mid week photos

this weekend we went to several parks to run,

and swing

and swing even more

eat rocks

slide

practice the monkey bars

get rocket boosters from daddy

and have fun being together as a family!

and we took a little drive into the mountains.

weekend update

So sorry all you faithful blog checkers have been met with the same update for 2 weeks. I'm getting back on track!

PATRICK is busy busy and happy so. Somehow the stars aligned and he has two entire weekend days off! He turned 30 last weekend, which was celebrated with a relaxing family play day in our yard and a less than good meal at Outback. I am happy to report that my gift to Patrick got the highest marks.



I, LIZ, have been unpacking, organizing closets and tackling my first design project (happily so) by night and enjoying a new walkable park, yard, pool, and toy room by day. The kids and I ventured to Estes Park, a resort town inside the mountains. So pretty and so much cooler!

AFTON has been loving getting reacquainted with her toys that were packed away. She has been having quiet play time in her room or on my bed with her polly pockets or bob guys. Her reading skills are increasing and she is recognizing several words now by sight. Patrick brought her home a set of High School Musical Barbie dolls from work yesterday which she has been spending most of her time playing with. The dolls sing songs and she almost has the words memorized...which means Abel is also starting to sing a few of the words. Afton's favorite phrase of late is"HOLY SMOKES COW!!" makes me laugh every time!



ABEL is officially a toddler. He is all about exploring new stuff. Most recently this has been feeding himself with a spoon. Not my favorite exploratory stage but still cute to watch him put a spoon in a bowl and with great effort extract one small bite that makes him quite happy. His favorite activity is looking out the window for airplanes and shouting "Oh cool...airplane!" (which sounds more like "ah coo arpane"). He has added "shoo" (parachute), cereal, undies (taught by Afton) I love you to his vocab lately.





Whoa! That was a long update! come back soon. I promise more pictures tomorrow and throughout the week.

What a fun week! The kids and I made a visit to the Denver Zoo, had multiple play dates with new friends, tried out some new craft projects and enjoyed the last full week of lavish living. I am officially grossed out at the buffet breakfast here at the RI. Although Afton and Abel are still loving the donuts and waffles. Each day we count down the days left until we move into our new house. 3 MORE DAYS!!!

Here are some highlights of our week:
Patrick worked his first all nighter this week. He came home just as Abel woke up for the day.
Liz successfully watched the 29 episode second season of Gray's Anatomy in 4 days. It was McAwesome!
Afton picked garden veggies and ate them (well she gave the jalapeño to me). She also taught herself to swim!
Abel learned how to blow raspberry on other people's legs, arms and cheeks. And he says I love you. Ahhh!

Here are some photos...

Abel showing off his foil art crown.

Afton showing off her swirly stones are project.

Abel loves eating with his own utensils. I don't like the mess and don't let him to this very often. He was awfully happy when I got a hold of the yogurt spoon!

Quick! Get a picture of Abel at the zoo before he runs off!

Afton at the zoo.

Afton getting ready to dig into our teddy bear picnic. She adopted the uber pink sparkly bear from a thrift store earlier that day.

Abel sleeping on a pillow for the first time.

Afton sleeping like.... well like Afton. Funny even when she is asleep!

Family Update

Patrick is a very busy man. We all knew this was coming and I'm almost used to it. He is working hard on some cool stuff for ask.com and nike. He's the play machine in the morning with the kids. And sometimes he gets home with time to spare before bedtime.



Liz cannot wait to move into the new place. I'm dreaming of paint colors and hoping Target puts all their outdoor play stuff on sale just in time for em to stock up on it next week. I made a friend, a wife of a co-worker of Patrick's who is also in our ward. Hooray!


