Settling In

 We got Evan off to his first day of school. It's hard to believe he's the big 2nd grader. He was super nervous since school had started almost 2 months ago, but of course he rocked it. He only had to go for two weeks before they were let out for Fall Break, lucky him. It gave us plenty of time to start exploring our new home. Love it!

Castle Wood Canyon Park

This is our first hike as Colorado residents and it did not disappoint. It's so close to our home so we'll be frequent visitors I'm sure.

 

 

 

 

Close to Home

We have been so lucky to have family around. My Uncle Tim and Aunt Laura and kids have been soooooo good to us. Matthew stayed with them until we got into town and then all of us hung out at their house until we found our own place. They have been so supportive and helpful and we greatly appreciate all of their help. The kids have been so great playing with the boys and entertaining them. We are truly enjoying being close to them and spending time together. We feel lucky to be a part of them.

Watching Spenc play in his football game. What a rockstar!

The boys and Matthew joined Tim and Spencer for a Father and Sons camping trip while Kylie and I had some girl time eating sushi, painting our toe nails, making chocolate chip cookies and watching movies. Good times . . . good times!

Rocky Mountain High

After much searching and looking at probably 20 houses/apartments/condos for 4-5 days I found the PERFECT house for us. I pulled up and peeked into the backyard and knew this was where we needed to be. It's further away from school then we had hoped and a little bit more then we had hoped but it is FABULOUS!

Front of the House

This is our Hundred Acre Woods ready for adventures!

Front Room

 

 Tiny Kitchen

Living Room

We are so happy to begin this next step here in the Denver area. We LOVE it here!!!!

Goodbye's are NEVER easy

We stayed longer here in Oregon then anywhere thus far, so I guess it's about that time to move on to the next adventure.  Matthew needed to get on his way to Colorado to start classes. So we drove as far as Tri-City's Washington to see my favorite Puslipher clan and get some needed family time in. We got to help little Grant celebrate his birthday, ride on the jet ski for a bit and of course lots of delicious grub.

Matthew left from their house to head on to Kaysville, UT to stay the night at his grandparents and then on to Denver. While the boys and I headed back to Hillsboro to pack up our house.

Of course I could not have done it on my own without the help of friends,  my sister who drove up to help me and then my parents who came to help me finish, load up the truck, clean the house and drive with me as far as their house. I have the best family and friends in the WORLD!

Goodbye to our very first house (rented). We'll miss you Larena Place Hillsboro, OR.

Paramont's Great America

We couldn't pass up an opportunity to have a little fun at Great America. It holds a lot of memories for Matthew and he wanted to make some for the boys. Meghan an Josh joined us and we didn't leave until we were good and tired of all the thrills. This family LOVES amusement parks!

Riding the wild roller coaster with the boys. They wanted to do it over and over again. Loved it!!!

Hey Snoopy! Resting for a bit in the Kid Park.

It took some time to pick just the right one and they chose a feline and hare. Hmmmm

Showing off our mad Rock Band skills. I can't remember what song it was, oh well.

This kid could live on Cotton candy, cereal and blueberries. Best part about an amusement park!

The boys LOVED the bumper cars, and I don't blame them. It was pretty amusing for us to watch as well. They were pretty aggressive in there and we cheered them on. Plus, the guy running the ride was hillllllarious. With his thick accent and monotone voice, all we heard the whole time was, "push the pedal, push the pedal, turn the wheel, turn the wheel."  Needless to say it's been a family quote ever since. Even little D caught on and says it, accent and all. Good times!

Dallin was riding the kiddie rides over and over with Mags while Evan rode some of the bigger ones with us. D can't wait to be tall enough for the wild rides. We'll definitely have to come back once he's grown a couple more inches.

Did I mention this kid LOVES cotton candy? Auntie Mags spoiled him rotten!

Whitney & Glenn tie the knot

After we returned from beautiful Yosemite the Wedding Party began. It started with the Bridal Shower and fun times with the girls. The ceremony was sweet and they chose to have a pool party reception at the Nielsen home. The kids sure loved that!

Sisters (missing Krista & Sarah)

 Aren't we so lovely?! Waiting for the bride & groom after the sweet ceremony.

 

The happy couple! They are perfect for each other!

 

Bride's parents (and ours too)

 They chose to have a pool party for their reception and the kids LOVED it!

  Nielsen Family Pictures

  Here's another happy couple!

Love this little Lulu-bug!

August

Here is what happened in August.

We started the month off by heading down to California for a little vacation time. We stopped in Ashland, OR to see our old neighbors from dental school. This is one fabulous family and we sure wish we could see them more often. We spent quite a bit of time together those last two years, shared many meals, swapped the kids and just enjoyed hanging out. Aubrey & Dane have grown so much and Aubrey was one of the Dallin's first words, but unfortunately he doesn't have much memory of her. It was so wonderful to spend a little time catching up and enjoying this beautiful family.

We stopped off at the Nielsen homestead for a night before heading out to Yosemite. We stocked our food and picked up Meghan and off to the mountains we did go. The boys LOVE camping, and that includes Matthew too. Always fun family memories when we head off into the woods.

Where we were staying is actually outside of Yosemite park, but you have to drive through the park to get there, so we get to see it all.  We (I) love Reds Meadow because of the hot springs that they run into free showers. It is our favorite spot!

Of course, the boys took every opportunity to play in the water.

 

 

And then there is D who also took every opportunity to swim in the dirt as well. He was little pig-pen, making dirt angels. He was brown from head to toe, but he just couldn't get enough of it. Silly kid!

 
We hiked out to rainbow falls, and it was the first time we didn't have to carry anybody. These boys are getting all grown-up. In fact they usually left us in their dust as they ran here and there exploring.

The special part about this particular trip was that Evan went on his first backpacking excursion. The first of many I'm sure. It was They were all glad to be back to camp, but Evan still talks about it and is pretty proud of himself. We're pretty proud of him too. Wish we could have joined him, but Dallin and I stayed at camp and had our own adventures.

 

  

  

 On our way home after having so much fun in that beautiful country behind us.

 

It wouldn't be a trip to Yosemite if we didn't stop in Mono Lake for some soft-serve. Delicious!