Leah's wedding...

It's so embarrassing but true: This is my only picture from a weekend's worth of activities surrounding Leah's wedding. These beautifully decorated antlers were something that we held up for Leah and Duncan to walk under, and then they doubled as lovely center pieces at the reception. Every one (and many, many more) was collected by Duncan over the years, and I loved seeing the little labels underneath to tell when/where they were each found. Leah was a lovely bride, and I was so glad to be a part of everything that took place during her wedding weekend. (I was the last one to share a bed with her as a single woman!) I treasured all of our conversations and experiences together for those days and was reminded what a gift it is to have friends as dear as Leah. Cheers to you, Leah & Duncan Allen, and may God weave your hearts together more and more each day and give you what it takes to daily choose love.

One finished deck...

After who-knows-how-many hours, but certainly more than I had anticipated or roughly 40 to 60 hours, I (Brent) finally finished the summer deck project. This was a back-breaking, slow process, but it ended up being worth it in the end. Here is a picture of the finished product in the glow of a morning sunrise. I put a clear coat on the it after sanding the entire deck with 60 grit, then 80 grit sandpaper using a 5 inch disk sander. The kids seemed to enjoy helping me sand the deck with Gavin's toy sander as pictures over the summer have shown.

Here is a closer view. Let's just hope that I can maintain the deck in a better way year-to-year so I don't have to repeat this effort any time soon.

Butterflies...

Uncle Zachie and Auntie Lorna sent Gavin some caterpillars for his birthday back in September. We had some friends who had done this--watching the caterpillars become butterflies--and we thought that our boys would really enjoy it, too. The above picture is Gavin with honey on his hand, waiting for the butterflies to land on him. Then we could watch them unroll their party-favor-like tongues when they ate. So cool!

And then, after they had lived in their habitat indoors for a bit and once their wings were strong enough, we released them outdoors. Gavin admired each one before they flew away.

And Gagie was so eager to have one land on him, and finally it happened! You can imagine how much they both enjoy the Butterfly Pavilion. But, if you're looking for a great pre-school gift, you should seriously consider the caterpillar route. It makes for some wonderful, hands-on learning about the insect's life cycle.

Kansas road trip 2011 - part 5 of 5...

Ron knew that he had spent a lot of special, one-on-one time with Gavin, so he made a point to take Gage out on the four-wheeler by himself one day. Honestly, how precious is that picture?!

Now, for those of you who know Ron, you know that I should win a photography award for this one: I caught him smiling!!! That's a rare treat (on film), but his niece got 'er done. Can you see how much Gavin looks up to his Great Uncle Ron? (We tend to drop the great part of his name because that makes him feel too old, but it probably makes perfect sense to Gavin to keep that in the title because he admires him so much.) Ron recently graduated from nursing school, so that's the story with the black scrubs in this picture. He was just heading out to work a night shift on the last night that we were in town.

Brent caught this picture of just one of the crazy BIG spiders we saw in webs everywhere at Ron and Patsy's that weekend. We just couldn't believe the size of those things!!

Kansas road trip 2011 - part 4 of 5...

Fishing with Uncle Ron was one of the things that Gavin was most looking forward to on our trip to Kansas this year. They decided to do it in their own front yard (in their pond) and had a great, successful time doing it.

Here's one of Gavin's prizes. They probably caught ten fish together, and Gavin actually reeled in two or three all by himself!

The whole thing reminded me so much of fishing with Uncle Ron when I was a little girl. And it was strange to consider that now he was doing it with my son!

Gavin, however, was not like his mommy as a kid--too afraid to touch the fish without a kleenex--so I'm sure that Ron was relieved to see that. :)

Uncle Ron even showed Gavin how to hold the fish "properly" (in its mouth and close up to the camera to exaggerate its size), and our son really ate up the whole experience. So much fun for Gavin, and so fun for us to watch!

Kansas road trip 2011 - part 3 of 5...

Uncle Ron didn't hold back with the things that he let Gavin do in Kansas. Gavin was marking off the length of the wood using a square (and he was thrilled to learn that name, of course) and then, as you can see in this picture, he would actually saw it off...and not his own fingers, which was the minor miracle, if you ask me!

