That are so endearing..
January 6, 2013
It’s the little things dads do
July 2, 2012
First weekend without kids
Luker and I had our first weekend without kids and man was it amazing. We headed up to Crested Butte to camp, bike and spend one night in hotel while the kids stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Vernon. It’s hard to believe it’s been 11 months since the two of us have gotten away together. It’s been four years since we’d camped too. Here are a few pics from the trip….
First night camping: AMAZING
Biking the 401. Holy hell, was I out of my element.
Drinks and dinner after biking: something I'm a little better at..
Honestly, the best part of the trip had to be the camping. These days we take wonderful trips to places like Mexico, Hawaii and more. But we didn’t always take these kinds of trips. We used to camp every weekend when we were in college and just after. It definitely reminded me that we don’t need to do fancy things to have fun. In some ways, the less fluffy the better. What a wonderful weekend away….
June 16, 2012
Brie’s Blog has been Commandeered
You probably came to this site hoping for a little sarcastic humor from Brie. Not this time. Brie is gone for the weekend – off to a retreat. In the mean time, her blog has been commandeered.
So who wrote this post? Well, let’s just say neither of her kids know the alphabet so they couldn’t have typed it. That leaves the only possibility to be her smart, caring, incredibly funny, remarkably athletic, extremely good lucking husband.
And the best part about it: she probably won’t realize it for a couple days until the next time she checks it.
In the mean time, I thought I’d give everyone a little insight into what has been going on over here on Rockmont Circle. The police cars have been driving by, but they are yet to get the kahunas to come to the front door.
I’m sure they are scared of the blaring princess songs. We’ve brought out some classics and we haven’t been afraid to play them LOUD:
- Kiss the Girl from The Little Mermaid
- A Whole New World from Aladdin
- And my personal favorite, Hakuna Matata from Lion King.
In addition to rocking out to Disney’s best, we erected the largest pillow fort ever to be built inside a living room. My goal (not Cora’s) was to cover the entire room. I just about managed to do it, but Cora got upset that it was taking too long so I had to stop short.
(Kierian got lost in one of the tunnels so he isn't pictured)
After the fort lost its luster, we learned that our sofa chairs make great trampolines. I also learned that Cora might be a contender for a gymnastics gold medal in the 2032 Olympics. Check out the form…
Legs shoulder width apart, preparing for blast off
Extending her legs for maximum spring
Check out that air! Also note her smiling to the judges mid-air for bonus points
Sticking her landing with a continued smile
Meanwhile, Kierian was doing his thing wearing the same clothes he was wearing yesterday and wandering around watching Cora and I soar through the air…
After a high-flying morning, we ventured to the mall to see what kind of trouble we could stir up…
Kierian made friends with a dinosaur
And Cora couldn't part ways with her friend, Mia the kitty, even at the play area
We rounded out our trip to the mall with a chocolate chip cookie. It made for a great snack immediately preceding lunch.
I don’t know what we’re going to do with the rest of our day, but I can assure you it’s going to be fun. Maybe we’ll go for pizza again tonight. Two nights in a row won’t hurt anyone.
Over and Out,
Luke
March 19, 2012
The Thing I Love About Boys
Sweet thing, food makes him so happy. Reminds me of his Papa. I could make poo on a stick and Luker would endlessly tell me how delicious it is. Love that about boys. I slaved all weekend making food combos like pea/broccoli/pear (?) and apple/squash/mango thinking it would last him at least a few weeks. No such luck. He’s pounding the stuff, no matter how far out the combo!! Love me some boys.
February 14, 2012
I Love Love
I love love. Seriously. So much so that I try to set every one of my friends up with each other, even when they don’t go together just to try and get some love going. (Friends, you know this). Today is my holiday. Not in a traditional sense, I’m not a big gifts girl, but I just love love so much. I wanna talk about it, feel it, relive it and appreciate it. And how lucky I am to have had the same Valentine for 12 years.
The year 2000
12 years ago we were in college at Cornell and Colorado College. Luker sent me a huge box filled with yarn and candy (I was really into knitting then). It was so big I had to get a dolly to cart it to my dorm room. That was our first Valentine’s Day. And last year was the Valentine’s Day we found out we were having a boy. So so memorable. That’s right, today is one of my fav’s. I love V-Day, even if it makes love feel forced…
It’s even better this year because I have cherubs:
And…
Show someone some love today..
February 10, 2012
About a Dog.
Last night, Luker and I were lovin’ really hard on our dog, Manali.
The poor dear has become a second class citizen in our house since having two kids. But every now and again we realize it, and really love him to bits. As we were petting him, we remembered a special story about when we first got him as a puppy…
He was the most darling dog on the planet: fat, fluffy and quiet. He looked like a little grey gosling. Not Ryan, but still edible.
