Certifications & all that Hoopla...

Today I finished my Red Cross trainings. I'm now officially certified in Babysitter's Training, Standard First Aid, Fundamentals of Instructor Training, Lay Responders First Aid/CPR/AED, and CPR-Adult, Child, & Infant. Basically what this means is that I am now going to be in charge of teaching the babysitter boot camps that the museum will be putting on next year. I'm going to be in charge of developing the curriculum, marketing, buying supplies, and I will be the lead teacher for them. After passing my certifications I also became a volunteer for the Mile High Chapter of the Red Cross. This means I will either teach or assist in teaching CPR & First Aid Classes all over the Denver Metro Area. I'm currently working on getting my blood born pathogens & universal precautions certification, but I hope to have that done before the end of the week. This ones a self study with a mail in test. Thank goodness, I was getting burnt out on the 9hr classes everyday.

On a separate note Jesse and I have been working out nightly for the last week. Not your typical work out by any means, but a fun one for sure. I mentioned to him some time ago that I had tried hula hooping with some kids that I babysit for and was less than successful. Its something we all did as kids and it came so naturally to us, but try doing it now and see what happens. I dare you! It's a lot harder than it looks. We heard somewhere that it was a good work out for your abs and once you get good at it you can make a full on work out with it. Hmmm... I'm all about reliving childhood games (I'm a jump rope fiend), so I went out and bought a hula hoop. Needless to say we both tried and failed then we got up and tried again until we found our rhythms. Let me tell you everyone has a different one & some people hoop to the left while others hoop to the right. I'm a lefty and Jesse seems to be a righty. We've been taking turns hooping nightly. It's probably the most hilarious thing you'll ever see (two adults hula hoping terribly and coaching each other through it). We end up laughing our butts off which is a work out in itself. We'll let you know if the work out really works, but so far we've just begun to feel the burn. I can hear Jesse hooping away in the other room as I type. He's watching the basketball playoffs and hula hooping. Oh what would the neighbors think if they looked in our windows right now.

A week of 1st Aid & Old friends...

Ryan & I @ breakfast. We're old P.E. buddies from Highschool. Our lack or physical abilities & similar senses of humor brought us together on the sidelines.

What a week! Jesse decided to do a cleansing diet. He decided it was the only way to help him start eating healthier and loosing weight. I personally think we eat pretty healthy for the most part, but that was his thing. I was supportive, but I didn't participate so it was a rough week. He was missing certains foods, so he seemed bummed all week. Tuesday was a crazy long day at work with record setting numbers for Target First Free Tuesday nights. We hit nearly 3,000 visitors that day. Yikes! It brought up issues of capacity in the museum and lots of important talks about improvements for expansion. Wednesday was another long crazy day @ the museum and then the 2nd job. Thursday we got home I changed into my pjs and passed out on the couch by 6:30pm. Friday I spent prepping for the 9Health Fair event I'd been planning the last 6months. The event was scheduled for Saturday & I was going to miss it after all my hard work, so I wanted to make sure everything was ready for the crew. Saturday I missed out on the Health Fair which I heard went well, but was a little slow due to the amazingly gorgeous weather. Who wants to be in a museum when it's 80 degrees out? I'm hoping they took lots of pictures like I asked them too. If so I'll try to post some soon. Saturday I was in a Red Cross class all day long. An incredibly long class to get CPR & 1st Aid Certified. I'm already certified through the American Hearth Association, but apparently life saving techniques slightly differ between the 2 organizations so I had to become certified through them as well. Weird! Anyhow I passed with flying colors. After class I was off to babysit where Henry decided to test my 1st Aid knowledge. He decided to face plant into the sidewalk not once, but twice. I felt awful. I was watching the kids for 2 & 1/2 hours and by the time his parents got home it looked like I had been beating him the whole time they were gone. They may never ask me to babysit again. I honestly think I felt worse than he did about the whole thing. Poor kid. Sunday my weekend begins... today I planned on doing a whole lot of nothing, but an old highschool friend called & said he was in town for a job interview. Jesse & I got up early this morning and met up with Ryan Beaman for breakfast @ his fancy Hotel. Sounds like Ryan scored a pretty sweet deal with this new job offer and he might be moving here in a few weeks. Congratulations Ryan! Give us a call when you get to town & we'll take you to drag queen brunch @ Bump & Grind to celebrate. Now I am off to relax my weekend away. Hope you all get to do the same.

