Amy and their new baby Cody. They used to live here and now live back in Texas. It was so much fun hanging out with them again. Both Amy and Weston's families along with some of their friends rented a house up there. I think the house slept 16 so that would have been a good time! We rented a room at a "no-tell motel" in town. Hey man, at least it had a couple of beds. That's all we asked for:-) We took my nephew Austin with us and had a great time with him along. The twins adore him and he is so good to them.

We started off the evening hanging out at their house and then we all made our way to dinner at Heck's Tavern at the Devil's Thumb Ranch. The place was amazing and I'd have to say, the perfect setting for a New Year's Eve dinner. If I counted the people in the pictures, I could tell you just how many people there were but let's just say that it was alot. We stayed until about 11pm and by that time, Hunter was in full meltdown mode. He is SO accustomed to his 8pm bedtime and definitely his own bed. I was surprised at how well Reagan did staying up that late. Everyone else stayed and listened to the band but we had to go back to our fancy motel. I wished Ryan a "Happy Texas New Years" at 11:20 as we dozed off to sleep. I figured that was good enough since at that time, it was officially New Years in Texas!

This is what you get for $160/night in Winter Park on NYE! Wow! What a steal!!

The Johnson's (minus Cody) and The Edwards

Amy with her mom Terri

Chick a bow wow Weston

Sassy lady

Awwww.....

I can't help but laugh at this picture. Oh Reagan... you have done that so many times yourself!

Me and Austin

All the guys ready to go out.

All of us at the restaurant

One of the tables

Our table

He didn't even make it out of the parking lot before he crashed. He didn't even bat an eye while I was getting him ready for bed!

Here were the tubing hills that we didn't get to go down. It looked like a freaking blast though!!

I think the twins need one of these

Oh.. Hunter definitely agrees with that!

Hunter & Austin

The Edwards Fam

Austin & Reagan

The little man was so ready to leave.

When he saw me get the camera out to take a picture of him throwing a fit, he yelled "NO Momma!!" HAHA!!!

Oh.. what a fun day... and some messy hat head.

Let's hit the road jack..

I think this picture was taken about 4 minutes after we got on the road and then didn't wake up until an hour and a half later when we pulled onto our street. Good times!!!