Little Ladybug

I just had just a little moment of panic, I couldn't find my daughter! I told Hayden it was time to go get Dusty from school, and then went to get Kyrie. I couldn't find her or hear her so the first place I checked was the bathroom. Whew, she wasn't in there! I checked behind the couches, still no Kyrie. At this point I was a little panicked and asked for Hayden's help. I decided to check upstairs and there she was! She had made it all the way up by herself. She has put her hands on the first 2 stairs before, but this was her first attempt to climb up them. When I found her she was pretty excited! It looks like we will be spending some time on the stairs, if she can go up, we'll have to practice going DOWN! When we got back from getting Dusty, I put Kyrie on the floor and she headed right back for the stairs! Where has my baby gone? I miss having a tiny little one, but it sure is fun to see her grow. She is a fun little girl, and I love her OH SO MUCH!

Party at Scotts Pirates Cove

The boys got their first birthday party with friends this year. It was a lot of work, I hope they remember this!

Dusty was excited to greet our guests! When our guests arrived, they got to pick a pirate bandana to wear. We then started out with a few games: X Marks the Spot, Cannon Pop, a Treaure Hunt, and Walk the Plank.

Here is Chris reading the final clue to the treasure hunt.

The "treasure chest" was a pinata in the basement, Swing Dusty!

Everyone got a couple of turns trying to break the "treasure chest" open.

Kyrie and I

The boys were excited to open a few more gifts from their maties.

Wes was just as excited to give a gift as Hayden was to recieve it.

Here's a picture of the gang. I had this wonderful idea of getting the perfect picture. I had bought pirate toys: swords, hooks, eye patches, knecklaces, telescopes and earings. I could vision having a picture of everyone with their bandanas and pirate prop. Yeah right! All the excitement of all of these little ones make it impossible. It was a miracle to get them all to sit there for a second to snap a picture. Forget about the bandanas, props, and getting them to look at the camera! Here we have Wes, Brinley, Hayden, Dylan, Claire, Aubrey, Drew, Josh, Dusty, Benjamin, Jacob, Hayden and Chris.

We served bugles, water with jewels, ice cream and these cupcakes that had a hidden treasure inside.

I think the kids all had a good time. Happy Birthday to Dusty and Hayden!

Hayden's Birthday

Hayden got to celebrate his 5th birthday for 3 days! He got to start on Thursday at school, where they threw a mini party for him. His teacher made him this crown that he loved, and he got to share some treats with his class. Then on Friday he got to celebrate with his brother at Chuck E Cheese, and then Saturday it was the real thing.
We of course had to do a special breakfast for him like we did for Dusty. He wanted the same thing Dusty had with the same colors.

For his birthday he got Buzz LightYear toys and a CD. He couldn't have been happier! He also got some birthday money from the grandparents that he can spend. I can see we will have some hard decisions ahead... what to buy?

Dusty's Birthday

So we just had a couple of birthdays at our house last week, it's just taking me a while to get it posted. Dusty got his request, pancakes for breakfast.

But they weren't just ordinary pancakes, we have to start the day with it being special, right!

For his birthday he got a Broncos football, a little sheriff car, a book that he gets to read to me and Mater's Car Tunes (which by the way, I am really disappointed in Maters choice of music - I thought he was hipper than that! At least Dusty seems to like it.). He also got some spending cash from the grandparents. Dusty finished off his morning party, then off to school. At lunch time he was surprised to find a love note in his lunchbox. He questioned why I put it in there! And to his embarrassment, I took in birthday cookies for him to share with his classmates. He was really hoping that I would drop them off early in the morning before school, but the teacher asked that I take them in just before school let out for the day. He survived having me in the classroom, and even asked me to tag along with him so that he could share the leftovers with the speciality teachers.

After Chris got home from work we took the boys to Chuck E Cheese for dinner. They have had this planned for a couple of months. I think that they were really hoping for the Chuck E Cheese birthday package, but they were greatful for what they got. I hope Dusty had a special day!!

I thought it would never happen to me!