And then he'd drill a hole in the wood, to boot!! Thank you, Uncle Ron, for giving our sons such adventures in Kansas!

My aunt and uncle have their own pond, and here are the boys with Aunt Patsy out on the pier. Patsy is such a wonderful cook and hostess and always makes us feel right at home when we visit. She laughs at the boys' antics and cute sayings and tries to imagine what having boys must be like, especially boys with this much energy (they have two girls).

And the adventures don't stop with our kids! Here's Brent doing some target practice. Ron had set up a target on the other side of the pond, and I don't think that Brent missed a single one. The other boys present were pretty impressed! Being so close to guns for the first time presented us with some challenges as parents, however, so we're still trying to figure all of that out. This trip was the first time that Gavin really contemplated hunting as a sport or even killing animals for food, and he's had lots of related questions ever since. Gage, on the other hand, would reach toward the ceiling inside Ron and Patsy's place and say "hug" to the mounted deer on the wall and bob cat on the landing. Ah, such an age of innocence, right?

And then, as if there's any shortage of fun things to do there, Ron and Patsy also have a trampoline in their front yard. We had fun jumping and taking turns trying to crack one anothers' eggs. (Remember that game?) And this year, thankfully, I managed to jump with the boys without getting a bloody lip, so we're makin' progress.

Kansas road trip 2011 - part 2 of 5...

Does it get better than this for a guy? Really?! It was SO cute to see Gage on the front of this thing with Brent.

And this one's a framer! Ron thought that Gavin needed some camouflage pants to really seal the deal, and I wouldn't be surprised in the least if some were to show up here around Christmastime. I would laugh, and Gavin would wear them without hesitation if it reminded him of Uncle Ron even in the slightest bit.

Uncle Ron lifted us up in the "digger"...

...and then he let Gavin operate the thing!!! Can you imagine how cool Gavin felt in that moment?! I hear that people in some parts of the world pay for experiences like this, and we just went to Kansas and did it all...with our own family. Wait 'til you see the fish that Gavin caught!

Kansas road trip 2011 - part 1 of 5...

In late Sept (check date!!!!!!!!!) we took a family road trip to Goessel, Kansas, to visit my family. My aunt and uncle live out of town in a beautiful place that Uncle Ron built himself, and my nearly-91-year-old grandpa lives in town (and by town, I mean a place of about 500 people). Here are our happy campers in the car as we started out.

They both did awesome on the road trip. They slept for about two hours both ways, and we stopped to eat and play at a park to break the trip up a bit.

This trip was a little boy's dream trip in so many ways. This is Gage standing in Uncle Ron's digger. (Gavin probably still remembers the exact name of it, but he's not here right now to tell me.)

Ron and Patsy have a couple of four-wheelers, and Uncle Ron loves nothing more than to throw us on the back of one of those and give us the tour of his property while sharing his future building goals with us when we come to visit.

Gavin was like a hired hand (no, really more like Uncle Ron's right hand man) by the time we left. Here he's showing us that he knows what to do with the hitch pin (did I get that right?), and we liked to talk about that long after he attached and detached this cart to the four-wheeler. Gavin, like his mommy, loves knowing the right names for things, so terms like "hitch pin" are just a lot of fun, in general!

Gage's new "big boy"chair...

I think that Gage's smile just about says it all: He LOVES his new "big boy" chair! Thanks, Grandma & Grandpa Mike. Right before nap time and bed time, he likes to sit down in his chair and suck on his binky (Daddy says those days are limited, so live it up now, Buddy!) and place "Yammy" (the little washable lamby that he sleeps with...that I totally hooked him on, and glad I did, by the way, for the upcoming day when he'll need something to console him without his beloved binky) oh-so-carefully on the side of his chair. He may stroke it or re-position him throughout story time, but it is absolutely not OK for anyone else (namely Gavin, but sometimes even Mommy) to touch "Yammy" in that spot. The other hilarious and adorable thing that Gage has been carrying around with him everywhere lately is an ironed beaded craft (Biggy Beads are a big hit in our house lately!) given to him by his big brother. He even wanted to sleep with it last night. He calls it "thing" or "zine" for design. So cute! I keep emphasizing to Gavin how wonderful it was for him to give something so special to his little brother. Isn't it funny (and completely unpredictable sometimes) the things that our kids will get hooked on?!

