Joys of a Wheel Barrow

This last weekend we had some decent spring weather. We spent some time outside which was a nice change for all of us. One night we were all outside playing with the neighbor friend. Steve put the kids in the wheel barrow and took them for a ride. They were laughing and having a great time. I remember my dad taking me and my siblings around in the wheel barrow like this. GOOD TIMES!


On a smaller scale... The kids have taken a liking to riding around the house in this little wagon. They take turns getting in and out and even pushing each other around the house. Amazingly enough they don't fight TO much over it.

Fun in the Snow!

I while ago we had a snow storm. This is the most snow I have seen in Fountain all winter... a whole 2 inches!!! Winter is definitely not like what I am use to in Utah. Anyways, we decided to capitalize on the winter weather. I got the kids all bundled up and we headed outside. Tanner went down the drive way on his belly, Sabrinna made her first snow angel, and I pushed the kids around the back yard on Sabrinna's bike. The kids had a great time and by later that afternoon most of the snow was gone. It was a blast to get out for a few minutes and the kids really enjoyed it!

Family Picture!

We have needed to get an updated family picture for a some time now. I was very pleased with how well the pictures turned out...especially where Steve took the pictures for us. We went over to Garden of the Gods and found what I think was a beautiful spot of a picture!

Air Assault! Air Assault!!

Steve just spent the last couple of weeks going through the Air Assault Coarse at Fort Benning, Georgia. While there he did obstacle courses, sling load training (which is connecting loads of supplies to helicopters) and then rappelling out of helicopters.
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Steve rappelling from one of the obstacle courses.


This is a 64 foot wall that the soldiers were required to rappel from.


It would have been pretty neat to watch everyone drop from the helicopters!


This is Steve and his battle buddy watching everyone take their turn rappelling from the helicopters.


It was a VERY VERY physically demanding training. When Steve would call home at night he would tell me how "they smoked us.... again". One of the last things that a soldiers must do to pass the training was a 12 mile ruck march. Unfortunately, for Steve and the others they woke up the morning of the march to pouring rain!!! So with ruck sacks that weigh about 40 pounds strapped to their back, jogging in the rain for 2-3 hours, and holding a weapon ...this is what Steve's hands looked like at the end. A little pruned.

To say the least I am so proud of Steve for his hard work to push through things when they were beyond difficult. The pressure of people yelling at you, trying to learn everything needed for the tests given, and staying strong when you are being worked so hard physically. It really was a mental, physical, and emotional training which Steve passed! Congratulations!!!

What no Picture?

I thought I would update our blog. So I went to upload the pictures off my camera and there is not a single one on it. I feel like this last month has just flown by and I have done so many things. I guess I just don't have documentation for it. Oh well. As for an update the kids have gone back to sleeping in till later and I am doing well with exercising.

I have been working on finishing projects that I started years ago. I have gotten a couple done but have hit a road block with the current project. Its a sewing project and I feel like throwing it away at this point. To say the least I am a little frustrated!!!!

The kids are doing good. Tanner is trying to feed himself and makes a mess every time. He is getting better at it. He finds his mouth every bit now. Its just a matter of if the food stays on the spoon. He is Sabrinna's shadow. He likes to do what ever she is: brushing teeth, coloring, dancing, reading stories or running like a crazy man around the house. It makes me smile every time the play together. :)

Sabrinna is starting to try and negotiate with me to either stay up later, get an extra cookie or what ever it is she wants. She continues to love her dance class and gets very excited about class. She loves roll playing and pretending she is a mom. Its fun to listen to her talk to her toys!! She also likes primary and looks forward to going each week.

Steve is very busy with work!!! He is training right now and getting 'worked' as he put it. Their unit is preparing for deployment some time later in the year. Its not something we are looking forward to but we will deal with it as best we can.

Hopefully I will better documenting next months activities!

Try Again!

With it being a new year I have set some goals. One of my goals is to exercise 3 times a week. Last week things were going pretty well... kind of. My plan was to get up before the kids wake up in the morning. Of coarse Sabrinna woke up at the same time I did two of the three days and come down stairs asking for breakfast, a blanket, or help with something. Today I decided to get up even earlier...6:30 which is rather early for me!!! So today Tanner woke up at 6:30. AHHHHH!!! He never wakes up that early.

I am really trying not to loose motivation already. In an effort to keep at it. I decided that my motto will be TRY AGAIN. I am constantly telling Sabbrinna to 'try again' when she is whining or not talking like a big girl. I feel like I need to take some of my own advice and TRY AGAIN!!!

I hope that those of you who have set goals are having better luck then me two weeks into the new year!

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!!