December Recap

Well, the third trimester got the best of me, and I stopped blogging. Gonna fill in with some month-end recaps so that I don't lose these memories...

In December:

Josh and I took and early and abbreviated 10th anniversary trip to Estes Park. Our long-time plan had been to escape for a week on the beach sometime in the spring (our actual anniversary is January 3, 2014), but this impending baby changed those plans.

We decided to take a shorter, closer trip before I got miserably large, so we booked two nights at the Della Terra Mountain Chateau in Estes Park at the beginning of December. Unfortunately, I was pretty uncomfortable already, but it was a nice getaway nonetheless. (Except for the wind. The wind was insane!)

The trip included yummy food, no schedule to follow, our first ever couples' massage, and a lot of relaxing and enjoying each other's company.

When we got to the Della Terra, we were greeted by these guys. 

Just to Keep Things Straight...

Thursday, June 6: Josh and my brother Steve leave Ohio in a Penske truck to move Steve's stuff to Colorado. They stop in Greenville, Illinois, to see Grandma Keffer, who is in the hospital with pneumonia.

Friday, June 7: Mom drives the kids and me to the airport at 6 a.m. Dad Keffer picks us up in Denver at 10 a.m., brings us home and I go straight to work.

On the Farm

We made our annual summer pilgrimmage to Ohio aiming, in one trip, to celebrate cousin Beth's wedding and see Doug and fam upon their return from India for the summer. We succeeded, sort of. Note to self: cramming in a visit while jetlag is still in full force may not be the best of ideas. Especially when jetlagged 18-month-old twins are involved.

In short: I took not one photo at Beth's wedding. But it was beautiful. And she was more than beautiful. 

Thanks to my SIL Mandi, however, I have shots from the reception. The kids thought the dance floor was the coolest place they had ever been. They danced for over an hour without stopping.

Kids on the Dance Floor

This is Grandma's fault

My mom bought Josiah (and his twin cousins, Cedric and Ezra) this shirt.

Hillbilly Sledding

All you need is a farm dog and a John Deere Gator!

Christmas in Ohio

The day after Christmas, we threw the kids in the truck at 7 a.m. and headed for the Denver airport. We arrived in Ohio on my mom's birthday and extended our Christmas celebration until New Year's day, when we flew back home. 

I love this picture of my mom. 

Mountain Man Mike

Josiah has such a wonderful mad face. I really can't help making fun of it. 

Josiah and his new Notre Dame hat, courtesy of Aunt Mandi, who joins Josh in rooting for the Irish. 

Ty Ty. How did my nephew get to be as big as me?

Annual Christmas cookie making: Grandpa and his girls. 

Irish fans nothwithstanding, Ty makes Brutus the Buckeye out of cookie dough.  Cousin Dan Driscoll is the one who started all this cookie creativity. I think he would be proud. 

Kinsey

Josiah's job was taste-testing the sprinkles

August Recap

The garden is still producing...fresh flowers this time. 

I got inspired by this red checked tablecloth that I inherited from my Grandma Beam. Normally I wouldn't post so many pictures of the same subject, but oh, my! I'm smitten...

Love his signature crossed ankles in this one and the next...

Back to Ohio we went, and this time we DROVE. Partially so we could see Grandma Keffer again as we passed through Greenville, and partially just to see if we could do it. Our kids were TROOPERS. They did so great on the drive. Seriously, we borrowed a DVD player for the car and never had to use it. I was so encouraged that we can get out and travel with these little ones and actually enjoy it.

(In the interest of full disclosure, the drive was not perfect. Lorien threw up three times on the way through St. Louis, and the neighborhood where we stopped to clean up the mess was, shall we say, a bit ghetto. Fastest puke clean-up in the history of road trips. Also, on the way home, we had a double meltdown in the back seat just as we were crossing from Kansas to Colorado. I suppose you can't blame them after the neverending drive through Kansas.)  

Ohio highlights: 

Christy, Nathan and Macrae came down from Michigan to visit, and Dad Beam rolled out the red carpet...er, the slip-n-slide. 

Christy and Macrae on the slip-n-slide

Mommy and Lorien. She liked the slide better this time than she did last summer. 

Josiah and Grandpa

Josiah turned 11 months old on August 14 and needed some farmer boy photos...

Macrae is a pretty big tractor fan too. 

Mmmmm....love this place.

The official reason for traveling to Ohio a second time: to celebrate Steve's graduation from Full Sail University AND his 24th birthday. Congratulations, Steve!

July Recap

In July, we traveled to the Midwest. Lots of folks had a loving hand in bringing Josh's Grandma Keffer from Greenville, Ill., to Indianapolis so that she could meet Josiah for the first time. Uncle Richard and Aunt Judy made the drive, and Uncle Jim and Aunt Marti hosted all of us. 

Mini Family Reunion

Great Grandma Keffer with Lorien and Josiah

Three (out of four) generations

The next day was July 4th, so we headed for downtown Indy, where Doug and Chad and their boys were renting a condo for the summer. We started our Independence Day celebration with a trip to the zoo — our kids' first. I hope I never forget the look on Lorien's face when we entered the first exhibit: the aquarium. She was enthralled! The other thing I won't quickly forget is the heat. It was beastly hot.

Hot, fat baby

Daddy and Lorien at the zoo

India baby: Ezra couldn't care less about the heat!

Effalumps!

From the condo, it was a short walk to view the fireworks. It was probably the latest our kids have ever stayed up and they did great!

Josiah with his cousins, Ezra and Cedric. They are 2 months younger than him. Josiah may have been guilty of squashing Cedric's nose right before this picture was taken. 

Both of the kids loved the fireworks and weren't scared. 

We headed back to Ohio to spend more time with family and friends. One special visit was with my good friend Lori. We got to meet her new little guy, Micah. Boy have they been waiting a long time for this baby!

Elli, Micah, Lorien and Josiah. Can you tell from this photo that Josiah out-eats his sister at most meals?

What's a trip to Ohio without a visit to Young's Dairy?

Feeding the goats

A tractor-tire tunnel

Back home in Colorado... The garden is producing!

Holy zucchini, Batman!

It makes me so happy that our kids like each other so much. 

Family Photo

Josiah turned 10 months old...

And our annual Institute alumni reunion brought some old friends back to visit. 

Lorien with her buddy Mindy