Fish Creek Falls

 I'm a little behind on blogging, but that's a good thing, right?  That means we have been to busy having fun than to sit at the computer-good thing for slow days at work.  The first week of June, we took a girls (and kids) trip to Steamboat.  It was nice get-away, relaxing in the hot tub, swimming in the pool, hiking to fish creek falls, playing at the park, and just watching the cousins all play together. Here are some photos of our hike to the falls. It was beautiful!

 

Zoo

Danelle, Me, Briggs and Cody

 A few weeks ago we went to the zoo with my friends Danelle and Lezlie and their kids.  Danelle's little guy Briggs just turned a year old, it was fun taking them all around to see the animals.  Cody's favorite was the fish, he would just press his face right up to the glass, and then throw a little fit every time we pulled him away.  Jackson's favorite animal was the brown bear-he like to watch it go in and out of the water and stand up tall and scratch its back on the rocks.  We had a really nice picnic and then left before it got too hot.

 Nana, me, Jackson and Cody

 Cody and Briggs looking for fish

 Cody and Jackson looking for fish

 Animal crackers with Danelle

 All the kiddos :) 

Brothers  

 Picnic time

Jackson was so scared to ride the carousel, but he finally picked the rhino to ride and held on for his life! Once it started going and he realized it wasn't SOOOO scary he had the biggest smiles and loved it. 

8 months (plus a few days)

Happy 8 months Cody! 

This year is flying by and you are sooo busy, it is hard for me to keep up with you!  I love all of your expressions- I had a hard time deciding which pictures because they are all such Cody-faces, so I had to put them all on. 

 Cody, at 8 months you are exploring the world at a much faster pace! Here are some of the new things you are doing:
~ you have forgotten that night is a time for sleeping, you would much rather crawl all over and play
~ you scoot/crawl everywhere-quickly (you head straight for the cats water bowl and we have to race to see who will get there first)
~ you have 2 teeth
~ you are starting to eat more foods other than baby food-puffs, crackers, cookies
~ everything in your hands goes straight into your mouth
~ you are starting to pull yourself up to stand
~ you talk a lot "mama" "dada" "baba" and lots of other sounds
~ you love your pacifier  if its not in your mouth, your holding on to it in your hands
~ you love music, if a song comes on the tv or radio you try to get closer to it
~ you like pat-a-cake and waving
Cody, we love you so much!!!

Vietnam Memorial

The traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall made a stop in Fort Collins over Memorial Day weekend so we took a little trip out to see it.  It was humbling to see all the names on the wall of people who fought for our country and had a part in the freedom that we have today.  There were thousands of names...all people who had a family here that they never could return home too.  It is so sad to think about, but it was so nice to see such an honorable recognition of each individual who gave their lives for us.  While we were there they read the names of each of the soldiers from a podium. It felt like a graduation as they were reading all their names, but no one walked up to receive their award/diploma.  (they had been reading the names for hours before we got there and they were only on the B's-they were reading them 24 hours a day with soldiers standing guard the whole time).  What a great experience. 
And to all of our past, present and future servicemen and women:  Thank you!!!

John A. La Voo was a friend of my mom and my Uncle Steve growing up, he was killed when his plane was shot down  in September of 1968.

 The Memorial was next to a beautiful park, so of course we had to go play at the park.  Jackson and Cody loved crawling through the tunnels.

Butterflies

Last weekend, we went to Cheyenne to a butterly release in honor of children who have lost their lives.   Almost 18 years ago, Chris's sister passed away at just 6 weeks old, its hard to believe she would be 18 years old this year.  There was a beautiful poem read, then a moment of silence, then everyone released their butterflies.  It was a beautiful sight, and Chris and his mom shared unexplainable moments remembering his sweet little sister, Karissa.  It was very special.

Jackson and Papa were on the news that night.

Sweet little Cody-Bear

Jackson with Grandma and Papa

Daddy and Cody

The butterfly landed on Jackson's hand and stayed there for a long time before it flew away.

Cody blowing kisses to his butterfly.  ( He looks so much like Jackson in this picture)

Jackson saw a BIG Train, with BIG wheels, a BIG funnel, and BIG whistle-he thought this was pretty cool

 Nothing is better than a little family time on a beautiful spring day!

Wordless Wednesday