Look What Was On My Camera…

We’ve been canning freezing!  Raspberry jam and green beans.  Mmm!  (The actual “canning” will start soon, when the droves of tomatoes are on, and the 40-pound box of pears that I ordered arrives…all of which will be happening with heart surgery!  Fun times all around!!)

Rachel and Caleb have been busy un-stuffing (and re-stuffing) the chair in their room.

 

I’ve been enjoying the roses Jared gave me for our anniversary.  One dozen long-stemmed beauties!

Josh has found a new use for the Boppy pillow, and Emily has clean teeth.

And Daniel has been talking, rolling, gaining neck control, wowing us with his strength, discovering his tongue and being just plain cute!

We Have a Date!

Yes, it is our anniversary today.  Twelve years, thank you!  But I’m not talking about a night-on-the-town sort of date.

I’m talking a SURGERY DATE!!  It’s really going to happen.  Whether I want it to or not.  And while we’re on the subject, let me just say that my emotions about this surgery are quite the contradiction.  I want it to happen.  Really.  Because I know it’s what Daniel needs.  He’s going to be a new man after it’s all said and done.  And I have glorious visions for the future…neck strength, rolling, crawling, and no more pumping (not to mention wondering if his blueness is an OK blueness, or if it’s a blueness we should be worried about).  At the same time, I want to take him and RUN!  Run as fast and as far as my legs can carry us.  I’m terrified to hand him off and trust his life to someone else.  And even though I feel like I’ve prepared myself, I know I’m not really prepared for the climb up this mountain.

I guess you want to know the date, huh?

How does September 6 sound?  Yeah, it’s got a nice ring to it.

Remember that part about hibernating a few posts ago?  Doctor’s orders.  We have been told to not be around lots of people until he’s all recovered.  If he gets sick we’ll probably have to reschedule.  And I really don’t want to have to do that.  So we’ll be good patients and follow orders.

We’d love it if you would keep Daniel in your prayers.  We need all the help we can get!

Family Pictures

We had family pictures taken the week before we went to Denver.  It’s a good thing we went on vacation…I would have gone nuts waiting to get them back!  Our photographer was Casey McFarland (iamcasey.com).  He used to live in our ward, and he and his wife were Rachel’s and Caleb’s nursery teachers for a while.  He is such an amazing photographer, and he really did a great job capturing our family.  I only wish some of my children would have cooperated a little more.  Oh well!

Here is my absolute favorite…

Isn’t it just perfect?!?!  So glad I had him wearing blue…it really makes his eyes pop.

I love these of Caleb and Rachel too…

                   

And here are Josh (same from his b-day post) and Emily (who wins the prize for perfection)…

                   

And the kids all together…

Now the hard part!  I can’t decide on which of the family shots I like the best.  Care to weigh in?  I’d love some opinions!

I love the blue sky behind us and the group arrangement.  I don’t love that you can’t really see Daniel.

 I like the lighting on this one, and the arrangement is good.  I don’t like that Daniel is looking off to the side.

Just wish I could change the looks on 2 faces here…otherwise it would be perfect.

I don’t like orange-on-orange with Caleb and me.  And can I get just ONE MORE smile, PLEASE?!?!?  Everything else is great.

 Again, orange-on-orange, and one this-is-so-painful face!  Love the rest.

So…I’d love to hear what you think.  PLEASE!!  And just because I’m so nice, here is another one that I really like!  (There are actually a lot more that I really like, but we might be here until next week if I post them all!)

Happy Birthday Josh!

Can you believe this incredibly handsome boy is already is 9 years old?!?!

Josh had been counting down the days until his birthday for at least 2 weeks (but probably longer).  I think he may have been excited.  He wrote up a list of the things he wanted a while back.  Besides colored pencils, everything on the list was Legos.  He got the colored pencils as a Denver surprise, so he had an all-Lego birthday.

This was his request for breakfast…pumpkin waffles.  A boy after my own heart!

We mostly just hung out and played at home.  Josh was lucky enough to have his Dad take the afternoon off from work, so the two of them (with a few helpers) spent a whole lot of time playing Legos.

We had hamburgers and homemade fries for dinner, and apple pie for the birthday treat.  He is definitely his father’s son!  They both have good taste though.

