Hiking in Pagosa

We tried out several new hikes this year.

Reservoir Hill, Piedre Falls, and Silver Falls

Reservoir Hill was in town and a very easy hike. We hiked up to the star that looks down over the downtown area. Not by water but it does have a cool view. The parking lot is also the start of the frisbee golf course. You could make this hike as long or short as you like as there are many different trails all starting here.

 Katie attacking the family from behind a tree.

 On the way down from this hike poor Nana slipped chasing the boys and horribly sprained her ankle! Not a great way to start vacation at all!:(

Our next hike was to Piedre Falls. This took a lot longer to get to than we thought it would. It was over 20 miles to the turnoff and then another 8 miles on a narrow dirt road. It took about an hour and half to get there.  We still thought it was worth it. The hike was beautiful and great for all of us. We carried Gray but he is 2!

 My kids freaking out about something in nature. They definitely have a flair for the dramatic!

 We were on a slope by the falls and Levi was terrified of falling in. The falls plunge into a large basin right behind us and we were on a slope.

 

Silver Falls was a short hike but straight up the mountain. We made it up and back, but the kids had to slide on their bums most of the way down. The top was really cool, but we spent most of the time making sure the kids didn't slip. Another 8 miles in from the main road on a dirt road, amazingly beautiful so we would do it again!

Pictures to come!

Sand Dunes 2014

On the way to Pagosa we decided to detour to the Sand Dunes. What a fun adventure!  It is about 2.5 hours from our house and a perfect mid-way stop on our trip.  We stopped at a campground called the Oasis on they way in and rented a sand sled for $21. We got one for our whole family. The water was still running in the creek and was so much fun. At the end of June it is a slow trickle, but the kids still loved it. 

Things to remember for next time: closed-toe shoes for everyone for hiking on the dunes. My flip-flops were breaking and the sand would get under them and burn my feet. Bring baby-powder to get the sand off. It dries the sand right up and the sand brushes off so much easier. Go to the Dunes first and play in the river second. It was quite a hike to the dunes and as the day got warmer it got hotter and hotter and the kids were pretty wiped out.  Bring a rope to help haul the sled back up.

 Gray's face in this picture cracks me up.

Katie is 6

Katie just turned 6! Another year under our belts and I continue to love this sassy-sweet girl more and more each day. She is almost done with her first year of kindergarten which is just incredible to me. I remember absolutely freaking out about it a year ago and now we are almost through the year. She is reading so well and all the time. I keep finding her upstairs asleep with a book on her chest and her headlamp on and shining.

 Beautiful girl.

 We had a Frozen brunch with the family since we took her skiing earlier in the month for her bigger celebration.

 Singing to the Birthday girl.

 Make-up kit. I need to get some pictures of the masterpieces that appear after a few minutes with this set.

 Doing Aunt Emi's make-up for her.

Katie-bug you are such a joy to our family. You love to surprise me by doing chores and have even taken over cleaning the toilets. You are creative and kind. You are continually drawing pictures and writing notes and then hiding them around the house for us to find. You love to care for your brothers and they sometime appreciate it. You are a little Mommy at heart and always take care of your doll babies so well. You are strong! You started gymnastics and can climb to the top of the rope like a little monkey. You love to sing every song from Frozen and can carry a tune and do all the voices. Your reading is amazing and you love school, your teacher and all your friends.  I have never met a person in all my life who is so instantly joyful the minute you wake up. We love you Katie. Here's to another year of more lost teeth, amazing questions, singing, dancing and fun with you.

2014 Snapshot

Last year I wrote a post on where we were in life. I thought I would keep the tradition going and do it again at the start of this year. If you are interested in reading last year's post you can find it here.  I haven't gone back to read it yet, I wanted to try to write this year's as free from bias as possible.

In late July we moved into a new house. We absolutely love it. We have a bedroom for each kid, a six foot fence in the backyard (Taylor built along with many friends who gave up their Saturdays to bless us), tons of storage room, and amazing neighbors. We still look at each other at night and say, "we can't believe it's ours and we get to live here!"

