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!?!?!

Winter Family Hike

We went on a hike today on this great trail in North Boulder. It's scenic and perfect for a toddler since it's pretty flat & easy, as John now wants to walk by himself (not to mention that mom and dad certainly don't mind the break from carrying him in the backpack or pushing him in the stroller)! When I asked John if he was enjoying the hike, his response was, "Yes! Big Hiking!" :) It will be a fun trail to hit when the weather warms up since there is a stream & lots of rocks to climb and play on.

Quick family shot while hiking.

Playing in the snow.

The boys waiting for mommy (who is of course stopping to take too many pictures)!

Hummm...Lions & Tigers & Bears - OH MY!

Mommy & Johnny checking out the stream.

Following in daddy's footsteps with a love for the woods & trails!

Very happy hiker!!

Another happy hiker!

John-John confidently leading the way.

Cute things John says!

John has become quite the spunky 2 year old. I just wanted to share a couple of fun things he has said. Recently, when we have gone to church, John has walked into the church and pointed to the sanctuary saying, "Sing to God!" He hasn't wanted to go into the toddler room because he is more interested in going in with the adults so that he can "Sing to God!" The interest only lasts a couple of minutes and then off to the kid's area to play with toys, but the fact that he has picked up even a tiny bit on what we do at church is priceless. The other night when Ben and John arrived at the church for their Wed. evening activities, everything was cancelled because we had just gotten a bunch of snow. John was upset that he couldn't go in, so Ben tried to explain in 2 year old terms by telling him that "the church went Nite-Nite." When they arrived home, John then told me the reason that they had come home early by saying, "Mommy, God is sleeping." :) Another cute one - tonight we were at a friend's house watching the Super Bowl. John wanted me to come downstairs to play with him and I told him that I would be down in a few minutes. He kept persuading, with a final determined command, "Mommy, Obey!" HA! :) Oh, the things they understand and pick up on...and then repeat! Enjoy the pictures.

John's 2nd birthday & January pics

We had many fun celebrations for John's 2nd birthday including parties with both families as well as friends back here in Colorado. John's favorite part was definitely the 'cake-cake' (adapted from 'cupcake'), which was great since he wanted nothing to do with his cake on his 1st birthday. Below in the slide show you will see pics from the various birthday festivities. There is also a picture of the amazing charcoal portrait of John that my parents had done for us for his 2nd birthday. I included some pictures from the last couple of weeks of John doing some of his favorite activities. You can stop the picture and see the caption by holding your mouse over the picture.

Christmas 2007!

I am back!! I am finally posting some pics from our time with family and friends in OH, IN & MI over Christmas and New Years. John loved his time with all of his grandparents, aunt & uncles! It is so fun to see all of them become such a special part of John's life, even though we are far away. I am finally feeling 'back into the swing of things' here in CO after 2.5 weeks of traveling in the midwest. One highlight is that I am actually keeping my New Years resolutions so far this year, which is not often the case. :) They were 1) to exercise more and 2) to start using the reusable grocery bags that I have had in my car for months and never have used. I made a conscious effort to make managable resolutions so that I might actually keep them, so I am quite excited that I have seen progress in both!

John turned 2 on Jan. 7th, so in a few days, I will post John's pictures from our celebrations.