Linda Rokos Watts

Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season. MUCH LOVE FROM THE ENTIRE ROKOS FAMILY!

I know it's been way too long since I've updated and there is so much to catch up on and hopefully in the next few days I can get it done. Not having wi - fi up and running at the house makes it hard to post all the time but with Christmas here and being at my parents house I can blog a little more. The last few weeks at the house have been wonderful for Stella and I! We've had some playtime in between all the work and I have lots of pictures....stay tuned! I'm making this post short, Stella and I are heading out to Rattle Snake Alley on my parents property to do some sledding. I love this time of year. Sending out much love!!!

Last night was Stella's and my first night in the new house. We have been mad busy trying to put it all together so we can get moved in. I'll post a bunch of pictures tonight! Much Love!

Can you believe it? It's December 1st already! 31 more days and the year is over. I'm putting the finishing touches on the house (at least the rooms we are finishing now) and stuff is starting to get moved in. Last night I unpacked most of the kitchen. It was like Christmas digging into all the stuff I had long forgotten I had. I am hoping to be completely moved in and living there by the 18 th and just in time for the holidays. Last night while I was unpacking, I had the tunes cranked and I stopped for a second look around and realized that this was MY home. It's a funny feeling, up until now we've been working so hard on the house that it's just been this (what seems like) never ending project, but last night it finally felt like home! I can't tell you how excited Stella and I are to get all our stuff in there. Wish everyone a great December. Much Love!

A quick recap of the last few days....there was of course an amazing Thanksgiving dinner, lots of work on the house, a fantastic night out to dinner and the ballet, an incredible day of skiing and of course the best part....picking my lil monkey up after 4 days of missing her!!! I can't begin to describe the feeling I get when I strap on a pair of skis and fly down the mountain. It makes my heart soar, puts a huge smile on my face and makes me a very happy girl. Today we skied Copper. The sun was shinning, the snow was hard and there weren't too many people out on the hill. It was perfect! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Much Love!!!

Another WONDERFUL Vossler / Rokos Thanksgiving has come and gone. I am thankful for so many things in my life, family, health, friendships, love and most of all my little monkey! She couldn't be with us this year and was extremely missed but I'm sure she is having a great time with her dad, step-mom and most of all her beloved little brother. I count my blessings every day and am grateful to so many people in my life but it's always great to all sit down to an amazing meal and give thanks. Very thankful for my brother! Thankful for all the amazing food! Thankful for love! Thankful for family!!! Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and had the opportunity to spend it with loved ones. Much Love!

So.... here it is, last night we put a few finishing touches on the kitchen (still a few more to go, but) i finally feel like there is an end in sight! The old pink and brown kitchen.....YUCK! The old kitchen tile on the counter tops. The new kitchen counter tops! The old entry way with the nasty old nasty, broken up tile. The new entry way with the pantry, and some new tile. Mmmm !! :) Here it is. The new kitchen!! So happy with the way it turned out. It's very warm and cozy. It's a little hard to see the colors on the walls but I'll try and get some better pics up soon. I took these latest pictures this morning while Stella and I were on the way to her school bus pick up. Hope everyone had wonderful weekend. Much love! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLIE!!!!

Today was a big day. Stella had her first swim meet and she ROCKED IT!!!! She not only stayed calm and focused before the meet but she shaved 10 seconds off her best time in the 50 freestyle sprint and 6 seconds off her best time in the 50 breast stroke sprint. The best part of it all is that she had a blast doing it and can't wait till her next meet. Stella warming up on the blocks. She is getting soooo good at pushing off and really getting a great start. Stella in full sprint. I can't tell you how proud she made me today. It's been a really long day, we got home at 8 tonight and Stella was asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow. Posting tons of pics of the house really soon. Night, night!

With the infinite amount of possibilities in the color spectrum, I'm having a very difficult time choosing the right colors. Most of the house is painted and I love the colors so far BUT, they are all very "safe" neutral colors. Its now come down to the accent colors. There are two walls in the house that need to pop. I truly have a new found respect for people that have an eye for this sort of thing. It really is an art form. I really believe that the right color can make or break the mood in the room, and I'm having a hard time setting that mood. As I hunt and peck my way through the color spectrum looking for just the right color I'm hoping it shows it self soon. I'm ending up with a lot of quart size samples and the guys at the Kwal shop in Longmont are getting to know me a little too well! ;) Off to bed ....sending out much love and respect!

This is what I am up against....an infinite number of colors at my disposal. It's wonderful and a little scary all at once. So far there's been some trial and error and thank god the paint store sells quart size samples. I've nailed Stella's room with a great, warm and cozy color with a shade darker accent wall. Tonight I had great success with the kitchen color. It looks amazing with the tile my dad finished tonight. The one area I'm having a hard time getting right is the living room and master bedroom. I can't seem to get the right color. Tomorrow I'm making yet another trip to the paint store for a few more samples so I can finally finish the painting in the next few days. Wish me luck!! :)

Big day at the pool today. Stella shaved her time today in the 50 meter sprint by a few seconds and it dropped her into a sub-minute sprint group!!!! Woo- Hoo !!! She was SO excited, and I was one extremely proud mama! It's been a goal of hers the last few weeks and shes been working sooo hard and today she finally did it! In the last few weeks Stella has been working on her dive off the blocks. I think she's finally getting it! :) Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. I didn't bring my big camera tonight but I did take these with my phone from really far away completely zoomed in. Better pictures coming soon! Off to bed, I'm one tired mama! Much Love!!

