BUNK BED!!

32 years ago, in Utah, my dad built a bunk bed for my brothers. My oldest brother was just 3 years old. That bed survived moving to Florida where my older brothers slept on it until their missions and then for a while after them. Then my little brothers took over the bunk bed. It then  survived a move to Colorado where my little brothers continued to use it in 2 different houses. Then sadly once my parents moved into the new house the bed was put to rest in the basement. Lying in pieces just yearning to be used again.

Well, that bed came home with us a few weeks ago. We packed up the crib and all the baby decor and we now have a "Big Boy Bedroom". The boys couldn't be more excited to have the bed. They gladly helped their daddy put the bed together.

 Jacob's crib was on this half of the room along with all the baby wall decor. ;)

 The boys found the baby swing in the closet and took turns helping their daddy and then swinging.

 They had some climbing fun along the way.

So now the boys room has been transformed. All the baby stuff is in the basement and we have a full blown boy room. They are enjoying the bunk bed. Cayden sleeps on the top and Jake sleeps on the bottom. They have lined the side of the bed with their animals to keep them company. We have yet to get them matching bedding but hopefully that will come soon. ;)

 We took the side of the room that Cayden's bed was on and transformed it into a reading corner. With as much as our boys LOVE books we felt it was fitting. Jared made the bookshelf just over a year ago for an auction for the program I worked in at the Elementary school. I felt bad that it didn't sell, but I'm sure glad to have such a BEAUTIFUL piece in my home. ;) And we still have room for more books! The boys love their room and its so nice to have more space in there for them to move around.



BIG THANKS TO MY MOM AND DAD FOR LETTING US BRING THE BED TO OUR HOUSE!!!

~Love To All~

Is he REALLY 31???

Yep! He sure is. I'm so glad I married a man older than me. No matter how old I get he is always older. ;)

I wanted Jared to have a special day. 31 is a weird age with nothing really special about it so I wanted to make it special. I got up super early and made him apple cinnamon muffins, eggs, and sausage. It was fun to have a birthday breakfast together even though it meant everyone was up at 6:30am.

Then Jared had to go to work. His boss always takes him out for lunch for his bday so I gave him a suggestion of a fabulous restaurant on 16th street call The Yard House. Really good food. They all walked away with really full bellies.

Once he got home I made steak stir fry and fried rice at Jared's birthday dinner request. After that we let him hunt for his presents. That's right...hunt. Cayden and I put together a scavenger hunt for Jared to find his presents. So much fun!!! Jared loved having Cayden and Jake help him follow the clues. And along the way Jared let the boys help him open his gifts. Such an unselfish Daddy. ;)

After presents we went to 7 Eleven and got free slurpees. We have never gotten a free slurpee on 7/11 so it was a fun first for us. Then it was off to play mini golf. We had so much fun!

 This is a real in the moment picture. Not posed at all. I think he was nervous about all the candles. ;)

When we got home we put candles in the AWESOME cake that the boys helped make. We love Jared so much and we are so glad we could make his birthday a special day for him.

He appreciated the calls, cards, and messages on my FB page wishing him a Happy Birthday!

~Love To All~

Cherry Creek Arts Festival

Going to the Cherry Creek Arts Festival has become a yearly tradition. It is so fun to go and look at all the art and deciding what we like and what we don't. We like mostly the same things. However, there are a few pieces we disagree on. ; )  

This year we were just about done looking at the art we a storm rolled in and we stood under a tent for about 15 min while we watched flash floods build.

We still enjoyed out day and the boys LOVED playing in the puddles on the way back to the car. It was quite the entertainment for those watching the boys. Everyone got a kick out of their piddle jumping. ;)

~Love To All~

4th of July

We had a very calm 4th of July. Jared made Red, White, and Blue muffins (Strawberry/Blueberry muffins) for breakfast. They were AWESOME! Then we hung out and played at home until it was time to go to my parents house for a BBQ. I made a DELICIOUS treat to go along with our lunch. After lunch we played a few rounds of croquet. Then we went inside to watch the 4th of July special from the Capital. It was sad not to get to see any live fireworks this year. But with the fires that were burning it was safer to ban them all. Even though it was mid week we still had a wonderful day!

