Wednesday, August 29, 2012
t-ball
so, prepare yourself for the giant summer wrap-up! and we're starting out with t-ball. caleb had a great time this summer playing in games and learning about batting and fielding and his favorite, being the catcher. he was pretty cute in his little uniform....
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
best. day. ever.
i can't believe that our summer is almost over. it has flown by and despite moments when i felt like i just. might. not. make. it., it has turned out to be a great one. it will definitely be memorable. no trips to disneyland or hawaii but we have had a lot of fun together as a family.
this was our little trip up to st. mary's glacier....up just past idaho springs--just about an hour from our home. we packed up some snacks and headed up into the beautiful mountains. the air was crisp and summery and we got up to the trailhead in the early afternoon. we unloaded our little people, and got geared up. it is not a long hike around 1.25 miles but it is a fairly steep and rocky climb. the kids bounded up like little mountain goats enjoying each minute. there is little that brings more of a zing to my heart than hearing my children truly appreciate the world that we live in and recognizing the hand of god in our beautiful surroundings. the spirit truly is in nature and i know that they can feel it there. it is hard to miss the majesty of god in his handy-work.
we arrived at a gorgeous lake. we stopped for a moment to look around and have snacks. st. mary's is not a true glacier but rather an ice field. storms loomed over our head most of the hike but we decided to make the most of it so we hiked up to the snow/ice as well to check things out. not long after arriving at the the snowy spot, we started to feel raindrops on our foreheads and hear the first claps of thunder being that we were high in the mountains, we knew that it was time to move swiftly to lower elevations.
we grabbed hands and started to come down the mountain. the rain started to pelt our backs as we moved fast. i was holding the little hands of josh and maryn and they climbed without complaint about the cold or rain or fast pace...just nervous smiles and giggles all the way down. it was a fun adventure and they were excited to reach the car and dry off. (in case you are concerned, adam sat comfortably under his weather canopy and so was cozy and dry the whole way).
we drove back into idaho springs but nobody wanted to go home because we were having such a great time and so we found a little mining museum to explore which the children found far more interesting than i would have imagined. we ended the trip with having dinner at colorado's famous beau jo's pizza which was a real treat. we were all starving. later, we headed home, with a car full of tired children who declared it the best. day. ever.
this was our little trip up to st. mary's glacier....up just past idaho springs--just about an hour from our home. we packed up some snacks and headed up into the beautiful mountains. the air was crisp and summery and we got up to the trailhead in the early afternoon. we unloaded our little people, and got geared up. it is not a long hike around 1.25 miles but it is a fairly steep and rocky climb. the kids bounded up like little mountain goats enjoying each minute. there is little that brings more of a zing to my heart than hearing my children truly appreciate the world that we live in and recognizing the hand of god in our beautiful surroundings. the spirit truly is in nature and i know that they can feel it there. it is hard to miss the majesty of god in his handy-work.
we arrived at a gorgeous lake. we stopped for a moment to look around and have snacks. st. mary's is not a true glacier but rather an ice field. storms loomed over our head most of the hike but we decided to make the most of it so we hiked up to the snow/ice as well to check things out. not long after arriving at the the snowy spot, we started to feel raindrops on our foreheads and hear the first claps of thunder being that we were high in the mountains, we knew that it was time to move swiftly to lower elevations.
we grabbed hands and started to come down the mountain. the rain started to pelt our backs as we moved fast. i was holding the little hands of josh and maryn and they climbed without complaint about the cold or rain or fast pace...just nervous smiles and giggles all the way down. it was a fun adventure and they were excited to reach the car and dry off. (in case you are concerned, adam sat comfortably under his weather canopy and so was cozy and dry the whole way).
we drove back into idaho springs but nobody wanted to go home because we were having such a great time and so we found a little mining museum to explore which the children found far more interesting than i would have imagined. we ended the trip with having dinner at colorado's famous beau jo's pizza which was a real treat. we were all starving. later, we headed home, with a car full of tired children who declared it the best. day. ever.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
i - deeee - ho
a month back....and after the reunion, we headed straight up to the sage brush of idaho for a little r&r (the kind you get with 9 kids running around and family to visit with and games to play and dreams to dream). to tell you the truth, before this trip, i think that i was on-the-verge-of-as-close-as-i-have-ever-come-to a nervous breakdown. i was stressed, drowning, exhausted, and needed help. so this little getaway couldn't have come at a morning opportune time. the best part: eric was all ours for 10 DAYS!
some of the things we enjoyed were:
we headed from the reunion to miss gracie-lou's baptism....it was a treat to share that with her and then we rushed up to...
