Halloween

Cayle had an eventful, exciting, and tiring weekend! Mommy and daddy as well. Not our favorite holiday, but definitely want it to be a fun experience for our baby boy! He decided to be a Beetle Bug for Halloween this year. Grandma Brummer found his outfit at a garage sale.
Daddy decided to dress up as a LOSER.... Shhh... don't tell mommy I said that.... :-) Mommy decided to dress up as a WINNER! Her Jersey was a little large, and mine was a little small...

Cayle is happy with this jersey...
Not so much with this one....


Cayle from above in his BeetleBug outfit.These are the pumpkins Natalie and I carved today. Mine didn't get a mouth, just bat ears.Cayle's fall pictures out in the back yard.
The Brandts had the most creative (and time consuming I'm sure :-) costume. The ipod and the Earbuds.
Cayle all worn out from his weekend flying around as a Beetle Bug. As you can see, he has taken quite a liking to his fingers. Time to get to work on his next Halloween outfit.

Random & Miscellaneous Thoughts

Bad Mom
I have spent exactly 2 minutes getting Cayle ready to celebrate his first Halloween. I have never been very excited about this holiday and will do pretty much anything I can to avoid having to gather a dumb costume and parade around out in public like I'm six years old. Therefore, I was pretty happy when Cayle's grandma Cathy announced she had found him a nice beetle bug outfit for him to wear for his first Halloween costume. A few days ago, I decided Cayle should probably have socks to wear since we live in Colorado and it's the end of October (duh). Finally this morning, I made my way to Wal-Mart where I expected to find a nice pair of either black or red socks. FYI...Wal-Mart has no black or red socks for infants. I checked with everyone I know and they had no black or red socks either. On my way back home, I had one final thought - The Thrifty Shop. Cayle is now the proud owner of both a black and red pair of socks, all for the low, low price of 22 cents!

Sign
I saw the funniest road sign this morning when I was out and about (looking for the aforementioned socks). On the blinking roadside message boards, it said "HALLOWEEN DUI CRACKDOWN - DON'T BOOS AND DRIVE". For some reason, I feel this is awesomely clever and hilarious.

Fall Time
Last Sunday, when it was about 35 degrees and raining, I made Nick drive myself and Cayle to a pumpkin patch so that Cayle could get his first pumpkin. Of course, Nick was super-excited about my pumpkin patch idea...NOT :) But we made it and Cayle had a blast. Actually, I'm not sure he did. But I bet he will next year!

That Was Fun!

I ran the MILE this afternoon with the 8th graders. Since I get off at noon, and didn't have the car, I put Cayle in the chariot and headed up to school. Man I felt like hot garbage on the way there. It's just over 2 and a half miles. I figured it would be a good warm-up for the mile. I think it was, but at the time I didn't feel good at all.

Once I got up there, I was just hoping to break 7 minutes. I knew some of the 8th grade students would beat me, but that was acceptable. I just wanted a decent showing. Ended up running a 6:27! I was really happy with this. My fastest mile since high school, when I was able to run 5:30-5:45 miles for a couple of miles (not really that fast at the time....)

After the run, I stopped by to see my beautiful wife at the end of her work day/beginning of her weekend. Then Cayle and I headed home. 3 miles home in the warm sunshine at a nice relaxed pace, capped off an awesome workout and a great afternoon! Ended with about 7 miles and 1,000 calories.

Decisions

Sitting here at Yeti's Grind (Greatest Coffee shop in Eagle County), watching the first snow dump on us out the window, and reflecting on life. Took Wrigley into the Vet to get looked at by a back specialist from Grand Junction who stopped in Eagle to take a look at him on his way back from the Bronco's game yesterday. Trying to look at quality of life after surgery and then figure out if surgery is worth the cost or not... Tough decisions always when it comes to family pets.

The first snow on Eagle and Gypsum! It's snowing much harder than you can see in the pic. You can see the snow on the truck outside though. Not sure if I'm ready for it or not? Not sure I really have any choice..... It's a heavy wet snow with huge flakes that won't stick around for long... just a teaser, or a sign of things to come I guess....

DQ Ridiculous!

Natalie and I were talking and laughing today about this quesadilla that she got a while back from DQ in Glenwood Springs. It was the most awful food that I have ever had from a restaurant. And I feel like that says a lot coming from me.

