Merry Christmas!

My recent track record for posting lately has been rather lacking. So I felt like I would post about our Christmas and hope to get some pictures up later.

We had a wonderful Christmas! We traveled back to Utah and spent time with family. We moved to Colorado almost 9 months ago and the time has flown by! It was wonderful to see everyone and be together to celebrate the holiday. We went to temple Square to see the lights, we played games, watched some movies, went to family parties, and relaxed. It was simple delightful.

Sabrinna and Tanner really got into Christmas, Santa, and opening gifts. It was nice for them to see their grandparents and for Steve and I to get a little break.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and Have a great New Year!

Finally pictures of our Yard!

It has taken me forever to get these pictures posted but I wanted to post them all the same. Steve and I, mostly Steve have been working very hard over the summer to put in a yard. We started out with a lot of weeds and a very sloped yard. Now we have a very open yard with lots more space and yard that does not slope as much. We still have work to do but we like how things are coming along and have already been able to enjoy the changes.


Front Yard left side Before




Front Yard After


Front Yard right side Before



Front Yard right side after. At least part of it. We added the gate and then removed all the trees and added rocks to the side.



Back Yard Before






Back Yard After. We hired some people to put in the retaining wall and remove the dirt. We had quite a few problems with the company we hired but it all worked out in the end. We are very pleased with how things are coming along. We decided to seed the lawn because of cost and we have time. Sabrinna calls the grass 'baby grass' since the blades are so small. We still have patches that will hopefully fill in next summer. We love going out and kicking a ball around or throwing the freebie. It has been a major project and transformation. All of our hard work is slowly paying off.

Congratulations Eric and Julie!!

We had the great privilege to go to Utah and then Idaho a week ago to attend our good friend Eric's wedding. We flew to Salt Lake and spent a couple of days with family and then drove up to Boise to go to the wedding.


We are just getting to the airport and checking our bags. It was so nice to fly from the Springs, it was a 10 minute drive to the airport instead of 2 hours to Denver.


On the drive up to Boise we stopped for a few minutes to see the canyon by Twin Falls. It was beautiful!


While in Idaho we went to this museum. My Dad and Steve are big history buffs so it was neat to see a lot of memorabilia from the WWII era.


Tanner got a hold of my straw from my smoothie and it was too cute not to take a picture.


A picture of the happy couple outside the temple.


Eric and Julie at the reception. I think Eric and Julie look so sharp/beautiful in their uniform and dress. We are supper excited for you guys and were so glad to be able to be part of your happy day!

Happy Halloween

We had a wonderful Halloween! We went to our wards trunk or treat the week before Halloween and then Steve's work put on a party. They had carnival games, face painting, a haunted house, and costume competitions. It was a lot of fun and the kids had a great time. Then on Halloween Steve took Sabrinna and a neighbor girl out to a couple of houses in the neighborhood. It was fun for Sabrinna this year since she really got the idea of the holiday. I had fun passing out candy with Tanner and seeing everyone's costume.


Tanner and I looking through Sabrinna's candy!


Tanner in his teddy bear costume!


Sabrinna and Alaina (a friend that lives next door) at the ward trunk or treat.

Birthday Update!

I realized the other day that I never posted about Sabrinna's third birthday...okay there is a lot I have not posted about lately. SLACKER! Anyways, since then we have celebrated Tanner's first birthday and mine. Even though my birthday is not for a week.


We had a fun family get together for Sabrinna. She ate it up!


We also had her friends come over for a party. They had fun playing games and running around. Grandma Michelle came out from Utah to celebrate with us.


This was the cake I made for her. I asked her if she wanted a princess crown or a caterpillar and thats what she picked. I think it had to do with the fact that "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" is one of her most favorite books.



This was the birthday couch. We recently went to Utah and while we were there we celebrated 5 birthdays in the family. It was my sister Theora, Cortney my sister-in-law, Tanners, Grandpa Fotheringham, and myselfs birthday party. All of our birthdays are within a 3 week time period.


This is a picture of my grandparents! Happy Birthday Grandpa!


Steve and Kellie made us the most spectacular cake. There was a layer for each one of us celebrating a birthday. The youngest member of the family starting at the top down to the oldest. They put sparklers on it for candles. It awesome!!! The best birthday cake ever!!!

