Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Camera boy

We have had to re-move the basement furniture out of the basement for upcoming carpet installation. That means our dining room is full of mattresses and old baby toys. Emmett has rediscovered his old swing and walking/bouncing toys. He loves to turn on the music and dance! They are not assembled and in pieces. I have found these pieces all over the house! He cannot keep his hands off anything these days. He has also become a big fan of the camera. Seeing things thru the view screen is such an interesting game. He is such a ham- definitely not camera shy! Emmett has become available in several colors these days. I am starting to lose count on how many crayons he has nibbled on or ingested. Technicolor diapers are the excitement of the week.
We have company coming tonight, they should arrive just before dinner time. Dayven, Chelsea and their son Wyatt are going to be staying with us on their way back to Edmonton. They have been in Denver visiting Dayven's Mom, Karen. Our thoughts and prayers are with you Karen! In Luke's words" Give 'em hell, Karen!" We can't wait to see them and spend some QT in the few hours they will be here. I'm sure there will be some great Kodak moments of the boys, both young and old! Then, we head towards Denver for Emily and Charles' upcoming nuptials!






Friday, August 22, 2008

Goofing around

Today is the first day of Emmett on one nap. We have been having trouble with pm naps not lasting longer than 45mins. So today we skipped past the morning nap(which seemed like an eternity!) and ate lunch a bit early and went down for the one and only nap just a bit ago. We'll see.....
He also has multiple teeth coming in: 3 molars and one tooth in front. So he has been a tad fussy lately. Luke and I might be bald by the time we get to Emily's wedding! Hopefully the new nap time will help. Otherwise, he is growing like a weed. He seems to be in a fill-out phase which will soon lead to another up-phase. We have a lot of fun during the day when he's not screaming. He likes to be in the kitchen when I'm cooking dinner. Pots and pans and lids and potholders. Sometimes it can be quite noisy....that's when I pour myself a glass of wine. and laugh.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Muddy Buddy

Well, it's that time of year again. Time for the Muddy Buddy outside of Boulder Colorado! Chrissy and Jen paired up for the race again this year- Chubby Bunnies Rock! I guess it rained the couple days before the race and really muddied up the entire course, where normally you just army crawl thru the mud pit at the finish line. Congrats on a race well done!

Friday, August 15, 2008

Great Day

It was a great day today.....I finally had my root canal! I thought it would be awful, but it turns out to not be so bad. I actually feel better than I did yesterday. I have been taking so many Aleve during the week, I'm not sure what to do with myself now that my tooth isn't aching.

I have been painting trim, which takes up a lot of my time. So I decided to try to paint while Emmett runs around the basement with his toys. Boy did that backfire! I thought things were going pretty well. I could hear him playing in the other room, so things were good. I must have zoned out cause the next thing I knew he was right behind me dunking his toy truck in my paint tray! That's when I knew it was back to painting at nap time! I still have to paint all of the doors and floorboards, but am finished with the window sills and trim. What a long process!

I got a few pics from my friend Amy from her baby shower and from this past Wednesday at the park. Enjoy!
Emmett and the ladies. In this pic, he was pulling off his band-aid and none of the girls wanted to look at the camera!
Me, Courtney, Kacie, and Yvonne

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Luke's golf trip and my mini vacation

Luke had a great time at the golf tournament at the Lake. They had pretty great weather, minus one day of rain, and played pretty great golf. Always good to see Dayven and the rest of the friends and family who head down there! Emmett and I had a nice mini vacation ourselves. We started off at Grammy and Poppy's. Chrissy came up and and stayed the night on Friday. We had a good time catching up and chasing Emmett on his new toy. One of my parent's neighbors have small grandchildren and they are outgrowing some of their toys. Mom and dad are getting the hand-me-downs. It works out great for Emmett! They gave him a power wheels four wheeler this past weekend. Once he keeps his feet out of the way, he'll get the hang of it. Anyway, he loved it! Pushing with his feet or not. Gammy and Poppy left for their big trip to Nova Scotia. They will be back in October. Have a great time...Miss you already!!!
Next, we spent some time with Emily. We arranged to meet up with a few girls and kids at the zoo: Kate and her two kids, Adian and Ryleigh, Jane and her new little one, Jillain, Julie and her son Jack, and Sam. It was a really great time, somewhat hot and tiring. Emmett did not want to ride in the stroller one bit. Instead he helped us push it around the zoo. Glad I made a fuss about making sure we had the stroller for the zoo! He really didn't have interest in the animals, more about the other kids and people there. Emily even bought him ice cream and didn't really care(so Jack and I ate it!). Afterwards, we headed home to get E a nap and then decided to have dinner with her parents, Jim and Sherry, and Arlie, Emily's grandma. We had a nice dinner outside on the patio. Emmett is one of the ring bearers at Emily's wedding in two weeks. So Emily got out the wagon for a little practice. None needed. Emmett had Emily, Sherry and Jim pulling him around the yard the entire evening. Emmett would wave as he came around to the patio and clap for himself as if he was doing all the work. Such a hoot! On Sunday morning, we stopped in to see Jackie Geib who had some great news- they are pregnant! We are very excited for you and Karl! Congrats! Then we headed to Castle Rock to meet up with Grandma Debbie and Aunt Amy for lunch. We had a nice lunch and managed to walk off a few calories at the outlet mall! We then stopped in to see the Christensen's. Emmett and girls always have such a great time together! Lily and Anna are the best "mother hens" and it really makes being away from home so easy. They follow him up and down the stairs and have so many toys to choose from! Emmett loved playing Guitar Hero with Ryan! (I actually enjoyed playing Guitar Hero with Ryan!) Sarah and I took the kids to the park and the pool down from their house on Monday. We weren't sure it was going to happen with all of the rain and storms that were passing thru. Typical Colorado summertime rain showers. (Sarah and I got caught in a downpour when out walking Jackson. He didn't like it too much!)

