Our little Aggie! Clay is so proud.

Play time...


...leads to nap time!

thanksgiving fun

Thanksgiving #1 was at my parents house. Carter's favorite way to sleep (besides snuggled up next to me or daddy) is in his swing. The swing has been a life saver! However, he looks like he needs a V-8. He always works his head out of the pillow and contorts it to the side. Funny boy! This is him napping off his "turkey dinner".

He is pimpin' in his hat ghetto-style...

Thanksgiving #2 was at my other family's house. The Barnharts have been a second family to me since junior high school. Below is Auntie Alex holding Carter for the first time. She's loving this little boy!

More of the Barnhart sisters. The one on the right, Lori, took all the beautiful newborn pictures of CJ. Her sister Claire is introducing CJ to her daughter, Emily. Emily kept following CJ all night and tried to give him toys. She adored him!

photography stuff

Go here for some fun stuff about photography!

http://thecreativemama.com/interview-marta-locklear/

the incline

It's Tuesday and what would be better than to climb and enormous incline up a mountain? You can see it from a couple miles away. Railroad ties are driven into the side of the mountain with large spikes for us to use as steps. There is a lot of loose gravel so you have to watch your step.



This is at the very first step. We are mentally preparing ourselves for the climb. Sara decided to be a pedometer, so she counted as she climbed. She said counting took her mind off the intensity.



We are half way up. Breaks were our friend...

...Speaking of friends, here's one we made on the climb, sitting next to Sara. His name is Robert and we joined efforts in reaching the top.

Looking back, this is half to the top. My fear of heights kicked in when I turned around, so I didn't do it often!

Almost to the top!

We made it! View from the top!

We took another switchback trail down to the parking lot. This was the scenery along the way. God creates amazing scenery!

We met a man in his 50's/60's who ran to the top of the incline. He said his best time was 21:04 to the top and that was back in 2004. Today, he did it in 30 minutes because he fractured his vertibrae and it has lowered his time significantly. To put this in perspective, it took us 1 hour (although we did take 4 breaks). We nick-named him "21-minute-man". Impressed, I was!

cheyenne mountain zoo

I spent Sunday afternoon with my good friend, Shamay and her sister, Jessie...and their FOUR children. After a long day of shopping and a nice long lunch, we headed back to my house to drop me off. Well, one more thing was dropped off, and that was Kaitlyn, Shamay's 8 year old daughter. She certainly kept me on my toes all day Monday. It was nice to have some company while Clay was away at work. This was one of the first nice days we've had since we've been in Colorado (um, yeah, don't get me started), so Kaitlyn and I decided to take advantage of it. Per Kaitlyn's request, we went to Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. Yes, that is a zoo, on a mountain with a lot of hills to walk up! Here are some pics from our fun day in the sun...

This is my favorite picture of Kaitlyn

The giraffe was nudging her...it was cute!

She got to meet the nice grizzly

I forget what this is!

a domesticated squirrel...I hope he doesn't have rabies

This monkey liked us. He kept following us around his cage.

This guy was smart! He tied that rope to another rope and started swinging on it. Then, he UNTIED it!

These two were grooming each other. The one started picking all the bugs off the other one.

That's our adventure in a nutshell. I haven't been to a zoo in over a decade, so it was fun to see the animals from a child's perspective!

last weekend

NEED I SAY MORE????

Our Snowy Easter Weekend

Clay's mom graced us with her presence for Easter Weekend. We had fun cooking, shopping, hiking, going to the dog park...lot's of stuff! On Easter, we drove an hour and a half to Fowler, Colorado (ie, the middle of no where) to eat Easter dinner at Shamay's parents' house. Shamay is one of my good friends from Jr. High youth group at Patterson Park Church. She moved out to Colorado when we were 16. We've kept in contact ever since. I used to make a trip to Colorado every year to see her. The trip to Fowler took a little longer than expected because we were driving through some heavy snow! It felt like Christmas instead of Easter! We only have a week and a half left here. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!

life as a dog

Life isn't much different out here in Colorado. The dogs have made themselves at home on every piece of furniture this home has to offer.

I am grateful they are laying on it instead of peeing on it!

Garden of the Gods Excurtion

After being pent up in the house all day Saturday, we decided to venture out. The temp was still below 30 degrees, especially with the 20 mph winds, but we needed to get outside. What better place to go than to a place of big red rocks that we can climb all over! As Clay and Beau scaled up the cliff, I got some good shots. I think Beau was a little scared, but his adventurous spirit kept him going!

The trails or "non-trails" were so much fun to explore. Belle had a great time as well hopping from rock to rock!

Aren't they cute looking out over the cliff?

Clay looks lonely, maybe I should stand next to him...

There's Klaytie! By the way, that cute hat on my head was made by me last week. I needed to pass the time somehow so I learned to knit. Good thing because I didn't bring a hat with me to Colorado and it's cold out here! The matching scarf is half way done. I take visa, check or cold hard cash.

Colorado...this is the beginning of something great

Our trip went quick. Clay drove the entire 19 hours while I slept, read, slept, ate, slept....and slept! Ok, I didn't sleep that much, but the point is I had the OPTION to sleep while Clay drove the entire trip. Believe it or not, Clay wanted to drive the entire time...it was mutual. This is Kansas...nothing for miles. I did end up peeing in a cup in the car because there were no bathrooms for 100 miles!

This is the view from our master suite, or should I say, "master sweeeeet!" This house is a lot bigger than I thought it would be. There is a walk-in closet, double sinks with plenty of counter space, a shower and jacuzzi tub...and a super king bed. I think a king bed might be in our near future after we return home. Once you sleep in the king, you can't revert back to the queen! Of course I noticed the bathroom is a little outdated, and yes, I see the potential, but it is clean and that suites me just fine!

Yes, that is snow. But I don't seem to mind because, somehow, snow atop of Pike's Peak is a lot better than snow in Ohio. I love it here already. From the front windows of our house is a spectacular view of the snow-covered Pike's Peak. How awesome is that! This picture was taken from the front of the house. Don't worry, Clay and I are planning on chipping off a chunk of the mountain and bringing it back to Ohio with us. We will charge admission.

Here are more pictures of our house...

This blog will be periodically updated on our Colorado adventures. Stay tuned!