Climbing at Eldorado Canyon

With the influence and encouragement of Ben's work buddies and other friends, Ben has really jumped into the climbing scene, which is something he had been wanting to do since our move a year ago. I mean, how can you resist scaling the side of a mountain when they are the backdrop of your city? :) Although, quite sore as his muscles adapt to their new task, Ben is finding it to be a great new challenge and adventure. On Saturday, we headed out with our friends, Lisa, Holden & Saoirse (pronounced Sear-sha) to a popular climbing area just outside of Boulder - Eldorado Canyon. Holden and Lisa have climbed for many years, so Ben had some great help & support from their expertise. Since Ben had climbed 3 times this week, his muscles were really fatigued, making the climb a bit more difficult. About 3/4 of the way up, he told Holden that he was ready to come down. Holden's response was, "When you ask me 5 times to come down, I will consider letting you down." So, needless to say, Ben made it to the top...and, in the end, was glad that Holden didn't let him off the hook too easily. :) Enjoy the pics...

This is the view from the bottom, where the mamas and kiddos watched... Ben starting his ascent...

He made it to the top!!

Cheering daddy on from the bottom!

March Fun...

John and his buddies, Mercy & Eden.

John and Eden just chillin' on the bean bags.
Oh, I am too funny!Daddy introduced Johnny to his favorite book.
Fun for John...a mess for mom!
Riding the merry-go-round at the zoo.
This is soooo fun!
With sweet friend, Anna, at the zoo.
Checking out the elephants with Saoirse.
Mom, look at my glasses!

Catching up!!

Hello all...it's been a bit too long since I posted some pictures, so here are quite a few to keep you entertained. Boulder life is treating us well...here 10 highlights of the past month:

1) My brother just moved to Denver! Yea - the family is starting the migration west!!

2) Ben climbed to the top of a peak near our house (Bear Peak) a couple of weeks ago, which he was quite excited about. He literally walked out our door to the mountains and then went up the trail 3,000 feet to the top. Pretty cool. It took 6 hours and he was sore for about 6 days!

3) Ben just took a weekend trip with a friend to Moab, Utah - they went rock climbing and explored Arches National Park.

4) My mom drove out with my brother last week when he made the move out west and spent the week with us, so John has had a blast playing with 'Grammy'!

5) We took a family trip up to Vail for a weekend and enjoyed our stay with some family friends. We went snowshoeing, sledding & just took in the beauty of the winter wonderland up in the moutains.

6) Spring has come to Boulder! It seems that winter sort of just dabbles upon Boulder...as a whole, we don't get much snow (in a 'normal year' that is), temperatures are fairly mild, and spring arrives in late Feb./early March! Here are some examples of this: Ben laughs at how many times I have had the air conditioner on in the car this winter; A couple of weekends ago, I went from wearing sandals while out with some friends on Saturday night to snow boots on Sunday morning; the last week of February, I got a sunburn while at the park for a couple of hours with John on a 75 degree day! :) Even with the temperatures climbing up to the 50's & 60's most days now, everyone is warning me that we will still have one or 2 more snows.

7) We dedicated John on Feb. 17th at our church here in Boulder.

8) On Feb. 15th, I turned 34!

9) Some of John's new phrases are: "Mommy, Daddy, I'm Superman!"; "Hey Mom, Whatcha doing?"; When someone asks him how old he is, he answers, "I'm five"; Ben or I will say, 'Shake, Shake, Shake' and John will finish our sentence with, "Shake your bootie!" (charming, I know), he just learned, "Praise the Lord" at church on Sunday...and, of course, "I do it!"

10) We are celebrating our 1 year anniversary of our move to Colorado!! Check out the pictures in the slideshow of John & Mercy as well as John & Isaiah from 1 year ago when we moved here and then from just the past couple of weeks. Where have our babies gone!?!?!