It was Evie's first birthday a week ago and she is getting big quickly. She has about 10 words now and she took her first step today. It's only been a year now, but it seems so long ago that we only had two children. Our family was definitely not complete before Evelyn arrived.









Avery had his first day of preschool this week. Here are some pictures of him on the school steps and in front of our house with his new backpack.

The Kids at the museum.



It has been an unusually cold summer here in CO. Above are pictures from Ashley's 14er summit a couple weeks ago. This marks the first time either of us has seen snow falling in August since we've lived here. I think you all know where I am going with this, so in the interest of fairness I am also posting a picture of a sad polar bear as a counterpoint.

5 Years!

Two weekends ago was our annual anniversary trip. This year we went backpacking in Nordhouse Dunes for 3 nights. This year was much more relaxed as we hiked in, found an awesome campsite, and kept the same site all 3 nights instead of packing up every morning. We did day hikes and relaxed on the beach to fill our time. This first pic is of Reuben filtering water- an immediate necessity when we got there!

On our anniversary, down at the beach. Can't believe it's been 5 years!



Mountain House is the best! Especially the raspberry crumble dessert- the treat on our anniversary!

Our awesome campsite right up a dune from the water, but nestled in the woods.

Percolating our coffee over the fire, a morning must!
We hiked on dunes and in the woods...

I look kinda pregnant in this picture....?? Below is a picture (not captured very well) at an overlook of an area of trees that were totally crushed down in a tornado a few years back. The view was really amazing.


We had a few great sunsets, but this one on the last night was spectacular with the clouds.
Time to hike out! We had a great relaxing trip and time together. It's always wonderful to get away to the middle of nowhere and just stop, breathe, relax, be, and enjoy God's' amazing creation!

hair

I decided to get a haircut last night. And donate it.

Bloomin Big

We wanted to show you our sunflowers. The package said 8 - 10 feet...


These are between 12 and 13 feet. Something about that corner of the garden!

Colorado

Update from Colorado, in a backwards order because I don't like how this blog uploads photos...

I house/puppy-sat for the Ridderhoffs while they were in Missouri. I no longer wish I had a puppy... :) Cocker Spaniels are known for peeing when excited, and Skye is very excitable. I did, however, get to use her as a model to expand my portfolio, though in most of these she looks far calmer than she was. Here are a few I took:





I also experienced a solid Colorado storm: a sudden rain, echoing thunder, LARGE hail, followed by sunshine and a massive rainbow. Biggest hail I have ever experienced.

Skye was eating them


A few weeks ago my friend Lish from Chicago flew in for a day just to do something mountainy and catch up. She got in around 11 at night, and we tried waking up early the next morning to see how far we could get up the backside of Pikes Peak. The alarm didn't go off, so we started later than we had hoped, but it was still a good hike.


Behind her is Devil's Playground named for how the lightning jumps between the rocks. Sounds inviting.

The backside of Pike
Panoramic... I'll show a bigger version sometime. The basin was amazing, I always have the urge to get a frisbee and just toss it as far as I can in those situations.
We got right up to where the trail crosses Pikes Peak Highway, but decided it was best to turn back since it was around 10:30 and storms were already rolling in. We only got sprinkled on on the way down, but there is a video on facebook showing the downpour of hail and thunder we just missed as we drove away.

Spencer had a "Ulty" tournament in Breck the weekend after we were there.
Here is what it looks like on my drive in from the south.

There were a few fields by a rec center on the north end of town. Still great views. I didn't take too many good ones because I volunteered to keep score, and my batteries died.


Still working at J.C. Penney, and finally getting some more hours this week afer a couple horribly slow ones. Working on using my connections with someone who works at Compassion International to get a entry level job there. I also am getting to take some photos for the church, I don't get paid, but will definitely get some recognition which is also good. Still getting some yard work done, slowly but surely, and the push mower is working great now that the yard doesn't look like a field! I keep finding areas that used to be small gardens, and hope to have them cleared out before winter comes, and possibly even before Labor Day since our house is throwing a BBQ/house warming for friends. The house-drama has died down a lot, and I enjoy being in the house much more! other than that, my computer has been showing signs of dying, so I need to make sure I back things up soon! It'll be good. That's all for now.

I figured we needed a post for this month, but I haven't really taken any pictures since everyone was out. Here are a couple I took with my blackberry when Avery and I had a father/son night in the big city: