Dominic's first official ride!

Today Dominic went out front with his two big brothers and came in a few minutes later declaring that

HE CAN RIDE A TWO WHEELER!! 

 He's been trying and then giving up for a couple months now but TODAY... he was victorious!!  Love this kiddo!!  GO DOM!!

Tragedy.

I am not sure where to put this down so I thought this might be a place. I have met few people out here that I feel like I connect well with, but one of the gals I've met that I adore has experienced the loss of her 6 week old. They are out of town and in a hotel and now.. they have lost their little guy to SIDS. I can't imagine how hard this would be. I am helpless at this point because they are in Seatle... I can't help with her kiddos, or offer a shoulder to cry on. All I can do is sit here.. and think about her.. and hope that she is being comforted.
I have serious issues with death. It doesn't discriminate and it makes me mad. Pick on someone who is a bad person and leave my amazing friends ALONE!!

Fun Weekend!

This weekend the weather was GORGEOUS! I was so excited to take the family out for a bike ride on the trails in Fort Collins. We weren't exactly sure what the trails would be like.. but Fort Collins is famous for them so we headed into town and with directions from a friend, we found the trail. It was so much fun! We did a 9 mile bike ride that day. LOVE IT!

After the bike ride we came home and grilled some steaks. Before that the boys were playing in the front yard. I had to get the camera and take pics of Colton. He loves that skateboard!

HI!!!

Okay.. I have really put this blog on the back burner but am realizing that it's SO important that I blog my family life. We moved to Colorado in December and I decided it's probably time to post a few pics! ;o) Here is just a little taste of the house. I'll take pics of the rest and post them throughout the week!

The first is the 1/2 bath downstairs! This is the SMALL dining space! Notice the kitchen bar.
Another view.. trying to piece it all together. You can see where the kitchen and dining area connect.
Kitchen... small but functional.
Front of the house. Notice where D's truck is.

This is D's truck. Our neighbor who lives across the street form us parks his STUPID TRUCK WITH TRAILER RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR DRIVEWAY!! As shown in the pic. One of these days I'm going to hit his stupid truck trying to back our beast out of the driveway. Our landlord is so OCD that I would probably be better off hitting dumb-a$$' truck then I would ruining the grass of our house trying to avoid the truck behind me!

More pics tomorrowish. Although the weekends are hard.

Life has been pretty good. The boys are adjusting to school.. although Damon has some pretty bad days. His teacher his not his biggest fan. Yeah... we are having a hard time with that. Damon and Jaydin are going to be starting soccer in April and I will probably be coaching their team. Darin is enjoying work (for the most part) and rarely complains about his 30 minute commute. Colton is starting to combine words and loves to eat bananas. He is such a sweet little guy, but is also a little mischievous. Must shut all the bathroom doors!! Dom is just a little ball of spunk. He is excited that he is going to be 5 or 6 or 8 in May. (Don't tell HIM but he will only be 4!) We are looking forward to a beautiful summer in Colorado. We anticipate many hikes/bike rides/ and trips to Estes Park! It is beautiful here!! Love you all!!

Family pics are here!!

YAY!! My Family pics are here! So excited!! THANKS MELISSA. WE LOVE THEM!!

Halloween

New Family Pics

I will be posting new family pics soon! For now, you can get a sneak peak here! ;o)

Dom's First Day of Preschool!!

Life is a highway! ;o)

We have been having a fantastic time now that we are more settled in to the new place. We were able to head out to Colorado last weekend for a get away to visit some relatives! It was a ton of fun. The cousins adored time together! Here's a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

There are so many more... but I'm feeling kind of lazy today! ;o) We also have had some new milestones with Colton.. so for those of you who haven't already seen this one... here's a little video.

What's in a word.. entry numbero uno!

Mom: Oh so am I a princess?
Dom: You don't like being a princess.
Mom: What do I like being?
Dom: You like being my mom!

LOVE IT!

Hooray for a healthy 4th of July!

Last year Damon, Jaydin and Dominic spent the 4th up at the property with Nana and Papa. Darin and I were also camping... at Primary Childrens Hospital. Here are some pics from exactly a year ago.