And don't ever let it happen to you! We all hear stories and think, "I would never do that", or "That would never happen to me". Well, I have had several experiences in life that has taught me that it can happen, and it does! I have also heard of several instances where mothers have left their children in their cars, and had a very tragic outcome. I'm sure that these mothers had no intention on leaving them there, and when they heard of previous stories, they thought, "I would never do that". Well I have debated of whether or not to tell my story, because I am embarrassed of what has happened, but it was SO extremely shocking and painful to me that I have to tell. I have to tell because I could have lost my daughter yesterday. And I have always told myself that I would NEVER leave my child in the car like that, but it all happened so easily. Let me explain my story. We got home from church yesterday and I had just a couple of minutes to feed the baby and myself a lunch prepared by my hubby, then off to a YW Presidency meeting. After the meeting I headed outside, put the baby in her carseat on the passenger side, shut the door, started walking around the back of the vehicle towards the driver's side. The YW secretary was at the end of the driveway headed to cross the street to her car, and we started to chat. I had no intention of even talking to Becky, I was just going to get in my vehicle to go home. But the small chat continued, one topic leading to another. I'm not sure how long we were out there, 15 minutes maybe? I was in the middle of a sentence and a thought came to me, 'little baby in a hot car'! I said, "Oh my gosh! My baby! I was standing by the back end of the driver's side, so I quickly opened the rear door and saw a horrific image. I panickly ran to the other side and as fast as I could grabbed my little one out of her car seat. At first I really didn't know if she would be okay. I don't know if she had been crying, she was no longer crying, she was breathing really hard and slow, her eyes only half way opened, her whole body was red and she was dripping sweat everywhere. It's an image that I will never forget. I will NEVER forget!!! It was absolutely horrible. Becky gently rubbed my arm as I panicked. It only took a few seconds after pulling her out of that hot car for her condition to improve. I had a sippy cup with juice and she guzzled it. I don't know how much longer she could've lasted in that condition. I'm guessing not much, a couple of minutes maybe. I could NOT believe that it happened. And it happened all so easily! I had just shut her door and was headed to my seat, and had the slightest distraction. And I made a BIG mistake, a mistake that almost shattered my whole world. It shook me up so bad. I got home, nursed my baby girl, held her so tighly and cried and cried. The boys were all gone home teaching and I wondered if I would tell Chris or not. When they got home, I waited a little bit before I told, and then headed to the bathroom to cry some more. Last night it took Kyrie 1 1/2 hours to fall asleep. She was so tired but tossed and turned. I didn't care. I held her and enjoyed every minute of it. I'm so glad I have her, but mostly that she is sill with us. Before falling asleep, I again cried and cried. And again, I am bawling as I write this. I'm so greatful for whoever put a thought in my head, "little baby in a hot car". I thank Heavenly Father for guardian angels, as I have truly needed my share. I am thankful for the cold front that had come in the weekend, because if it had been any hotter there's no way she would've made it as long as she did. I am embarassed to tell of what happened, but I chose to because it happened all to easily, and I was within just a few feet of my vehicle - I was right there! I will NEVER make that mistake again, I will never be able to forget what happened, and what could've happened yesterday. It was horrific, but thankfully didn't end tragically. Don't let your guard down! It can happen all too easily. Don't let this happen to you!

I don't know how I could live if things had ended differently yesterday. I'm thankful I still get to see her smiles, enjoy her cuddles, smell her sweet scent, and stay up with her during endless, restless nights. I love you Kyrie!

We are such good buds!

Football season has now officially started!

Dusty had been in the bathroom, came out and went into the living room saying, "Look Dad, I play football". Thank goodness for WASHABLE markers!

3 Years!

~No words, just memories and tender thoughts~

For the Love of the Game

Our most bestest friends came from Utah to visit us over Labor Day weekend. It's a good thing they came because I'm sure our games have been feeling a bit neglected since our move. We have tried playing, but there is just nothing like playing with our pals, Ian and Heather.

We were able to enjoy a couple of game nights while they were here, and since Heather and I usually slaughter the men, we decided that if we ever want them to play with us again, we'd better let them win, and we took a little break. I think we let their hopes get up high enough that we will be able to resume our winning streak next time. You know, we can't win every time, or it will never be fun for them! It got dangerous Sunday night, we were up way to late (for me) and the next thing you know, I was cheating without even trying (or realizing). It is never good when I am up too late!
On Saturday we decided to venture out a little bit and Heather decided that she needed to snap some pictures. She always comments on how I have pictures all over the house, but none of them include me (I'm always the one behind the camera).



Dusty was excited to find a clam shell.
Hayden tried his best to look for one.

I love this one - See there is no need to worry about Chris having a girl. I don't know why he was worried about it! Kyrie has her Daddy just where she wants him!
Ian and Heather are so awesome!

While we were out we came across some strange people. This guy was a weirdo, he was funny, but also a bit scary! I wasn't quite sure if I wanted my boys standing by him or not! He was out there! As we were walking away from this robot guy, Hayden said, "He is too much funny". We also saw a guy that as far as I could tell, was completely (I assume) covered in a tattoo. His whole body was covered in blue jigsaw puzzle pieces, put together. There are all kinds of people out there!

Heather and Ian provided us all with tickets to a Rockies game. We joined the other 39,000 people to the stadium for an evening of fun.
Dusty actually WATCHED the whole game. When a player hit the ball, his little eyes followed it and watched all the action. He really enjoyed it.
Hayden loved watching the game too!

Hayden was one of the luckiest kids ever. He hardly had to walk at all throughout the day. 'Uncle' Ian and 'Aunt' Heather provided him with all kinds of transportation. I know they got their workout for the day! If you look really close in this picture, you can see Hayden's butt crack! I took this picture after the game and as we were crossing the street, some guy ran up to me and said, "Excuse me, are you taking pictures of that kid's ***-crack". He was really upset at me and told me how messed up I was!! I told him yes, I was and then had to quickly explain that "that kid" is my son.

We had been looking forward to Ian and Heather's visit. I miss hanging out with them so bad, and so do the boys. They got to our house late Thursday night so the boys weren't able to see then when they got here. Friday morning I had asked Dusty to get something for me, and after a couple of minutes he had not returned so I went to search for him. Both of the boys were trying to peek under the door to the spare bedroom in hopes of seeing Ian and Heather. They follwed them all over the house, even waited outside the bathroom door for Heather. Hayden even preferred snuggling up to Heather on the couch instead of me! We love Ian and Heather and love being able to spend time with them. I love that they made the long drive to spend some time with us. They are so awesome and I look up to them. They are such great examples and SO much fun to hang out with. We have the best friends ever (We really do)!!! Hope to see them soon! Thanks for the great time and awesome memories Ian and Heather!

Yea!!! Walking home from the park yesterday Dusty found a yellow leaf that had fallen from a tree. He excitedly said. "Look! It looks like it is going to be fall soon." I can't wait! I love everything about fall.