Where Has the Year Gone?

Lydia started Kindergarten this fall! She is loving it so much and has already made so many new 'best friends'. She is learning a lot and having so much fun. She is going on her first field trips this month to the fire station and the planetarium! She very excited. It will also be her first time riding on the bus. :)

Halloween is just around the corner! Lydia has decided to be Minnie Mouse and Jack with be a Ninja Turtle. Lydia will be having a Halloween party at school, and I think for the first time we may do some neighborhood door to door trick or treating this year. Hopefully the weather will be nice! As I write this we are in the middle of a serious blizzard. School was cancelled and the city shut their doors at noon today! It has been an odd fall already with the quickly changing weather. However it is suppose to get back to the 60s even this weekend - what a flood and mud mess it will be then!

If the weather permits we are hoping we will make it to the pumpkin patch again this year to pick some pumpkins. That was such a fun trip last year!

Ryan leaves for Seattle for his fishing trip in a few weeks. He and his Dad are going deep sea fishing! They are both very excited. I hope they get to bring home some nice fish!

Lydia caught her first fish this summer and we also took a trip to Flintstone Park. They really loved that! We also got to ride the go-carts at flags and wheels; Lydia was big enough to drive a small cart by herself! She did really great for it being her first time driving, I was surprised she didn't even hit any side walls on the track. ;)

We welcomed a new niece to the family this summer. What a blessing to see our extended families growing! I love all these babies!! Keep them coming!

 I am still very active with my photography hobby and have been taking photos for myself and others as well as for a class I am currently taking which is exploring the more fine art side of photography. It is really stretching my limits in new and exciting ways. It was a great push to get me into new genres of photography that I have always wanted to explore but didn't quite understand fully.

Jack and Mommy are getting a lot more time together these days with sissy being at school. We have been practicing his letter sounds and writing at home and going to the library every week. He really enjoys that a lot. I can't believe next fall both my kids will be in school. Wow I thought life was busy now! I hope he does great in preschool; we will be sending him to the same school his sister attended.  We were really happy with our experience there.

Boo is now 10 months! He has gotten so big!! He is still an ornery thing. He has calmed down a ton with the kids but still goes crazy when company comes and also still wants to CHEW EVERYTHING! I am really looking forward to that stage being over. He is very fun and a loving sweet dog though. I am glad he is a part of our family. A little over a month ago he came down with a mystery illness and was very sick. We still aren't sure what he had or how he got it but antibiotics seem to have cleared it up very quickly. I have since taken an insurance policy out on him as I was shocked at how much vet bills cost!! I know in his lifetime he will have many more issues I'm sure and I couldn't imagine being faced with the inability to pay for a bill and have to consider his life. I was very surprised at how reasonable the policies were. Well worth it.

Ryan started a new job in August. It is still a long drive like his last job but it is going well for him and he enjoys the work he is doing there very much.

I will try to keep this updated more often!!

Jack's 3rd Birthday!

Jack had a wonderful 3rd birthday which we celebrated on the 13th of April.  He chose a Monster Truck theme this year and was SO excited when we got the big box of all his party stuff.  He asked to go through it all and look at everything every day after we got that box until the day we put everything up.  :)

He really enjoyed his party this year.  I loved watching his face light up when we all sung happy birthday to him while he was waiting to blow out his candle.  He was SO happy, his smile couldn't have been any bigger or his dimples any deeper :)'

Here are some photos from his special day!

Happy Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  I hope you all have a great week and get out and do something special with your loved ones!

Been Awhile..

My last post was before Halloween, which is crazy. I have been very bad on keeping things updated.

The kids had a great Halloween, Lydia dressed up as Rapunzel and Jack was a train engineer. They weather was absolutely beautiful on Halloween and the kids were able to trick or treat without the need of a coat. This was the first year that Jack was really able to understand and he really enjoyed it a lot.

Ryan and I took a trip to Montana together in October to go see Pearl Jam. It was so awesome, I have included a few pictures from that below.

Thanksgiving was a very eventful time. We had 3 different dinners! We spend Thanksgiving day and a few days before and after in Colorado with Ryan’s brothers family. Unfortunately Lydia got sick while we were there so we came home a day early.

We hosted a Christmas dinner with my family this year. We had prime rib and everyone brought a few side dishes. It was one of my niece and nephews first Christmas’ this year, it was so fun to see all the kids together. And what a mountain of gifts! Oh my..

 I celebrated my 29th birthday this Monday. It’s hard to believe I am almost 30. The last 10 years literally just flew by.. and why do I have a feeling the next 10 will fly by even faster? Lydia will be getting registered for kindergarten next week. She is very excited to start school and is really enjoying preschool. She gets along with everyone really well and is very fond of her teacher. I am in the process of planning her 5th birthday party right now. She has decided on a mermaid theme this year. I think I am going to be daring and try to make her birthday cupcakes this year instead of buying a cake. Wish me luck! I will need it!

 Ryan has been working on the basement lately finishing up the framing and then he will start working on the wiring. It will be slow process but I am excited to see more and more progress on it.

We currently have a rental car that we are using while our car is in the body shop. I am hoping to get a call today or tomorrow that it will be finished. Our vehicle was hit by an elderly man last week so it is in the body shop getting the damages fixed as well as a new windshield replacement.

I started another photography class this week. It is a 4 week course on posing. I am so very excited about it. It’s a brand new class they are now offering. Posing I feel is one of my biggest shortcomings in my photography, so I’m thrilled that this was available. Too bad the weather is so terrible right now though, I will have to find creative ways to pose and photograph indoors instead unfortunately.

 I'd really like to do a valentine photo-shoot of the kids this year. I found some adorable props on etsy that were very reasonable so I went ahead and decided to do it. Hopefully everything will be in next week so I can do the shoot next weekend. I’m excited! I hope the kids will want to cooperate!

Here are a few pictures from the last few months.

Pumpkin Patch

We visited the Koltiska Pumpkin Patch on Saturday in Sheridan WY. What a great way to celebrate the first day of fall! It was such a beautiful day! So warm, not a cloud in the sky and the trees were just gorgeous with the changing colors. The kids had a great time taking the tractor pulled hay ride to the patch and picking out their own pumpkins.

First Day of School

Lydia's first day of school was last week. She is really loving it so far and doing great!

Weddings & A Mini Vacation

Jack had the honor this weekend of being a ring bearer for the first time for my cousin Brooke's wedding at Spearfish Falls.  I was really worried he wouldn't walk down the 'isle' but he did a great job and followed direction well.  I must say he looked pretty stinking cute in his tiny little suit.  The 18 month size fit him just perfectly.   It was a pretty spot for the wedding and the weather couldn't have been more perfect, it was warm with a slight cool breeze.   We had made reservations at the new Deadwood Lodge for Saturday night and went on to Rapid City on Sunday to take the kids to Reptile Gardens and Storybook Island.  We were really pleased with the Lodge, its a beautiful hotel and the rooms were so nice, clean and well decorated.  The food was great too.  I'd recommend it to anyone wanting to stay in Deadwood.   They have a really fun children's pool area with a pirate ship the kids can climb on and slide off of, and a big whale slide that squirts water.  The deepest the pool gets is 3ft 6in.  The kids had a lot of fun playing there and luckily at the time we went it wasn't very busy at all.

This was Jack's first time staying in a hotel! He slept in the other queen bed in the room with his sister and they both did great.  Went right to sleep and slept through the night - I did wake up to Jack laughing in his sleep once though. :)

The weather was awesome on Sunday! It was overcast but really warm with a slight cool breeze.  Just perfect for Storybook Island.  The last time we were there Lydia was Jack's age and he was just a few months old.  It's such a neat place for kids to play. 

Reptile gardens has added some new things in the last few years, this was Jack's first time seeing live reptiles.  He was very brave and not scared at all to get close to everything.

Overall it was a great mini vacation and the first one we have been on with the kids staying overnight somewhere.  Hopefully we will get to go camping soon too!

Jack, Lydia & I are also in Ryan sister Laura's wedding coming up in August!  It is going to be such a beautiful wedding.  Super excited! :)    Here are a few pictures from Sunday.