Linda Rokos Watts

A view from what will be our new front deck looking up the valley!

One of the great things about living in a small town in that you feel like part of a community. Lyons had their annual Good Ol ' Days Festival this weekend so we went down on Friday night after celebrating Tommy's birthday to check out all the fun! Stella and her buddy Lucas getting ready to slide. Stella took a slight early lead and whooped some booty! :) A little more friendly competition. Mom, dad and Stella. In the end, Stella won a monkey and all was good in the world! Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

I can't believe my little brother is 23. On Friday, my mom, dad, Stella, Tommy and I all met up in Boulder in the afternoon for a great family dinner to celebrate Tommy's birthday! Uncle Tommy and Stella sharing some love! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMMY!!!!

Summer break is all about having fun, right? Stella and I have been having tons of it. I love this time of year, everything is green and days are long and warm. She's been a busy bee and excited about all the things to come this summer. I know I've been terrible about keeping up with my blog lately but the there are lots of pictures to post and lots of good stuff to write, which I hopefully plan on catching up on in the near future. In the meantime , hope everyone is enjoying the sunshine, getting out and playing and enjoying family and friends as much as possible. My lil monkey in a cage. Stella getting her face painted at a Niwot block party. Sending love.... Linda and Stella!

I know I haven't written in a while but things have been crazy, exciting, suspenseful and most of all busy the last few weeks. All good things are coming though. We put an offer on a little house last week and the people accepted. We close on the house in 10 days. It's a little house, about 1,700 sqft and sits on two acres of land. Perfect for Stella and I!! I'm holding my breath till all the paper work is signed and sealed before I let my self get too excited but it's getting hard not to be excited. Picture to come soon, promise.

Keep your fingers crossed...Stella and I might have a place of our very own soon! Details to follow!

What a week. The preconception of taking it easy during summer break does not apply in this family. Apparently when summer break comes along we seem to get busier. Stella started a 3 1/2 week summer school booster program and tennis camp this last week. My poor mom has logged more hours in the car driving between Estes and Boulder then I think she's logged in the last two months. We are busier then ever at work but with all this rain the last few weeks, all of our quarries are flooded and we're unable to pull the rock that we need. Luckily we have kick ass customers and they understand that we have no control over Mother Nature. We were getting a little worried at the beginning of our busy season that things weren't picking up but the worry only lasted for a minute and now we're in full swing! Stella ripping the ball across the net. My lil one ROCKS! :) Stella, Ryan, Connor and I at our favorite sushi spot for Ryan's last night in town on Saturday. We h...

My new favorite product. Since I've been weening myself off coffee and trying to kick my silly caffeine fix, I figured it would be a good time to whiten my teeth. I've tried a few different products but Go Smile by far has been the best one. Go Smile is quick and easy. It's a little pricier then most products but you definitely get what you pay for. I am a firm believer that if you find something good or that works, you should pass the word on, so here is my add for Go Smile! Now go out and get it so you too can have some pearly whites. :) On to a weekend update.... I was minus the lil one (at dad's) and minus the foo (hunting) this weekend. It was nice to kick back and slow it down a little and enjoy some me time. I got in a few work outs, a little work, some great conversation and some beers Saturday and Sunday with friends. Good times. Happy Monday .....Wishing Tommy a happy and safe trip!

The Annual Crocs warehouse sale is happening this weekend. Last year was our first year that we went and this year was just as crazy as last. Although I am not a big fan of Crocs they are pretty darn comfortable and actually allow me to be on my feet all day with pretty minimal impact on my knees. Picture this...a warehouse full of millions of Crocs all on sale for $5 to $10. You can't beat that! They also have a sister company brand that makes some pretty killer flip flop (my favorite) on sale there too. Here is what I ended up with, 6 pairs of shoes... $30 ( woot ). Stella and my mom were on their way down there this afternoon (seeing as I have to work) to stock up on some Crocs for Stella. Stella and Tommy at her end of 3rd grade dinner. She wanted steak so we went out and got her steak. :) Tommy met up with us for dinner and a movie unfortuanley Connor couldn't make it beacause he had a few meetings and had to pack for a hunting trip this weekend. He was missed but in s...

The goofy little monkey on the right is finishing up third grade today! She makes me one proud mama! We had a little toast over breakfast this morning and tonight I want to take her out for a little dinner celebration! We still have 3 1/2 weeks of summer school (non-mandatory, but a good prep for 4 th grade) ahead of us but that will be easy- peasy . It's 1/2 day class for 4 days a week. Not bad, she's a little bummed but in the long run it will be good for her. We've got some trips scoped out after she's done, two months of play time isn't bad. Summer feels like it's finally here, although it's a little gloomy out today. So in the spirit of being a little kid and being excited for summer break.....HAPPY THURSDAY!

This morning at 6 am both my dad and I did the salt water cleanse. This was my first venture into the colon detox area and I was a little nervous. Two hours later, 1/2 a gallon of salt water, and a bunch of yoga stretches, I was all done and cleaned out. I'm trying to drop a few pounds of winter weight, not a whole lot, about 5lbs. Hopefully this will start me on the right track! Happy Wednesday!

While we were out in New Mexico Stella got he first lesson at the driving range. We went through two large buckets of balls, she was having such a blast that we had to drag her out of there eventually. Connor showing Stella how to grip the club. She was so interested in learning how to play. Maybe golf camp is in order this summer? :) Her first swing out to the 75. Mamas turn to take a swing. Connor and Stella teeing up! Taking a break on the green and getting a snarl for taking another picture...I even got the mooooooommmmm , stop! One day she'll thank me. Ha! And one more.... Connor hates them almost as much as Stella but I'm a picture takin fool! :) We had such a beautiful day out on the green. Most of the family came out with us and I think we took up almost every tee on the driving range. I have a feeling we'll be going to the range a lot more. Happy Tuesday, stay dry!

Thursday we packed our bags and headed to the airport. Stella always gets so excited about flying it makes it feel like a big adventure. A quick trip (45 minutes) in the plane and we landed in Albuquerque. We had the whole family meet us at the airport and we hopped in Annie's car and made it to our condo at about 9pm. Tired from a long day of work and traveling we crashed in preparation for a few busy days with the entire family. We got Stella some new luggage for the trip. She's been eyeing the Roxy roll bag for some time now and I finally broke down on Wednesday night before we left and bought it for her. Stella if front of our little apartment downtown. There were so many people staying at the house that the foo's mom let us stay in one of their rental properties. I love the old doors they have in New Mexico. They are everywhere and one more beautiful then the next. Saturday night the whole gang eatin traditional tamales ( YUMMM ) and Chile rellenos . Last year J...