The Rhythm of Life!

We've made our official entrance into that most-blessed season of fall, and as the seasons march on, we are slowly but surely beginning to really fall into the rhythm of life over here in Colorado. We're naturally beginning to get into the swing of things, establishing a schedule, meeting more and more new friends and neighbors, settling into school, and making the most of our time here in the Rockies. 

With Jon off work every couple of days due to their rotating schedule, it's given us way more opportunities to do things together during the day-- which also includes the kids! We stopped by Zach's lunch time to surprise him and say "hi" before he rushed out to recess.

He was totally surprised to see us, but not embarrassed enough to not give us hugs and kisses. I just can't even express how proud I am of this little man! He is trying SO hard in first grade-- and really growing up and maturing. We love him! We'll have to surprise Lucy next time...

I finally got my house all decorated for Halloween, which the kids had been asking for since probably about mid-August. They loooooove Halloween, and Leah has known since day one that she's going to be Rapunzel, but the other two are still thinking carefully about it. They'd better hurry up! October is just around the corner.

Last Saturday was Jon's weekend to work, so while he headed off bright and early to the office, the kids and I had a super busy morning! Before we dropped Lucy off at her sewing class, we had our traditional Saturday morning breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate (nevermind Leah's grumpy face and refusal to get dressed, ha, ha!).

Lucy attended my friend Laura's beginner sewing class where they learned to make their own fold-up wallets, and she absolutely loved it. She's been bit by the sewing bug and has been experimenting with my sewing machine all week. The class was in Aurora, so while we waited for her the kids and I ran errands to Old Navy.

While I was shopping for maternity jeans, Zach snapped this picture of Leah, which I thought was hilarious. She is SUCH a character, and now that she's talking more and more she says some of the funniest things (see the sidebar for examples)! 

We ran a few more errands, got Lucy picked up, and then we headed to one of our gyms (we are in the midst of a gym crisis trying to figure which one is the best fit!) where they have free rock climbing on Saturdays.  

The kids absolutely LOVE it. This is the second time we've been and they basically know now how to clip themselves in, and the ropes automatically rappel, so they get right down to business. I am amazed how strong and coordinated they both are! Zach gets about halfway up and could go further, but chickens out when he looks down. I bet he'll get to the top next time.

Lucy is our daredevil and can make it all the way to the top. Such adventurous kids we have! It's great exercise and really gives them a sense of accomplishment. 

Jon finished up work, and we met Jeremy and Kylene (and cousins) for Parker's annual Oktoberfest. Unfortunately it was basically just booths with alcohol and beer tastings and a lot of drunk people, so we decided to head down the road and get some frozen yogurt instead. Doesn't Leah look so grown up?

Cheese! Zach and mommy (+baby belly) selfie! It was super yummy frozen yogurt and an awesome way to end our Saturday.

Sunday morning beauty shot! She looks like she could have fit right in at the Oktoberfest in one of Lucy's old dresses. She has been a TERROR lately! Ughh. Not sleeping well at night, super ornery during the day, refusing to nap, refusing to eat, refusing to put her buckles on in the car, basically just being a normal 2-year old. I'm hoping it's just her subconscious getting it ALL out before she turns 3 in a month and transforms into a little angel again!

Such lovely children!! I swear they get bigger by the minute. Am I lucky or what?? (And no, Zach's cheesy grin is not lost on me. Ha Ha!)

Speaking of children, I had my first full ultrasound this past week and they dropped the bombshell that this baby is a GIRL!! I was TOTALLY shocked. Dumbfounded. I have "guessed" the gender with all 3 of my babies and up and until this point, was 3 for 3 at guessing correctly! I have felt since day one that my "mother's intuition" on this baby was that it was a boy, had dreams about it being a boy, the pregnancy was most similar to Zach's, even the kids all said it was a boy, etc. etc. etc. But when Heavenly Father gives you a surprise, it really IS a surprise!! We are THRILLED to have another sweet little baby girl join the fam!

Here's her cute little mug shot. She is totally healthy and looks great-- 10 fingers, 10 toes, adorable little nose and lips, and all curled up with crossed legs and hands over her face the whole time. Can't wait to meet her!

Jon, Leah, and I went on an impromptu breakfast date when Jon had Wednesday morning off, down in Denver at the "Denver Biscuit Company." It was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives for its "mile high" monster biscuits.

They're only open for breakfast and lunch, and they have lots of wacky sandwich combinations-- as well as biscuit cinnamon rolls that looked amazing. We stayed pretty traditional and got the "Dahlia" which had housemade sausage, apple butter, a fried egg, and maple syrup. Yum!

They failed to mention their housemade sausage was really, really spicy-- or at least too spicy for a pregnant lady, because I only made it about halfway through before I cried uncle. I think it was just right for Jon though!

As I mentioned before, we're in a bit of a gym dilemma. We joined Lifetime Fitness which is close to home and has TONS of amenities (the rock climbing, swim team, water park, kids yoga, etc.), but doesn't feature any of the Les Mills group classes I teach and is super expensive. So I kept looking, and found the Colorado Athletic Club which is much further away, but DOES have the classes I teach, and they hired me as a sub, so it's FREE for me! I just taught my FIRST Body Pump class since June this week, and even though it was just as a sub-- it felt GREAT to teach again! Hopefully it works its way into something a little more permanent.... Fingers crossed!

Last night was the first time I got to take Lucy to the General Women's Broadcast since in North Carolina it didn't start until 8 and was just too late to have her out. We met Kylene and Sophie for a "girls" dinner at Kneaders before it started.