And he would just sit there and stare at us wanting to be squeezed. He was weened from his Mama too early, and his Pops was euthanized (This could be the start of a country song). He lived with his 5 week old siblings in a chicken coup outside in the bitter cold of January in Colorado. (Pretend that it’s bad, mmmm-k? It adds to the story).
When we brought him home we had to carry him up and down the stairs of our condo outside so he could pee; he was too wee to get down them himself. One night while making dinner, Luke hollered up to me: “Brie, for the love of God, why have you been feeding Manali spaghetti?”
I looked down to find him yanking something long and stringy from the back-end of our sweet pup. “The noodles are stuck in his rear and he can’t poop them out.” In shock, I ran outside to see what all the hullabaloo was about. Though I have my blonde (wannabe) moments, the dog had not feasted on Italian cuisine under my watch.
Luke continued yanking, Manali howling, and I tried not to throw up in my mouth. A trip to the vet informed us that what at first may have appeared to be spaghetti was actually a gut full-a worms. Lord. Poor Luker was scarred for life from that one.
Moral of the story? Never pull things out of butts. Also, maybe skip out on pasta tonight. Happy weekend, friends.
November 8, 2011
Imagination Getting the Best of Us
We have imaginary friends here at the Vernon household.
One is a yellow ghost (in honor of Halloween, I believe?). It’s a baby ghost, in case you were curious. Don’t go on thinking it might be a teenage ghost, for Christ’s sake. And the other is a cat named Victoria. Victoria sits in between Cora’s fingers and if there were a favorite, it would definitely be Victoria. I only know this because Baby Ghost joins us pretty irregularly these days.
The other day, Daddy took on the brave responsibility of going to the grocery store. With both kids. Honestly, for those of you without kids it’s like the fucking Everest of family activities. But he was feeling bold.
Cora now demands those ridiculous car-carts that take up entire aisles as you drive them:
Up top where the kid sits there’s a lot of room. But when you have to put your other child in the basket where the groceries go, the cart fills up pretty quickly. We had loads of groceries to get that day. Kierian was quickly swallowed up by alfalfa sprouts, cereal boxes and chicken breasts. Cora sat in the top part of the cart happy as a fucking clam or whatever the expression is.
As the cart got more and more crowded, Luke decided Cora had to share some of her space. But as he attempted to put a few of the 500 gallons of milk we buy next to Cora, she started screaming and crying: “You’re crushing Victoria!!” In an effort to avoid causing a scene, Luker grabbed the milk. So the poor dear was left trying to control that ridiculous cart with one hand whilst carrying three gallons of milk in the other.
Yes folks, our imagination is definitely getting the best of us. Well, hers of us anyway.
October 14, 2011
My Husband, Gang Banger
I got my haircut the other day and my hair lady was telling me about this gang in Boulder. I know I live in a bubble, but WTF right? Boulder? Anyway, she got jumped on Pearl Street on Halloween night two years ago at about 1 in the morning. She was beat up so bad she had to have plastic and reconstructive surgery. Dear God.
At any rate, I was telling Luke about this and after feeling awful for my hair-cutter friend, he responded:
LUKE: “Well, just so you know I’m also hoping to become a part of a gang.”
ME: Rolling my eyes and laughing, “Oh yeah?” Because I imagine most gang bangers eagerly and overly enthusiastically tell their partners they are ‘hoping to become a part of a gang.’
LUKE: Excitedly responds, “Yeah, it’s called the Chain Gang. It’s an association for chain restaurants on the West Coast. Our company is really hoping to become involved.” Smiling brightly.
Again, dear God.
July 4, 2011
Maybe that’s what Lil Jon was thinking..
Well, we made a trip out to the hospital this past Friday night thinking I was going into labor. Turns out I’m an idiot and after one kid still can’t recognize a contraction. The doc didn’t even come into our room, he just sent the nurse to tell us to “come back when the contractions actually hurt.” Sheesh. Total rookie move.
But I’ve been having contractions close together ever since, which feels a bit strange. Luker and I went out to dinner on Sunday to celebrate our 6 year anniversary and I was contracting like a mother fucker–every five minutes. One “tip” the nurse gave us was to “get up and walk if I started contracting while sitting down to see if they kept up.”
Dear Luker is endearingly on edge because of all the hype lately. Every move I make he’s wondering if maybe this is it. “Are you contractions stronger? Should I be timing? I think this is it!” He says with each sound I utter. So as we were out that night, I felt a particularly strong one.
“Okay,” Luker responded as we sat at the St. Julien hotel eating dessert, “I want you to get up and walk from the window to the wall to see if this is for real.” I laughed at him thinking there ain’t no way I’m moving this truck of a woman away from the creme brulee. Nice try. He then added the best part: “I wonder if that’s what Lil Jon was thinking. You know, in his song.”
Wow. LOVE.
As you can tell from the video, Lil Jon was most definitely preoccupied with his wife’s (that he likely doesn’t have) contractions when he references windows and walls. For sure.
