Colorado

We drove the van to Colorado last week for a week's vacation in the condo. At the end of our trip, Tom hiked up Roger's Pass to James Peak. This was taken from the top:

In the beginning of our trip, before we even went over the pass, we stopped in Denver at Casa Bonita for dinner. Here are the kids sitting for the puppet show. Fun times!

Xavier and the Batman car

The kids in the condo on the pull out

Adam's Falls trail

On the trail to Devil's Thumb

The lunch spot

Blaise and Xavier were over there talking for a long time.

Dominic and his question mark walking stick

Xavier the rock collector Mena loves the great outdoors!

Zachary the mountain man --

The next day we went to downtown Winter Park

We brought the bikes and tried them out in the new skateboard park Mena at the table in the condo

We also went to the Cozens ranch museum and got to sit in a replica stagecoach.

We also took the boys to the spot where Dad proposed.

On Saturday Tom hiked to the top of Roger's pass and James Peak. A pretty arduous hike, but he did it! Then we went swimming, watched boys play football with some other kids right outside and the Huskers play Wisconsin.

The sunset that last night there was spectacular! This is taken from the balcony.

Another fun trip under our belts for this year. Whew. It's been a travel filled year. But there really is no place like home.

September Birthdays

September 18th we had a birthday party at our house for Zachary and grandpa. After Mass we all enjoyed a turkey dinner followed by icecream cake and presents. Usually it's just family and godparents but Zachary's little friend and another couple got to join us last minute too. There were 7 signers there with 2 being deaf so someone was always signing. Zachary loves "doing sign language." Mostly he is just mimicking the movements but it's really cute!


This was last May: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l-mT26NrZI





Zachary and Issias playing

Gregory Evan and Zachary Evan... Happy Birthday!

Summer Update

What a busy summer this has been! Just an update on what we've been up to...

The week before Fourth of July we got a fence put up! YAY! This is turning into my dream home! One thing at a time :)

One day we went to see the flooding at Rick's Boatyard. An historical event for sure. Uncle Mike with all his nephews and Mena.

Another weekend Tom and I took the kids to Des Moines. We stayed at a Ramada with a water park and the next day visited the Science center.

Happy Feet soccer camp. One hour, one night a week, 3 boys play soccer, less than a mile from our house. Also this spring we played family baseball at a neighbor friend's backyard park where there is a diamond. This is the extent of our formal sports. The rest of the summer has been full of made up ball games in the driveway/circle and swimming in our new pool! Above ground 14ft diameter, 3700 gallon. It's a lot to take care of but it's SO nice on these hot days. On June 2nd we bought a new van. Not a mini-van --no a 12 passenger bus! When we went camping earlier this spring we were stuffed into our old minivan. The ac went out ($700 worth of repairs) and we decided to just go ahead and upgrade since we will probably need one in another couple years when number 6 comes along and we could use the space anyway. Gas mpg isn't as good but we can fit our bikes and camping gear and wagon, coolers... anything else we need to bring. Of course it's never enough space :) I miss my driver's side passenger door but other than that it will do very well. It even fits in our garage!

The many faces of 7month old Mena... She is such a happy baby! She's almost crawling and she's gotten over her refusal of baby food. She has 2 bottom teeth and is working on the top ones now.

Tom and I celebrate 10 years of marriage on Thursday! We are going to Applebees with the kids. That was where we went on our first date over 12 years ago. At the end of August, baby and I will join him for a quick trip to California for a couple nights.

Hope you are having a great summer! May God bless us in our vocations and give us the strength to do the work He has set for us, being always thankful for the joy and peace that comes with doing His will.

Happy 5th Birthday Xavier!

April 10th was on a Sunday this year. On that day we had godparents and grandparents over for a small party. He got some fireman Megablocks, a Mater car ramp, a Starwars transformer, and a bubble machine. It was a fun afternoon!

Here he is with his twin Gabriel... and his brother Zachary..

and his bubble machine...

The icecream cake was something we will do again. It was a hit and really easy to order :)

Happy Birthday Xavier!

Blaise's First Communion day

April 3rd, 2011 ~ Blaise Alexander received his First Communion! He has been preparing for a long time for this day and it was finally here. For the last 9 days he has been praying a novena and making a "garden" of beautiful flowers representing virtues in his soul. Blaise's seriousness about this big step outweighed his excitement by far. He knows how important this sacrament is. He was almost nervous about it, but I know Jesus is pleased and so happy to get to come to Blaise. May He shower him with graces and grow Blaise into the strong virtuous man we know he will be. May his faith and love for Christ be strengthened, especially through these "little visits." We didn't get pictures of the Mass but here are some afterwards... There were 12 other children in his class. 2 girls and 11 boys. Here they are being enrolled in the scapular... and the miraculous medal:

My dad's sister on the left and my oldest brother James on the right. Mom and dad in the middle.

Immaculate Conception's First Communion class of 2011

Godparents Mr & Mrs Stock

Mena is really looking like her dad in this picture!

We thought Blaise couldn't get much higher than receiving our Lord for the first time. I guess we were wrong