 The DELICIOUS treat I made. (Cheesecake filled strawberries)

 Jakey eating his 4th of July cupcake.

Cayden and Jared waiting for their turn. Cayden is getting REALLY good at croquet. ;)

~Love To All~

Photography

I think I've decided that a new hobby of mine is photography. I've always really liked it but it wasn't until recently when life got turned upside down that I've been more interested. There was a photographer in our ward that gave a class on photography about 2 weeks ago for our Thursday night Relief Society. I learned quite a bit. Here's what I have so far.

This is Grand Central Station in NYC (Taken before I went to the photography class)

 

 NYC (Again taken before the calss)

 This is one of my FAVORITES, this is the 9/11 Memorial. This HUGE square fountain sits where Tower One used to be. The reflection is the new tower that is now standing even taller than the Empire State Building.

This is where the pictures start that were taken after the class. Jake and I went to the park one day while Cayden was in Montana with my Mom.       June 16, 2012

July 2, 2012

I have really enjoyed being able to explore and find out what works and what really doesn't. I want my pictures to be able to speak for themselves. I want to be able to take pictures of details so we can always remember the little things that make us smile. I have had so much fun!

~Love To All~

Brave



My parents took us to see Brave on Monday night. We LOVED the movie. Jacob was a little restless and both boys were a little scared from time to time. But overall we had a great time!

My favorite time during the evening wasn't even during the movie. ;) As the movie was starting and the "Disney Castle" came on the screen Cayden shouted "Hey that's the temple we went to!!" He used to always say the Disney castle at the beginnig of movies was the temple but he hasn't said it for a long time. It was fun to hear it again. I'm glad that he loves the temple so much and is excited even when he thinks he sees one. 

Cayden thought it was silly to pose for a picture here and Jacob was just being defiant. ; )

~Love To All~

"We are here, we are here, we are here!"

I know we have been absent for a while. I'm sorry. Life without a computer is hard. We had our hard drive crash twice and lost everything twice. And with no computer I just got out of the habit of blogging. Lame I know! Luckily I'm terrible at deleting pictures from my camera so I still had what wasn't backed up on my camera. So here is our life in pictures over the past 6 months. Enjoy!

We had a sibling New Year (minus Kimmy) because my parents and grandparents were in Arizona with my Great Aunt spending lots of money.

 In January my dear sweet Stella decided she was on her way out so we traded her in for a 2010 white Dodge Caliber that strangely was named Polo.

 During the months of Dec, Jan, and Feb. we got A LOT of snow.

 We got to go see Phineas and Ferb LIVE. The boys LOVED it. (We all did)

 Jared and I celebrated our "Sweets" Anniversary at the Hammonds Candy Factory.

 Cayden got a black eye playing at burger King.

 Jared made a movie!www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORURP7vDPHU

 We flew kites on St. Patrick's Day. The leprechauns came and messed up our house but left kites and chocolate coins behind.

 We had a lovely Easter!

 We found a new trampoline place that's right up the street!

 We went to the Scout Show. There was a life size Angry Birds game there. The line was long but we couldn't pass it up.

 Jacob got pneumonia.

 Cayden completed his first year of Preschool and had a blast at field day.

 Our Montana crew came to visit. Cayden sure missed his buddy Spencer.

 We went to the new Splash Park on Memorial Day.

 And then had a MASSIVE game of Croquet!

Ok, I think that catches you up. Mostly. I will dedicate a post to the New York Trip. The beginning of 2012 has been great. We still haven't found a house yet. We will probably put our house hunt on the back burner for a while. Life has taken an interesting turn and we have to see what the Lord's plan is for us at this time. All is well here in beautiful Colorado. I'm looking forward to a wonderful summer with the boys.

~Love To All~