Back Seat Driver

Thursday I was backing out my driveway and almost got hit by some woman who decided to flip a u-turn right by my driveway. When I pulled up behind her at the stop sign she just sat there even though there were no cars coming. I was just about to honk my horn at her when she rolled down her window and waved me past. The problem was that she was sitting right in the middle of the road so I had to drive right next to the side walk on the wrong side of the road to get around her. Needless to say I was pretty ticked by this point and as I passed her I called her a stupid cow (my windows were rolled up, I was just venting outloud). All of a sudden from the back seat Sarah said, "Moooooo, Mooooooo, Mooooooo!" I was so upset over the situation that it took me a second to understand why she was mooing. Finally it hit me, I had just called this woman a stupid cow and Sarah picked up on the cow reference so she started mooing. I busted up laughing and almost peed my pants. It was so funny! I will definitely have to start watching my actions when I drive.

Gymnastics

A few weeks ago I signed Sarah up for a gymnastics class for toddlers. We go every Monday and last Monday was our first class. It runs for six weeks. It's really like glorified play time but Sarah loves it. We start out with circle time where the kids do fun little stretches and sing a few interactive songs. Then we have free time for half an hour where the kids get to run around on all the gymnastics equipment. They have the parallel bars, uneven bars, the rings, balance beams, a mini trampoline and big squishy mats all over the place. But Sarah's favorite area is the pit of foam blocks. They have a slide set up that drops you into the blocks. Sarah also like me to toss her in. After free play we pull out the parachute and do various activities with the kids. I am so glad I signed Sarah up for this and I know she is too. It is so great for her to run around and just be a kid and it gives us some special time together.

This is only half the equipment there

Big Girl Bed

Last Sunday, Sept. 14th, we moved Sarah from her toddler bed to a twin size bed. She loves it! It is so fun having her in a bed because I can do so many more things with her. We kneel down beside her bed to say prayers, I lay down with her to read books and I sit on the edge of her bed while I sing to her. It's also nice to cuddle with her on it.

Her first night in bed went really well. She usually sleeps with her pink bear. About 10 minutes after we had put her down we kept hearing her meowing over and over. After a while it was quiet and she had fallen asleep. When Kevin got up at 5:30 the next morning to get ready for work he peeked in on her and she was asleep with her stuffed kitty and Pinky was in the corner with the rest of her stuffed animals. An hour later at 6:30am I peeked in on her and this is what I found:

In that one hour she had gotten up out of bed, walked over to the corner, put the kitty back, picked up her brown bear and crawled back up onto her bed where she fell asleep on her knees. She stayed asleep like that for an hour and then decided to come out of her room. Funny girl!

The Children's Museum

Last week Sarah and I had a mother/daughter date to the Children's Museum here in Denver. It was the first time I had ever been there and we had so much fun. They have all kinds of attractions that are for geared for different ages. Sarah's favorite area was the treehouse and village. We spent half of our time here exploring everything. There is a big open area that looks like a meadow with a few gazebos to sit down in. A magnetic spiderweb on the wall had alphabet magnets and there was a cute little bridge that Sarah had fun walking and crawling over. Then you wander back into the treehouse. You could climb different areas of the tree and there was even a built in slide in it. After that you come to a little pond with a boat where you can go fishing with magnetic fish and a magnet fishing pole. In the back of this exhibit you come to the village that has a cabin, general goods store, a mill and a garden where kids can plant and pull up stuffed cloth vegetables.

After we left that area we went to the arts area where Sarah got to finger paint. Of course it was very messy and we got some paint on her clothes but it all came out in the wash. From there we moved on to the dance floor where they have costumes and props you can dance with on the dance floor. Sarah loves to dance and really got into the groove. She ran around and danced with ribbons and these cool nylon scarves.

After we were done there we went to the "locker room" where Sarah was able to play in some lockers and shoot some hoops on a little mini basketball court. Then we went outside and played on the playground for a little while. Among the typical playground equipment there were these cool rock sculptures for kids to climb on. After we left the museum we went across the street to this yummy mexican restaurant and had some lunch. We were worn out by then and headed for home but we had a great time together.

Happy Anniversary!

Today Kevin and I are celebrating our 8th anniversary. When I went downstairs this morning I found flowers and two cards sitting on the table. I don't know how Kevin got the flowers there because it was 7:00am and the vase had condensation on it from being refrigerated. He left for work a half hour earlier and he didn't get up any earlier than he normally does. Anyways, so far it's been a good day. I have spent a lot of time thinking about the day we got married. We were married in the Bountiful, UT temple. We went on our honeymoon to Breckenridge, CO for three days. We spent the time relaxing, window shopping, eating and riding horses. It's fun thinking about how new everything was those first few weeks of marriage. A lot of people say the first year is the hardest and Kevin and I kept waiting for that to come, but our first year was wonderful and it has only gotten better since then.

