April Showers?

Not really sure what to write about this week, so I'll just post a bunch of pictures. Brooke was rockstar getting her cavities filled. Deep pockets in molars + strongheaded 3-year old = 4 cavities. :( Saturday we rushed to get fertilizer on the grass before this came down. The trees and the fruit blossoms survived just fine. Looking forward to seeing what the 70s and sunshine does this week.

As Connor gets more mobile, he can chase Brooke around the house. She's not always a fan, but they have their moments.

One of Joanna's good friends got Brooke some Disney puzzles when Tracie was down in California. Brooke loves them.

After finishing one, it was off to the next one. She did all 5. A 24 piece, a 48 piece, and three 100 piece puzzles.

Connor's mobility has extended to the crib, where he is experimenting with his foot placement during nap time.

Some g-rated pre-bath pictures with our little stud. Never too early to start working on the dowry...

Have you ever read this book? We got it from the library, and here is Brooke's interpretation.

Happy face

Surprised face

Sad face?

Mad face

Naughty face

Worried face (personal favorite)

Frightened face

Happy face

Who can make the funniest face? Brooke!

Almost There!

We're just 2 days shy of Connor turning 11 months!  In honor of actually being early for something, albeit a blog post, here's a video of things he can do.

He's also starting to stand all on his own.  The other day, he and Brooke were playing in the front room and all of a sudden we heard Brooke yell "he's standing hisself, he's standing hisself!"  She was able to be the first to witness it and she knew that it an exciting milestone.

Just realized that I mentioned this in the last post.  Oops! 

He's a much better eater than Brooke ever was and still is. 


 Watch out!!!!!



Obligatory Easter Family pic.  Nevermind that Troy and I are already in comfy clothes.

Hunting for all 32 eggs!!!  Not sure how she's gonna feel when she has to share the eggs next year.



Haha!!!!  I've got all the eggs!!!!!

We took a trip to the Denver Aquarium yesterday.  Luckily I had a deal in going and spent $12 for Brooke and I.  Not sure I would spend more than that...In fact, if you want to save yourself some $$$$$ then here's a quick tour...

Brooke standing in front of the Colorado wildlife exhibit.  Here are some trout.

We even got to see some real mermaids.  They taught us about recycling and throwing away our trash.  Even trash in CO can end up in the ocean.  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Pictures doesn't do it justice but here's a 400 lb. grouper.  Humongous and very sluggish.  Surprised it could fit in between the rocks.

A pretty looking leopard sting ray.

As you enter the rainforest it gets a little loud with all the "birds".  There was also a sleeping tiger in the exhibit.

No aquarium would be complete without Dory and Nemo.

Because the Denver Aquarium is a touristy spot a nice Italian gentleman took a pic for us.  How did I know he was Italian...he said grazi.

Cool looking Lionfish.  Fun fact:  Did you know that lionfish are infesting the waters off the Florida coast.  Beware!

Didn't catch the name of this fish but I think it's cute.  It kind of looks like a giant puffer fish.

Here's an ugly wolf eel.

In the desert exhibit there is a demonstration of a torrential downpour leading to flash flooding.  Connor wasn't sitting far enough away.  Oops!

 This concludes your tour.  I except tips in any form...cookies, candy, cupcakes, free babysitting...

After visiting the aquarium we met up with Troy for lunch at a cute place called Mona's.  

I just like that Brooke left her mark on the chalkboard above.

After lunch we headed to Troy's work.  This was a first time on daddy's shoulders.  He loved it!!!!

Someone's ready to take over!!!!  Better watch out, Pat!

Yesterday was the Rockie's home opener.  You can zoom and see the packed Coors Field.  Brooke was doing a little boogie.

A cool view from a bridge looking at Troy's building.

We had swim lessons today.

Brooke is getting better at blowing bubbles.

 And floating on her back.

Doesn't she look so cute in her swim gettup.

The two other girls (twin sisters) that were in her class weren't having it today so Brooke pretty much had a private lesson. 

Just wanted to include another cute pic of Connor.  Gotta love this kid!!!!

Phew!!!