Last year Colton was SO sick.... still in "critical condition" and we weren't sure how things we going to turn out. He had spent 4 days on a vent and would spend another 2 on it... and 2 more days in the hospital before we were able to take him home. This 10 day hospital stay was the scariest time of my life. We missed our boys but couldn't stand to leave our "Cole-Bug". We are so grateful for the beautiful boy he is now. He is strong and healthy and ADORED by all.
Colton LOVES playing in the back yard with his brothers. We keep saying we need to get him a swing, but he holds on to the swing SO WELL and loves to have his brothers push him!

Colton's first birthday. I really need to edit the red eye... but... not today!

We love our boys and are so grateful that Colton is here with us this year! We've also decided that since he missed the property last year, we are going to head up there and have a family campout tonight! This will be the first year I have been fit enough to really take some amazing hikes and see amazing things. Can't wait!!! Watch for pics!

A Hiking We Will Go!

I woke up early this morning after a restless night! (Too much caffeine too late in the day!) Darin looked up at me briefly and I let him know I was going for a run. He half grunted and rolled back over. While running I was thinking about what we should do for the day. My dad and I had gone on a hike a couple days ago with Damon and my nephew Alex... so when I got home I announced to Darin that we would be going on the same hike as a family! Darin seemed pretty excited about it. I wasn't sure how Dominic would do, but I knew the other boys would do well. It ended up being a beautiful drive threw the A.F. canyon and a 3.6 mile hike with 4 boys in tow. Damon and Jaydin were total troopers and had no trouble making the trek. Colton also did a fantastic job of staying in the hiking backpack and saying "hi" to people as we passed by them on our quest to the waterfall. Dominic hiked in the whole way to the waterfall but umm... was not quite as easy to get OUT. Darin ended up carrying him on his shoulders for a good 2/3 of the way back. (It was "HOT" and uphill most of the way back!) It was a lot of fun and we can't wait to do some more hikes very soon. Darin has still yet to hike up to the "Y" so soon... very soon... he will know the pain... that is the Y! ;o)

Damon & Jaydin playing in the stream at the bottom of the falls.

Just after eating some PB&J

Standing in front of the falls. The waterfall is so powerful that you are literally standing in a perma-wet zone. LOVE the feel of the mist against my face!!

I wish I knew what this waterfall was called? I'm going to guess it's called Stewart's Cascade... that's what the sign says. ;o)

Father/Son Campout

Darin took the 3 oldest boys on the father son campout. They all reported it was a good time. I asked Damon if dad was cranky and he said "only when he realized we didn't have any tent poles!" OY! I got totally blamed for that one. I was the last one to fold up the tent and while the poles were NEXT to the tent... they weren't in the bag. Luckily.. Darin is an amazing problem solver... this is what he came up with!

It was pretty funny to hear the bishop (AKA our landlord) tell the story. It was something like... "we were setting up our tents when we heard a bunch of swearing coming from the parking lot. We raced over to find that YOU had stolen Darin's tent poles!" He had several offers of tents from people who had brought extras (WTH?) but alas... he stuck to his amazing design and the boys didn't complain of being cold or anything!! I sent the camera up with them and they came back with these few pics. Here are a couple of my 3 oldest boys all together!! LOVE IT!!

So yesterday was the last day of school. My dad had IM'd me earlier in the day and asked if wanted to go hike the "Y". I'd never done it and figured it wouldn't kill me. We were planning on going earlier but didn't end up going until around 11. So up the mountain we went with all 4 boys, my dad and his brother Mike. I had no idea what I was in for. My boys did fantastic. No fighting, no whining, no begging to die. They were seriously amazing. They enjoyed the little wildlife we saw along the way. Mostly lizards and butterflies and one rattlesnake. Dominic actually hiked up about 1/4 of the way and then enjoyed being carried up the rest of the way by his grandpa and Uncle Mike. (Mike carried him about 1/2 the way and I didn't get a picture!!!) Dominic also walked the whole way down. Anyway... here are some pics of our adventure. It was so much fun. Thanks uncle Mike and Dad for letting us crash your hike. Next time, I'm going when it's a little cooler outside and maybe after it's rained so the trail isn't so slick!

Uncle Mike and his rock. He hiked to the "Y" with some other missionairies when he was at the MTC and so, he takes a pic with this rock everytime he comes to town.

All 4 boys stopped by Mikes rock.

Sitting on the "Y"

View from the top.

Uncle Mike and Dom. They were so cute together!

We did it!!

I carried Cole up about 2/3 of the way in this. Dad carried him up the rest. Aren't they cute?

Dom with Grandpa!