A Christmas 'tivity Scene

I just went through my pictures from the Nativity Scene we did with all of the kids on Christmas Eve that Angela mentioned (http://tangents-by-angela.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-do-nativity-scene.html) so I figured I would throw my pics into the foray. It was a really good time watching these kids (all 6 and under) do the scene. We had Mary, Joseph, an Angel, a sheep, 2 baby Jesus's and a Snowman. Gotta love the imagination! It is fun to watch them as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!

Bekah's Little Dance

This is just too cute not to share. Emily and Bekah have loved having a keyboard and want to play it constantly. Bekah has finally figured out how to climb up on the chair that we have next to the table and has been having a grand time.

Camping with Grandma and Grandpa

After our big trip to Ouray, we met my parents in Grand Lake, CO (right next to Granby) for a camping night. Shauna was supposed to have gone hiking the day before, but had to pull her quad muscle playing capture the flag, so it turned out only to be a camping trip. Here are some pictures, from the next morning.

The funniest part of the morning was when a squirrel decided to steal one of the peaches we had brought with us from Western Colorado. The peach was almost as big as he was. He tried to take it up the tree, but obviously failed. It ended up abandoned at the foot of the tree.

Our Little Troublemakers

Robin was woken up from a nap this afternoon to a very pale-faced Emily, and this is what she found...

Yep, Baby Powder. At least they were contained by the crib and it didn't get spread all over the house!

Camping in Ouray

We just got back from a camping trip to Ouray, CO where we also visited Silverton, CO. These were very prominent mining towns in the late 1800s, but now are wonderfully beautiful tourist towns. Ouray is called the Switzerland of America, which you can believe as you drive into the town, the high peaks on either side really make you think you are driving into an town in the Alps. We decided to go here as the first project I worked on at LSI was called Ouray4, so why not visit the town that had reference to a hard drive chip that I worked on.

We camped for three nights in a secluded campground, nestled on the mountain above Ouray.

We all loved the fire, especially Emily...

We also visited the Durango/Silverton Train line that travels precariously along the edge of the mountain between Durango and Silverton. We didn't ride it this trip (expensive and 3.5 hours one way) so we will do that on a future trip.

With Bekah still crawling, her only freedom was in the tent, so we let the girls play in there fairly often. They did really well, until Emily decided to cover Bekah with toys and blankets (which obviously didn't go over well)

We took a few short hikes, Bekah did really well in the backpack.

Emily had fun, but did get tired quickly with the uphill.

We then had lunch in the park.

The best part of the trip though was the family of deer that were constantly in and around our campsite. We ended up seeing them every day somewhere. Several times as we walked to our tent, the deer would be just behind it, grazing. The picture below you should be able to see 3 deer, a mom and 2 fawns. Emily was constantly asking if Bambi was around.

We had a ton of fun, and it is amazing how grown up the girls are getting.

We loved the beautiful country, and we will be back as soon as we can.

4th of July!

The 4th of July was a great fun holiday for us. We decided to spend the entire day in Loveland with my family. Our first stop was the traditional breakfast at Viestenz-Smith Park up Big Thompson Canyon.

Then after some naps and helping Shauna get her old desk out of her room we went to Winona Pool for a great afternoon. It was pretty hot during the day (we got up to about 95), so getting into the pool felt really good!

It took Rebekah a little longer to enjoy the water, but she did finally start splashing and having a great time...

... before taking a nap with Grandma...

After all of the fun we still went to the park for a band concert and fireworks.

We are so grateful for the wonderful nation that we live in!
GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Memorial Day Fun

We had a great time over Memorial day with Steven and Shannon and their kids visiting from Utah. Here is some of what we did while they were here:



It was a bummer that it rained Sunday to Monday so we couldn't go to the mountains for breakfast, but we had a great time anyway. We are so glad that the sun is shining and that the grass is green. We are hoping to have a fun time this summer!

Visiting the Ranch

Robin and the girls went to visit her sister and brother-in-law in Nevada while I had to get home to go to work. They had a great time. Leanna and Jake live right now in his parent's ranch until he starts medical school in the fall. Emily had a great time with everything there was to see.

Emily had a great time riding horses and seeing the cattle and buffalo.

All in all it was a fun trip.

Rebekah started doing better with her sitting up (not too much leaning and falling over). And she is doing well sitting and playing quietly by herself.


And she really loved the park when they went.

Things are CRAZY and the girls are growing up

Now I have heard that there are some that have been disappointed that I haven't been updating this blog (*cough*Janelle*cough* :) ), so I thought I would do a quick update on what we have been doing since the last update. We have been crazy busy. I was involved in an opera in Loveland from January to March, Mozart's The Magic Flute, that was a ton of fun, and now I am finishing up a project at work (long hours to get the thing out the door). Robin has been doing a cake class learning new techniques of decorating...


and has been very involved with the Wellington Friends of the Library. We went to Delta/Grand Junction for our new Niece's blessing (Robin's Brother's daughter), where Emily had a blast playing with her cousins (She is with her cousin Royce below)

and Rebekah is still growing and becoming really fun. She is eating solid foods and loves pickles (who knew...)

Robin and the girls are heading home from visiting her sister in Nevada, so we will post more pictures when they get back!

If you give a girl some stickers...

Emily loves stickers. She is always excited to play with them, sticking them to herself. She is always excited when she gets new stickers. The other day, we got some mail that had some Disney stickers in it, so she of course had to play with them as well as her other stickers. Well, she decided that not only should the stickers go on herself, but she also stuck them on Rebekah. Behold the aftermath...

Crazy Girls!