9 things about Josh:

• He loves Legos.  A lot.
• He has a great memory.
• He is really good at math.
• He loves to play computer and Wii.
• He is very friendly.
• He is good at sports, especially baseball.
• He learns new things really fast.
• He loves hamburgers, apple pie, crepes (his original breakfast request) and candy.
• He has a good heart.

We love you Josh!  You’re such a fun part of our family, and we’re happy we get to be a part of your life and watch you grow up.

Denver: Day 3…the last day

Jared had class for the entire day.  Boo!!  But I guess that’s the main part of why we came, so we put up with it.  After getting ready and spending our morning at the park, we grabbed KFC (which ended up being a major rip-off!) and ate in our hotel room.  Then I got brave…really brave.  I decided to take everyone (minus Jared, of course) to Dinosaur Ridge in Morrison, about 20 minutes west of Denver.  It looked like the perfect activity. Kids love dinosaurs, right?  And it was FREE!!  Or so I thought.

We arrived around 2:30 p.m., and were greeted with life-like replicas of a few different dinosaurs.  Pretty cool.  We walked up to the main building, and I saw sign that said you could do a walking tour – that was 2 hours long! – for free, or you could pay $4/person to take a 30-45 minute guided tour on a bus!!  Ok…that’s just lame!  I didn’t have 2 hours – nor the desire – to drag the six of us through who knows what!  So I thought “What the heck, it’s only a few more dollars.”  There was a group that was just boarding when we got there, but it was full, so we’d have to wait until another bus came.

In the meantime, the kids were having fun digging for dinosaur bones in a man-made dig site.  While they were having their fun, I read a sign that warned about rattlesnakes in and around the property.  Just one more reason we WOULDN’T be taking the walking tour!  Josh later saw a sign in a different area and nearly b-lined it for the car!

We spent some time browsing around the gift shop, and I had to keep telling Rachel to put all the pretty little rocks back.  We can’t take them because they don’t belong to us, and we have to pay money if we want them (and we DIDN’T want them).  Then we browsed around the “museum” they had.  (I think the term “museum” is awfully generous, but what the heck.)  The kids got to dig for their own dinosaur treasures to take home.  I quickly realized that we probably wouldn’t have time to do a tour at this point.  We had to pick up Jared at 4:30 p.m., and we needed around 30 minutes for the drive.  So we looked around the gift shop some more, did a little more digging, and got ready to leave.  Everyone was all loaded up when Emily announced, “Mom!  Rachel stole some rocks from the store!!”  Yes…we have a little kleptomaniac on our hands!  (This isn’t the first time Rachel has taken something from a store.  Ughgh!)  So I ran back to the store and turned in the contraband.  Gee whiz!  Someone needs to teach this girl right from wrong!

I was so glad to see Jared when his class was over.  My patience was wearing thin and I needed a break!  So we set out to see the Denver Temple.  It is about 20 minutes south of Denver.  It is tucked away in a nice neighborhood where it seems to just pop up from nowhere.

The picture really doesn’t do it justice.  It reminded me a lot of the Jordan River Temple.

We then hit yet another gigantic mall just east of the temple.  Denver does big malls!!  The reason for our stop?  Yes, another Lego store!  Denver must be really special to get 2 stores!!

We ended the day – and our trip – at the Downtown Aquarium.  A great way to cap off the trip.  If you can think of an aquatic creature, I’m pretty sure we saw it.  Sharks…check!  Piranha…check.  Giant sea turtles (aka “Crush”)…oh yeah!

 

Caleb didn’t mind trying to pet the rays, but he sure was afraid of the sharks!!

“Those are the shrieking eels!  If you doubt me, just wait.  They always grow louder when they’re about to feed on human flesh!”

We topped off the evening with a visit to Dairy Queen, and the rest is history.  We had a great time!

We packed up the next morning and were on our way.  But only after we had to go back to the hotel to find Emily’s missing doll!  (We were only a mile down the road having breakfast…she would have been minus a doll if we were any further away.)  The drive home was very uneventful, and we made it home by 6 p.m. on Saturday night.  Just in time to get all the laundry done and make a trip to the grocery store!

Denver: Day 2

We found another nice park in the morning, though not quite as good as the one on Wednesday.  This park was near some beautiful open space, with a stream running by and a neat bridge over the stream.