We picked Luke up from the Airport on Tuesday and drove home. We made it in about 11:30pm and are still trying to recover today. Everyone is tired and trying to get back to normal life. Then we do it all over again in two weeks for Emily and Charles' big day!!!! See you all soon!



Sherry and E
waving






On our way
to the pool






Rockin' with
Guitar hero




Jackson aka
drowned rat





Emmett and Anna
playing horseshoes




Boys and their
remotes!




Emmett and Jack





Ryleigh and Jillian



Emily and E





kids looking
at the penguins





Emmett and Jack
looking for the monkeys



E and I at the park





Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Back to Denver

We are getting packed up and ready to hit the road. We are all heading to Denver for our own mini vacations. Luke is flying from Denver to meet his buddy, Dayven and the rest of the crew at the Lake for a golf tourney. I get to see my parents off for their two month vacation to Nova Scotia and the east coast. Also meeting up with some girlfriends at the Denver Zoo and we get to spend some time with the Christensen family! Whew! I am really excited to spend time with you all! (and get out of the smoke!) I'll be back in a week!

Sunday, August 3, 2008

A trip to see cousin Trish

We woke up with Emmett at 5:30am Saturday morning and began our trip to Yellowstone. My cousin Trish, her husband Cody, and their two boys, Colton and Brayden were camping with family and friends near Fishing Bridge inside the park. It was really great to see them. I think it has been since their wedding a few years back that we have gotten together. Once Cody got back from fishing, we packed up lunches and kids and went up to Mt. Washburn for a hike. There was a fire that had started a few days ago near Fishing Bridge, but it seemed to be just smoldering when we left for hiking(we were weary of hiking if there was going to be too much smoke). Driving to our hike was fun because of the huge herds of buffalo that were on both sides of the road. Between Danny's truck(trish's friend) and ours stood a huge buffalo. A ranger's truck was on it's way in to "direct traffic" and wound up nudging the buffalo with their vehicle. What a sight to see! We also got to see them stampeding and crossing the river. Pretty cool. (In this picture, Danny's truck is the black truck going around the buffalo. You can see the very front bumper of the ranger's truck.)

It was a gorgeous hike with tons of wildflowers and the hope of big horn sheep at the top. It was a steep grade trail but we made a few stops for Kodak moments and one to eat our lunch. A pair of hikers stopped at our lunch spot and informed us that when they were hiking up that morning, a big black bear was passing thru right where we were eating. Be aware of the bear!! We never saw anything. Bear or sheep. We also never made it to the top. Too much for little legs and adult legs for that matter. You could really see the smoke billowing miles away from the top of our hike. We thought it must be the Gun Barrel fire burning in the canyon on your way into the park. Earlier that morning, we drove right past the Gun Barrel fire. The winds had shifted and it was headed back towards the highway. Luke insures a few ranches in danger of the fire and we stopped in to check on one of them. The firefighters had been up most of the night protecting the structures, but nothing had been touched.

Anyway, it turns out it was the fire by Fishing Bridge that had refueled by the winds. The drive back from the hike was pretty eerie. Flames and black smoke directly across the river from us. We were trying to get back quickly just in case they were to close the road. Trish and Cody were hoping that they would not get evacuated from their campground, but the fire was getting huge when we left. We hope they are all alright and enjoying the rest of their vacation. See you at Thanksgiving!













Baby buffalo Wyoming traffic jam












Gun Barrel fire at 8am








Gun Barrel fire at 4pm





Colton
















Colton and Brayden







Lunch spot




Emmett asleep in pack







YNP fire at 9am







YNP fire at 3pm


















Friday, August 1, 2008

Balloon festival













This morning was the beginning of the balloon festival here in town. What a beautiful sight to send Luke off to work. He came back in from the garage to tell us that the balloons were directly across the field. Emmett loved watching them land. It was still smokey this morning. The fires are still burning pretty good and not contained at this time. I guess the terrain is too much for the fire crews and they have to let it burn. We are heading in to Yellowstone to meet Cousin Trish and her family. Hoping to do some hiking, but if the smoke is too bad....





Horses are intrigued with the balloon in their field.






















Heart Mtn. has been hazy or missing for the past few days.