August 2012

 August 1st our little princess turned 3!!!! We met up with Bradley Gagon, Brittany Talbott and her kids (Austin, Kaden & Joselyn) at the zoo.

 It was a very hot day so most of it was spent at the splash park.

 That evening when Papa came home he brought in her balance bike and balloons.

 He even had her balloons customized. So cute, not to mention they finally stopped floating after 3 weeks!

 The first week of August was absolutely insane.  Abuelos, Tio Pepe and Tia Lulu came to stay with us for Ayla's birthday, Gerson and Heidi's wedding (pictured above), baby Tyler's blessing and Heidi's baptism. I can't believe that I got so few pictures taken of that entire week!

 During all the craziness we somehow fit in a Mexico soccer game.

 Ayla enjoying her bithday party with Kaden and friends.  Prior to the party when I asked her what she wanted to wear she told me her "birthday cake shirt." I had no idea what she was referring to until she pulled out her cupcake shirt.  Clever little girl, why didn't I think of that?

 Blowing out her candles.

 She's always a good receiver of presents (and attention).

 After all the family events Tio Pepe and Tia Lulu stayed until the end of their visit to the US. Despite the fact they spoke little English and I Spanish we loved having them here.

 I was so happy when I noticed that Ahrian was definately left handed.  My genes finally came through!

 Paddle boats at a local park.

 We met up with Vanina for some yummy pizza.

 Ayla can always be found in the garage or helping her Tios/Papa.

 Ayla's performance at Lakeside Amusement park.

 Papa and Ayla enjoying some rides.

 We sure do love going to the lake. I believe we made it almost every weekend possible.  We started going to Boyd Lake in Longmont shortly after moving. We love the water, but the shore can be quite messy.

 This little boy is almost always eating. He finished that whole apple, plums, chips, etc.

One of my favorite things about this summer is that I had two awesome kids who now play together. Ayla pulled him around and around the backyard.

Eventually she would get tired, lay down and take rest while brother waited patiently.  We were sad to see the summer end so quickly, it was by far our busiest, but totally worth the chaos!

Road Trip to Utah

The kids and I took a trip to Utah for the last two weeks in July.  I was a bit nervous traveling without Milton, but this was a rare opportunity of seeing Kathryn and her two boys, Abram and Bennett.

As we passed through the canyons between Fairview and Hungington we saw the damage that one of the many fires had caused.  This was the same route that my dad has traveled to work for many years.

 

 I was very relieved when we got to Fairview, the trip was long and a bit difficult entertaining the kids. Abram, Bennett and Ayla rode their bikes up to Great Grandma Anderson's to see the bummer lambs and turkeys.  The lamb was very friendly, but the male turkey didn't like the kids getting so close to his territory.

 The kids had a blast playing together.  They even found the coat closet to hide in (one of my many childhood memories).

 We took walks "down the lane" and found more friendly bummer lambs.

 Dear sweet Great Grandma Anderson who just gets sweeter and sweeter! What an amazing lady!

 We took a Sunday ride to Price to Great Grandma Garff's for dinner.

 We then headed over to the care center to visit with Great Grandpa.  We loved the short time being with them, but trying to keep the kids from destroying the therapy room was quite the task. Grandpa kept calling the crazy kids "little shits."

 My parent's long time neighbor Ross Cox was so kind to let the kids ride his horse.

 The night before the horse ride while asking Ross if he would let the kids ride his horse Ayla had quite the scare.  Upon getting out of the car she began to pet the horse only for it to sneeze all over her and even my mom's car.  Even Ross was amazed at the amount of snot that came out. Despite wanting and even begging to ride a horse for a very long time that experience frightened her enough that I had to ride with her. 

 After getting comfortable she was able to ride with her brother.

 Shortly after the horse ride a huge and nasty rainstorm came through.  After it cleared up the kids went outside to play.  They found a little bird that had been knocked to the ground by the storm, was shivering and the ants were already on attack. Kathryn found a little box to put the bird in so it could die peacefully.  Poor Bennett was quite upset when she told him that it may not live.

 A couple hours later the bird had perked up quite a bit so we took it outside to see if it would fly away.  It was able to fly a short distance before falling again.  We figured it had a broken wing and would eventually die, so we put it back in the box.  Eventually, we had to move the bird to the garage because it was becoming quite vocal.

In the morning, Kathryn and the kids took the bird outside, opened the box and it flew away. We were very happy that we took it in and I think it taught the kids a very important lesson.  Aunt Kathryn told them it flew away to it's mommy.  Ayla's didn't particularly like the response and added that it went to it's Papa too. Of course, no birdie (or little girl) should be without a Papa.

 Little man and I at the 24th of July parade.

 After the parade we all met up at Great Grandma's with lots of other family.  The kids were playing in the barn, where Ayla came upon a pile wool.  She was very concerned thinking it was a dead sheep and had to investigate.

 On the very short ride back to Grandma's on the four wheeler little man fell asleep.  I think all the excitement and celebrations were really starting to catch up to him.

 That night we were able to go to the demolition derby.  A must see event!

 To wrap up our awesome trip we went to a pizza place in Mt. Pleasant to celebrate the kids birthdays, since Ayla's and Bennet's are in August and Abram's in October.

 The last couple days of our trip we headed to Orem to stay with their Abuelos.  Tio Pepe and Tia Lulu (Cristina's sister) from Durango, Mexico were visiting.  Ayla had them both wrapped around her little finger in no time!

Enjoying an evening dinner in Provo Canyon.



July 2012

 About a month after we moved we noticed Kusko's feet were always red and he wouldn't stop licking them.  We thought maybe it was the weed killer Milton had put on the grass, but when they started oozing we knew something was terribly wrong.  While looking at his feet I noticed that there was a piece of straw embedded in between his toes.  I took it out and realized that it was a grass seed.  I couldn't believe it but then I noticed that between several of his toes there appeared to be punctures.  I did some research on the internet only to find out that foxtails (the tall prairie looking like grass) are dangerous to dogs and other animals.  The seeds are actually designed to embed in the skin and then travel, causing damage and infection.  Unfortunately, the dog run was covered in foxtails. Poor dog!

Everyday we would drain his punctures and clean them.  We thought for sure we were again faced with losing Kusko since the infections were really bad and surgery wasn't an option since he most likely wouldn't live through it.

Upon more internet research I was able to find a mineral that helps the body expel foreign objects.  We started him on those and within the next 2 months about 6 foxtail seeds came out of various parts of his feet. It was horrible! But he amazingly pulled through it despite a very long healing process.

 Always a little ham for the camera!

 Ayla's hair has really gotten long and is what I believe to be every girl's dream! Should we even wait until she's a teenager to lock her away?!

 Once again, our many afternoons playing in the water!

 Ayla had a performance at the Denver Boys and Girls Club. Pictured is the performing group with some of Denver's police.

 Our dear little performer!

 

 Ahrian cheesing it up at the lake. He has always been happiest with the least amount of clothes possible.

 We went to Water World with the kids. I just wish I could be a kid again to fully enjoy the rides (some of them can be quite painful). I guess that's why parent's start "living" through their kids.

 Aunt McKelle came down from Cheyenne to go with us.

Ayla was a bit tuckered out from the long day in the sun.  She hitched a ride to the car on the cooler.