The long ride...

Jesse singing away @ Karaoke.

Ashley W and I getting ready to sell corks. This year's Theme was Madeline
(meet me in Paris).

Yesterday was the museums 36th annual Birthday Bash Celebration, our biggest fundraiser of the year. Some of you might remember that it was at this celebration 2yrs ago that a certain wild thing spotted me and began his pursuit. That was my 1st bash celebration (the theme that year was Where the Wild Things Are) and I had an amazing time. Last year (the theme was Dr. Seuss, Cat in the Hat) Jesse and I went back to volunteer, but circumstances were different and we got stuck with a lame job... thus it was a less than pleasant experience. We ended up leaving early and decided since we were all dressed up we should hit up a nice restaurant for dinner, so we could feel as fancy as we looked. Unfortunately things only got worse from there. The restaurant we chose was adorable, but the food was seriously lacking and way to expensive. We were now completely disappointed, so we decided to stop by the grocery store for some ice cream and head home to veg out in front of our TV. I was hoping to talk him into volunteering again this year and making a better memory of the bash for him, but he had to work late. This year I had a pretty fun job. Miss Ashley W (there are 3 Ashleys @ my work) and I walked around selling wine corks. It was a game of chance. Everyone was a winner, but you had a chance to win more than your money's worth. All the corks sold for $20 and the bottles of wine you turned them in for were worth up to $70. I purchased 1 to give as a gift for a friend. I picked cork #83 (a good year) and ended up with a red wine bottle worth $22, not bad. After our shift was over Ashley gave me a ride home. At home I found Jesse moping around the living room complaining about how terrible the Nuggets were playing. Since the game was pretty much over we decided to get ourselves packed up a ready for the bike ride to... The Music Bar (Jesse's favorite neighborhood Karaoke bar). One our friends was having a graduation celebration there. Silly me for suggesting we ride our bikes. It's all up hill and exactly 3 miles away from our house. I haven't rode my bike in a year, plus my bike is really heavy and honestly too big for me. I thought I was going to pass out. It was a tough ride. By 29th street & Tennyson (roughly 1.7 miles) I had to stop, luckily there was a red light. We ended up getting water @ the convenient store on the corner and resting for a few minutes. Eventually we made it there all hot and sweaty. It was a pretty fun time and the ride home was totally cake. I coasted down hill at amazing speeds. The wind in my face felt fabulous. It was a long day, but a pretty good one at that.

P.S. a friend of ours posted some Ideal Fathers music their blog. Click on the link to hear it.

Special Thanks to Grandma Rita for this...

For those of you who didn't know or don't keep up to date on your Stuart Herald, my parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary on May 19th. I had no idea what to do for them. They don't want or need anything and I'm to far away to take them out to dinner. I started to make them a card, but decided a bigger recognition was needed. I called up my wonderful grandmother who helped me get this into the local paper running the Thursday before their big day. I think it was a nice surprise for them both. And yes Dave did know about it before it went in the paper. I made sure to call him discuss it with him. We both agreed on what it should say yet I some how knew I couldn't count on him turning it in on time, so I had grandma do the leg work. Dave forgot to bring me a copy of the paper when he came to visit last week, but thankfully grandma helped me out again and mailed me this copy. Thanks Grandma you're the best!

Visiting with Moe & Ben...

