Just Lauren

I drove down to spend time with my family this weekend. I went down Saturday morning so Elisabeth wouldn’t have to watch Pippin and to try to avoid traffic. I caught up with my parents for a couple of hours before Kaitlin brought over Emily and Ollie. We played for a bit where Emily gave me paintings she had created earlier that week. My mom had helped make them into a little book so Emily and I flipped through the pages as she explained to me what some of the paintings were. An ocean. A fence with a cover on it and the sky above. A self portrait and a fox. In her self portrait she had two giant blue streaks of paint as her hair. I loved it.

Emily and Ollie played with duplos after that and brought out their creations for us to see. I loved Ollie’s ingenuity of creating the vehicle pictured above so I asked him if I could take a picture of it. There was something about a piece of roof next to a person next to a horse balancing precariously on top of cargo that really spoke to me. Haha. Then Emily came out with a person sleeping on a bed and you know I had to snap a picture of that too. 😉 I told Ollie I would bring my Lego t-rex to show him next time I come over.

My mom took me and Kaitlin out for lunch on Saturday, something we haven’t done in quite a while thanks to kids and covid. That afternoon was such a special treat getting to spend time with just the two of them. Shout out to my dad who watched the kids for us while we relaxed. I ate inside of a restaurant again! The place was even emptier than Watercourse was so I had no problems with it, although it was still weird not wearing a mask indoors. We went shoe shopping after that where my mom agreed to purchase a pair of shoes for both me and for Kaitlin. It was impeccable timing because I was literally going to swing by the shoe store after I returned to Denver yesterday so I could find a pair of tennis shoes for myself in preparation for my trip to the mountains this upcoming weekend. Thank you, Mom! I got a really great, really comfortable pair of good walking shoes. And then, to top it all off, Kaitlin gave me her pair of hiking boots since she doesn’t go hiking much anymore. How did I get so lucky this weekend?

After we returned to my parents’ house, my mom and I attempted to make vegan brownies with Emily’s and Ollie’s help. I had found this recipe and was so excited to try it but I have to say, we either did something wrong or we’ll have to adjust for altitude (I’m thinking both) because the brownies were not brownies when we were done with them. They were this weird, fudgy thing, that we all still ate, but that were clearly not brownies. As I told my family after they came out, I had accidentally added water to the batter and while I tried to pour it out, some of it definitely stayed in there, so that probably affected the bake. Plus a few other things we did or didn’t do, not intentionally, it’s just that baking with two little kids while trying to get it done quickly so we can eat it after dinner is quite hard. I much prefer trying new recipes when children aren’t around. So I will try out the recipe again some other time, in my own kitchen, and see how it goes.

On Sunday we all had lunch together and I headed back later that afternoon. You know, I’ve been enjoying writing my What I like Wednesday posts about all the awesome parts of Denver and Colorado but there are some annoying parts too. The I-25 highway is one of them. There is always traffic, there is always an accident, and I dislike it very much. I’m sure all major cities have traffic issues and I can only hope that Colorado really thinks up some creative and new ways to reduce the traffic on I-25 because it’s really crappy. Regardless, I loved spending time with my family this weekend and they are well worth an extra 30 minutes of traffic! I mean, get this, Kaitlin tried two different vegan brownies recipes Saturday night when she returned home. That’s love (and determination) right there! She is also learning how finnicky vegan baking can be and she said neither batch were acceptable. My mom made vegan cinnamon rolls with me Sunday morning. My dad went and got vegan butter for us Saturday afternoon. I’m surrounded by love! I have hope that we can find a vegan brownie recipe though, with my entire family behind me, we’ll find and tweak a recipe that works! It’s only a matter of time. Happy Mothers’ Day to all the mothers out there that sweat and cry and encourage and love and laugh and try their best!