Growin Kyle

I can't believe how cute and big he's getting...let me count...how old is he now?? My baby is 19.5 months old! Wow, he's just so much fun and full of so much love. This was a cute outfit that my parents bought him quite a while ago that I thought "it will be a long time before he can fit in them"...but now he is!

Can you slow down your growing...please KyKy?

Sara & Jim's 10th Anniversary in Vail, CO

July 25th was our 10th anniversary. We celebrated this past weekend. We had big plans to go to NY, but when it came down to it, I was a little nervous about going so far from the kids. We decided to go up to Vail which is only about 2 hours from our home. We had such a nice time. We stayed at a beautiful hotel there at the base of Vail Village...The Vail Plaza Hotel & Club. I highly recommend it if you ever go there. It was as nice as can be. We got a beautiful suite there...and it was luxurious and comfortable. The Village was just awesome. There was a farmers market in the morning, live music all around the village at night, restaurants galore to choose from, bridges everywhere, beautiful flowers, alpine-style architecture. From top to bottom, it was fabulous. I had no idea that Vail was so beautiful.

We did a lot of geo-caching (see my "Treasure Hunting" blog post to learn more about that) while we were there. We even went to sacrament meeting at a cute little LDS chapel in Avon...right near Vail. We spent some time in Beaver Creek (also a gorgeous village/area).

The highlight of our trip was probably going horseback riding. We went for a 2 hour trail ride and it was so much fun! I was on a horse named "Brownie." Jim rode "Gus." It was just gorgeous terrain and we had a blast. We highly considered going back the next day for more riding...to do the cattle round up, but we had other activities already planned. Jim and I often talk about packing up and going to live on a ranch. Okay, Jim has spent some time working on a ranch while he was younger, but other than that, we would have no idea how to get started, but it would be a dream. Okay...a tough dream once the novelty wares off, but still! We sometimes wish we could just do what we want to do in this life...our dreams...and though it's possible if you are willing to give up everything you have for that dream, it's not always practical...you know what I mean?? It's like "we have this life that we've built for ourselves and our family, and we're so grateful for the great life it is" but then there's that "can we trade it all now and do THIS or THAT?" Probably not, so we're content with the few times we can dabble in other life-dreams.

Needless to say, we had a WONDERFUL time in Vail for our Anniversary. These 10 past years with Jim have been the happiest of my life...I never thought marriage could be this good. Jim is my best-friend and the love of my life. I wish everyone were as lucky as he and I have been.

1st Day of School

I have a little bit of catching up to do on my blog. Since I just had my tonsils out and I'm laid up in bed, I've got my laptop and I thought I'd get to work....in between sleeping and not eating. Ha!

Well, Bryce & Isabel went off to school just a few weeks ago. I can't believe that Isabel is in 3rd grade (I have to keep reminding myself--3rd!!), and Bryce went off to all-day-school in 1st grade! He was excited to the bus TO school and HOME FROM school. I'm so proud of my kiddos. They were so excited to go to school and get things started. I love that they love school...and I hope that continues for a long long time.

Yes, we did it...

We bought a dog. I know you're saying "Sara...a dog?" Okay, yes, I'm not a dog lover--I never really had a dog (except when I was super young), but I figure I don't have to love other dogs, but I do love mine--maybe as a whole I'll start liking other dogs too then? I don't know, but I really love our dog.

Her name is Tess. I was inspired by a fabulous tv series called McLeod's Daughters. It is an Australian Western Drama type show. I love it and it's been so fun to watch. Well, one of the main characters is Tess...and when we got our puppy, it just seemed to fit!

We were on our date-night last Saturday and we went by the Pedigree Shop in the Park Meadows Mall. I've been there before and nearly bought a basset hound puppy (it was so dang cute). Well, this time, I saw our little Tess, and she won me over (she's so dang cute too). We held her for quite a while and she was just a doll. I just did it! We got her! My kids have been longing for a pet (a real pet--not just fish) ever since we had to have our kitty find a new home about a year ago (Rory turned up allergic to cats). You should have seen their faces when we brought Tess in to meet them, they were over the moon.

Here are some pictures of Tess. She is a Puggle--a Pug/Beagle hybrid breed. She wont get too big--medium breed--, she only "moderately" sheds and it is short hair shedding, so not too bad (plus we already have our cool Dyson "Pet" all ready to go). She is really really sweet. We are doing some pretty strict training with a trainer...crate training her. Though she's have several house-potty-accidents, we still love her a lot. A great pet for our family and I can't wait until she understands where to put her potty stuff so she can be more free in the house.

Welcome Tess!

We're Crafty

I know during the summer people take their kids here, there and everywhere. I'm not one of those people. We do go to the park quite often, and we do have some fun outings...but I'm not one to do it every day. With four kids and the youngest being rather young and another being "busy" it gets overwhelming. We usually wait until Dad is available to do our outings.