Last night we went to Double Daughters for a few drinks with Moe & Ben since they are in town for the weekend. Everyone seemed to be bored there, so we moved on to The Church (no it's not a real church). The Church is a dance club/bar that is made from a refurbished old church. Honestly it still seems a little weird and some how wrong that people are drinking and grinding on each other in a place where people used to worship, but who am I to judge. We didn't really do much dancing more people watching and picture taking.

*Note- Ben was being camera shy or he was really mesmerized by the drag queen wearing glow in the dark clothes dancing it up on the dance floor.

Never Never Day...

On Saturday the International Youth Ballet came to the Museum and helped us celebrate the 1st annual Never Never Day in honor of their upcoming show Peter Pan. It was a huge hit! Kids came dressed in costumes, they ballet dancers put on free shows in the theater, the pirates put on story times, we had shadow decorating on the plaza, dance lessons with the Indian maidens, dress up in Lost boy costumes, blowing bubbles with mermaids, building Wendy's house, and of course fairy making. They even raffled off free tickets to their show in 2 weeks. Luckily the museum staff got free tickets with out the raffle. They are a very talented bunch of kids. It seems like they might be planning to come back in December for a Nutcracker themed day.

What a week...

Rhea, Ryan & Kiersten setting on our couch. No Ryan the couch doesn't recline. Sorry!

Rhea & I on my awesome chair. She was obviously quite taken with it as most people are myself included. :)

The lovely ducky cake @ Shana's shower. He was quite tasty. Yum!

Scott & Shana opening gifts.

Jesse's show on Saturday.

Recovering from Jesse's show on Sunday.

The boys (Dave & Chad) left on Monday. Jesse took the day off and we just lounged after they left.

Tuesday was my parent's 30th Wedding Anniversary & Jesse's Grandpa Orlin's birthday. We sent a card to Grandpa and we took an add out in the Stuart Herald congratulating my parents with a picture from their wedding. I actually have yet to see the add as Dave forgot to bring me a copy & my grandma was my co-conspirator in setting this up. Thanks Grandma! There were several other people celebrating things on Tuesday like my 2 uncle's birthdays. May 19th is a busy day. I happened to forget that I had signed myself up to work late for a rental @ the museum, so I ended up working from 8-8 that night.

Wednesday I went to Thorton with Bonnie (the museum's office manager). Her son in the star football player & the star of the choir. He's 16 and he got the lead in the school musical. The did Les Miserable. Cold did a fabulous job & so did the rest of the cast. Several other co-workers came too and I hitched a ride home with them, so Jesse didn't have to come get me. He's been too obsessed with basketball to leave the house much lately.

Thursday was Miss Shana's babyshower. I left the bulk of the planning on this one up to another co-worker. It was nice to take a break from the stressing and decicion making. I prefer enjoying the party rather than planning... although planning can be fun.

Friday Rhea & her crew came down from the mountains to see us. Unfortunately they couldn't stay long and the timing was off for Jesse, so they really only saw me. Although they did buy us both dinner. Jesse thanks you guys! I gave them the quick tour of the museum and talked them out of Casa Bonita for dinner. It's a cool place, but the food is not so cool. We ended up heading to a great diner for dinner. The weather was beautiful, so we ate outside and just as we were leaving a storm blew in. Crazy winds, rain and the temperature dropped all with in minutes of us leaving the restaurant. We finished in the nick of time. We came back to my place for a photo op and then they headed out for the long drive home.

Tomorrow (Saturday) is Never Never day @ the museum. The Colorado ballet are bringing performers and volunteers to help us run an entire day of Peter Pan themed activities. It should be a blast. I'll try to remeber to take pictures and post them tomorrow. Moe should be in town tomorrow too, so hopefully we will get to see her and Ben.

Sunday & Monday... We are finally going to get 2 days in a row off together. We're planning on doing a whole lot of nothing. Except our friend is having a bbq on Monday that we will probably attend.

Have a nice Memorial Day Weekend Everyone!