Garden of the Gods

It was fun to have Amy and Jane come visit us mid-September.  Good thing they were here or we might not have gotten out and explored the area before winter hit.  We really didn’t know what to expect… but we headed to the mountains and found some great paved walking trails perfect for Jane in the stroller and some red rocks to climb on for the rest of the kids.  It turned out to be a beautiful day. { Too bad we had made a quick decision to cancel our Steamboat Springs weekend trip because of bad storms and rain the night before. } We had a great low key day, which we all needed, amidst a busy ‘move in’ season.  So fun to get out of the house and explore our new city… I’m sure we’ll be back many more times.  Company welcome!

We took our lunch to the base of the Siamese Twins and had a picnic and more fun exploring.

September Life Captured via the iPhone

• I got a new calling… Beehive counselor!  I love young womens!  Look at all those cute Beehives!
• Luke and Matt have new Star Wars Bedding and bunk beds… they were in toddler beds in Germany so we’ve been pretty excited to get some real beds and fun bedding!
• First time to the Denver Temple with Chris and the Dawsons.

 

• Enjoying my time with only this little squirt in the afternoons.  Love that kid.  Turning into such a big boy!!
• SO many trips to TARGET with a new house.  Matt says, “We’re going to Target again?”   I LOVE being 2 minutes from a TARGET!!!

                                

• Watching lots of High School soccer games this fall.  So fun to watch Ryan play!

                                

• Emily and Megan starting gymnastics again every Thursday afternoon.  Learning back bends, cartwheels, back bend kick overs, handstands, pull overs and back hip circles on the bar and a lot more.  They LOVE it.

                               

• BRACES for my two teenagers.  Katie: SO excited.  Ryan: not so much.  Ryan’s will be pretty quick.  His teeth are fairly straight to begin with… just some jaw alignment work.  Katie will be in them for longer but is fully embracing them with all the colored rubber bands and everything.  Katie wanted the ‘AFTER’ picture.  Ryan: not so much.  He needed an afternoon at home to get used to them before returning to school the next day.  I don’t blame him.  Milkshakes for both of them!

                             

• I can NOT get over the blue skies and pretty view out my bedroom window when I wake up every morning.   We don’t have blinds yet so the light comes streaming in but I’m just so excited to see the view, I don’t even mind.  Love Colorado skies!

• Love this kid.  Such a cutie. 

                             

                             

• Fun to explore this park in our new neighborhood.  The Alice in Wonderland Park.  Had a picnic, brought scooters, and played for a couple hours.

• Ryan had his friends over for pizza before heading to the Stake dance.
• Matthew pulling himself over a chair to watch the BYU game.  “Go Blue Team!” he shouted over and over again at 10:00 at night.
• Matthew likes to eat AND play with all our PEZ characters (We sort of collected them for fun family travels in Europe)  He carefully categorized them and then showed me and said, “I put them how they are in a family.”

                            

• Hired piano movers to get our piano into the “piano room”.   I think I may have started crying when it went in.  Worth the $200.  And then we had it tuned.

• Luke doing his daily homework (which he does right before lunch everyday) and Matt just being his sidekick.

                              

• A beautiful evening for a walk.  We love taking a family walk but haven’t had much time lately.  This is really our first one since moving in.  Such a beautiful night.  Love the colors in the sky here.  Beautiful sunsets and sunrises.

• Boy with a lost tooth.