Colorado Candids

Saturday, March 10, 2012

Daylight Savings Time...

Well, here it is again...time to change all of the clocks in the house to one hour ahead before going to bed...and only to mess your system up to think you're getting a longer day. Thank you Benjamin Franklin for your wonderful insight. If God had intended us to have longer days, he would have made them that way. I despise daylight savings time!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Can we please stay on the right trail?

Why is it that whenever I go on a hike with Bruce, he always wants to take a different trail than the one we are on, and then we end up getting lost, or taking a whole lot longer than necessary to get to our destination? Is this becoming a metaphor for our life? Hmm...I wonder. Last Saturday, it was the Scotsman Trail at Garden of the Gods. All I wanted to do was stay on the trail and get to the Trading Post, but every time we came to a new fork in the road, Bruce thought we had to take that one instead of staying on the original trail. Therefore, it took us much longer to get to the trading post than it otherwise would have. How do we know this? Because on the way back, I insisted that we stay on the Scotsman Trail. Sure enough, we got back to the trailhead much quicker than before. So, I often ponder (an interesting word) what must be going on inside of Bruce's head. Maybe...if I don't listen to my wife, and just take another route, life will be more interesting... or, it doesn't matter how long it takes, we'll eventually get there... Well, we're still trying to find our destination. Are we on the right trail, or just another detour? Hmm...

Monday, January 16, 2012

Backyard visitor...

One thing about living here in Colorado Springs is that we occasionally have wildlife that come into our area, and sometimes even our neighborhood... deer, bear, coyote, rabbits, squirrels, and red fox. Today, we had an injured red fox that took refuge for awhile in our backyard. He was just laying in the the middle of the backyard lawn. When we tried to get his attention to see if he would move, he only moved a few feet and then lay back down. We noticed that he had an injured hind leg. So, finally, after several phone calls, I was able to contact the parks and wildlife department. They suggested that we wait a day (without disturbing or feeding the fox), to see if he could regain enough strength to care for himself and move on. So tonight, when we returned from family home evening, we checked the backyard and did not see him there. We will check in the morning to make sure he left and did not just relocate to a different area in the backyard.

Update: Mr. Fox was strong enough to leave last night...yeah!

This year's annual newsletter...

Once again the Leavitt annual new years newsletter is complete. Thank goodness for Facebook... not only did it help to connect with friends this year, but also acted as a journal for me to remember dates that I needed to know to document on the newsletter. May 2012 keep you and your families healthy and happy!

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Saying good bye to another dear friend...

Our dear friend, Sheila Cope, passed away suddenly last Thursday afternoon. I was privileged to be her visiting teacher, and she was a sweet friend. The thing I loved most about Sheila is her great smile and how she always made me laugh. I also loved her musical and teaching talents. She was a fantastic gospel doctrine teacher, and it will be difficult to replace her. Many of her younger friends will remember her as a great seminary teacher. She had a beautiful voice and was active in Sweet Adeline's for 30 years. It's always difficult to see a friend pass, but when that friend is your age and so vibrant and full of life, then leaves so suddenly, it seems to be harder to accept. She had always mentioned wanting to go in a "twinkling," and apparently that's what happened. She was in the backyard shoveling snow, and then she was gone. The entire ward and everyone who knew her is still in a state of shock.

I had the privilege of saying good bye to her today as I went to the funeral home with a few other sisters from our relief society, to dress her. It is always a sweet experience to be able to do that. She looked beautiful and at peace. Good bye my dear friend. Enjoy singing in your beautiful heavenly choir.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/gazette/obituary.aspx?n=sheila-b-cope&pid=155231176&fhid=6111

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time...

First, take a look at this sweet little face...

Next, take a look at this nasty bird...

We were on our way to our extended family gathering at Papago Park the day after Thanksgiving. Our two little grandsons, Jacob and Joseph, decided to ride with us. When we got to the park, we were the first ones there, and so Joseph and Jacob went to play on the playground while grandma and grandpa watched, but not close enough...

and this is when it happened...pigeon overhead and boy playing on playground on the ground...poor combination.

Joseph comes over and says, I think somebody spit on me. Taking a closer look at the top of his head, I noticed a big white spot, then a green spot. Upon further investigation, his back was covered with green poop, as well as one of his arms. Trying our best to clean him off with tissues from my purse, it was no use. I sent Bruce with him to the restroom to rinse him off as much as possible. Luckily, we had a towel in the van and was able to dry him off somewhat. Joseph looked so devastated...I spent the next several minutes trying to assure him that it was not his fault...he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I reminded him to watch out for the airplanes.

And I am thankful for...

I arrived home from Hawaii on Monday evening, spent one day at home getting Christmas shopping done (I had already left most of Christmas in Hawaii for Paula's family) and pies prepared, and left on Wednesday for Thanksgiving at Brent's in Maricopa, AZ.

Arriving a few minutes before 6 am on Thanksgiving day (thank you Gabby--our GPS lady), we started off our holiday adventure. While Bruce took a nap on the sofa, Brent began preparing the Thanksgiving turkey...

Rachel finished preparing last minute items not completed the day before, and I went into gear helping to clean up the kitchen. After giving Brent and Rachel an early Christmas gift, it was time for Grandma and granddaughter bonding time...