Naptime

When you are 14 months old and tired, you go to sleep. I saw his head dropping and grabbed the first soft thing I could find.

Repurposing

Last week on vacation, on the snowy day, we tackled a project that there never seemed to be time for at home. We took a beat up bulletin board that we had in the basement,

covered it in fabric from my stash, added ribbons

and hung it above my desk.

Huh???

Sometimes he looks at you and just talks a blue streak and looks at you like you should understand everything he just said instead of just a couple words. Do you think he feels the same way when we talk to him?

Wait 5 minutes

There is a saying about Colorado weather - if you don't like it wait 5 minutes... This was the view yesterday morning

and yesterday afternoon - by this morning there were 8 1/2 inches.

This afternoon we went into Rocky Mountain National Park and the sky was clear and the snow was melting.

This picture has nothing to do with the weather, but I loved it. The elk kept nipping at it and it would just fly to another elk.

Earth Day

This is the 40th anniversay of Earth Day. I remember the first one. I was a senior in high school and there was some sort of program that I really don't remember. What I do remember is having the read Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. It is a scary read. Throughout the years I have gone through varying stages of being passionate and diligent in efforts to be a good steward of what God gave us. I believe that is what it comes down to. It shouldn't matter if you believe in global warming, if you believe not eating meat is the way to save the world, if you are a dedicated recyler or believe it doesn't do a lick of good. This earth is a gift from God and we should treat it as such. I think I have settled into the category of every little bit helps as I wrote in this letter to Kaiden last year. I also will be participating in The Great Sunflower Project again this year. If you have space to plant a sunflower you might consider joining the project also. You can read about my experiences here.

Morning Fog

We woke to fog settled into the valleys this morning, it was so pretty.

The sun came out and the day was sunny and warm.

We walked along the river and ate lunch at a restaurant overlooking the river.

We sat by the river for awhile - just listening to the river - one of my favorite sounds. A wonderful relaxing day.

Hike

We are so blessed to have several handicap trails in and near Rocky Mountain National Park. They enable us to go to places like Lilly Lake, hike and see God's handiwork.

We were only able to go 3/4 of the way around the lake because of snow drifts, but it was a beautiful day and a beautiful hike.

Images of a Vacation

We drove to one of my favorite places today - Old Town Fort Collins - here are some of my favorite things.... An arrangement on the door of one of my favorite stores - I did not buy a thing even though I was tempted by many things. I know I will probably wish I had!

I think the handle bars are a little high!

I thought this was so fun - so much prettier than a regular green transformer box.

This horse is painted in a traditional Mexican method using plants and animals native to Colorado.

There were several bicycles with flowers - I would love to have a basket on my bike decorated with flowers.

I love the sound of the river

The blue sky

The wildlife, the white bark of the aspen trees.

Busy, Busy, Busy

The past few weeks and weekends have been busy, busy, busy. We had quarter end reports at work and a new account that a budget had to be completed which resulted in some long hours.

Nathan and Stacy have been doing some projects and we watched Kaiden the last two Saturdays. What a joy that has been!

We have found out he loves pancakes and can eat more pancakes than his Gram!

He is walking all the time and I mean all the time. He found the dog leash and carried it all around the house.

I am not sure how I ever got anything accomplished when Nathan was this young. I didn't get much accomplished at home but sure had a great time playing with Kaiden!

We got together with our friends John and Janice, Gary and Vivien to celebrate Gary's birthday. As always we had a great time. We are so blessed to have such dear friends.

And now, we are here. In God's beautiful mountains for a week of relaxation. Boy do I need this vacation!

Wide Eyed Wonder

The easter baskets contained bubbles this year. Kaiden loved the bubbles! At first he just stared at them, then he grabbed for them and laughed and laughed when they would break.

Easter Part Two

After church on Sunday, the children had a short temple talk and then an Easter egg hunt. There were areas for the different age groups.Kaiden in his suit with his basket.


He picked up a few eggs and then found one that was open so he had to sit down and put a smaller egg inside. Putting items into containers is one of his favorite things.

Dumping things out of containers is another favorite thing.

Easter Part One

We had our Easter celebration on Saturday because it fit better with every one's scheduled. In addition to the kids, Carrie's long time friends Katja and Mikey and their daughter, Mia joined us. The baskets were hid.

Eggs were dyed. Carrie and Mikey are both artists, so there was some intricate work going on. Mia is watching her daddy, isn't she a cutie?

The picture doesn't do the eggs justice, the colors were custom mixed and there are glitter details.

The big kids hunted for their baskets and eggs first while Kaiden and I watched. Since we are such a competitive family, Easter egg hunts can involve pushing, so we kept our distance. Once again Nathan found his eggs first (we allow a certain amount for each person to be fair), but Stacy found her basket first.

Searching for eggs.

Then it was Kaiden's turn to find his eggs (or balls as he called them).

He found this one on the coffee table.

We had a great time. I love that my kids still want to dye and hunt eggs and baskets. I also like that we have this fun family time the day before so the focus on Easter is about the cross.