What we've been up to

We have had a pretty busy month already, so I'll try and update and post some pictures. Kurt traveled to Turkey for a week and a half, so we were very thankful to get him back. Upon his return, our family went to Breckenridge, CO for a few days to celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary. We had such a nice time as a family exploring the city. Kurt and I were there before kids, so this was a new adventure. It is not ski season yet, so the town was pretty quiet but that made it even better. We got to eat at some nice restaurants without any type of wait and do a little shopping. We even spent some time at a children's museum and the boys really enjoyed that.

Nathan exploring at the children's museum.

Daddy and Silas playing at the museum.




The weather here has been beautiful (although we know we are in for change soon!), so we have spent all of our spare time enjoying the different fall festivals and activities around the area. This past weekend we went to "Boo at the zoo" where the kids dress up and go trick or treating at the zoo in the evening and get to see some of the animals. We had a wonderful time and it just prepared us for Halloween around the corner. On Saturday, we went to a farm that has various animals and activities along with pumpkins. We enjoyed petting the animals and just being outdoors. Again, a great reminder why we love fall so much.

This is a festival I went to w/ a friend and her children when Kurt was gone. Here is Silas helping make apple cider.

Me, Silas, Nathan and our friend Elijah on the hay ride.

Daddy, Silas and Nathan at "Boo at the Zoo". Silas is Thomas the Tank engine this year, which he absolutely loves and Nathan is a lion.
Silas and Daddy feeding the giraffes at the zoo.



This is the farm we went to on Saturday. They had pony rides and Silas really enjoyed that.


Who can resist the barrel train rides?


Playing on the big tire wheels. (Cheap entertainment!)



Yes, they even played king of the mountain on the bales.

Poor Nathan couldn't keep up!


This is Silas being brave and going right up to the pig. That's my kind of farm boy.

Feeding the animals was a hit.


Silas found the pumpkin he wanted clear across the field and he rolled it all the way to us. Even though it has flaws.......we brought it home. It was so cute watching him roll it.


Here is Silas's way of making sure nobody gets our pumpkins!

More Fall Activities

In addition to our Happy Apple Farm experience, we did a wonderful hike in the mountains. A couple Saturdays ago, we went up to the mountains to explore a museum we have always wanted to see but never had the time. Unfortunately, but fortunately......it didn't take us too long to get through, so we got to go hiking earlier than anticipated which meant we could take a longer route than normal. The leaves were not at peak turning point yet, so the colors were not as incredible as I would have hoped or have seen before, but it was still beautiful. Silas did such an incredible job hiking and although he got tired, he was such a trooper and kept on going. We did take a break to eat our lunch and he was thrilled about that. Nathan was in the backpack and must have had a very comfortable ride, because he took a little snooze! We did come across a snake and so Daddy and Silas had fun playing with that while Mommy kept her distance. I guess that is part of having boys....right? So, here are some pictures from our mountain hike.

Silas and Daddy playing with the snake.
Yes, Silas is touching the snake. Thanks, Daddy for teaching him that!


Here you can see snow on top of the higher mountains because we did get hit with some snow. The aspens in the valley are starting to change. Unfortunately a picture doesn't portray how beautiful and majestic it is.


Daddy educating Silas on how to pee on a tree. Now that he's potty trained, you do what you have to do!


Silas "reading" the map and telling us where to go as we hiked.


Nathan on the way home from the hike! You'd think he did all of the work.

Autumn

This is our family's favorite time of the year, so we try to get out and enjoy it as much as possible. This year we went to a place called Happy Apple Farm. We heard that you can pick your own raspberries, blackberries, apples, pumpkins, etc. The best part about it is that you can eat the fruit right off the vines or trees because they don't spray them, so we took advantage of that! We had to limit Silas and have him remember to put them in our basket so we could take some home too!
Riding the tractor in order to get out to the fields.

Here we are picking the berries off of the vine.

Here's some of our full basket of berries.
Daddy picking apples while Silas was our bag holder.
The bag of apples got heavy quickly!
They had some beautiful sunflowers that we enjoyed.

Nathan was very interested in the pumpkins.

The boys in the pumpkin patch.



So I bet you are dying to know what we did with all of our berries and apples. Kurt made us some very yummy raspberry pancakes that were enjoyed by all. Sheila made some homemade apple sauce which was very flavorful. And the best thing was this raspberry and blackberry cobbler that Sheila made. We were sad to see it gone!!!!!!!!! Something to look forward to for next year!