We made it through the month of March.  Hooray!!!!  Sorry for the lack of posts but it has been crazy busy.  After Moab, I headed down with the kids to CA to hang out with my good friend, Megan, giving Troy a man weekend with his brothers, Shane and Brett, and nephew, Jackson.  No pictures from the man weekend but we all know what it consisted of...pillow fights in their panties!  :)

I didn't take as many pictures as I would have liked.  Most of the time it felt like I was just juggling between Brooke and Connor.

We did manage to go to the Santa Barbara Zoo, grub on some yummy pastrami sandwiches from here that was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, attend a temple session with Megan, hang out with some extended family, and eat more good grub.  And I managed to keep my sanity on flights to and from Denver with Connor on my lap.

Since we've been home we've been able to soak in all the nice 80 degree weather.  That is until Monday when a cold front moved in and the temps dropped to below 40.  Gotta love Denver.  We got about 5 inches of snow yesterday and now it is gorgeous blue skies with the high hitting 60 today and 70 tomorrow.

 My parents and pseudo-auntie Christina and Uncle Ho came out to visit over the weekend.  They were able to experience the best of both worlds weather wise.

 The kids love Squishy just as much...

As Squishy loves to be in the action of things.  She was very interested in my mom washing veggies.

While my parents were in town we were able to hit up Cinzetti's, Superstar, Pho Saigon, and oh, The Garden of the Gods.  The weather wasn't great but the rocks were still pretty cool to look at.

With all the craziness going on we also squeezed in a dentist visit for the family,

swim lessons for Brooke

some Asian squatting for Connor

To full blown standing for the little guy.

We're so in for it...

Bonus video:

Ladies' Weekend

Tis the time again for the annual Moab Half Marathon.  We're 3 years in since the inaugural trip and we're still going strong with double the ladies. 

We took off Friday morning leaving our kids in the hands of our husbands and headed off for a relaxing and fun-filled girls' weekend. 

 Moab decided last year to begin starting later in the morning.  We all thought it was a great idea.  We were able to take our time getting ready in the morning and we were all out the door by 7:30.  The weather was perfect...a little breezier than we would have liked but definitely a lot warmer than when I ran it 2 years ago.

Since I've been nursing some injuries from training from my half in February and a dumb injury from doing one too many calf raises, I decided it was in my best interest to drop down from the half to the 5 miler and I definitely do not regret that decision. 

Final stats were:

Final time: 51:31:15.

Pace: 10:18

Overall: 246 out of 717

Age Rank: 13 out of 54

Gender Rank: 122 out of 474

Not too shabby considering I hadn't run since my half.  I also compared my time from when I ran the 5 miler way back in 2003 when I was 20.  My time then was 50:48 with a 10:10 pace.  Once again, not too shabby considering I'm turning the big 3-0 this year.  Good to know that I could keep up with my 20 year old self.  :)

 All the ladies did fantastic.  We had 7 5-milers and 5 halfers and 1 photographer.

The rest of the weekend was spent eating way too much food and sweets, laughing so much that tears streamed down our faces, staying up way too late, and having pillow fights in our panties.  It was fabulous.  Thank you ladies for a great getaway...until next year!

Earlier in the week Troy and I took Brooke to see Beauty and the Beast.  We didn't tell her until the night before.  We didn't know that she was that excited to go until I had to get up to take some allergy medicine at 2:15 in the morning and saw her light on.  She was getting ready to read a book in bed.  I told her that she needed to go to sleep so that she wouldn't be tired for the show then turned off her light.  Around 4:30 am I awoke to some squealing and sent Troy in to regulate.  She was bright eyed and bushy tailed playing with her stuffed animals ready for the day.  Once again we told her to go back to sleep...and she did...until I had to wake her up at 8:30 for playgroup.  What a silly girl!!

 She loved the show.  Especially when Belle came out in her "yellow" dress.  By the end of the show she was exhausted and didn't even make it out of the parking garage before she was fast asleep.

 We've also been taking in all the March Madness.  I'm happy to say that for a very brief moment I was tied for 1st place.  We won't make mention what place I'm in now...