August

August is light. I think I was either burnt out on taking pictures or editing, but I really just didn't do a great job this month. We did take an AMAZING vacation to Florida and the day after we got back, Kyle had to be in Durango again. He came back and the next day I went to a workshop in North Carolina. We were home for a week (or less) and then packed up and headed back out to what started as a one week trip to Durango became almost a 2 week stay. I took one picture in Durango and it was the day we left!! oops.

This was before we left:



Here are a few of our Florida favorites:

first time on the beach:
Family Portraits

oh sea, we will miss you!!

July

Our Waco trip went over into July so here's the rest of Waco through July:

Mid-way through our trip, Josh had knee surgery. Anna-Jane was his faithful nurse. She kept telling (scolding) him, "you need to rest!". She stayed by him and cuddled up with him during his recovery. He stayed at my parent's house for a few days since my dad and I would be home during the day and their place has stairs.

Buddies

Do you see it?

She asked to be bandaged too. Empathy? Imitation? Curiosity?

Since Mya moved to Texas, she came to visit us at the pool! Despite it looking like she was trying to strangle Mya, she was actually trying to tickle her. Anna-Jane's biggest weakness is her neck!

sittin' pretty

getting dirty

I often enjoy doing projects while I'm at my parent's house. I feel like I have more time and my mom seems to appreciate it. So together the girls did a living room makeover.

I did a mini-workshop for my cousin and this was her first shot outside. I LOVE it!

We finally made it home to enjoy some more outdoor fun in the (nice) unusually "hot" Colorado weather.

I attempted photos of the kids this month. I hadn't done it in a while because I honestly can't shoot my own kids without my hubby present. It just. doesn't. happen.

I get a lot of this...

I think this is the dreaded "cheeeeeese" face. I'm ashamed my kid knows "cheese".

She sang me all of the Little Mermaid song (Part of Your World). I got this one in between verses. She knows this song by heart as she should since we sang it EVERY night for over a year.

really getting into and belting it out!

this face is usually accompanied by a question or request

Gum out-"soiled" his old 1 gallon tank. Apparently these cheap-o goldfish are the dirtiest little fish and require a filter. Who knew that is why most goldfish don't make it very long. So one night after a date, Kyle and I found ourselves at Petsmart spending $90 making a "Nemo"-inspired tank for this 20 cent goldfish our daughter is in love with.
I had a session near Vail and it gave me the chance to see my sweet High School friend, Elise. She's as funny and outspoken as she is gorgeous.

June was BIG

We weren't at home pretty much the whole month. We spent about two weeks in Durango and then left from there to go to Waco for another two weeks. Both trips were awesome.

Judah LOVES the moon. He loves finding it and pointing it out, etc. Here is Daddy and Judah moon-gazing:

Kisses...guess who's lips Judah has.

On our way out of town to Durango, I took Anna-Jane to a Mother's Day Out type thing and she left with a goldfish. Riiiiiight. I literally had the car packed to drive out of town and was picking her up to get on the highway. What am I going to do with a fish in a cup for 7 hours?! We finally made it to Durango and Anna-Jane got to gaze and love on her new pet. I knew this fish couldn't stay long in that tiny cup so there I stood in the aisle at Walmart for a good 20 minutes google-ing how to take care of a goldfish on my phone thinking "oh the things we do for our children"

she named him Gum. I tried to campaign for Shark or Jaws but Gum it was. No clue where that name came from.


Remember I told you we had an elevator? Well, here it is. The door to our place is open and we're standing in the hall. The accordion is the door for the actual elevator. You have to close it before it will move. Both doors to the hallway upstairs and the hall to the alley downstairs have to be shut too.
We enjoyed walking around downtown a lot. There is Cold Stone just down the street so we would grab some ice cream and sit out next to the sidewalk. It was heaven.

meet "trouble"

and now let me introduce to you "Attitude"

While we were there, guess who happened to be visiting?

Thomas the train. The kids went NUTS!!!!

We were planning to ride the "real" bigger train that weekend so we didn't ride with Thomas, but we took part in all the fun extras they had going on like the bouncy castle, Thomas tattoos, petting zoo, and more.

The long weekend we were there, we first visited the Pagosa Springs Hot Springs. I've been to Glenwood Springs which is one long, big pool, but Pagosa had lots and lots (20?) of smaller hot tubs at all different temperatures. You could select your pool according to its temperature. The kids had a blast.

The next day, we went on the famous Durango to Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad. It lived up to its reputation! Despite being confined to a small space for 3 hours, the kids LOVED it. It was a gorgeous ride and Silverton was really really cool. It has mostly dirt roads still with a small downtown. I swear I stepped back in time. The kids even had fun all the 3 hours back. There was never really a shortage of scenery that was interesting and beautiful. We've gone back to Durango a few times and the kids have asked to go again just about every time the whistle blows....and that's a lot.











We drove straight from Durango to Waco again for our usual summer trip. Kyle's dad and stepmom were there when we got there and the kids got to visit with MawMaw and PawPaw. They really enjoyed them and the kites they brought!!