I feel so blessed to have a husband like Kevin. He treats me like a queen. I never have to ask him to help with housework or making dinner. He is the best daddy to Sarah. She adores him and has him wrapped around her little finger. He is a good provider for our little family and I appreciate so much how hard he works for me and Sarah. Kevin also works very hard around our house fixing things and keeping up with the yard work. He is always so patient with me and always tells me how much he loves me and that I am beautiful even when I have bed head and morning breath. I love the smile he always has on his face and brightens up the room whenever he walks in. He loves to make me laugh which helps me from being too serious, especially when I'm stressed out. He values and respects the priesthood he carries and always keeps himself worthy to hold it. He also works hard to magnify his calling as Elder's Quorum President and puts in many hours of service behind the scenes to the members of the quorum.

The love that we have for one another is so strong and it only gets stronger every day. I love being in love with Kevin and I know that these 8 years will turn into 50 years someday. Happy Anniversary to my sweetheart!

Labor Day Weekend

We had a great weekend. Kevin planned some fun activities for Saturday and wouldn't tell us what we were doing so we were completely surprised. We left the house around 10am and drove down to Colorado City which is about two hours south of here. Out east of there we went to a caslte called Bishop's Castle. It's this castle this man is building all by himself. Apparently his dad started building it 20+ years ago and now he trying to complete it all by himself. It's actually a pretty cool place but at the same time it's a little scary too. He is building this castle without any permits and is taking all the stone from state forests. He doesn't believe in the government and justifies his actions by saying he lives in a free country and can do whatever he wants. So he is a bit of a nut job, but the castle is still pretty cool. It is completely free and always open to the public. There are signs all over the place absolving Bishop of any liability.

There are staircases and turrets all over that you can walk on. I've been on the walkways and they don't feel that safe.

Kevin took Sarah up to the top of one of the towers.




This chair was out in the front of the castle. It's hard to tell from the picture but it's about five feet tall!

Sarah waving hi.

You can buy a pane of stained glass and put a dedication on it. There were windows like this one all throughout the castle.


The detail on the ironwork is incredible.

Standing on one of those "unsafe" walkways. It just feels unsafe because the flooring on the walkway is a wire mesh rather than a solid surface.

After we left the castle we continued driving east until we got to the Sangre de Cristo mountain range then we turned north and followed the mountain range up to Cripple Creek. On the way there we passed a bunch of horse back riders out on a three day trail ride. They stopped and let Sarah pet the horses. They were a group of people out raising money for a local pregnancy shelter. Sarah loved it and kept neighing as she petted the horse.

When we got to Cripple Creek we went to the Molly Kathleen Gold Mine. We had to put on hard hats and jackets then they put us in the verticle lifts they use for the miners. It was so cool. The lifts were like enclosed cages and were pulled up and down the shaft with a belt drive. The mine is 1,000 feet underground and we got to the bottom of it in 1 minute 42 second. Our guide said that the Empire State Building is 1,000 feet high so we were pretty impressed with how short it took us to get to the bottom of the mine. They had mining equipment from the early days and our guide demonstrated how it worked. It was fascinating learning how they used to do mining and how far it has come since then.

This was an old rail car they are converting into a diner.

Sarah having fun with the hard-hat.

After we left the mine we drove 20 minutes up the road to Mueller State Park. It was dinner time and Kevin brought hot dogs and smores to roast. We set up our camping chairs and enjoyed being in the outdoors while we ate our dinner and dessert. Sarah loved being outside in the mountains.

After we ate we went home and got there around 10pm. It was a long day but it sure was fun. We did so much and we didn't have to travel very far for it. I love Colorado!

On Sunday we slept in to recover from the day before. That evening we were invited over to a friends house to hang out and have dessert. Monday we did a ton of yard and house work then in the evening we had a barbecue at our house and invited a bunch of people over. The kids had fun playing in the backyard and the adults had fun eating and talking. It was a great weekend and nice break.

Summer Review - August

In August all of my siblings and their spouses got together out here in Colorado. My sister, Wendy and her husband Brad stayed with us along with my brother, Greg his wife Jo Ann and their three boys, Matthew, Justin, Jacob. My other brother, Brian and his wife Ann live 20 minutes from my house. It was so fun having us all together. The kids were especially cute. The last time my nephews saw Sarah she was only 4 or 5 months old so they were able to interact with her a lot more this visit. All of the boys were so good with Sarah and she latched on to them as well, especially Justin. While everyone was here we went to the Wildlife Experience which is kind of like an animal museum but it's geared towards kids and is really interactive. The kids spent as much time as possible outside (which wasn't much because it rained all weekend) and took turns getting airplane rides from Uncle Brian. We had a great time with everyone here and so did the kids!