Remember in Anne of Green Gables when Matthew brought home 25 pounds of brown sugar, simply because he was too shy, at first, to ask the storekeeper about a dress for Anne? I will always remember what Marilla said when he hefted that huge bag into her kitchen….”20.pounds.of brown sugar!” (emphasis on sugar)

Well, my dad kinda had a moment like this a few weeks ago. He brought home a 50 pound bag of sweet onions (which he bought for about $4.50 at a sale), giving us several to bring home with us. Yum!Of course, there were also the farm fresh eggs, which have been so delicious….there’s nothing like farm fresh for sure.Happy summer, dear readers!

For a while now, I’ve been wanting to go through our home and just make some changes, decor wise.  It’s not always easy when you’re on a very tight budget, but I finally did come through on our family wall.  I actually was inspired by a post that I saw on The Inspired Room, in which she showcased a stairwell, covered in picture frames.  This stairwell was created by Sandra over on Sawdust and Paper Scraps.  The colors inspired me, the variety of frames inspired me, and I decided to see what I could come up with.I ended up digging through my crates and finding old frames that had older pictures in them; I also went to Dollar Tree and picked up some nice frames.  Finally, I went to Lowes and picked up a few sample cans of paint.  These little containers were under $3 apiece, and I picked out just a few different colors that I couldn’t otherwise get in a dollar can of spray paint.Finally, I painted all the frames, picking out which ones I wanted to be certain colors.  Painting them was super easy; the hard part came when it came time to pick out which pictures to place in which frames.  I printed out all my pictures in black and white on my photo printer, and then Dan helped me make a few mats for the larger frames; we made the mats out of cardstock.  There is just something about a black and white picture; it just gives a room a more classic, defined look.  Most of my pics, I printed out either 4×6 or smaller.  There are a couple of 5×7′s.Lastly, I arranged the pictures around vinyl lettering I’d gotten a while back for a review.  It came from Giggly Gumdrops, and it says Home Where Our Story Begins.  I arranged pictures of our boys and us around those words, and then I fanned out on the wall with pictures of our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts and uncles, etc.  It turned out really beautifully.  To me, as it’s the start of a color scheme change (I’m trying to go with a lighter atmosphere), it almost looks a bit out of place, but it’s a start, and it makes me so happy just to see those pictures every single day.  (You’ve probably noticed the empty frame; it’s for a picture of my grandparents that I’m hoping to get a copy of next time I’m at my parents’.)  One thing I do love about the wall is that we can add or take away from it anytime….there’s no end to what we can do with it.In my opinion, as I’d posted on Facebook last night, I really have started to feel that our home is a haven for our family; it really should make us happy when we walk in the door; it might even make us giddy with joy.  Even if you take small babysteps along the way, work with what you have to make your home that place of giddy joy.  It will show not only your finger prints but your heart prints along the way.:)

This is my final journal entry for our trip to Colorado….This morning found us trying to decide what we wanted to do; of course, neither of us wanted to leave.  We wanted to stay here forever, or at least one more night.:)  We ended up deciding, since we hadn’t had a shower for an unmentionable amount of time, to go do some of the things we’d been wanting to do, including hike to Alberta Falls and drive to the top of Mount Evans, but stay in a motel room that night. We thought we could probably just find a cheap room somewhere.  So we packed up all our gear, tent and all, and carried it to the car.  It took us quite a bit, and all the while, the boys were up in their fort singing and playing until Jaden decided he’d rather get in his carseat and wait.  I guess he was tired.We checked out and headed to the trailhead for Alberta Falls.  We decided to hike from Bear Lake, and then we’d take a shortcut back to Glacier Gorge and ride the shuttle back up to our car at Bear Lake.  The hike to Alberta Falls was gorgeous, the weather was beautiful, and we had a great time.

There were streams to cross, one of which Dan and Jaden almost fell in because instead of taking the little footbridge, they decided to rock hop across the stream.  Dan made me laugh so hard; I just knew he was going to plunge right in, but he caught himself and Jaden, even though his feet still got wet.

