Celebrating Megan's Birthday

Today is Megan's birthday and we are celebrating! We had poppyseed chicken for dinner and now it's time for cake! It's a Better Than Anything Cake, a poke cake with caramel ice cream topping and sweetened condensed milk poured into the holes. It's topped with Cool Whip and Heath candy bits. Yum! Landon does the honors of lighting the candles.

The kids were pretty excited to help blow out the candles. We had to remind them that we need to sing "Happy Birthday" first.

Presents are so much fun!

Megan had lots of help getting it open. A gift card for a manicure and pedicure!

Happy 34th Birthday Megan! So glad you are part of this crazy family!

Children's Museum

Courtney Judd, who is the secretary in my Relief Society Presidency, has a membership to the Children's Museum and she had some free tickets. She invited me and the kids to go. Her son Liam is in Dagny's primary class. It was so fun! They had many stations where the kids could play and do experiments. It was pretty crowded, but there were lots of things to do, so it wasn't too bad.

The first station we went to was a life sized fire truck that the kids could play on complete with a fireman coat and hat for them to wear. There were hoses they could use to pretend to fight fires.

Of course every fire station has a dalmatian dog, even if it is just a stuffed one. 

Lincoln had a great time playing with it even though it was practically as big as he is.

This station was about trees and animals that live in them. There were several puppets and Dagny chose the squirrel to play with. There were hollow logs for the kids and puppets to play in.

This area had big fans and taught about wind. Dagny has on some butterfly wings and the wind makes the wings flap so the kids can pretend to fly.

This game was like skee ball but had water in the bottom and also in the target where you throw the balls.

Lincoln loved the fishing area. Such a cute little fishing pole to catch the fish, octopus, and other items in the pond.

There were a lot of things to do outside too. The water in this little stream doesn't even cover the top of the kids feet, but is still enough to sail boats and fill cups and buckets for dumping.

Dagny and Lincoln could have played in the water all day. 

There was also a zip line type swing that the kids loved. I think it was Licoln's favorite thing. There was a round disk to sit on with a rope to hold onto it. The swing would go down to the bottom, hit a post, and then come back. 

We took a picnic and ate outside. It was the perfect day for it! I don't think we did all the stations inside, and there were more things to do outside too. It would be easy to stay all day. We stayed for just under 3 hours and then Courtney wanted to go home so her younger son could have a nap. I'm taking a meal to someone tonight, so we left too. It was great fun and I'm definitely interested in going again sometime, hopefully it won't be so crowded. Thanks again for inviting us Courtney! I didn't get any pictures of her boys. Oops! They did all play together really well, but for some reason they just didn't end up in any pictures. 

Hiking in Castlewood Canyon

It's fall break and Melissa and I wanted to take the kids hiking at Castlewood Canyon. It was a really nice day, almost a little too warm. The kids were pretty excited to get hiking.

There were a lot of things in nature to look at, Lincoln picked up some leaves,

and Dangy found several pine cones.

Castlewood Canyon has a lot of big rocks and rock cliffs, but I didn't get a good picture of them. There was mostly trees and brush where were at.

Calista really did enjoy the ride even though she's not smiling for the camera. She kicked her feet and made happy noises.

The kids were so funny. When they wanted to take a break, they just stopped and sat down instead of looking for a nice place. There are lots of benches, picnic tables, and even big rocks we could have used to rest on, but no, they just plop down wherever they are.

A perfect spot for two!

About 30 minutes into our hike, the kids got hungry. We had lunches in our backpacks, so we found a spot near this tree to eat. We had only taken about two bites of our sandwiches when about 6 or 7 bees decided to join us. They swarmed around our sandwiches and water bottles. The kids were screaming and jumping up and down like crazy. Lincoln got stung on his back about two weeks in my backyard, so he was extra scared. We tried to swat them away, but it didn't work. By now the kids were crying, so we decided to start hiking again and eat while we walked. The bees just followed us, the pesky things. So we put the food away and the bees finally left. The kids had lost all desire to hike and be outside. There were some tall grasses that looked like wheat along the sidewalk and it brushed one of the kids arms and terrorized them that it was bee. It was a little breezy and Dagny's pigtails brushed her neck and she thought it was a bee and jumped up and down screaming. At this point Melissa and I decided to give up. We had a bit of walking left to make it back to the parking lot.

