Children of the Mountains

I love kids. I always have. I was raised the daughter of two parents who work in the public education system and love all children ALOT. So, it has been a great joy to be living with and working for the Hartmans who have 4 adorable grandchildren who we get to interact with daily.

I love all of them. But, one of them is a little extra special. Silas Frost Hartman. This little 2 1/2 year old boy has completely stolen my heart. I have never had a boy adore me at the level of this little boy's infatuation. I find it ironic that he is 2.

We have a routine when we see each other. He runs to me with a big grin on his face, he touches all my jewelry saying "neckwace, earwings, etc." (he always notices details, even my toe nail polish, he is gonna really impress the ladies someday), and last but not least he goes for my hair. He is totally obsessed with my hair. He strokes it, wraps it around his face, around my face, and holds it while he sucks his thumb. Everyone finds it so humorous how into my hair he is, I find it charming. Silas and I had a special day together today, and though he may have hald a cold, wet his pants 3 times, and almost refused to take a nap---it was still great. We were swinging on a swing together in the park and he just kept saying "Emowy and Siwas, Emowy and Siwas". Oh, I love it.

His parents own a weaving studio and weave BEAUTIFUL rugs out of recycled materials and so in exchange for babysitting I get customized woven rugs, pretty sweet deal really. I want to include some adorable pictures of all of the cutiepies, but look for Silas---he is the one with shaggy blond hair and bright blue eyes and reminds me of Denise the Menace.

Soda Shop Adventures

We have a tradition at the Soda Shop of keeping a list of funny quotes from either ourselves or customers in the back where only us girls can enjoy it. Well, I added a good one to the list last night.

I worked the late shift last night and this is the story:

One old man was in the shop and Tori was getting his sugar-free vanilla in a cake cone. As she walked around the back I said to him, "it'll be $2.75 and I can take your money" in a very friendly and sweet voice, I might add. He then said to me "you look like the kind of girl that could take all my money". I looked back a little shocked but taking it all in stride I responded with "sir, I don't know if that is a compliment or not". He then leaned forward and said, "with that shade of hair, I'd let ya" and winked.

All in a day.

The Parents Visit at last

My parents recently visited me in LC for five days. It was a great time to be together and fun to show them my little town and the beautiful sites around every corner. My mom being a native Coloradan was super excited about hiking, the mountains, and wildflowers. I enjoyed staying with them in their cabin and enjoying the luxury of a television and a whirlpool bathtub.

We took a day to drive up Cinnamon Pass in a 4-wheel drive Rodeo. The views were breathtaking and the road was incredibly rough and seemingly impassable at points. We eventually made it to the American Basin, a place I have been wanting to see and hike ever since I arrived in Lake City. This area is famed for its wildflowers. There is only about a 3-week window of blooming and it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. So many wildflowers, so many colors, waterfalls everywhere, mountains surrounding, can it get any better? Some of the flowers were seriously up to my elbows they were so tall, it was a photographers dream!

Denver Reunion 08

Two weeks ago I made the 5 hour trip from LC to Denver. I was very excited and motivated to go there because Karen Hartman was visiting from Zambia and David Okada and Kristen Olson were visiting from Mexico. We had an awesome time and were well-hosted by the men of the Embassy--Micah DeKorne, Ryan Likes, Mark Dawson, and friends. It was somewhat of a Mexico-roadtrip-reunion as well with David, Kristen, Micah, Ryan, Mark, and I all being together again as well as Little Red---who is not so little anymore!

It was a great time of fun and fellowship together and I was once again reminded of how much I am blessed and loved by my friends. I love seeing how our friendships have grown and changed since JBU days but are still so deep and fulfilling no matter how long we may not see eachother or far apart we may be.

Some fun included: The Starr family, of course, and nutella smores that I won't forget (great idea Rose!). Karen making an awesome Zambian meal of nshima for us. Micah getting us up to the top of a very, very tall building in downtown Denver. Karen, Kristen, and I all sleeping together in a full size bed (it only lasted one night). Jon's awesome 21st birthday party. Shopping at the amazing latin supermarket. Eating really good Mexican food. And pretty much every singe minute together.

4th of July--better late than never

Ok, so I know that it is the 25th of July today but well, I've been busy and my blog has gravely suffered. So, today while I am sitting at a wonderful little coffee shop in Lake City looking at the mountains, I thought I would attempt to catch up on the events in my life from the last month with several posts at once. We'll see how I do.

The 4th of July in LC, CO is such a postcard experience. The parade was amazing. It seemed that anyone that wanted to could have a "float". I love that I knew a vast majority of the individuals on each float and I even knew the one-horned goat, Cuscos. All of us soda shop girls had our matching LC 4th of July shirts on and enjoyed the parade immensely but as soon as it was over we booked it back across the street to the shop. We then worked NON-STOP until fireworks started at 9pm (I was able to watch a little of the street dance during my break, longing to join in, but not having time to). When we heard the first boom of fireworks we kicked out all customers and headed up to the roof to watch the beautiful display being shot off of the mountain side. After the finale we ran downstairs for an intense final hour of making wonderful ice cream and soda treats. I slept very soundly that night and enjoyed my morning off the following morning, thankful that I was not part of the clean-up crew!