Alberta Falls was beautiful!  We climbed up on some boulders next to it and ate our lunch, and then Dan climbed up to the top and got some more pictures.

There were quite a few people there, since it’s a little bit shorter hike, almost 2 miles roundtrip.

The stream ran alongside the trail part of the way, so we’d climb down the rocks and take pics.

While on our way back, we stopped at one stream in particular, and Dan got a soundclip of the stream trickling down through the rocks, such a peaceful sound.

When we made our way back to the shuttle (a lot of them driven by what appear to be retirees; I’d love to have a job in a national park when we retire), we got on one quick and headed back to the car.  The boys had been working pretty hard on their Junior Ranger books, so we headed to the visitor’s center, so they could get their badges.  The ranger was so nice, and he went through everything with them, explaining things they didn’t understand.As we left RMNP and Estes Park, we were really sad….but we were off to Mount Evans, mainly because we’d heard what a great drive it was, especially at sunset. I have to say I’ve never been on a drive like it, and I don’t know that I’d go back because this drive freaked us both out, to say the least.  Oh my word, I have never been so freaked out in my whole life.  I thought that Trail Ridge Road was bad, but it had nothing on the road to Mount Evans.  When we first got on the road, it wasn’t so bad; it was a wider road, and I was thinking, “Ok, I can do this.” There were trees and a huge lake and beautiful views.  There were houses up in the mountains and down in the valleys.  The sun was in our faces part of the time, so that was a little scary because we couldn’t see the road.  However, we got not even halfway there, and we had to turn on this little, narrow road where there was a small ranger booth to pay the fee of $10 to go further.As we climbed higher and higher, the road narrowed even more, and there were absolutely no guard rails, and at times, we’d look out our side windows, and it was nothing but straight down for what looked like at least a mile, if not more.

I’m not exaggerating here either.  The speed limit was 15mph in most places, and I’m tellin’ ya, we had no problem obeying this one.  Oh my gosh, my heart still races just thinking about it.  It was starting to get dusky, the switchbacks were ferocious, and as we got even higher into the tundra, the road had some damage from weather, and it got really bumpy.

In the tundra, in places, it didn’t drop straight down, but it was still really scary.  We were almost to the top when this car comes speeding up on us and passes us.  I think Dan and I both about peed our pants, no joke.  LOL  When we got to the top, the guy apologized, and Dan told him he just thought he was crazy.  We all had a good laugh, but indeed, he had to be crazy.  LOL

It was crazy cold up on top; there’s an observatory up there, and there were several cars and vans with European license plates.  It was getting so dark that we didn’t climb over to the other side to see the sunset, although I kinda wish we had….but it was so cold, and the kids were tired, so we just walked around looking at the ruins that were there on top and enjoying the amazing views.  I never knew how scared of heights I am until we did this, but wow!  Heights and Mel don’t mix!As we made our way down the mountain, the moon was coming out, and it looked as if we could just touch it.  We were above the clouds in places, and it was incredible!  The little lakes up there in the tundra and the bumpy road just reminded me of different movies I’ve seen, only this was real life….and it was absolutely breath-taking!

I will never regret the drive up, and maybe someday I’ll do it again; only maybe this time I’ll do it without listening to my husband tell my son that anything could happen (such as we’d lose a tire, brakes, etc.), and we’d just be gone, disappearing over the side of the road.  Thanks, Dan….thanks for that.:)LOL  We put on NPR on the way down and listened as we drove, and that helped to take our minds off the encroaching chasms to our right or left.:)  As Dan put it, there was no place for guard rails; the road was already crumbling off on the side; where were they going to put the guard rail?  Amazingly, in places, there were cars parked on that crumbling side, how I don’t know.  We wondered where the owners were.  Were they backpacking and camping up there?  Once again, that same driver passed us, and his wife/girlfriend stuck her hand out the window, giving us the peace sign.  LOL  It was so dark and cold up there, but the view was amazing.  It definitely put into perspective, for me, how winter on a mountain could be deadly.Anyway, after making our way back down, it was into Denver we went for a nice hot shower (even though I ran out of hot and had to get a cold one partway; go figure!) and a good night’s rest before the long trip home the next day.  We both were ready to just head back to RMNP, but work was calling our names, and it was back to “real life” we had to go.  Too bad this couldn’t be “real life.”