lane & rachel's wedding reception where i took pictures....if you would like to see more of those, head on over to my photoblog....in like a week and maybe i'll have them up:) we are super excited to have rachael as part of the fam. the "sis-in-law threesome" is now complete and jodi and i couldn't be happier to have rachael as part of our gang.
speaking of, the three of us did some good chatting and rachael treated jodi and i (and maryn and gracie) to awesome pedicures...they were lovely.
an essential part of our trip was teaching the kids to play "kick-the-can" as you americans call is and "skop-die-blik" as i have known it all my life. it was so fun to play this game that was one of my childhood favorites with my own kids. i get into it and it was fun to have caleb army crawling next to me saying things like, "okay, mom, here's the plan...", "look at those stars!", and "let's do this thing!" caleb was a rock star and probably turned out to be the mvp of the game. we played until midnight and i hope my kids remember it as long as i will.
i think grandma mary made cinnamon/sugar toast for the kids about 100 times. they loved it. the rest of us lived on the loads leftover cheesecake and croissants from the reception....we started to get creative with it....like mushing the cheesecake into vanilla icecream....one of jodi's finest ideas.
addie and josh amused themselves for hours playing "house" and "horses" while maryn and grace lived in their own little world. caleb, sander, maryn & grace spent an entire afternoon trying to capture wild kittens they were determined to make their pets. luckily, they never got hold of one....maybe even luckier that one never got hold of them.
eric, evan and lane, spent a day installing a long overdue air conditioner for their parent's home...life changing...i'm sure:)
evan and eric also spent a day haying the fields up in kilgore. we joined them for a little while. i got to learn to drive the tractor and raked a row or two myself.
being that i was on holiday, i didn't feel compelled to get the camera out for every little event...although i did manage to record the little jaunt on the tractors....shoot dang! i missed getting a shot of eric driving the tractor with his shirt off....that's right, we're real rural. but here are a few to show that we were there and loving it.
needless to say, we came home, relaxed, happy, and rejuvenated. it was just what we needed.
some of the things we enjoyed were:
we headed from the reunion to miss gracie-lou's baptism....it was a treat to share that with her and then we rushed up to...
lane & rachel's wedding reception where i took pictures....if you would like to see more of those, head on over to my photoblog....in like a week and maybe i'll have them up:) we are super excited to have rachael as part of the fam. the "sis-in-law threesome" is now complete and jodi and i couldn't be happier to have rachael as part of our gang.
 |
| weddings are about the most magical things in the world to little girls |
speaking of, the three of us did some good chatting and rachael treated jodi and i (and maryn and gracie) to awesome pedicures...they were lovely.
an essential part of our trip was teaching the kids to play "kick-the-can" as you americans call is and "skop-die-blik" as i have known it all my life. it was so fun to play this game that was one of my childhood favorites with my own kids. i get into it and it was fun to have caleb army crawling next to me saying things like, "okay, mom, here's the plan...", "look at those stars!", and "let's do this thing!" caleb was a rock star and probably turned out to be the mvp of the game. we played until midnight and i hope my kids remember it as long as i will.
i think grandma mary made cinnamon/sugar toast for the kids about 100 times. they loved it. the rest of us lived on the loads leftover cheesecake and croissants from the reception....we started to get creative with it....like mushing the cheesecake into vanilla icecream....one of jodi's finest ideas.
addie and josh amused themselves for hours playing "house" and "horses" while maryn and grace lived in their own little world. caleb, sander, maryn & grace spent an entire afternoon trying to capture wild kittens they were determined to make their pets. luckily, they never got hold of one....maybe even luckier that one never got hold of them.
eric, evan and lane, spent a day installing a long overdue air conditioner for their parent's home...life changing...i'm sure:)
evan and eric also spent a day haying the fields up in kilgore. we joined them for a little while. i got to learn to drive the tractor and raked a row or two myself.
being that i was on holiday, i didn't feel compelled to get the camera out for every little event...although i did manage to record the little jaunt on the tractors....shoot dang! i missed getting a shot of eric driving the tractor with his shirt off....that's right, we're real rural. but here are a few to show that we were there and loving it.
 |
| kilgore |
 |
| farmer josh |
 |
| my poor, sweet babe with his goopy, puffy eyes |
 |
| eden waiting patiently |
 |
| trying to come up with an awesome tractor pose....still needs a little work...i'd say... |
 |
| this was after one round....he stayed the entire afternoon to finish the job...his face was REALLY dirty |
 |
| love these boys...and they love each other! |
needless to say, we came home, relaxed, happy, and rejuvenated. it was just what we needed.
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