New Traditions

Wow... Halloween and Thanksgiving, done. Now we are celebrating Christmas all month long! Well that seems how we do it anyway. We started it off with Black Friday... no we didn't stay out all night shopping. Those days are in the past and now that you can buy everything online why waste my sleep! So we headed up to the North Pole. This is now going to be our new family tradition. Brayden loved it and we had so much fun. He was tall enough to go on most of the kiddie rides and he loved every single one of them! He is definitely my kid. I have loved amusement park rides ever since I can remember! We tried to visit Santa but again this year Brayden was having no part in it. Oh well... we will just keep trying until he loves it! :)

So here we go ... a month of craziness. We have holiday plans every weekend this month. Filled with Christmas parades, family recitals, holiday fests, and family gatherings! Oh and did I mention... Brayden is turning 2 at the end of the month. YES, I said 2! HOLY CRAP!!! My baby is getting so so big!!! Check it out yourself in the slideshow!

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The busy holiday season is here!!!

Oh my goodness! What a crazy crazy month October was! Every time I would sit down to update my blog something would come up and I never could get caught up. So now I have brought my laptop downstairs while I am baking cookies... so I can get this updated in between baking times.

We had a fun month but I am happy to say that I am glad it is over. I even took down all my Halloween stuff the day before because I was sick of looking at it. I know bah humbug on me. BUT now I am ready for the Thanksgiving and Christmas season!!!

Every year at church that have a day called Super Saturday. I LOVE IT! I love crafts and especially when I can get together with people I love. Here is one of the projects I did...


At the beginning of the month we took a drive to the mountains to see the pretty colors before they were all gone. We drove on a peak to peak highway and it was absolutely beautiful! We stopped at Echo Lake and walked around and let Brayden play in the snow for a bit. He loved it! We drove to Idaho Springs from there with a few stops in between. I love the mountains. I love exploring. I love the fresh air. I love the peace and quiet that comes with being up there. It truly is like heaven on earth. We stopped at Beaujo's Pizza for dinner. YUM! I could eat the crust and honey all day long! We had a great day and I'm glad we did when we did because I think the very next weekend it snowed real bad up there!

I was really excited to take Brayden trick or treating this year. I had chose his costume, which was the fireman. But then Brayden's cousin asked if he wanted to join in the group of costumes they were all dressing up as, Angry Birds. I of course couldn't pass that up. The only downfall to this was we had to make the costumes. They ended up being a little more time consuming then we had all planned but man did they turn out cute!

So this month we had Trunk or Treat, Northglenn Trick or Treat Street, and Boo at the Zoo. This was all days before Halloween. I always love going to Trunk or Treat. It's at my church and we have chili and cinnamon rolls, carnival games, costume parade and then everyone decorates their trunks and we go out to the parking lot and trick or treat. It's always a success and the kids always have so much fun.

We also did Boo at the Zoo again this year. I love it. Not only do the kids get to wear their costumes and get more candy but they get to see all of their favorite animals doing it! Good day and it's always crowded!

We tried something new this year and went to Nortghlenn High Schools Trick or Treat Street. NEVER AGAIN! Complete chaos! Not organized well at all and it takes FOREVER! And not fit for young kids. I understand that Halloween is all about ghosts and goblins, I get that. BUT don't invite a bunch of young kids to a Trick or Treat Street and then try to scare the hell out of them. Advise of an age that is appropriate for those types of places. A clown (like on the move IT) walked right up to Brayden and got in his face and then growled. I have never heard Brayden scream so loud. I was about to get into a huge fight in front of all the little kids. I so wanted to rip that mask off and pop him in the face. (Not sure why I didn't) Anyway the whole night was just annoying and a crazy mess. Like I said... never again!

So we get to Halloween night and Brayden I think was just done! He fell asleep in the car on the way over to my moms and had a hard time waking up once we got there. He was a bear once he woke up and screamed every time I tried to put his costume on. So we hunkered down and just handed out candy for the night at my moms. He loved it and probably had more fun doing that then if we had gone out. It was so cute to see him run to the door every time the doorbell would go off. So the night was still a success!

Also this month I have been taking more pictures and doing some research on photography. I have been tossing around the idea of getting into a photography side business. I love love love taking pictures. I always have a camera on me wherever we go. I love to catch all those memories! I have been told that I do a pretty good job. Now I just need that confidence in myself. My type of work isn't going to be the same as everyone else and I need to quit comparing myself to every detail out there. Or I will never feel good enough! So I am going to try it and see how it goes!

Well October is over and here we are at the end of the year. Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Brayden's 2nd Birthday!!! Can't believe my little man is going to be 2 years old!!! He is so amazing to me and picking up on things so fast. He is my little music man. He loves anything related to music. He loves to play with drumsticks, he loves to sing and play his Elmo guitar, and he has recently picked up playing the piano. My mom just got one and he loves to play it. Oh and he always rocks it like a rock star in the car! I can't wait to get him started in some sort of musical lesson!

Alright ... well here's to another couple of busy months ahead!

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Love this time of year!

I get so excited at this time of year! It is truly my favorite season! I love the cooler weather, I love wearing hoodies and sweaters, I love the warm colors, I love to see all the kids playing in leaves, I LOVE HALLOWEEN, Corn Mazes, Pumpkin Patches, Haunted Houses, I love seeing the kids in their costumes, I love to carve pumpkins and I love the smells! And I love that it brings on the Holiday season for the rest of the year!

