March 2017

The month started with our ten year anniversary. Ten years. With this guy. Couldn't be happier.

Started our day with breakfast at Chautauqua Dining Hall and then a hike up Mount Sanitas, which was a little sweatier than I planned.

Then, because a friend suggested it and because Clifton's the best sport in the world, we each had $7 to spend at a thrift store to pick out an outfit for the other to wear to lunch. Here's what we came up with, and a picnic lunch where we got engaged.

Dave and Val took the girls (thank you!!) so we spent the night in Estes Park...

...at the Stanley Hotel, known for its inspirational role in The Shining.

The next day we snowshoed in Rocky Mountain National Park.

It was stunning.

 I miss the beach regularly. But holy cow. This.

Annika's leprechaun trap for school. Apparently a leprechaun sprung the trap, but didn't get caught.

(Excuse the lousy resolution in pics for the rest of the blog... Not sure what happened.)

And this girl turned nine this month. Nine amazing years. What a blessing this sweet thing is in our lives. She's kind. And so in tune with how those around her feel. If I'm sad, she knows it and comes and hugs me silently. She never wants people to be left out. She just gets it. She's smart. But quite humble about it. She doesn't want attention publicly, but beams when she's praised one on one. She is sensitive. Feelings worn close to the surface, like her Mama. She's got a strong quiet strength about her. We love her for who she is and whoever she will become. 

These girls love her too. They show their love by screaming and fighting. It's a deep, deep love.

Amelia has been Naomi's BFF since birth. These girls have such a sweet friendship.

Birthday dinner with the Parsons.

Another birthday dinner with Uncle Dave, Aunt Val, Jeremy and Timothy. 

Naomi's birthday party was a scavenger hunt. This is the first clue leading them...

... to the Dollar Tree where they each got two dollars to spend on something they were supposed to wear for the rest of the birthday party.

Next stop: Parry's Pizza

After a few other stops we rounded out the party with slurpees.

Because nothing says fun times like blue and red teeth.

This picture was taken to demonstrate the number of injuries on this kid at any given time: healing scratch under eye, no skin on tip of nose, four band-aids on knees. And that's just what you can see here. 

She's been looking for just the right accent piece for these pajamas.

This year for Hawk Air the school went to the ocean, trying to figure out how we, as Coloradoans, can save the ocean. Third grade worked on saving the coral reefs. Here's Naomi with the clown fish she made. Looks just like Nemo. Ish.

Preschoolers worked on saving the Galapagos penguins. Annika's class worked on saving the humpback whales. You'll just have to trust me on this one since I managed to not get pics.

There was a cool virtual reality station for the kids to dive deep in the ocean.

Okay, yeah. So this. Several months ago our 13 year old neighbor got a hedgehog and Naomi was instantly in love. She really, really wanted one. I told her when she could save $250, she could buy one, knowing it would take a long time to save that much. And by then the obsession would have passed. But then Craigslist happened. This little guy needed a new home because his owner was getting too busy with high school to play with him. And how could I say no to that? He *needed* us.

Enter Boo (short for Boo Boo Butt) into our family

Clifton took the girls skiing at Keystone over spring break.

Looking pretty comfortable. Time to find some harder runs.

This is almost enough to make me want to learn to ski. Almost.

The end of a good day.  Sarah was in lessons and managed to avoid photos for the day.

We went to Jess's parents for dinner. The girls didn't know Jess would be there.

We love Jess (and her entire family) so so much! (Annika just realized Ema was home too. Bonus!)

Annika helping Ema and Mrs. Mom make dinner.

Fishing camp this year. No bites.

  

Naomi so thrilled with her new build a bear bunny that she made with Aunt Val for her birthday.