Welcome to our World

This year Dan & I escaped to Manitou Springs for the weekend of our anniversary. Michelle got to come along because she's so little & won't take a bottle. She sure enjoyed being an only child for a day & a half, though! Look at that huge smile while riding the cog railway. Here's a couple pictures of the view. We were above the clouds at over 14,100 feet. Amazing. This was our first 14er. Someday Michelle will be lucky enough to say she went to the top of Pikes Peak at only 4 months old. The woman working at our motel is from Poland & recommended a great bistro in town own by a Polish man. Dan was soooo excited to get eat authentic Polish food. Here he is with his bigos. It was delicious, but not as good as my Havarti pirogi & smoked salmon. Yum. I get such a kick out of hearing Dan talk about his time in Poland & when he speaks Polish. It seems like such a wonderful place. It is on our list of places to visit together "someday....

Thanks to a forward from my friend, Kelly, our family has been going to a farm on Wednesday mornings this month. It is so interesting to see what my children do & don't like and do & don't know. For instance, although the group is all 3-year-old girls & Danny, Danny J leads the way! And even though I've been trying my hardest to teach Danny animal sounds, we got NOTHING. But after a bull mooed so loud at him he cried, when he sees a cow he says, "moooo." And the next time he saw that bull, he screamed at it & the bull startled & backed up. Turn around is fair play. My father couldn't have been happier to see it happen, too. Here he is carrying the bucket to go pick green beans. Kaelah refuses to take buckets from strangers, it turns out. And he knows just what to do to get vehicles moving! (Notice his hand on the gears.) Kaelah & Danny make a great team. Her cautiousness keeps everyone alive & his adventurousness keeps us ...

I almost cried the day we sold our RAV4. The fact my eyes teared is huge. I don't like crying. But as I signed the title & watched that beautiful blue car drive away, I couldn't help but get sentimental. I brought my 2 babies home from the hospital in that car. There was a time when I never thought I would be able to bring a child of mine home from the hospital. When we were able to do that with Danny I thought I was the luckiest, happiest person in the whole world. Little did I know I would receive that blessing again only 9.5 months later. Well, I guess if I had known that, we would have bought a mini van back in '08. Maybe. The RAV4 is a great car & Linda is a very nice person. I know she will treat my blue beauty well. The next day we decided to look at a certain Sienna on our way to Manitou Springs. It was exactly what we were looking for with a few extra perks & the dealership made the negotiating very easy. Dan & I didn't even have t...

Happy Birthday, Kaelah! For Kaelah's 3rd birthday our party of 5 and Grandma & Grandpa went to Butterfly Pavilion. If you've never been, I recommend it. Of course, I pretty much recommend everywhere we go around here. (; Danny & Kaelah watching the bees... & petting the star fish. Trying to get a family picture in the play structure shaped like honeycomb. He he he. Photo op! I have such good kids. In the actual butterfly part. My dad & Dan are so good with the children! After naps & dinner we had good friends over for cake & ice cream. I'm so grateful they came. Kaelah had them help blow out the candles & open presents for her too. Now we can't say we have 3 under 3 any more. The new term is 3, 3 & under. (; P.S. The next day Kaelah had her check-up. She weighs 34.6 pounds (80th percentile) & is 39 inches tall (90th percentile). The weight category is a huge jump. I should have made the nurse do it again. I wasn't loo...

At the annual Rhythm on the River event I was so excited Kaelah might be old enough to enjoy the goings on. I didn't get a picture of it, but she really liked the wood craft Home Depot provided as a project to do with Dan. It was a bug house & Kaelah hates bugs, but she enjoyed the process none the less. Danny's favorite part was the bouncy castle we found with only little, well behaved children in it. He loved it! I was so proud of my little man. Maybe next year he will convince Kaelah to join him. P.S. Seeing friends from the Le Leche League made the day all the better. They are kind & fun and made the adjustment to Michelle soooo much easier for me.

I am so grateful to live where we do, when we do, & how we do. The 4th of July always reminds me of how blessed I truly am concerning those things. Above is a picture from our ward's annual Independence Day breakfast (this year on the 3rd). I had way too much fun dressing the entire family in red, white, & blue. Below Danny seems to be cheering "we're number 1!" Here's Michelle on the 4th after church on Sunday. She's so happy when her older siblings are taking naps & she's not. (; The best part about 4th of July weekend this year was having Shelley & Brett's family in town! Kaelah loves her aunt, uncle, & cousins. She's been talking about them non-stop. I've noticed that any family that comes to visit us is who she loves the most. (That's a hint, Carla, Mark, & Scott. J/k.) Brett's sister lives about 25 minutes away & we had such a grand time at their home when we weren't out doing things. Y...

Happy Birthday, big girl! You do so many wonderful things. I can't wait to see what you are going to be when you grow up. And thank you for loving "the babies" so much... and for loving me even though I am far from being the perfect mom.