This last weekend we spent some time with some of Gary's family and drove up to Estes Park. We like to go up every year about this time to enjoy the colors and the Elk that are always down in town at this time of year. It was beautiful weather and the colors were so pretty! We had a nice relaxing day and brought up a picnic lunch and let the kids play at the park. We got lucky and all the Elk were right there where we were eating and playing! And I'm pretty sure the boys loved every minute of it!

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Papa and Nani's Visit

My dad and Lynn were just out for a visit. We had a great time as usual and stayed busy! They arrived on Tuesday evening. We surprised them and brought Brayden to the airport to greet them. It was fun and I don't think they were expecting us at all. Wednesday Gary had to work so my sister joined us and we did some shopping at Colorado Mills. Brayden got to ride the carousel a few times thanks to Nani and Papa. After shopping all day we just headed home and hung out for a bit. Nani wasn't feeling too well so we ordered some yummy Italian food and ate in. The following morning poor Nani still wasn't feeling well and had to go to Urgent Care. She had a real bad sinus infection so she was able to get an antibiotic. After her appointment we headed down to Colorado Springs for a few days. We stayed at a beautiful resort called, Cheyenne Mountain Resort. That first day we visited Seven Falls. You can climb steps to the very top if you want or sit at the bottom and enjoy the view. Just the first set of steps is 224 STEEP steps. My husband decided to go up. Me, being the dummy that I am, followed. WE MADE IT though! Just up the first set. I didn't go all the way because I didn't want to make everyone wait for us down below... ha ha ha ha! YA RIGHT, I thought I was going to die and my legs felt like jello, I wasn't sure how I was going to get down. Maybe next summer that can be goal, to make it to the top!

After Seven Falls we had reservations at the Flying W Ranch. So fun! They have a tinplate dinner with real cowboy singin! It was fun and the food was pretty good. You got your choice of steak or chicken, baked potato, applesauce, baked beans, spice cake, and a biscuit. And the best lemonade ever! We had a good time!

The next day we drove down to The Royal Gorge. It had been years since I had been there! I thought I was going to have to carry everyone across. LOL. My sister was having anxiety but crossed it even though she practically ran. Gary made it but had motion sickness a bit. My dad (sorry dad) was funny. He felt nauseous and was holding on to the rail. Just funny cause he was laughing at himself saying this has never happened before. I believe my dad and Lynn finally made it across but by the time they did and had gone back we couldn't find them. So we took Brayden to the petting zoo and he got to ride his first horse. Holding daddy's hand the whole way of course. But he still did so good and seemed to like it. We rode the carousel a few times too! It was a fun day and we all got a little sun!

After that we headed back to the hotel and decided it was pool time! We were all pretty wore out and just wanted to relax. And that we did! I now know that my son loves the HOT tub. I couldn't get him out of it. I was being as careful as I could and when I thought he had been in it long enough, he cried when I said it was time to get out.

That evening we had dinner at the little bar and grill at the resort. We played Wii and relaxed. Lynn wasn't feeling so well and my dad was pretty tired so they went up to the room. Brayden went up with them shortly after. Gary, Angie, and I hung out by the fire for a bit. It was a nice night.

The following morning we headed to Manitou Springs for breakfast. It was different but still pretty good. The place we picked was completely vegetarian. We didn't know that until we were pretty much seated. But it ended up being better than we thought.

Saturday evening was our last night with my folks. We had a little BBQ and just hung out at home. We had so much fun and such a nice visit with my folks. It's always sad to see them go back home. Thank you Nani and Papa for all the fun!!! We miss you and love you!!!

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We've Moved!

I have officially made the decision to never ever move during the summer again! SO HOT! I have never sweat that much before in my life! GROSS!!! But we are getting settled in to our new place and it feels like home!

So weird how things work out sometimes and I always know how God has his hand in everything we do. At the beginning of summer Gary and I talked about buying our own home and how we needed to financially get things straightened out to be able to do so. We want a home for our children and a yard they can play in. But right now we are just not able to do it. So we set some goals and made some plans. In the meantime we got a phone call from Gary's Aunt and Uncle asking to talk to us about something. We had no idea it would be one of our answers to our prayers. They invited us to live them for awhile. They had some things coming up that this would help them out with and also be helping us save some money for getting a new home! It was a win win situation. We have our own living area and it very comfortable here! I love my husbands aunt and uncle. They are such good, kind people. And I'm glad that we can help each other out right now. Brayden loves it here too. He has lots of room to play and a yard! He also has a new buddy! Gary's cousin is 6 years old and they never want to leave each other alone. It's cute. I think they help keep each other entertained.

Brayden is growing so fast! He is finally starting to talk a lot more now and actually making out sounds that I can understand a little bit better. He says dow(down), ah duh(all done) , hane u (thank you), owe(owe), guh (again) AND he says Joshua (gary's cousin). Although that one sounds like YAH-SHA. It's very cute and very funny! He loves his cartoons and of course my least favorite is his absolute, can't tear him away favorite. Caillou. Such an annoying show... BUT, I know if I need to get something done I can turn that one on and do it! And it makes him happy, so I'm all for that! He sniffs and crinkles his nose when I ask him what a pig says. He also says oof oof (woof woof) for dogs. Also if someone is sleeping and we tell him to be quiet he puts his finger to his lips and says "sshhh". He fakes sleeping to when he doesn't want to talk on the phone. Little stinker.

I got to do another photo shoot the other day for my friend Kara and her 2 boys! They are so cute. Here are a few of those! I am loving all the practice right now and enjoying learning how to use my camera!

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