Nathan's 1 year update and Silas's 2 1/2 year update

Since the boys are 18 months apart (a few days difference), it is easy to do updates on both of them. We had Nathan's 1 year dr's check up today and he is doing great! His height is 29 3/4 inches which is 51%. His head is still in the 55% percentile, so he's pretty average there. His weight was 21 lb 4 oz which is the 72 %. So he's still above average in that category. He's a pretty solid boy and is growing like a weed. I think he'll pass up Silas soon or be very close in height and weight to him. I think they are only 5 lb difference now! He is getting more brave in standing up w/o holding anything, but no steps by himself yet. Will keep you updated.

Silas is 2 1/2 years now. We just hit a milestone in that he is officially potty trained (yeah!)! I had started to try shortly after he turned 2, because he showed signs of being ready. However, it was more me pushing him and after awhile I realized I wasn't ready for that undertaking! So, the other day he asked to wear his Thomas underwear again and I was like, here we go again. I told him let's wait until tomorrow morning, figuring if he remembered, then we'd do it. Well, he did and so we started the day off in underwear and with no accidents. I did have to ask him quite a bit if he had to go potty, but he was very receptive. Well, we're a week and a half later with underwear and only a handful of accidents which upsets him more than us. So I think it is the real deal now! Thank goodness, less diapers for awhile. So overall he's doing great and he's enjoying being a big boy!

Nathan's 1st Birthday

I am still amazed my little boy is a year old. The year flew by so fast and I truly mean it. Kurt and I were reflecting about this year and the many changes that took place and the many blessings poured out upon us. We do serve a good God!

Here are some neat things about Nathan. He truly is a delight. He has such a sweet and funny demeanor about him. He loves music and can be seen clapping his hands constantly. He has a passionate love for food and can and will eat just about anything. He definitely out eats Silas by a long shot. He is a very good sleeper and even if he wakes up early, you can hear him playing in his crib which is so nice. Then when you do come in to get him, he immediately stands up and starts jumping and laughing. When you put him down at night, he has a little music toy that we push the button for so he can listen to it and as soon as you lay him down and push the button, he just starts laughing and that is the last you hear from him. He is a very fast crawler and is close to walking, but isn't confident yet. He loves his brother and if he wakes up from a nap before Silas he immediately points at Silas's door. Then when Silas finally wakes up, I put Nathan down to crawl into the room first and he goes right to Silas's bed and starts trying to crawl in it. Silas gets a kick out of that every time. I could go on, but he really has been a fun baby and I can only hope the toddler years will be just as fun! Pictures can't portray his cute personality, but here are a few from his bday party.

Nathan loves balloons, so we got some to put on his chair and a few to blow up and he had a blast! Who needs gifts?


Silas and Daddy helping him open his gifts.


When it started to play music, here's Nathan clapping. So it was a hit, thank you Jerome family!


I made his cake and cupcakes, so I had Silas decorate them. He did a really good job and was so proud of himself.




Ahhhhh....the cake! Digging in.


Here are some of the friends that we had over to enjoy the special day.


Yup, always have to cry when the cake and party are over! Poor guy was so exhausted, but a great day was had by all!

Randoms

While I have a few minutes before church and our big day with Nathan's bday celebration, I'm going to post the rest of the CA pictures that I think are pretty good so I can close the trip up.

Enjoy!


San Fransisco at the cable car museum.

Silas smelling the flowers at the wedding reception.
Nathan being goofy!





Silas loved the rides. He was even big enough to go on one of the roller coasters!

Who can resist a treat on vacation. Look at that face!
Ahhhhh....vacation!

This is my favorite. Kurt was taking the boys on a walk along the ocean and he didn't know I took this one.

The Beach

We took one morning while we were still in LA to head to the beach. It was a beautiful day and there wasn't too many people there yet, so we had a nice time. The waves did get pretty bad, so they had to put on the red flags, but by this time we were ready to head home, so it didn't affect us.

As for the beach, this helped Kurt and I realize how much more "mountain" people we are then beach people. It's always fun to visit, but not a place we'd pick to live or go on a long vacation to. It just isn't relaxing for us! Plus with young kids you constantly have to be with them and then there is the whole sand issue! Oh my, I think we brought home a ton of sand!

So a beautiful day and fun times, but a great reminder why we live where we do!

Silas loved rolling around in the sand. His diaper showed it when we got home!


Nathan wasn't so fond of the sand. He couldn't crawl in it and he wasn't really thrilled with the water (too cold), so he was ready to go!