Colorado trip

We spent time with the Will family in Colorado over Thanksgiving and had a great time. Here were some of the things we were thankful for....

• spending time with a brother and his family
• a cute cousin who doesn't mind extra attention from two little girls
• a very fun local children's museum
• warm weather
• a throw-up bowl
• driving golf balls
• terrific food for Thanksgiving (despite disastrous rolls)
• long naps
• fun with grandparents
• football games (live and on TV)
• a Cowboy win! (that would be the Wyoming Cowboys)
• a grandma willing to babysit all the little grand kids
• ooooooo-ing at lights
• family pictures
• shopping
• church is church no matter where we are
  

Our time was well spent and we were in good company the whole time. We have so much to be grateful for in our lives, the list far exceeds our adventures in Colorado.

The children's museum in Lafayette. It had a lot of really fun things. The highlight was the dance floor/dress-up area. They even had dance shoes, so Caitlin put on tap shoes and went to town. Chris was happy to show her a few tap steps.

Light figures at one of the parks in Loveland.

hitting the road

Have a great Thanksgiving!

We are off to Colorado for the holiday.

laying around

Ashlee has really taking a liking to laying on the floor, on her stomach, to look at a book or color, just like Caitlin does. She is still figuring it out, so sometimes her positioning is awkward and uncomfortable looking.

Funny Thing

Chris and I have had a few discussions about how our kids think they can pull things by us. We think it is so funny that they think we haven't a clue- when we know perfectly well what is going on.

• They have been put to bed for the night and we say "no getting out of bed." We later go back up because of incessant talking and laughing and are about to open the door when we hear pitter-patter and a jump into bed. We open the door to find Caitlin sitting up in bed looking at us shocked, as if to say "I have no idea why you are coming to check on us." Yeah, we are perfectly aware you were out of bed.
• The girls come upstairs after playing downstairs, and Caitlin says, "Mom, Ashlee's face and hands are all dirty." I look and see that, indeed, they are and say "what were you playing in?" to which she replies "nothing." Hum, as if I can't see the flour all over your (both Caitlin and Ashlee) face and hands.

And Chris and I laugh because we did the same thing when we were little.

• I was five and playing with an unnamed twin sister. This was before the day that food was sealed, so we liked to sneak tastes of things that were in the storage room. Well, this unnamed sister loved Quick and was having a taste when she dropped the entire thing on the floor. She asked me to hurry and help her clean it up, so we did the best that five year olds can do by pushing most of it under the shelve. Later we were awoken in the middle of the night (I'm sure it was about 8:30) by an angry mother who had somehow found out we had spilled it. We wondered, how did she find the spill, and how did she know it was us?
• Chris was young (17)* when his mother came and asked who had shaved the wooden banister, showing him her shower razor with wood chips stuck in it. Chris tried placing the blame on everyone else, including the dog, and he was convinced that his mom bought it.

Kids think they are so smart and they can pull the wool over their parents eyes, if they only knew.

*truth be told, Chris was really about 6 or 7

mixing lunch

Today I went downstairs to find the girls doing this:

Caitlin was running back and forth to the kitchen to get more supplies- 2 of everything.


I love my girls, and I love how they like to play so well together and how Caitlin looks out for Ashlee.

having a snack

The girls had their snack upstairs on their little table today while I cleaned. They had fun but there was a MESS afterward.
Note to self: A one year old is to little to have a snack (out of ones high chair) unsupervised with a three year old sister who has access to water.

She won't stay still for one second, so I am surprised I managed a picture of her.

The hair is not just sticking up because I failed to do it today. We have a TERRIBLE

static problem in Rock Springs generally and in our house specifically.

Dry, cold, windy weather = horrible static for fine hair

A fall craft

made by the whole family.
We made these ripped paper collages the other day.
They were fun to make, especially for a certain 3 year old, what with the drawing, cutting, ripping, painting/gluing.
And they look cool to just look at, but maybe not so nice to look at hung up.
It is just one of those things that doesn't turn out to be a very good decoration. Oh well, the fun in making it is all that really counts.

a climber

Ashlee is a climbing girl. She will climb on to anything and everything that she can, the table-the dishwasher-the bed-big chairs-the sewing table-the play chest. Luckily for us she can not pull her own weight up on things, so it has to be low enough or have levels to get up. At this age Caitlin never climbed on anything, ever; so this is new to us. But fun to see what mischief Ash can get herself into.

Just to say

we are still here.

Just in a bit of a monotonous rut. But enjoying playing.

Who has time to blog

when we are experiences such beautiful weather.
Today is day 6- and counting- of straight days of nice, warm, clear skies, little to no wind, perfect fall weather.
We love it.
We only wish the sun wouldn't set so early so we could enjoy each day a little longer.

Spooky Halloween Night.....Boo!

The trick-or-treaters loving every second of it. (Ashlee had to be holding her pumpkin at all times while trick-or-treating or a screaming/crying fit would be had)

The 1 year old skunk who wasn't very interested in having her picture taken.
But won cutest costume at our ward Halloween party.

The 3 year old clown who is adorning the exact costume her dad wore when he was 3.

The pumpkins.

And an absolutely beautiful evening with almost no wind to speak of made for nice trick-or-treating!

Happy Halloween!

Just about a full walker

She is almost there! We just have to get past the 'I think I might fall at any second' stage.

We had a visit

from a couple of pretty princesses,

who went on a journey to a far away land to dine with acquaintances at their castle.

And made it home again in time for a book before turning in for the night.

outside

Although very windy, it was not terribly cold today, and we took full advantage of it. We had to drop something off for Chris at work, so we packed up the bikes and took them with us. We took a walk by the soccer fields at the school. The sidewalk wasn't to long, but Ashlee's walking stamina is still very low, but she is getting better at walking daily!

And here she is crawling because she doesn't have her walker toy. She can go about 10 steps not holding on to anything.

What a treat, a little bit of fall colors.

This pretty much sums up a lot of the terrain that is "Rock Springs"- except this picture may be a little too pretty :)

I love this picture. And she loves her tricycle.

Getting stuck on the grass is very perplexing when you are still learning to walk.

We even found a nice rock to climb on which made for a happy ending to our adventure.

Pumpkin Patch

We decided to check out the Pumpkin Patch today in downtown Rock Springs. It is no pumpkin farm, but it was fun to walk around and look at all the different sizes, shapes and looks of all the pumpkins and then pick out a couple to come home with us.

unconventional hats

Today while playing:

"Look Mom, we are hat costumes!"

falling leaves

While in Colorado over the weekend, Caitlin enjoyed some time playing in the fallen leaves.

Very cold weather early in the season and some hard frosts prevented the leaves from changing colors. So all of the leaves on the trees were just different shades of brown (greenish-brown, yellowish-brown, reddish-brown) and dead. A nice breeze on Sunday brought many of the leaves spinning to the ground.

"....falling down, gently down, covering the ground below"*

*I know that song is actually about snow, but it applies to falling leaves also