They do love crafts though. Yesterday we painted a lot and they loved that. We play with a lot of model magic clay (a great product--a cross between clay and play-dough--and non-messy and fun!). Today then, I thought I'd take them to Michael's and let them each choose a craft. We needed some new stuff and I thought this would be a fun summer activity, and give my kids some new projects to work on.

Isabel choose paint by number. She's always loved painting and I let her get two different kits since they are so inexpensive. It will take some patience to accomplish but I think she'll be pleased with the outcome when she gets there.

Rory choose Paint & Swirl. We actually already had the machine that spins your paper around and round, but we got refill paints and paper. He loves seeing it swirl and squirting the paint onto the paper.

Bryce choose a Tie-Die shirt kit. We bought t-shirts for the whole family (he'll do his first). He's really excited and we'll let you know how it turns out. There is some set-up time so we can't get straight to it, but it will be neat once it's done! This is perfect too as their elementary school's colors are "tie-die" --so he can wear it to school for school spirit! He also wants to make shirts for friends when it is their birthday (so invite him to your party and you just may get something tie-die)!

On a hot summer day, being crafty isn't a bad alternative!

Treasure Hunting

So many people haven't heard of it....it isn't actually called "treasure hunting" it's called "geo-caching" and it's so much fun! This is our favorite family pastime in the summer and "good-outdoor-weather" activity. Our friends that moved away, Alissa & Mike, introduced Jim to it while they were still here. Since then, we've enjoyed the sport as a family, and often on date-nights, Jim and I will geo-cache. Sometimes, Jim will even take the kids and go hunt for treasure! After all, it's free (as soon as you have a GPS).

So, what is Geo-Caching? Go to http://www.geocaching.com/ and learn more about it. There are caches that people hide (we've hidden a few ourselves)...in open spaces...like in parks, along pathways, hidden from plain view. There are different levels of difficulty and different sizes of caches. It could be a Rubbermaid container sitting nestled under a tree--covered by leaves and branches, wrapped in camouflage tape. It could be a 35mm film canister hanging from a tree branch. I've even seen a magnetic bullet that unscrews to keep the log in--attached under a park bench. This is a sport and you can begin with the easy and big caches and work your way to more difficult caches. There are riddles and clues for some caches and it can be a lot of fun and challenging, or really easy and simple. You choose.

For each cache, you locate one near you (search by zip code or through Google Maps) and then you find the corresponding GPS location coordinates. Then you go and find it! Each cache has a log that you sign once you've found it--and then you go back to the web-site and log your visit. Our kids enjoy the caches where you can exchange a little toy of some sort. They bring a toy (usually an old McDonald's trinket that is small) leave their toy, and take one that is in the cache. Not all caches have these, but usually the caches that are large enough, do have trinkets for exchange. This is how it got nick-named "treasure hunting" by my kiddos. They get new little "treasures" that they had to hunt for and find!

It may sound complicated, but it really isn't. Once you have a GPS...go to GeoCaching.com and read more about it. There are some really basic and inexpensive GPS units, and then if you find you like the sport...you can get more fancy. It's a fun sport and rather popular and growing in popularity all the time. There are TONS of caches all around you. Why haven't you heard of this before? Well, there's kind of a "cloak-and-dagger-ness" to the sport...don't let "muggles" figure out what you're doing. Just kind of fun and quiet--but a great FUN activity while you're enjoying your outdoor activities--and the kids enjoy it too!

Golden, CO

What a fun Saturday we had. We went up and visited a friend, Patty, that lives in Golden--Jim's known her most of his life--a close family friend. She took us to lunch at the Golden Hotel which is right along the Clear Creek. It was really beautiful as we lunched on the patio that overlooked the water. There were kayakers and it was just a lovely day--we couldn't ask for nicer weather.

We took a walk up the river--they have several "nature-y" sculptures along they way. The kids loved those! They had a mock pioneer town, with real chickens and people dressed as pioneers. Then we ended up going down by this great slide that has a mouth of a fish at the opening on the bottom. This was Kyle's favorite thing to do. He would go down, and just keep running up the stairs as fast as his little legs would take him.

At this same area, there was a concrete "jet-out" that went into the river. I was kind of scared, as the waters were rather fast and I could just imagine it sweeping a kid away...so we were super safe. It was COLD water! But, after a while, it was rather refreshing to stand in--kind of a neat thing, that you would think --in our sue-happy world-- wouldn't be so much allowed anymore, but it's cool that it's still there and able to be enjoyed.

My kids love rocks. They love to smash them, play on them, collect them...I find Isabel's backpack full of some "cool" rock she found at school or on the way home, or a cool rock that her science teacher gave her, or her bus driver...so I guess people know that she likes rocks! This has passed on to her brothers and they will go outside and play with rocks for hours. So, when they saw these big rocks to climb on, they were loving life!

I was impressed with Golden and want to go back and spend more time there. Maybe even try kayaking! They make it look so easy. =) It was really a beautiful place--it gets me wondering where else in Colorado we need to explore. Any ideas people???