After playing, we picked up Jared and got some lunch.  We chose a little place called Garbanzo – a Mediterranean style grill.  The food was pretty tasty, and the pitas were especially delicious.  Then we headed downtown for the Denver Firefighters Museum.  We had to hurry, because they closed at 4 p.m.  It was a neat museum that showcased the changes in firefighting through the years.  The building was old and hot, and it was packed full of old fire engines and firefighting equipment.  The kids loved the area where they could dress up in fireman garb and play on an old (1950’s or 1960’s I’d guess) fire engine.

 

Denver is a beautiful city.  It reminds us of Salt Lake City, but with more trees and other foliage.

We had our fun in town and had a nice drive back to our hotel.  Technically speaking, our hotel was in Denver, but it was about 5-10 miles south of actual downtown.  A nice area, but still really busy during peak times.

Since it was my birthday, we went to Beau Jo’s, a local pizza place.  The pizza was pretty good, and we got to drink from pint-sized canning jars.  I’ll have to remember that for those times when we just don’t have enough glasses in the cupboard!

After dinner, we went back to our hotel and let the kids (and Jared) swim in the swimming pool.  Caleb and Rachel insisted on buzzing back and forth between the hot tub and the pool.  As you can imagine, the ground was super slippery, and they both had unwanted meetings with it a few times.  Caleb finally learned to walk really slowly after he conked his head pretty hard.  I think we’re lucky we walked away {mostly} unscathed. 

Denver: Day 1

We had to get going earlier than I’d like on Wednesday morning.  Jared’s class started at 8:30 a.m., and we had to have him there a few minutes before that so he could register.  We dropped him off and then came back to the hotel to take care of everyone and get Daniel fed.  Having an infant who eats every 2.5 hours makes traveling a little tricky.  When the mom has to pump milk, it makes it even more tricky!  We planned most everything around feeding and pumping times.  I also had to go deal with our room situation.  I was ready for a fight, so I went with my fists up.  But the lady at the desk was really nice and actually explained everything and found a suite to get us into.  Yahoo!!

By the time we were all ready to go, it was around 10 a.m., so I decided to try to find a park to play at until Jared finished at noon.  Thank goodness for the internet, and thank goodness for WiFi!!  We would have been completely lost without those conveniences.  I found a couple possibilities for parks that were near where Jared’s classes were, and we hit the jackpot with the first park.  It had a great playground with plenty of shade and lots of fun toys.

Finding a park became our morning routine while we were here.  I learned from this first park that trying to take pictures while managing 5 kids (one who needed to be fed) just wasn’t going to work.  So this is it for the park photos!

While we were at the park, the hotel called to let us know that our new room was ready.  We picked Jared up and went back to the hotel to make the grand switch.  Thankfully it was just down the hall from where we already were, so it was a quick change.  As soon as the door closed (we left keys in the room), Emily realized she had left the case for her glasses in the nightstand.  Feeling quite sheepish, we went back down to the front desk and got another key.  Case retrieved and everyone happy!

After a late lunch, and a little relaxing in the hotel, we headed to the Denver Children’s Museum.  It was around 4 p.m., and we quickly realized that taking the freeway was a huge mistake.  Bumper to bumper for as far as we could see.  It took about twice as long as we had planned (nap time!), but we made it.  And I’m so glad we went…it was awesome!

We LOVED the bubble making area!

Caleb got a soggy foot from stepping into the “moat” of bubble water around the platform where Emily is standing.  After a few minutes walking around, he was sporting bubbles all over his sandal!  (Of course he’s wearing his sandals on the wrong feet, and don’t even get me started about the whole socks-with-sandals look!)

The creation station was pretty neat too.  Yes – those are real tools!  I was shocked that we walked away from this area without any injuries!

There was an area for grocery shopping…our kids had the entire inventory of stuff in their baskets.  There was also a dramatic play area and an engineering area.  In the interest of keeping this post to a minimum (haha!), here’s a roundup of a few more favorite photos.

After we played to our hearts’ content, we hit the road for some dinner.  Then we visited the Colorado Mills Mall, which boasts more than 1 million square feet of shop space!!  I’ve never seen a mall so big.  It was so big that the different areas of it were called “neighborhoods” and there was a giant carousel in the food court!  And the reason we visited this mall?  The Lego store, which ended up being a bit of a disappointment (for Jared…the kids loved it).