Continuing my journal entries for our recent camping trip to Colorado….

We woke up this morning, having stayed warm and toasty all night.  The sun was shining down on our picnic table as we munched on pancakes for breakfast.  We decided to run into town, grab some ice, and figure out what we wanted to do.  We’d been hearing about the Old Fall River Road, and Dan really wanted to drive it, so that’s what we decided to do.Old Fall River Road is a one-way gravel road filled with tons of switchbacks and the most beautiful views.  This road had no guardrails, but it didn’t freak me out so badly, maybe because we were going so slow, not sure.  On this road you get to see some of the backcountry that you can’t normally see.  There were quite a few cars taking this road; it’s been around since 1920.  Before we actually hit the road, we got to see the Alluvial Fan, which is a set of falls carved out by the Lawn Lake Flood back in 1982. Apparently, there was a lake up in the mountains, on which the dam broke, and the water came crashing down, causing a wall of water to overtake the valley and Estes Park.  To look at the falls today, I can’t imagine what that flood must have been like. We had a great time there, climbing around on the rocks, going up close to the falls, and taking pictures.  Jacob and I both wanted to climb to the top, but with Jaden it was just a little too treacherous.  Maybe when he gets bigger….

We kept going and finally hit Old Fall River Road, and soon after visited Chasm Falls, which is just a set of falls and a stream through the forest. The boys had a blast climbing through the woods there, and I got some great pictures of both of them.  The forest is such a great setting for photos.

As we climbed ever higher and higher on Old Fall River Road, we encountered views unlike any other. This road would lead into the tundra eventually.  Cars would stop right on the narrow road and take pictures, and we were right there with them hopping out when we could to catch the view.  On one stop we met another guy from Missouri who told us about Mt. Evans (which I will tell about later).  He was from Columbia, Missouri and was out for a relative’s birthday party, seeing the sights with his family.  The closer we got to the top, of course, the cooler it got. As we climbed into the tundra, we saw a herd of elk over on the opposite mountain along a narrow stream.  They were so beautiful.  We decided to stop and have a picnic there….a picnic in the tundra.:)  What a view!

If only we could eat there every day!Eventually, Old Fall River Road connects to Trail Ridge Road up above 12,000 feet; that’s the only way back down that we knew of. We ended up seeing more elk on the way down; it’s amazing that the elk are both high and low, sometimes down in the valley and sometimes up in the tundra.  It’s amazing how they even get all the way up there.  Spectacular views and even more memories made were what today was all about.When we’d made our way back down, we decided to go to Bear Lake, which was absolutely stunning.Such clear, deep water and a long trail around the lake to enjoy the views.

Once around the lake, we quickly made up our minds to come back tomorrow and hike the miles it would take to get to some other lakes that were higher up in the mountains.

Finally, we went down into town, and as we were driving along, there were elk right on the road in town; it was really cool.  We’d heard there were elk in town sometimes, but we just weren’t expecting it.

After visiting an old lodge, Elkhorn Lodge, we decided to take the boys for pizza.  We’d decided to at least eat one meal out, and while I was in the market for a good burger, we ended up at Bob and Tony’s eating some pretty wonderful pizza that was loaded down with meat and veggies.  We had to go into town anyway, so I could buy a hat.  I just didn’t feel like dealing with my head of wild hair, so a hat was the best solution.  After stuffing ourselves with pizza, it was back to the campsite and tent sweet tent.  The boys were pretty tuckered, and we had no idea what this night was going to hold.To be continued….