sweet revelry

This week I won a dozen cupcakes from Revelry Cupcake Company. Autumn, owner and talented baker, let me pick from a list of tempting flavors. I chose the "Boston Cream Pie" cupcakes.

They were super yummy - vanilla cake with pastry cream, topped with chocolate ganache.

I also ordered two of Revelry's gelato pints - decadent coffee milk and dark chocolate. Rich and creamy, perfect. Thank you Revelry for an amazing week of sweets!

You could be the next contest winner! Follow Revelry's blog or like Revelry on facebook for notifications on the next contest. 

remembering my great grandma

All of our regular routines came to a halt last week when my great grandmother died and we headed to Kansas to gather with our enormous family and pay tribute to her long life. She lived 96 incredible years.

She was born in 1914, the year that the First World War began. She grew up in the same small Kansas town where she died. My great grandmother was married and raised four children during the harrowing years of the Depression. She has so many great - grandchildren I can’t even count, but I never realized that I was one of so many all these years, as special as she made me feel. 

She baked amazing apple pies and loved to paint, sew, travel and spend time with her family.  I’m so glad that Amelie got to meet her great-great grandma last year. Ammy was just a baby, 8 months, and my grandma was so excited to squeeze and kiss Ammy's little chubby feet.

Ammy's Great-Great Grandma Otte, with Amelie and me last year

I’m missing her now and feel so lucky to have loved her all these years.  

busy bees

The last couple of months have been super busy in our house. With the school year starting, I was back to my part time job (at a local private, non-profit high school). The first taste of fall has us rushing around the house and yard, finishing the zillion projects we had so zealously started at one point or another in the summer. Along with my mom and sister, I participated in my hometown's fall festival, Broomfield Days. It's been crazy!! Here are some moments I captured on camera.

Open gym for tots at the rec center's gymnastics area. Ammy had a blast with her good buddy Junior. 

Tekka (our goofy dog) took us to Dog Daze at the Broomfield Bay. He didn't like the swimming much but he sure had fun running around with all the other dogs.

My mom, sister and I hosted a booth at our hometown festival, Broomfield Days. It was an awesome experience and I had so much fun working with my mama to get all the visors and headbands put together. And, as a result, my monster wear army grew.

My sister, Mindy, and me bright and early that morning.

Me with my assistant and daughter, Amelie.

My mama, Mindy, Ammy and me manning the booth.

My husband , Jeremiah, brought Ammy to Broomfield Days

Our Ammy is a toddler now, running, climbing, singing and talking. She learns something new every day.

Amelie likes to do yoga in the kitchen.

The cosmos like the late summer.

Ammy and I went to the zoo with my mama, our neighbor Monica and her grandson (Ammy's buddy), Junior.

We're spending more time in the backyard now that the evenings are nice and cool.

Jeremiah is starting the big job of landscaping our front yard.

Jeremiah broke out the Halloween decorations today. At first I thought Ammy might get scared of them. As it turns out, she thinks they are pretty alright.

Pointing at the bat hanging from the ceiling.

 I'm sure there is plenty more, but this is the story the photos tell...

possibilities

My mom, Amelie and I took a trip up to Estes Park yesterday and on the way up I told her that one of my new goals is to climb Longs Peak, sometime in the next couple of years. That particular hike makes my mom nervous. She’s never been but she’s heard stories about treacherous areas and falling climbers. 

Long Peak, East Face

Before my mom was paralyzed, she hiked many of the mountains in Colorado. Hiking was a passion that she and my dad shared, and they conquered many mountains together, dragging along four children with varying degrees of willingness. We lived in Kansas but spent nearly every summer vacation in Colorado, mostly in Rocky Mountain National Park. I know that it hurts my mom terribly that she is no longer able to do certain things that she always loved, but sometimes it hits me like a punch to the stomach how painful this must be. So we got to talking about alternatives. There are some things she won’t be able to do but there are still so many possibilities. 

The three of us at wheelchair-friendly Lily Lake near Allenspark, CO

I’ve been reading a guidebook on Longs Peak and found out that you can ride all the way to the Boulderfield of Longs Peak on horseback. In fact, there are a ton of trails in Colorado that are accessible on a horse. We went back and forth on the logistics of a paraplegic riding horseback. A special saddle would be necessary. Some assistance getting on and off the horse. A second horse to “pack” her wheelchair.

We both knew we needed to do some research. Here’s some cool stuff we’ve found since our discussion: Accessible custom saddles. Therapeutic Equine Centers where paraplegics can learn to ride horses again. Most amazing: an exoskeleton that allows paraplegics to walk. Possibilities.

I'm inspired by the tenacity of people with incredible challenges. My mom wants to get on those trails and I think she's going to make it happen. I'm looking forward to seeing that empty place in her heart heart filled again.