I know we haven't been good bloggers lately. After Sawyer was born, my camera broke. I got a new one for my birthday last month. So here are some pictures.

Here we are at dinner for my 30th birthday.

Stone's 7th birthday.

We spent a weekend in Avon, Colorado during Stone's fall break. It's a good thing the kids are easily entertained because the town is pretty dead during the off seasons. We had fun in the little outdoor hot pool on the 7th floor. We went for walks with lots of throwing rocks into the river.

The kids had so much fun. They thought it was awesome that there was a tv in the living room and one in the bedroom. Stone did not want to leave. They said they wanted to live there. I think they would have gotten tired of sharing a small pull out sofa bed.

Chocolate milk, halloween oreos and jello. What is better than that? Wearing no shirt.

Snowy October

We got our 4th snow of the month and it started Tuesday around 7pm. As I sit here almost 42 hours later it continues to come down. We have about 18" in our back yard and counting. Our front yard has anywhere from 6" under the pine tree to 32"+ in front of the garage blocking in the cars. I shoveled the driveway yesterday morning when it was manageable, today it is crazy. The wind-blown snow is the deepest stuff. Our driveway seems to be a wind tunnel where it all ends up and piles up the deepest. The city of Denver has pretty much shut down for the last 2 days, my garages are pretty barren.
We haven't been very good about updating our blog, so we'll put up some pictures. If you are on Facebook you have seen a lot more photos there because I can upload them directly from my Blackberry. Sawyer is growing. She has been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks and wakes up congested. She has a very mild cry so she doesn't kill us with her screams yet. The boys got a Wii a few weeks ago and it is a good thing with all of this snow. They like to go outside but it is only good for about 15-20 minutes of playtime.

So summer is gone, at least it has been this week. Cold temperatures and sick kids have been the story of the week. Sawyer, Van, and Rusty have all been congested and waking up all stuffed up. Stone has recovered from his stitches and other minor cuts and scrapes and despite not being an early riser still wants to stay up late. Rusty and Stone went with me to participate in a State Park Service Project last Saturday. We did trail repair and made rock breaks to divert the water from the trail. REI sponsored it and gave us nice shirts and water bottles and food.

I started framing the basement a week ago and have almost finished it with the help and tools of some friends. I hired a good friend of mine and he has pushed me to get it done. We just have a couple of hours left before we can start roughing in the electrical, plumbing, and doors.

Our Tough 1st Grader

Stone started 1st grade this week. Today, his 2nd day of school, we got a call from the school and they said he had cut his leg at recess and might need stitches. They had him bandaged up when Janna picked him up. I haven't been feeling well since returning from Sara's wedding in California, so I was home working. It didn't seem too bad, so we let him rest (which turned into playtime of course) and a couple of hours later we took the bandage off to check it out. It was deep enough and wide enough that we thought he probably should get it cleaned out a little better and stitched up. The doctor put in 3 stitches and it is all good.


Stone has only lost one of his teeth so far, which is weird considering he is almost 7. Both of his two bottom teeth have had the big teeth grow in behind them before he lost them. Tonight it was time to lose the 2nd one. I cranked on it for a few minutes and he was able to finish it off. It scared him more than it hurt him so he was a little timid but took care of business.

Home Sweet Home

We finally are home. Our 2 week trip turned into a 5 week trip for Janna and the kids when she fell off of her mom's bongo board and fractured her elbow. We put over 4,000 miles on our Ford Windstar on the trip. We were able to see my Uncle Terry and stay with him Saturday night on the drive home. The boys had a great time swimming, eating at IHOP, and watching the fish. Rusty even woke up early Sunday morning and walked the dogs with Uncle Terry.

Sawyer is growing. We haven't weighed her for a few weeks, but she is finally the size of most normal babies. She eats a lot and is doing pretty good sleeping at night. Her hair is still red, lucky her.

Congratulations goes out to Tim, Tanya, and Marisa. Tanya gave birth to their 2nd daughter, Natalie, this morning. We