I made a pumpkin cake for Tanner and we had a party for him at our home on his birthday. However, I can't find those pictures. I hope they have not been deleted.

Anyways it has been a most wonderful birthday season. We have many more to celebrate before the year is up and I look forward to it!

Dance

I have gotten really bad about posting things out of order but I figure its better out of order then not at all.

We put Sabrinna in a dance class a couple of months ago. She goes once a week and has had a lot of fun with it. She is so small compared to the other girls in the class but she has loved being part of something. They let the parents come and watch a couple of weeks ago. It was so fun for Steve and I to watch what Sabrinna has been working on. She was distracted with all the parents there taking pictures, but or course we thought she was adorable.

She will now dance around the house with her hands on her hips and try to do toe leads. The girls are little fairies about to get there wings. Children are so precious!!

Balloons!

I am way behind on my blogging so please excuse this post from a couple months ago. Colorado Springs has an annual Hot Air Balloon Festival. Steve and I had never been to a balloon festival before so we wanted to go. We got the kids up WAY early and went to so see all the balloons. It was so neat to see all the balloons inflated. They had two special shapes balloons Noahs Ark and the Energizer bunny. It was such a process to get the air in the balloons. It was really awesome to look up inside and see up into the balloons. Steve and Sabrinna were able to help a crew get there balloon set up. The only bad part was that they were not able to ascend because of the weather. It would have been a neat sight but maybe next year.

Helen Hunt Falls

A couple of weeks ago we went for a hike to see Helen Hunt Falls. No the water falls are not named after the actress Helen Hunt. They were named after an early settler of the Colorado Springs area. It was a fun little hike and a beautiful time of year to see the colors.

Go Bronco's!!!...and Happy 5 years!

For our 5th anniversary (Aug 21) Steve and I went to a Denver Bronco's game. Neither of us had been to a professional football game. We got great seats and had a lot of fun on our date.

The last five years have gone by fast! We have made a lot of memories and I am looking forward to many more years of great memories.

Odds and Ends

These are just a few odd pictures from over the summer.


Tanner started walking at about 10 months. It was super exciting but as all mothers know it meant watching him more closely. Tanner gets into everything!!!! I can definitely tell a difference from raising a girl and a boy.


Tanner loved getting into the potting soil in my house plant. Luckily he got over it fast. Now he likes to crawl around the plant. It's like Tanner is saying yeh!!! I did it again. Dirt tastes so good.



Steve caught a couple of frogs and put them in my tomato bed. They had some babies! They really like swimming in our little pond!

The Wentz Ladies!

Over the last week of July and first part August Kellie and Michelle came to visit. We had a lot of fun with them here. We went to Six Flags in Denver, did more yard work, and went to a social activity on a farm.

A lot of our summer time has been spent doing yard work. (I hope to post pictures of what we have been doing soon.)




Steve and his family LOVE amusement rides. The faster the bigger the better! Sabrinna has got it in her blood because she went on the Tilt-a-world about 4 times right in a row. When she got off she wasn't sick and ready for more. The second picture is of us just getting off a water ride. I think that was the only ride Sabrinna did not like...the getting wet part.



Once a year a family in our ward invites everyone over to there home/farm for a social. They have horses, goats, chickens, and lots of open land. There neighbor gave everyone a hay ride. It was a lot of fun and we had a great time meeting people and enjoying the open land.


We also bought a boat to take over to a local pond and drive around. It was not the most qualitly boat. Anyways as luck would have it the battery died when the boat was in the middle of the pond. We tried to have a fishermen catch it and reel it in for us. Unfortunately, that did not work so we had to wait for the wind to blow it to shore. Lets just say we were there for a while.

Sampler

This is a sample of a few things that we did through out July.


Tanner loves the water. I was in the shower one day and he climbed in with me cloths and all. He just sat at my feet not bothered at all by the water beating down on his face. Tanner would stay in the bath all day long if I let him.


This is a picture of my tomato plant. I planted four plants, very late in the season. I am hoping of canning them. Now at the end of September my tomatoes are just starting to turn red. I got quiet a few so hopefully it doesn't freeze before they ripen.


Sabrinna putting on all of her dress up accessories.


I put Tanner in his high chair for breakfast and I got busy doing dishes. When I came back this is what I found. AHWWW!



A cute moment when the kids were playing together!