We stopped for a quick minute at this overlook. Melissa opened her backpack to get one of the kid's water bottles, and I opened mine to get a kleenex to wipe Lincoln's nose, and we both had a bee in our backpack!!! Those bees really had it out for us! Melissa managed to get both of the bees out without the kids noticing, so we avoided any more crying and jumping up and down. Whew! What an adventure! We only spent just over an hour in the canyon and that was the end of that. Melissa invited us over to spend the rest of the day and the kids were so happy to play inside.

Maddie is 2 Years Old!

Two years went by so fast! It seems like Maddie was just born a few weeks ago. She knows what presents are and was pretty excited to open them.

We gave her this little stuffed dog with a carrier and accessories needed to care for a pet. It has a bottle, comb, food bowl, and ball. The buttons on the side play music or little phrases to learn colors, shapes, and more. I think she likes it!

She couldn't wait to get it out of the box.

Claire shows her how to open the door on the carrier.

The puppy is hungry and Maddie is all set to feed it.

Maddie loves the song, "Baby Shark", and this little shark plays the song. It is adorable she didn't want to put it down.

Austin's girls have this unicorn hat and dress that Dagny just loves! She put it on first thing whenever she comes over. Dagny loves anything unicorn!

Claire has learned to "jiggle" and was so excited to show us how well she can do.

Go Claire! She did pretty good!

Millie loved this doll carrier that Maddie got for her birthday. She had a stuffed rabbit all buckled in and carried her around the house the whole time we were there.

Birthday cupcakes! Maddie ate hers pretty carefully and didn't make too big of a mess. Frosting always tastes better on fingers.

Melissa had covered the table with paper and written "Happy Birthday Madeline" on it. The girls colored while they ate their cupcakes and had a blast doing it.

After cake we went in the backyard so we could see the trike Maddie got. It has a removable handle so it can by pushed before/while kids are learning to pedal. What a great idea! Maddie loved it and was smiling from ear to ear.

Happy Birthday sweet Maddie! She calls me "Gram Gram", and I love it. She loves to wear backpacks and she sleeps with a stuffed animal every night. Her favorite food is yogurt, Nutrigrain bars, and chocolate cheerios. We love you Maddie!

First Snow of the Season

The first snow of the season, and boy are these kids excited! It's kind of early for snow, so nobody was prepared with things like snow boots and snow pants. There was no talking them out of it though, so we went outside. There's really not that much snow, only 2 or 3 inches.

They had so much fun just walking around in the snow and making footprints.

Then they noticed the snow on the trampoline and thought it would be so fun to jump in it.

They really like me to play the song, "Baby Shark,"  on my phone while they jump and run around to the music.

It's just as much fun to jump on the trampoline with snow as it is with no snow!

Sliding in the snow is next on the list of things to do.

After about half an hour, we were cold and headed to the house for some hot chocolate. I need to buy some marshmallows!

Sierra's Wedding

Sierra Porras married Blake Hartley today. I just love the Porras family! About 7 or 8 years ago the Woodlands Ward was dissolved and we became part of the Castle Rock Ward again. I was called to be the Young Women's 1st Counselor and that's when I first met the Porras girls and their parents. Young Womens is so intimidating to me. I consider myself serious and practical and not as fun loving and cheerful as most Young Women leaders are. The Porras girls were so nice to me, talking to me, and asking to sit by me. It wasn't long before they held a special place in my heart. Sierra and my Blake were the same age and Sierra and Britta are very close friends even though Chloe is the Porras who is Britta's age and they are friends too.

They always invite us to special events and treat us like family. We were honored to be invited to the sealing.

Blake is from Boise, Idaho and they met at Utah State. They are so cute together!

Sierra is the oldest of 6 girls and all the sisters are bridesmaids. Chloe, Amelia, Rose, Naomi, and Theresa. Such beautiful girls!

Such a beautiful bride! And she's so happy!

The Porras family. Tony's parents live in the area and we have met them at different events. They are always so friendly to us.

It was a super sunny day, so we're both a little squinty. I love this girl and I'm so, so happy for her today.

They were sealed in the Ft. Collins temple as the Denver temple is closed right now for some remodeling. This is my first time coming to this temple, and it is big and beautiful!

I don't know which I love more, the fountain or the flowers!

I planted some flowers like this in my back yard, but mine haven't expanded as much as these have. Flowers at the temple are always so beautiful, I swear there is heavenly soil there that makes everything well so big and pretty.

A close up just because I thought  they were so beautiful. 

Sierra and Blake had a reception that night at a club house in a housing development in Parker. It was really a cute place. Chic Fil A catered their refreshments. Such a fun idea and so tasty! They also had little bundt cakes that were to die for!

Here's to a long, happy life together and I wish that all your dreams come true!