There is a local Lyons guy who I have yet to meet. He drives by my office (almost) everyday. The special thing about this guy is that he rides the motorcycle that I want. Now mind you, the picture above is not the exact bike that he rides but is very close. It's an old school BMW cafe style bike. It's absolutely beautiful, and would be the perfect size and fit for someone like me, not for someone who out-weighs me by at least another 200 lbs. I don't know of you've ever seen the Chris Farley movie where he does the bit "fat man in a little suit?" Well this guy is the fat man on a little bike, and it makes me giggle every time I see him drive by. Dad and I for years have talked about getting me a bike for the summer to ride up and down the canyon to work. He (dad) has a old "vintage" motorcycle for me but it's a little too big and a little too heavy and frankly scares the crap out of me. I want to meet this man and see if he'll sell me the bi...

This was a loooong (but good) weekend. Ski Ball was Friday night and Saturday morning we busted a move to the CU vs Texas A & M game. It was an early (for football) game at 11am. Tommy and Stella met up with me at the hotel in Boulder and we all headed out for a little breakfast. Some bagels and Jamba Juice we were on our way to the game. Waiting in the parking lot at dad's office taking goofy pics! Sitting in the club house and away from the load crowds. One of us in this picture was a little hung over....and it was neither one of the boys! HA! The Ski Team on the field at 1/2 time. If you look REALLY close you'll see Stella standing on the side lines watching. She's standing in front of the Buff Club sign! Dad on the jumbo-tron! Dad, Mom and Tommy. This weekend we didn't get as much done on the house as we had in the past few weekends. But, we did get the closets and the ceilings painted (Thank YOU Randy!). We also started on prepping the island for some tile....

It's so fun to dust off my dancin shoes once a year, get all dressed up and spend a lovely evening with lots of family and friends celebrating! Randy, Mom, Dad and I Randy and I Randy, Paul, Jess and I. So great to catch up with old friends! Angie, Aimee and I Some guy in the band?, Angie, Mom, Dad, Aimee and Heather. It was a great night for a great cause. I even won a $300 gift certificate to The Cork in Boulder. One of my favorite restaurants! Woo- Hoo ! My carriage is once again turned into a pumpkin and my dress has changed back into Carhartts . Lots more pics of the house coming tomorrow. Cross your fingers, hopefully we'll have the counter tops done! Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. Oh, and a BIG, THANK YOU to Uncle Tommy for hangin with Stella last night! Much Love!

My lil bugger is kicking some major booty at swim team practice. They start with a stretch and 200 meter warm up followed by the below. 600 meters and lots of tech talk. It's so much fun to watch She seems to have endless energy. Even after swim practice she still wants to swim another 200 - 400 meters. It's a struggle to get her out of the pool every time! My lil fishy.

Unfortunately I didn't get to spend Halloween with Stella this year but she did get to spend it at her dad's and from the sounds of it she had a BLAST! With all the work we did on the house this weekend, I went out for a few hours on Saturday night to a small but REALLY fun house party with one of my favorite people in this world! I forgot to take my camera to the party but I have a few people that took some pictures there that hopefully I'll share those soon (once I get them). :) Helga the beer wench! Stella was a pirate. Aarrrrggggg ! Thanks Tyler for passing on these pics! Hope everyone had a fantastic and fun Halloween! Much love.

WHEW!!!! What a weekend! We got so much work done on the house! We started on Friday and worked pretty much straight through till tonight. With the exception of one little break for a small Halloween party for a few hours. The old kitchen counters. Ewww ! All the tile on the counters couldn't be pulled off without pulling all the plywood up so we decided to demolish it all and start fresh. We put down all new sub-flooring before the tile was to go down. It was kinda a pain in the butt but it made the tile laying much easier and level. With all the sub-flooring laid on Saturday, it was finally time to lay the tile today! Tuesday the grout gets put in and by Thursday we should be walking on it. Woot ! This weekend I also got Stella's room finally done. The colors look great. It's going to be a very warm and cozy room. Pictures of that soon! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, and a fun Halloween! Much Love!

Out with the yucky and in with the new pretty stuff!! The old nasty tiled floor. It took a while to get all the old broken tiles stripped off the floor but we did it! Looking back at the front door. Getting all the hardwood floor scarps we had to cut out, into the fireplace. Dad's Bobcat full of the ick ! Worked tonight till about 10:30. I am one tired girl and off to bed. Till tomorrow! Night, night!