That Girl...

My little Sophie is something else... sometimes that something is so stinkin sweet, other times its extremely stubborn. But in this instance it's nothing but heaven...

 

 

 

How to Build a Bench 101...

Hayden and I made a bench awhile ago and I finally finished painting it. Wahoo! I love finished projects. It turned out great and the kids have really been enjoying their new "shoe seat". Want to build something, but don't know how? Go to the Knock-Off Wood blog - she pretty much rocks.

It went something like this:










I even tried my hand at the "distressed" look, which is harder than it seemed to be in the tutorial.
But all-in-all... success!

The Gifts of Motherhood...

What more could you ask for on Mother's Day, than to wake up to dozens of pictures drawn with love, carrots and grapes wrapped in aluminum foil, and a chocolate covered graham cracker stuffed in an envelope? I love being a Mom.

 

Maiden Voyage...

Our family has taken up a new hobby and I think that it is my favorite one yet. Mountain Biking. Rob and I went on our first ride up in the mountains on our new bikes for a date on Saturday evening. It was so FUN! I love to hike... mountain biking is like hiking in fast forward. You get to go so much faster and see so much more. It's so great! Going up the steep inclines is pretty grueling (but great exercise) I must say, but it is so worth it on the way down. Rob was meant for sports like this, the faster and more perilous the better for him. I, on the other hand, took it a bit slower, but enjoyed every minute. So if anyone ever wants biking buddies, you know who to call...

Snugglin' Soph...

As I was sitting on the couch holding Sophie while she drank her bottle the other day (yes, she still has a bottle. What can I say? She's #3 and gets away with way more than #'s 1 & 2 ever did). Suddenly I got all emotional thinking about how she wasn't going to stay this size forever and how the time always passes way too quickly. So I busted the camera out and snapped a couple shots so that I could always remember her tiny, little, snuggly self.

 

 

Love Language...

Before Valentine's Day this year, Rob and I read the 5 Love Languages book (great book, I highly recommend it). You would think that after 10 years of marriage, I would know my companion's love language by heart. Well, I sort of did, anyone can probably guess what most men's main love language is... but what I didn't know, is that his other main love language is "quality time". So for Valentine's day this year, I wanted to give Rob some real QT, but how do you give that in a gift? Then I saw this idea on another blog that was perfect, so I set to work. It took me about a month, but finally I had finished the gift. Here it is... What is that you ask? Well, to give Rob the "quality time" that shows him that I love him, I planned, paid for, and prepared, 12 months of dates (1 per month) for the two of us. I put the details for each date in an envelope that we open at the beginning of each month. Wahoo! A gift that keeps on giving all year long:) Rob and I have the hardest time deciding what to do and where to go on dates, usually he wants me to decide and HATE being forced to make decisions on short notice, so this was also a sure-fire solution to the "What do you want to do?" "I don't know, what do you want to do?" dilemma.
FYI:(I definitely spent more on this gift than I normally would have, but it was an investment in our marriage, and money that we would have spent on dates throughout the year anyway. And not every date cost money, a few of them were totally free.)

So, for our February date we got totally dressed up (we never do that anymore), and went to this snazzy little Dessert Bar down town. It was so fun and romantic, the perfect first date to kick off our year of dates...
Then in March I surprised Rob with a trip to some hot springs up in the mountains. We went on a date like this before we were married, so it was really fun to reminisce about that as we drove up there...
This month, we headed out to a Rockies game. We both love going to the stadium to cheer on the Rockies, and it was the first time that we had ever gone to a game, just the two of us. We had so much fun talking and laughing and just enjoying being there together...
So what's next? Just like Rob, you'll have to wait and see...

Spring Break in the Springs...

We took an overnight family trip to CO Springs last week. It was our first EVER family vacation (if you can really call it that), with just our family. It was short, sweet and super fun. We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, totally worth the trip. Did you know that you can feed the giraffes there?




Then we headed off to the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. I think that this was Hayden's favorite part of the trip. He loved to explore all of the rooms and read all about how they were built and used by the Anasazi Indians over 800 hundred years ago...


We spent the night in a hotel and went swimming, this was Ana's favorite part, she spent the entire week before our trip counting down the days until we would "live in the hotel". And it didn't disappoint, she swam her little heart out and then woke up at the crack of dawn because she was so excited to eat the continental breakfast... I know, if only it were that easy to please everyone. After breakfast we headed out to the Cave of the Winds - Super Cool! This was my favorite part (besides being worried that someone... who demanded that she walk by herself, was going to get lost) it was awesome! The pictures don't do it justice.


(Sophie, sad that we wouldn't let her jump off a ledge... we're such mean parents)

The trip was so fun... until I got sick on the way home. But hey, at least it didn't happen until the way home, right?! Family Vacation Numero Uno... success!

Random Fun Things...

Paper airplane design...

Climbing trees...


Target practice...

Sun and park time...



Ice cream on the run...

Building things...


Tooth loss...

Egg Hunting...




Lego construction...

And... the murder of the Easter Bunny...