Happy Anniversary

It has been a whole year. We sure miss you guys.

I hope you had a wonderful day celebrating your love.

Rocket Video

Thanks to my lovely husband we now have video. The video was not as cool as being there in person. But here you go.

Fun Fieldtrip

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to be some of the few people to see the

last rocket booster for the space shuttle to be tested before being sent
off to Florida. It was a long drive. Not without it's hiccups. Shawn rolling his truck. And "S" throwing up all over himself and "B". Poor kiddos. But it was a day that we truly enjoyed. I only have photos of the massive clouds of smoke the rocket booster sent out. ( I am just not sure how to post the video right now)


The girls were sitting on the hood of the car when the countdown began. "J" who we had taken with us (because of his brother puking) was buckled securely into the passenger front seat. He had heard of the earthquake type rumbling that this thing was going to make. And he was just making sure he was safe. :) So after the countdown the rocket shot off and about 8 seconds later we heard the loud blast and the ground started rumbling. It was just so exciting to watch and know that this huge thing is what pushes our rockets out into space. We had a very educational day. And thanks to Penny's dad who had plenty of handouts and explanations on how things worked. He even gave us a tour of the Rocket Garden up at ATK. Showing the different rockets they have used over the years.


That was not the end of our fun day however. We then headed up the road to the Golden Spike. We hope to go back in the spring/summer when they are doing more with the trains. But that was a fun time of learning about railroad history and just running around.

Here is a shot of all the kiddos and Penny in front of the museum.


We had to go into the train house to look at the train replicas they have. They were pretty cool. During this off season the just polish everything up and do repairs for the shows they put on in the summer. We will have to check that out again when we can see the trains outside.


Here are just a couple of shots I took inside the train house. The lighting wasn't that great. But I liked this one of Angelic and "H".


And this one of "J". I just like the lighting and the way he is thoughtfully looking into the distance. Thanks for spending the day with us "J". It was great to have another kid for the day.


After the train house Penny led us to the bird refuge. We were able to walk around and see the exhibits inside. They had some pretty cool habitat exhibits. And other interactive exhibits about birds. The kids had a great time exploring and running up and down the ramps with each other.

It was a great time. Thanks Penny for putting this all together for us. We look forward to more times of fun and exploration with you guys.

Gift the 3rd

Okay, I think that I have kept you waiting long enough for the 3rd and final post on the lovely gifts from Sarah and Jason.

These we also received in a package after Christmas. But they were well worth the wait.

Sarah, I am sure, spent a ton of time making these lovely ornaments. Each of them hand stitched with love. (right Sarah? :) )



I love each and every one of them. Sarah did ask which one was my favorite.
That was very tough. I just have such a hard time with choosing favorites.
Here are my top 3 favs however.

#3


Is this sweet little cow. I just loved the purple spots. I am sure this one took some time.

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#2


I love this monster. Scared, shy, whatever the face he is pulling. It just makes me smile.

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And drum roll please for

#1


I just love this bird. The fabric that Sarah backed it with just goes so perfectly.

I just couldn't stand putting these into a box for the next year so I currently have some of them hanging in my kitchen. And I have promised the girls that we can put them in their room to enjoy for the next 10 months.

Thanks again you guys for the lovely homemade gifts. We absolutely love them.

Gift the 2nd

Here is the promised second installment on the telling of our wonderful gifts we received from far away this year. This is the gift that Jason made for Josh. I knew at first that it was going to be made of wood. Later on Sarah told me that it was going to be a game board (checkers, etc.). I had no idea exactly what to expect.

This is what we (Josh) received.

A totally awesome, rustic checkers board.
Jason makes wood furniture on up to full fledged log cabins.
(Maybe some day he could build me one :) )
Thanks Jason, we love it.

Here are a few other angles so you can see it in all its glory.

Close-Up
(notice the dark piece in the back of the first row, that's my fav. It has a handle and everything)


And here is the side view. So you can kinda see what it was made of.



Once again, Jason, thanks for all of your hard work. And the lovely gift.

You all may be thinking that is the end of the gifts. You would be wrong. Sarah really outdid herself. I am sure that you all hope that she pulls your name next year. Stay tuned for the last of the amazing gifts is sure to be posted soon.

Gift the 1st

So for Christmas this year Josh and I were lucky enough to have both Jason and Sarah give to us. I knew that they were hand making our gifts so I was very excited to see what they would do.
The day after Christmas we went over to mom and dad's house for the party. I was not expecting anything that day since Sarah had already told me our gifts would be late.
I was so pleasantly surprised when a gift was handed to me from them.
The gift was a beautiful set of wooden candle holders. We absolutely love them. Birch I think???
Here is a photo of them as we have them set up on our entertainment unit.


Thanks guys we love them a lot.

That was not the end of the gifts however. There were more to come in the mail.
Those I will save for another post. Sorry you will have to wait. :)

My Favorite

This is my favorite photo from our shoot yesterday. (sorry Lillie) I went out to take some of "B" but I had to take some of my girls as well.
It was just a little breezy, and I thought that gave the photo a nice touch.