I had already eaten my meal, and Natalie had taken a couple of bites of hers, and then just decided she would just eat the onion rings. She told me the quesadilla was terrible, but I didn't believe it could really be that bad.... (imagine that) So I tried a bite... hmmm... kinda gross, but maybe another bite will make it better.... NOPE! STILL DISGUSTING! It was so bad we found it kind of funny. Below are the nutrition facts for this meal. That's a lot of FAT and SODIUM. In the quesadilla itself, only 550 calories, but 17 grams of Saturated Fat! And you would think a quesadilla could be relatively healthy.... We don't eat fast food very often, but when we do we almost always enjoy it! Definitely won't be getting the quesadilla again from DQ to say the least! :-)

Smiling with mommy, Smiling with Daddy

Pretty sure this joke was...."Why did the math class not use desks?"......... - Because they had times tables.

Laughin it up with daddy! He really enjoys hanging upside down! I think the joke was... "What do Cats like to read......" - Cat-alogs..... :)

Small Town Boy

Just like the song "Don't Stop Believing" by journey. The song starts out with "Just a small town girl." Every time I go into the city I am reminded how much I am just a "Small Town Boy," and I believe Natalie is that Small Town Girl. Of course my small town (Teutopolis) was a bit smaller than hers (LP). But both have the same kind of vibe.



Last week when we were in Denver, and for that matter every time we are in Denver, I was/am reminded how much I enjoy living in a small town. I really think I would struggle living in the city. And from what I hear, Denver is nothing compared to Chicago, New York, Dallas, or Los Angeles... It's still too many cars on the road for me. Give me 2 lane highways and country gravel/dirt roads with slow moving vehicles any day of the week over the hustle and bustle of the city freeways. Living in the city would have lots of perks, namely the restaurants and businesses, but it's could never be enough to make me wish I lived there. It's nice to visit once in a while to enjoy that restaurant, or do some shopping, but I am always eager to get back home up in the mountains of Colorado!

Been Busy!

Last weekend we had a free weekend, so on Sunday we decided to head to Denver (REI) to purchase some x-country skis. I am not purchasing a ski pass this year, so instead will be spending more time on the snowshoes, and now on the x-country skis. We also got skis for the Chariot, so Cayle can go out on the snow with us in his stroller! (I'll get some more pics up soon)Since the fall sale was going on, Cayle was also the lucky recipient of his very own sleeping bag. Here you can see that he was eager to check it out... He should be able to use this bag for a while yet... Kind of grow into it. :)


Just to please him we let him try out this snowboard. He wouldn't stop crying unless we at least let him try it... Unfortunately it was still a little large for him. Couple more years bud...

GO TWINS!

Cards didn't make the post season, neither did the cubs... (magine that.....) :) So then we cheer for the Minnesota Twins. Uncle Dave is the trainer for the Twins, so GO TWINS!

Gall Bladder, Appendix, and Many Thanks

This past Friday, Natalie was in to the Vail Valley Medical Center (which by the way has been FANTASTIC every time we have been there) to have her gall bladder removed. It has been giving her some grief for a while now. Long story short, upon looking at her innards with the scope, the doctors could see something that was up next to her gall bladder that wasn't supposed to be there. Turns out it was her appendix. It had somehow shifted up into her upper abdomen area. So when they removed her gall bladder, they also removed her appendix to eliminate any future problems with it. 2 for the price of 1.
I took her to the hospital at 7 am... the question leading up to this was what to do with Cayle? Natalie had it set up originally so Jess would stay the night on Thursday and then take him to daycare at 730. Melinda would pick him up at 1230 since it was a friday, and he only stays till 1230 on fridays. Then when Melinda had to leave for x-country practice, Alana would come stay with him for the evening.... That was if everything didn't go according to pan. We were planning on being home by early afternoon.
So after all that was planned, my cousin Jodi, who lives in Denver, offered to come out with her just over a year old son Nathan and watch Cayle. We took her up on it and it was FANTASTIC! Thanks so much Jodi! Natalie ended up not recovering very quickly from her anasthesia and decided to spend the night in the hospital. It was so nice for me to be able to come home for a bit and hang out with Cayle and Nathan, then to be able to go back to the hospital to be with my wife. So much better for him to be able to stay in one place with one person, then to have to be shipped all over the place with different people. Jodi coming to watch him definitely made it much easier on us!

Natalie is feeling well now, and is ready to return to school. She spent Monday just being a mom and staying home with her baby boy.

Cheers to Beers

I love it when organizations think outside the box as a way to get people involved. Theology on Tap was one that I knew about in college, yet never attended. I wish I would have. If I had gone to a larger school, where I didn't already know everyone that would be there, I think I may have gone... excuses, excuses.. whatever. It's a cool concept to get people out to learn about the Catholic faith that otherwise may not be interested. Meet at the local pub and discuss the faith over beers. Sounds interesting to me.
Just saw a new one on 9news Denver tonight. It's called Pints for Prostates. Similar to the Breast Cancer movement, it's main goal is to educate men on the dangers of Prostate Cancer. Open to men 40 or older that like to drink beer, they aim to spread their message over drinks.