HMMMMM... what to write...how about the art, and benefits of, boring a child

I feel like it is going to take me some time to figure out exactly what it is that I want to share with this blog, so if you are the one person reading this, please bear with me while I figure this thing out.

I think parenting is my topic of the day, I figure that since I have such a wealth of experience (having 1 child and all) that I really feel like I should share. This morning Avery woke up EXHAUSTED and a little congested. She had no fever and I knew that she wasn't really sick, but I did think that her immune system was probably a bit down. SO, I gave her the option of going to school or staying home to rest. Of course, she overwhelmingly wanted to stay home and was very excited... until I stated the rules. No tv and no playing, this is a rest day. She still opted to stay home (which I still think was the best decision), by about 9am, she was begging to go to school. : ) My hope is that this VERY boring day will stop the fake sick days from becoming a problem. I think now I see why people have more kids...you have more of a chance to use the trial and error method of parenting. If you have enough, you could be really great at this thing.

On a high note, the really boring day for Avery yielded a great day of cleaning for me! She even chipped in some, which was fun. The highlight of my day was when I vacuuming and I thought I heard something and I yelled to Avery "what was that noise?", she responded "it's the vacuum, mom!". I was SO excited to know that she knew what one sounded like!!!! I must clean more often than I think.

Friends, Animals and Kansas History, oh my!

What a weekend, and it isn't over yet. : ) We had such a great time in Abilene with our friends, they have a great property just outside of town. They have 2 girls, who are 6 and 8, so we had 4 adults, 3 girls, 2 horses, 7 cats, 5 dogs, 2 fish and chickens all hanging out together. We roasted marshmallows over a campfire and got to look at the stars and looked at the moon through a telescope. We all had a great time, the only bummer was that we squeezed our trip out there into a 24.5 hour window including 6 hours of driving, round-trip.

Before we left Abilene, we took the girls and the dogs to an amazing park there called Brown Memorial Park. This is an absolutely beautiful park that has a crazy story. If you didn't know any different, when you drive into this park you would think what a peaceful, natural, BEAUTIFUL park! What you wouldn't know is that back in the late 1920's it was C. L. Brown's (founder of the company which would eventually become Sprint) dream. He wanted to build a park as a way to give back to his community. He had a 10 year plan to build this park, and WOW, what a plan. He built a lake that was 1 mile long, he had a Whaling ship constructed there, he had a zoo (including elk and bear) he built . Anyway, the short story is that it was a MAJOR attraction in Kansas that had 17,000 visitors in 1 weekend. Now, it has all disappeared with just a few remaining clues that it ever even existed. You can't even find information about it online, at least not much, I did find this. We found a dried up waterfall, a bear cage, piers that the ship was tied to (we think), and random stone bridges. No lake, no crowds, no bears...

Just to add a bit more adventure to our road-trip we also climbed up to see the cannons that look out over Ft. Riley. I think I have pics of this that I will add.

After getting home, we noticed that Shorty can no longer wag his tail, I guess it is wagged-out. We are hoping that it isn't broken, but just tired... now that is a sign of a good weekend!

Day 2 - Meaning behind blog name

This post is actually from yesterday, I couldn't post it from my phone after all.

Maybe I am serious about this blog thing...In order to be able to post today, I am having to do it from my blackberry in the car on our way to see some friends near Abilene, KS! This morning I got to volunteer as the "gate keeper" for KCDS (Kansas City Dressage Society). It was really fun to get to see some old friends AND my old horse Gracie. She looks amazing and even has "Team Gracie" gear! I will try and post a pic of her bag. I did not get a pic of her, so just imagine a super fit and gorgeous Friesian Sport Horse and you will be close.

Ok, on to the task at hand... The meaning behind my blog name. Do you remember Lovey and Thurston, aka "Mr. And Mrs. Howell", from the show Gilligans Island? When I was working for Custom Energy, right out of college, I met Nacona Ward and I am pretty sure that she has almost always called me Lovey. In fact, I'm not sure she knows my real name! She was the first to call me this, but I guess Chris has been called Thurston since about the 8th grade. Anyway, since this is a blog about the adventures, insights and bloopers of the Howells, primarily from Lovey's perspective, it seems fun and fitting.

Ok, I better get back to my job as Thurston's co-pilot and companion! In casy you are wondering, Avery is with us happily watching a movie a treat we save for road trips.
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

Day 1 - 30 Day Blogger Challenge - 15 Interesting things @ me

Ok, well it has been a few YEARS since we have posted on this blog! CRAZY. So, I am going to hijack it and make it "my" blog. I was inspired by Amy Reinecke to take this 30 day Blogger Challenge. Should be fun. : )

15 Things About Me...

1. The mother of 1: Avery Marie Howell born on July 7th, 2005

2. The wife of 1: Christopher Justin Howell - Married May 20th 2000

3. A stay at home/work at home mom (Manager with Arbonne)

4. I LOVE horses and have passed that on to Avery

5. A Mechanical Engineer

6. Way more interested in riding my horse than cleaning my house

7. Telluride is my favorite city

8. I compete in Dressage (at least I did 2 years ago and want to do it again)

9. I am not stylish

10. I am kind of private, so this blog is a big deal

11. Independent

12. Christian

13. LOVE my 2 Labradoodles - Shaggy and Shorty

14. Love my 2 cats - Millie and Jackson

15. Have been a vegetarian, almost vegan, for about 6 weeks

Avery's 3rd Birthday Party

Here is the Birthday Cowgirl snacking on a cupcakes before the guests arive. It is hard to say cheese with a full mouth! The theme of the party was ponies, and we were in the Pony Corral at the Deanna Rose Farmstead. We love that place!









Cousin Libby and Avery get so excited to see eachother, this is such a cute picture of the two of them. I think they look like sisters.






















Keeping with our pony theme, my friend Jennifer Bentch make these AWESOME mini cupcakes, I can't believe how cute they turned out!







The Torline Family (Chris, Shelley, Olivia and Jaxton)came out to help us celebrate, they look great, as usual!

















Colton, our nephew was all smiles when he arrived.

Holy Cow!

Avery and I took a roadtrip up to Osborn, Missouri with some friends (Thanks Anice!) to visit Shatto Milk Company. It is a working Dairy farm that supplies local grocery stores with the best milk in the world. : ) We had a TON of fun, it is well worth the drive if you are living in the KC area.

The large cow that Avery is petting is Patches. Avery also got to milk Patches, with a little help. We bottle fed the calves water and brushed them so that they would look good for the later tours...

A few family pics in no specific order.

Avery doing her favorite thing... SWING!!!

Mom and Avery at Louisberg Cider Mill contemplating a pony ride. Avery brought her own money.

Dad standing next to Avery while she rides Lucky at the Louisberg Cider Mill.

Mom and Dad in Minnesota. We were headed up for Bria's wedding and took a detour along the North Shore Drive. It was raining and there was a terrible infestation of silk worms. We managed to smile for the pic. We then headed to Gunflint Lodge where they were quite surprised we had made the trek into nowhere without reservations! It worked out.

Avery likes cupcakes:

Mom and Aves at the Danna Rose Petting Zoo for Avery's 2nd BDay.



Dad and Avery in a fort in Breckenride, CO.

Mom and Dad really do love each other... maybe it's the liquor.
Mom atop Celty in her show outfit.

Mom and Dad on their way to an island excursion off the coast of California.

Mom, Avery, Shaggy, Shorty, and Dad at the "farm".

Avery in leaves.

Shaggy and Shorty dress the part for XMas.

The Singing Sumo Squad at Ron and Heather's house for XMas.