Colorado

If you know my mom, you know she's a seriously dedicated mama and nana.  I know she wanted so badly to come help take care of our family when Clark was born, but she physically wasn't up for it.  So, when Clark was four weeks old, we went to visit my parents in Colorado.  

I called in a few favors and had the kids taken care of between neighbors, church friends, and their awesome daddy and I was on my way.  Ryan and Alisa had been in Michigan interviewing for graduate schools and happened to be headed home by way of Chicago and took me to the airport.  Once at the airport I was ticketed under the wrong name, somehow made it through security, and then sat at the gate I was ticketed for (which was to Minneapolis!).  Once I realized what had happened there was no way to catch my flight to Denver, so I had to wait almost four more hours until the next flight!  Ugh!  Needless to say, I was so happy to arrive in Denver and see my cute mom waiting for me in the airport.  

We had a great few days together!  Sheri Dew happened to be in CO speaking to the Relief Society sisters and we were able to go together.  We shopped for fabric for Clark's baby quilt, but we mostly sat on the couch and held this sweet baby boy.  It was nice to have a break, to just sit and give my attention to one little person.  Mom was great and encouraged me to take a nap every afternoon.  It was so fun and incredibly relaxing.  

After church on Sunday, mom was holding Clark on her bed and I snapped the above picture.  Doesn't she look beautiful?!!  Her hair is coming in and she and Clark had matching baby hair!

Dad is a baby lover!  Seriously, he loves on new babies like nothing before!  I can't say I came and stocked their freezer with meals or cleaned their house, but I brought new life, snuggly  and sweet.

Bil and KT were sweet to take me to the airport and Bil snapped this picture before we left.  I just love my parents!  I'm so glad I was able to travel to let them meet Clark as soon as I did.  We're hoping they'll be in Michigan in April for a visit!

Raking

We had two raking days this year.  The first was the biggest and I was so bummed I couldn't find the camera.  The kids were so cute to rake with Mike and they had fun loading all the leaves onto the tarp and then dragging them back into the woods.  After all the raking was done, Mike gave them rides on the tarp around the house.  I was inside with Clark and all the sudden I saw Mike sprinting across the backyard with kids in tow giggling behind him!  It was so cute!  They had a ball and Mike got a great workout!

 These pics are from raking day  #2, less leaves, less excitement, but still cute kids.

Halloween Recap

I'm terribly behind on the blog, behind on life; however, this is my family record, and although blogging is so 2008, I'm sticking with it.  Stay tuned as I update, great pics to come!  

Once again, the kids planned a full year in advance what they wanted to be for Halloween and I have to admit that I loved it!  We took them to see Peter Pan at BYU a couple of years ago and I've thought it would be cute to do, but didn't want to force it.  This was not forced and I thought they looked so great!

 Carving pumpkins- always a great night!  So grateful there are two parents to help carve, but the kids were awesome this year at actually sticking their hands in and pulling out the guts!

 This picture is classic my life- a child on each side of me, one in my lap, and a project at hand.  I did not let Mike snap the picture minutes before while I was carving and nursing at the same time, multi-tasking at it's best!

 I'm grateful to have a few baby loving neighbors who have offered to watch Clark on occasion.  I was able to go to the boys Halloween parties at school, a special treat considering I haven't volunteered in their classrooms because of pregnancy/new baby.  They were so cute and so excited to have me there.

 Halloween night was cold and rainy.  Clark and I stayed home to pass out candy and Mike took the others around the neighborhood.  Tinkerbell didn't last long, it was too cold and she was content with coming home to cozy up by the fire with me and Clark.

 Early on Tanner was vacillating between being Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates or just a regular pirate.  I found this cute pirate costume and brought it home to ask what he'd decided.  I think he was excited about actually having the costume that day and decided to forgo the Jake idea.  However, he came to me the next day and said he wanted to be Jake after all.  At this point his regular pirate costume had been worn and tags removed.  I told him he'd already made his choice.  After that told everyone in a monotone voice he was "a regular (pronounced reglar) pirate".  I kind of felt badly about what happened, but not enough to make or buy a second costume.  I thought he looked cute, though!

 Captain Hook and the regular pirate booked it around the neighborhood, but were still no match for Peter Pan, who stayed out even later with a neighbor friend to hit a few more houses!

Such a fun holiday with these cute kids, love them!