This past year Grayson turned two and it is the first time in almost 7 years, we haven't had a baby or been pregnant. It has been so much fun to really enjoy him at this age and not be hanging over a toilet or parenting from the couch.  We thought we would start trying in fall of last year for another baby and then ended up moving, so we pushed it off to Christmas, then Taylor started a new job, now we are hoping to get to 2015 before we have a baby... the plan is to try sometime this year...we'll see.  We are trying to take the next couple of months to gear up for pregnancy which is notoriously tough on me and our family. So worth it, but a tiring time.

Taylor started a new job working at USAA he loves it so far. He just got his series 7 license and is really excited about the many possibilities he will have their. We had to take a pay-cut for him to move their and pairing that with the recent purchase of our house leaves us looking at a very lean year. We are trusting God to provide for us as he always has and are looking at lots of creative budgeting strategies for the year. 

I am loving decorating the house and am trying to take action on all the things I have pinned on pinterest rather than just pinning.  I am learning to be a mom with a child in school. This is a major-change that I didn't anticipate. After 5 years of doing whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted to, it is quite an adjustment to have to get kids out the door on time and with everything they need.  I want to eat healthier this year, exercise more, be intentional with my time and more present this year.

Katie is in Kindergarten and thriving. She can read amazingly well (proud mom speaking) and she and I have been reading the Little House on the Prairie books at night together which is something I always dreamed about doing with my daughter. She is creative, passionate, kind and enthusiastic. She just learned to crochet and desperately wants to take gymnastic lessons. She loves helping her brothers though it often comes across as trying to parent them which they don't love.  I found her in her room reading her Bible the other day and it made my heart swell so much.

Levi is my sweet little buddy. He loves Star Wars and dinosaurs. He has a lava lamp in his room that he has on every night. This week he discovered that he has to close his eyes to go to sleep and has been taking 2 hour naps.  He loves movies and would watch them all day if I let him.  He loves having a Mohawk in his hair and spiking it up himself.  He is an introvert and really comes out of his shell in individual interactions.

Grayson keeps us on our toes. He is always exploring and trying to keep up with Katie and Levi. Taylor and I love getting him up in the morning because he is just so cheerful. He is talking like crazy and says the funniest things.  He likes to do things himself. He wants to eat crackers all day and will refuse food I give him. If we push a bite in his mouth he with then realize he likes it and eat a ton. He is tiny! At his latest check-up he was in the 5th and 6th percentile for height and weight. Which is actually up from the 3rd percentile. What he lacks in size he certainly makes up for in personality.

The kids play together pretty well. Some days better than others. We are trying to instill in them that they are best friends and need to take care of each other. 

Oakley is still plugging along. We thought we were going to have to put him down the other day, but it seems he just has arthritis, fatty tumors, and a tummy-ache.

Thanks for hanging in there for this long haul of a life-summary. We are so blessed by God to be living this crazy, lovely life.

Christmas Morning at Home

Presents from Mom and Dad. I made some fun labels the night before and love how they came out.

 The crew ready to get downstairs and be done with Mom taking pictures.

 And they're off!

 I love that you can see the excitement in this picture. The big two were running around like crazy and Grayson was all about the cookies Santa ate.

 Grayson's present.

 Totally recommend this toy. It's big, but is getting played with all the time. Fisher-Price Loops and Swoops Amusement Park.

 Levi and his Big Wheel.

 Doc McStuffins. She had been asking for it for months and then the night before changed her mind and told me she wanted a skateboard???!!!

 Headlamps from Santa were a big hit.

 Santa pancakes for breakfast. The banana nose made Santa look a little "piggish":)

After breakfast we finished baking what we needed to and loaded up to head to the Stejskals...

Christmas Eve at our house

Looking for Santa. Katie came home with a bag of reindeer food to spread for Santa and they were beyond excited.

 Levi is putting the keys under our mat. Santa can magically make any key fit the lock of houses that don't have a fireplace:)

 Milk and cookies out for Santa.

Then off to bed the kiddos went while Mommy and Daddy ran around wrapping gifts, cooking for the next day, and getting everything prepped to leave in the morning.