We took a selfie in the church parking lot since we were matchers in our orange dresses. She is SUCH a lovely young woman! I LOVED having her there and getting to sit by her as the speakers celebrated women!

I taught my second Gospel Doctrine class this morning, and even though it is super intimidating and totally stresses me out, I've really enjoyed taking time out during the week to prepare a lesson. I'm sure it's more for me than anything else, but it just goes to show Heavenly Father helps us do really hard things. Like get up in front of a packed room full of people twice your age and twice as smart, 5+ months pregnant, and teach a class about 2nd Corinthians when all you've ever taught before is nursery. Or move across the country, or say goodbye to friends again for the 4th time in 8 years, or settle into a new life in Colorado-- all things are possible. And wasn't this a beautiful sunset to end our week with?

Jon's "MANS" Post! By: Dr. Cardon, DMD, himself

Here we are the first night at a little place called "Goldbug"--a hot springs ofcourse! No trip with Maddog is complete unless it involves a hot springs. And this hot springs is one of the Gem State's true gems. It's secluded and not that easy to get to so that there weren't too many flat-landers to spoil it. Also, the view was fantastic. See below.

These are some scary old men. Wouldn't want to see these guys in the wilderness. Especially with their shirts off. Yikes!

Here's the motley crew ready to take down the Big Horn Crags in the Wilderness of No Return. Some of us almost didn't, in fact. 

Taking in the beauty of the crags.

This place was called The End of the World. It kind of felt that way considering how long it took to hike down to it. It was pretty sketchy with all of the slick rock that we had to slide down. We took it pretty slow so we wouldn't go careening off the cliff that was just behind me. The view was well worth the risk!

Here are some more pictures of the crags. Fantastic!

This lake was our fist camping spot. It was called Wilson Lake. It was here that Maddog showed us how true mountain lakes are swam in (wink, wink). He was the first to jump in. After that, the fish really stopped biting.

More views of Wilson Lake and I forget the name of the one behind it.

Here's Ken and I with a shot of Airplane lake behind us. Ken took a pretty hard tumble on the way out the next day. Fortunately, he's pretty spritely for an old fellow so it didn't slow him down too much.

Another view of airplane lake.

Airplane lake up close. Got a few mosquito bites here.

Here's D-Mo photobombing my selfie.

The view behind me is the slick rock we came down on the way to the End of the World. You can see how steep it was. Wouldn't want to walk down it wet.

More End of the World shots. There was a nice waterfall here.

More crags.

At long last the trip was over. It was successful by all accounts since we all returned with minimal injuries. A few in the party got lost (cough, cough Devin) and one poor guy almost needed resuscitation from exhaustion. Luckily, he made it out on his own steam the next day. We had a delicious burger at this hole-in-the-wall restaurant just before heading back home. It capped off an awesome backpacking trip which hopefully won't be the last!

Something for September!

It's beginning to look a lot like fall around here! And we couldn't be happier. My kids are excited for cooler weather (they're begging for SNOW even), and all things pumpkin and Halloween, and are even starting to talk about Christmas lists. Yikes! I guess December really is just around the corner. Here's what we've been up to lately... 

Lucy and Zach had a teacher workday a few weeks back, and Leah was over the moon that they got to stay home! We headed to the gym that morning, and then as a little treat we tried Nomelie's Cupcake Shop located right on Mainstreet near our house.

Zach and Lucy won the prize for picking the best cupcake-- it was a Mexican Hot Chocolate one and so yummy!

Leah got plain vanilla and it was good too, but the chocolate totally won.

Well, at almost 20 weeks (this Thursday), the belly is popping and the "bump" is definitely showing! I have my ultrasound next Tuesday and I cannot wait to find out what we're having!

I ran some errands at Target the other day and Leah was so excited to see Chewbacca, because she knows Zach and Daddy especially love Star Wars. She told me to take a picture of him for them. Ha ha! See that big bag of popcorn nestled right next to Leah so she'll sit still and be good? She is spoiled.

Legend High School (the kids' high school if we stay here) recently had their Homecoming parade. The did an assembly that morning at Lucy and Zach's school to get the elementary kids all excited about coming to the parade that evening and promising "thousands of pieces of candy." Well, I knew I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't take them, so although Jon was working that night, we found it just down the road from their elementary school and it was pretty fun. The kids loved it.

I have inherited an incredible garden from the previous owners, and we've had a serious rhubarb harvest! Holy moly! This is probably only a 1/3 of what I've cut and frozen so far. We've also gotten lots of raspberries, but those aren't nearly as hard to get rid of as the rhubarb. So far we've made pies and rhubarb cobbler, and no one is complaining!

We finally bought Leah a new car seat! Hooray! She was using Lucy and Zach's old car seat, which was dirty, stinky, OLD, and really just pretty gross. I don't think you're supposed to re-use car seats longer than a couple of years anyway, so it was high time to get a new one. It's MASSIVE, but she fits so much better in it and seems much more comfortable. Unfortunately when I sent Jon to the store I didn't clarify to get a unisex one so we could use it for the next baby too, so if it's a "he," "he" may just have to deal with the pink!

Last but not least, we got a letter from our HOA stating we had to remove these dead trees from our property within 7 DAYS, or else.... I'm sure they would have fined us. It seems a bit ironic considering we just got here, and those trees have been dead for years! We can't seem to figure out how the old owners managed to dump it on us, but c'est la vie. We talked the HOA into giving us a little more time, and we had a guy come cut them down last week. What a process! They had to remove part of the fence, and there is sawdust and mulch everywhere, but they are officially gone. I guess we really do live in Colorado now!