Family Pictures in Durango

When we were in Durango this summer our awesome niece Delanie offered to take our family pictures.  She is a great photographer and has an eye for beautiful views.  I warned her that our family is probably one of the hardest to photograph, but she did a great job.  These pictures are so special because most of them are taken on the Johnson ranch in Durango, so they hold great sentimental value for Clark.  

 

 

This is my favorite picture of Quinn.  It's perfect of his little expression.  And his boots, he always insists on wearing his cute little boots!

Caden's picture smile that evening looked amazingly like a tiger.

The family that hays together, stays together.

Such a beautiful sunset just accentuates are photogenic qualities.

Delanie wanted to practice some engagement poses for future clients...sorry Delanie, we aren't better models

I treasure these imperfect moments with my family!  Thanks Delanie!

Mom's Visit

My mom came to visit the last part of August and it was so fun!  I was so excited for her to come see our new house and our new place.  We had such a great time.  The highlights included visiting Santa's Workshop in the North Pole (a.k.a. the mountains above Colorado Springs).  We visited the Royal Gorge Basin where my mom and I zip-lined across the gorge, dangling 2,000 feet above the ground with a little red canvas between us and the ground.  It was exhilarating!  I loved shopping with my mom at the outlet mall in Castle Rock one day.  Pretty much everyday we had an adventure that left us rushing back to the boys' school pedal to the metal to avoid picking them up late. 

 

Up close and personal with mountain sheep.

The zipline at the North Pole was super fun!  And we rode it A LOT!

The boys were thrilled by this very low key magic show at the North Pole.  As we left Ethan said, "see Caden, you didn't believe in magic, but now you know it is real!"  We saw a show with a few more high tech tricks at the Royal Gorge Basin later in the week. 

Quinn says his favorite reindeer is Branson with the red nose.

This was my favorite picture of the week with my mom's flowing hair and Quinn being squished into oblivion on the Candy Cane Coaster!

The highest ferris wheel in the world runs on a high peak and the views are superb!

Clark and I were taken on the dinner train that runs through the bottom of the gorge while my mom took the boys home after our day in Canon City.

Grammy made Caden's day joining him for lunch.  The crumpled up note on the side of the lunchbox that I had slipped in did not make his day.  Apparently the mom and son heart figures I drew were a bit embarrassing. 

I'm so grateful that my mom is willing to visit us wherever we land!  Just wish Pueblo was a tad closer to Idaho.

The Fowler's Visit Pueblo

Our friends, the Fowler family has visited us twice now since we moved to Pueblo.  The first visit was just Carrie and the kids and came at such a great time when we were all feeling a little lonely and homesick for our old friends.  The second time the whole family got to come for Labor Day weekend.  We have been so blessed through our residency to have friends that become more like family as we have never lived near family members.  My boys love all of their kids and play with them like cousins. 

 

On Labor Day we got to go to Royal Gorge Basin and Troy, Carrie and Clark zip lined across the gorge!

 

Troy also tried the sky coaster over the cliff of the gorge.

Gondola ride over the gorge is pretty impressive!

 

 

Our first sunset fire in our backyard.

A boat tour of the downtown Riverwalk

We love visitors!  Who's next?

Father's Day Coloring Pages

I can't say enough about how wonderful the Dads are in our lives.  For Father's Day the boys and I converted pictures on photoshop and made coloring pages to celebrate our Dads and Grandpas.  I loved how they turned out.  Clark has his hanging in his office.

A Hobby

Since moving to a new place I've been asked several times, "what are your hobbies? what do you like to do?" I wonder how the person would react if I told them my current hobby is making music videos with my boys? It's true. These music videos have been a pretty constant part of our Tuesdays over the past year! I have been the moderator of several health challenges the past year and as part of the weekly prize drawings for these challenges the boys and I make music videos. Today's video stretched our creativity to the max. We had a little too much fun! I'm picturing this on a talent show stage someday!
 


A movie can't go wrong when mullet wigs are involved.