Afton has really made us laugh this week. Since we are staying at a Marriott, I swiped the free Book of Mormon for her to take to church. She spent all morning looking at the pictures and "reading" her scriptures. She randomly said, "Hey Mom, if I find the liahona, I get bonus points!" The B of M would make a cool video game. Later in the day, Afton got in a bit of trouble for pushing Abel, she stormed up the stairs and yelled "I'm going upstairs to read my scriptures!" How great if she always rebelled this way! Afton also gets Abel laughing with silly songs she makes up and sings over and over and over. I even have the latest one memorized:

(to the tune of baa baa black sheep)
Hey do do what do you hear?
I don't hear anything, anything.
Went to bed and her went Honk Zhoo,
Woke and he put on his ears
Her do do what do you hear?
I don't hear anything, anything.

Abel is a runner. He runs outside to pick up a stick, away from me when I try to change his diaper or get him dressed, and all around the house with Afton all day long. He would be an excellent man vs. wild kinda guy since he had no problem eating crayons, pine cones, rocks, banana peels and more. Abel is talking so much! New words are :animal (amal), hello (hewo) and hi guys. Abel has picked up on our frequent trips to the main lobby to get cookies. As soon as we walk through the door he starts to shout "COOKIE!" even if it's breakfast time.

We made it to our new ward today. It's small and so we were noticed right away. I've never had so many people say hello to me and remember me. A great way to start out in a new ward.

a family fourth

We had our first visitors on the 4th of July. 4 cousins, grandma, Aaron and Allison came up to swim, visit and eat good food.

3 cousins+polly pockets= hours of fun

two brothers

two cousins, realizing they look alike!

warming up in the hot tub, the hotel pool is really cold

a team effort noodle hose

popsicles!!!

showing off face/nose/arm paint art

the artist and super fun grandma (shes' better than mary poppins!)

even Abel got in on the face paint action, against his will but still cute

and of course, fireworks had a part in the celebration

a very blue thursday

anyone who knows me, knows that i will do just about anything to avoid spending a prolonged amount of time waiting in the hot, hot sun. i decided to put myself aside and take the kids to see a free BLUE MAN GROUP show yesterday...which was outside and required an hour of waiting in 95 degree weather. it was totally worth the amazement afton showed at marshmallows being caught in blue mouths and pink gumballs turned into spray paint art. and she caught a piece of the paper string they shot out into the audience (which of course i cannot ever throw away).

we had a pretty good view

the kids patiently waiting for the show to start

the show was at the children's museum in denver (which our richmond membership transferred to) so we enjoyed a bit of inside play before the show.

afton making giant bubbles

abel showing off his climbing skills

our new friend

there are two must finds in a new home town for a mom and kids: a great park and a great library. we have found both and hooray! both are just as wonderful as you would expect them to be in boulder. the park has a cool rocket climbing toy, a super slide and plenty of baby swings. the library hosts two very large trout tanks, an entertaining and animated storyteller and excellent a fun collection of toys: flower pots to plant and pluck, huge felt boards and the biggest bead roller coaster ever!

finally some photos

Check out some shots of our family road trip:

goodbye green Virginia

the first rest stop stretch. lucky us there was a small trail to trek.

the videographer...who quit after on stop!

charleston, west virginia

kentucky horses

one of my favorite highway sights...rolls of hay

abel, happy to be out of the car again (now in Indiana)

sun sets on day one

st. louis arch...so beautiful to actually see. and where the cardinals play

favorite animal at the st. louis zoo

have you ever been this close to a hippo?

my grizzly shot. isn't it awesome?!

a stop in kansas city to see my cousin and her family. and my uncle jerry and aunt donna. there was 4 kids to entertain my kids and a cool, fun place to stop and stretch for a few hours.

day two ends somewhere in kansas

one of the many, many oil drills in kansas. i think these are so graceful with a bit of destruction!

afton and abel happy with new toys

patrick loading us up with water and adult fuel

the amazing race: kansas

the amazing flowers in kansas

the amazing clouds: kansas

the amazing kids sleeping!

the amazing co-pilot

welcome to boulder!