June 2016

The future site of our forever home. Doesn't it look like paradise?!

Constant shenanigans with Cole and Clara. Her favorite thing is to sit on/jump on stationary siblings.

We made another quick trip through Utah on our way to the Blacker and Crockett family reunions in Idaho. While we were there we took the kids to the Salt Lake City Temple for the first time. It was almost surreal to be walking around the temple grounds, talking about how families can be together forever with our sweet children, in the very spot where Dave and I made covenants with each other and the Lord so we could be together forever. 

We spent a full week (between the Blacker and the Crockett reunions) camping in Idaho during June. Initially the kids had a blast and we really enjoyed the beautiful mountain and stream by us. Then an awful tummy bug swept through our tent and Cole and I particularly spent a lot of time in the bathroom. Thank goodness there were flushing toilets and showers! And my grandparents lived close by so we could do laundry mid-week! I don't think we'll be camping for that long again, but in the end it was wonderful to see all the family we hadn't had a chance to see in 5 years.

Here are some of the fun things we did all week:

Clara loved "walking" my Grandma and Grandpa Blacker's dogs (they really just led her around camp, and were good sports about it).

Dave and Russ went on a "morning" run in the mountains and came back several hours later with bloody, scratched up legs. Apparently they lost the trail and were running through bushes and underbrush most of the way.

Lexi was great at doing the rope coarse. She has no fear. I wish I were more like her.

The whole gang, minus Shantae and Brandon. My parents, siblings, and our families.

Dad teaching Lizi how to carve. There was only one sliced finger during the week (one of my younger cousins), and Nathan happily stitched him up.

He was so excited. Definitely ER doctor material.

Dad doing paper rockets with all of the grand kids. They loved building their own rockets and then chasing them down and trying to catch them as Dad fired them off into the distance.

We played a human version of "Hungry Hippos", pushing each other around on skateboards and trying to snatch as many balloons as we could. The little ones were a little easier to push around, but not accurate. The bigger ones were pretty good at getting the balloons, but you had to be strong to pull them back and forth.

We celebrated my Grandpa Crockett's 80th birthday (a little late), as well as my Grandpa and Grandma Blacker's 80th's.

I love this picture of my Grandpa Blacker taking care of Grandma, with his trusty dogs on his lap.

This is how I will always remember him (overalls and all. :)).

Russ and Jake, totally pulling off the mustaches.

Dad with Ellie (Nathan and Lizi's youngest).

Cole was zonked during church after the reunions. This is probably the only time he's sat still and been quiet in church, ever.

May 2016

May was a crazy busy month for us. We post-poned having Cole's birthday party until May because he really wanted it outside at a park (we were waiting for "nice" weather). It was beautiful weather the days before and after his party, but the morning of his party was a balmy 32 degrees and super windy. He still wanted it outside, so we had a couple quick games and treats and then everyone retreated back to their warm cars and homes. Needless to say the turnout wasn't quite as good as expected. He loved it though.









Happy Kiddos = Happy Mommy

The week after Cole's Birthday party we were outside

running around in the sprinklers in shorts and t-shirts...

Cole lost his second tooth in May. It was much less dramatic
than the first, but still just as fun to have the tooth fairy come.

We made a quick trip up to Utah for Dave's cousin's wedding and got to see Grandma Beutler, Melissa, Mike and Lizzie. The kids loved all the attention. :)

Melissa had a snail problem in her backyard and paid Cole to collect all the snails he could find. Her caveat was that we had to take them with us. Half way home we realized they were escaping in our van. Yuck!!!

We also got to see Russ and Katie. Their gecko, Gill, and their dog were big hits with the kids.

Cole had a cute end-of-year performance with his Preschool. 11 boys and 1 girl in his class. Can you guess who he (and everyone in the class) liked best? The girl.

We were invited to a fun dinner with our (ex)builder where they had a
face painter and prizes for the kids. Lexi insisted on being a penguin.

We were also crazy enough to take the kids on our ward camp out the end of May. They loved cooking hot dogs over the fire and playing with glow sticks in the dark, but let's just say that we don't do well all sleeping in the same tent. The next morning we went to the sand dunes right by where we were camping and the kids had a blast. There was a small stream that you had to cross by foot to get to the dunes, and we spent the morning playing in the stream and digging in the sand. It was extraordinarily windy, and we all looked like wet dogs toward the end, but everyone was happy and slept on the drive home (they NEVER sleep in the car, so this was amazing).

Cole is always on the hunt for bunnies in our yard.

April 2016

April was a month of survival for us. We had lots of snow and crazy weather (particularly hail) mixed in with beautiful days. Spring in Colorado is definitely schizophrenic.

Cole lost his first tooth, and it was definitely dramatic (in Cole fashion). There was blood and lots of tears, but a happy kid once he remembered the tooth fairy was going to come. Funny how that changes everything.

The whole family was sick during April. You can see Lexi reading me a book on the couch when I didn't feel well - what a sweet heart! The throw-up bags from Dave's hospital definitely came in handy and kept the kids entertained.

March 2016

March was a busy month for us. Dave had a conference in Veil, CO, so we tagged along with my mom and dad to play in the snow. Grandpa Blacker made a make-shift sledding hill along side our rental house that the kids loved! We also had a fun Easter egg hunt at a friend's house (indoors because it was snowing), and then a few days later were at the zoo in short sleeves because it was so nice outside. Clara had tubes put in her ears in March, which has helped a lot with the ear infections, and Lexi was busy again with tumbling. Dave and I were plenty busy with planning our house that we're building. It's hard to keep up with these kids!