Gavin's learning to write...

Here's our little lefty at work printing his name. We just can't believe how much he has improved in writing his name just since school began! It's amazing!!! (I just noticed that he's hangin' out in his undies for this particular writing lesson. It's all good.)

Broomfield Days parade...

Gavin was the only kid riding a bike with no training wheels next to his class' float in the Broomfield Days parade. Brent and I took turns pushing Gage in a stroller.

I tried to decorate Gavin's bike with some streamers, and my claim-to-fame was the cute apple on the front of his bike. We were all told to wear red, and Gavin looked especially adorable in his new Apple Tree t-shirt. (His preschool is called Apple Tree Christian Preschool & Kindergarten, by the way, if you're wondering about all of the apple talk.)

This is Gavin with his school buddy and neighbor (mas o menos), Callie. They were so cute together that day. Callie's mommy, Natalie, and I have been in MOPS together, and now we're in a book club that meets every other week. I've been thinking lately about how much I appreciate having a safe place to share and grow with real friends and talk about all of the mommy madness. It's so good to compare parenting stories and advice, and I'm learning so much from these wonderful mothers.

See Gavin on the sidewalk? Some of his buddies were on the float next to him. I'm in the back pushing Gage. The parade was lots of fun. One thing we did not consider ahead of time, however, was the length of the journey back to the car after the whole event was over. I was so proud of both boys in the end, though, especially Gavin riding his bike all the way back to the car.

Father and son camping trip...

This was the second annual father and son camping trip up to the base of Long's Peak with Gavin and I (Brent). I took a few days of vacation, and we headed up on a weekday afternoon after Gavin's school so we wouldn't his class. We went to roughly the same location we went to the past year, as I love that it's accessible but you aren't camping with 100 strangers right next to you. The interesting twist in this year's trip was that it was closer to fall, and rain and low 40s were predicted up at that elevation...but at least we thought it would make for a good story. It did not disappoint.

Gavin was very helpful and loves to be put to task on a project like putting together tent poles and surveying the camping area for anything that he can jump off of or get dirty with. Here he is super excited to finally get the tent up. It was around 4 pm when we achieved this great feat, and then we were on to the next task: gathering about 14 small trees' worth of lumber for the fire.

We spent the next 45 minutes hauling 8 foot dead trees down to the camp site from about 50 meters up the hillside. Gavin always loves when he finds a slightly smaller tree (5-6 feet) that he can wrestle down all by himself. We broke out every boyscout memory that I had about building a fire (especially because about the time we started the fire it was drizzling and most of the wood was a bit wet). Gavin was able to find enough dry pine needles at the base of some trees to get us started along with some newspaper I brought from home. Gavin was starting to get cold so we put him close to the fire and started to cook some dinner.

Here is Gavin eating some cookies after our pine-tree-stick roasted hot dog dinner. It drizzled on us for most of dinner and we decided to head into the tent early for some books and a movie before it got any worse. This turned out to be a good idea, because it really started to come down after we got into the tent.

This was the last picture of the night before we decided to try to get some sleep. What we weren't anticipating was waking up a few hours later with wet feet in the tent. Apparently, my construction of the tent was a bit faulty and after three to four solid hours of pouring rain the tarp beneath the tent had been catching water and turned the tent bottom into a water bed. The water had leeched up through the bottom of the tent into our sleeping bags, and now we were getting wet. I had a tough decision to make--whether to stick it out or try to bail home--but at only 10:30 pm at night, it was clear we had to pack it up. Unfortunately, I had to wake Gavin (who was in quite a confused daze) and get him into the cold car, tear down the tent in pouring, 40 degree rain in the dark, and now make the 10 mile drive down dirt jeep trails to at least a paved road for the hour trip all the way back home. It was a bit painful, but all in all we had a great afternoon and evening and only missed waking up in the morning in the tent. I look forward to our next trip and the upcoming adventures it will hold.

'Sup, G?

I love Brent's inventive headings because I never would have thought of this one, but clearly it is the most fitting. Gage does look like a sweet, little gangster (would that kind exist?) when he puts on a backwards fire hat and rocks out his baggy clothes.