School Glorious School!

Autumn had her first day of pre-school on Friday. Her class is all girls except for one poor little boy. I was hoping she would have some more "boy exposure" since she gets enough girls at home, but that's life. Today was their first "show and tell" and she took her "Holly Hobby" doll. When I picked her up I asked her how it went. "Good" she replied. Well, did you show your Holly Hobby doll? "Yeah, and my panties" she replied matter-of-factly. I gasped in horror. I so did not want to be those people. Your panties?! "Oh, it's OK, I didn't show the ones on my bum, just the ones in my backpack" (from the extra clothes in her backpack, her teacher asked us to pack for emergencies). So, we had to have a talk about how we probably shouldn't show those panties either during show and tell. But I couldn't be too upset, I was just glad they weren't the ones she was wearing. So let me just apologize to all the moms whose kids came home today and told them that Autumn showed her panties for show and tell. I just hope it didn't start everyone getting their respective "emergency" undies from their backpacks and comparing notes. I'm so sorry Miss Amy.

I want a new camera

We're terrible about taking pictures. I admit it. I always look back at my kid's baby pictures and think "That's it?!" So I'm trying. But I have the worst camera! The baby looks like a ghost. Or maybe it's the operator. Probably it's me. So Keli, here are the pictures you've been asking for, as good as I can get. Do you have any tips? Too much white, I think.

She's still cute as can be, and I cannot believe two months old! She' such a good baby and smiles and coos all the time. Nothing melts my heart like when she "talks" to me. Ahhh, babies.

Bigg Fun

Austin's work picnic this year was at Mr. Bigg's. The girls had a great time running around and trying everything out. They were so eager to get to the next thing, we barely stayed anywhere long enough to get a picture. They did however, love the pirate ship that shot nerf balls--Autumn has pretty good aim. Aspen was fascinated by the "alligator."

In the afternoon, we went outside to play on the water inflatables. The girls took some coercing, but Autumn eventually couldn't get enough. Aspen however, was a different story. Austin climbed up with her and because it was wet, promptly fell off. I almost had a heart attack. Then back up they went and Austin gently "nudged" her down. She came down crying and kept saying "Daddy pushed me!" Despite the emotional scars, we had a great time.

Is it your anniversary yet?

Austin and I celebrated our 8th anniversary on July 29th. I can't believe it's been eight years. Although in the grand scheme of thing, eight years is not that long, so much has happened. Two college degrees, three kids, four cars, moving more times than I care to admit (although I wouldn't mind one more!) It's been a wonderful eight years and I couldn't ask for a better husband or family. We planned on going to the Craftwood Inn in Manitou for dinner, but we had a couples baby shower that day and got back too late to make our dinner reservation. We instead went to Manitou, walked around, enjoyed the evening and talked without having to yell over screaming/giggling/crying. Then we had dinner at the Adam's Mountain Cafe on the patio by the river. It was the most relaxing evening I've had in forever. We closed the restaurant, not wanting to return to normal life. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, poor Nana had a long night with the girls. No one wanted the night to end there either, so the girls were up late, late. We promised the girls a "sleepover" for our anniversary, so for three weeks Autumn asked every day, is it your anniversary yet? Don't you want to go on your big date? We got out their big princess tent from Grandma and Grandpa Lee and they finally got their sleepover. It's nice to know we were missed.

Binky Baby

My sweet Autumn and Aspen have never taken binkies. Try as I might, they didn't want anything to do with them. As soon as we brought Eden home, they couldn't get enough binkies. I initially let them play with the ones Eden wouldn't take (she's a bit of a binky snob). But soon I realized we needed to nix that before we had problems. It's a little late girls.

She's a blessing

We blessed Eden on July 6th. We were blessed to have lots of family join us. Austin's brother, Spencer came with his wife, Rachel came from El Paso to spend the holiday weekend with us and attend the blessing. My mom, sister, Janel and brother, Rex attended as well as Austin's grandparents and his Uncle Mike, Aunt Khris, cousin Ryan and cousin Scott with his wife Becca and two daughters. The blessing was beautiful. With each child I am amazed at who they are and their potential, and as such I feel the weight of my calling very heavily when I hear them blessed. The one thing that stuck out to me in her blessing was that she would share/bring many people the gospel. She's a wonderful baby and a true blessing to our family. After sacrament we went back to my mom's house for brunch. We had a great time visiting, but no one had more fun than the little girls. They played all over the house and ended the day in complete princess attire.

Happy 4th

We had a busy Fourth of July! Austin started the morning with a round of golf and later met us in Monument for the parade. The girls were so excited to go to the parade. Autumn remembered all the candy from last year and Aspen was just excited because Autumn was. Autumn was so serious about the candy that she didn't even want the free popsicles they were handing out for fear that she would miss the candy--she has an addiction. It was hot and the best part was the elephants from the Renaissance fair. I loved the elephants and thought the girls would too, but Aspen's only comment when retelling the events of the day was that "the elephants pooped." Oh the things that make an impression. After the parade we headed up to Denver to great-grandma and grandpa Lee's house for a barbecue with the extended family. We had a great time catching up with everyone and the girls ran wild with their second cousins. Autumn couldn't remember Austin's cousin's name, Mariah, so she lovingly referred to her as "the big girl." I didn't see Eden for most of the afternoon as everyone took turns holding and loving her. It was great to be able to enjoy a meal! The girls were beat from the day, so by the time we returned home they were asleep and woke up briefly to enjoy a couple of fireworks before they crashed.