A view from Julia

My little photographer- documenting our life. She can take pretty dang good pictures. I love this one of Lauren and me. Pretty typical, me inthe kitchen HOLDING Lauren. I love the picture table one too. I love the pictures of our family! It is one of my most favorite things, to look back on when these girls were so tiny, it amazes me how fast they grow. I guess this is a corners of my house blog with the purse hanging on the front door and the pots & pans cupboard.



Here Julia had the camera while I was driving. It's so cool to get a glimpse of what its like to be back there in her car seat. Her sister always looking at her, I'm sure soaking in her every move.

Here is a picture of the car next to us- so funny!

Then there I am.
A shot of looking out her window. Beautiful Colorado Blue SKy!

And Lauren one more time!

The Dash Movie

Just got this forward and thought it would be very appropriate on this blog, since this blog is documenting "my dash". Check it out, let me know what you think. I loved the scenery, the music, and the message. I love everyone who shares in my dash and couldn't imagine life without a single one of you!
www.thedashmovie.com

A Colorado Halloween

There has been a lot of Halloween fun going on here. On Sunday Ryan and the girls "degutted" our pumpkin. The girls had so much fun squishing the seeds in their hands. Ryan would say "ewwww" and they would both repeat him, it was soooo cute! I just love watching Lauren explore new things.
On Monday Grandma came! She babysat the girls so Ryan and I could go to a Halloween party where we carved our pumpkin. We had a lot of fun! Of course we just went as M&Ms. We seriously need to get a little more creative! Ryan wanted us to go as Kit and Night Rider or Oliva Newton John and her missing boyfriend. I hope I am not the only one that sees the potential difficulties in these ideas. I will admit he's pretty funny.
Halloween Day was kicked off at Julia's Preschool with a party. Grandma was happy to be there! We sang songs and played games, made goodie bags and had some yummy food.
Halloween night was a completely new experience- can you say freezing-butt cold? We bundled up and braved the elements, it turned out fine. Ryan and Lauren stayed home to hand out candy. We still dressed her up, it was her First Halloween afterall. They looked really cute! I love that Julia wasn't a princess, it's cool to be original. I also don't mind bragging for a quick second, that I LOVE making their costumes!!!!! lauren is so funny, she doesn't have a clue about why she's in that costume, she just goes right along. When Julia got home with her candy she dumped it out and was just amazed. Lauren crawled right over and helped her dig threw it, such a character. Last night the whole famliy sat down to watch The Office and Deal or No Deal and ate a bunch of the candy. Julia is sooo great about sharing! I love that she really isn't that interested in candy, not one time has she asked for it, I'm always reminding her about it so we can get rid of it before I eat it all!!!!

Our First Blizzard

Yep we did it! It was actually really cool. Jules played out there for almost two hours (once the wind stopped blowing). We made a snowman in the backyard and big hills to slide down in the front yard. I shoveled our driveway for Ryan, and let me tell you, if we get more storms like this I am going to have some awesome biceps! Dang I was sore the next day- snow is HEAVY!

We officially decided we love the snow and can't imagine living without it. There is something so genuine about living where there is snow, like you're having more of real life experience.
One real experience though that is rough- getting dressed for the snow!
Its actually really funny to see Jules in her garb.

Taking it off is hilarious too. She was hanging upside down as I pulled off her shoes. What an adventure.

One more cute thing I want to remember-

I came down stairs that morning and found Jules like this...
Reading her library book and she gave her "woof-woofs" something to read too! She's so adorable! Love that imagination!

I can't forget to include Lauren. She was dressed for the snow, but enjoyed staying warm inside. What a love muffin!

It was so hot today...

I wore flip flops to the park.
Tomorrow's forecast- BLIZZARD!!!!
Ahhhhhhhh, are you kidding me? I bought a shovel today and all the ingredients to my sugar cookies- we'll be keeping our oven on! Snow + sugar cookies + hot chocolate = survivable blizzard. Saturday is supposed to be 67 though, this place is NUTS!

Today Julia was playing and I over heard her counting in Spanish, "Uno, dos, cuatro, cinco, serious"! HAHAHHAHA!! My little Dora cracks me up!

Lauren is way into giving kisses now! Im completely obsessed by receiving them! Love the drool thats left behind, and really love the way she opens and shuts her mouth repeatedly when she's ready to give me one! Ahhhhh, this is the life!

New tricks

A couple of new fancy tricks going on around the Adams' household....
Julia LOVES holding, or should I say picking up, her baby sister. It's actually very cute, well now that I showed her how to hold Lauren under her arms and not around the neck. ( Do you just love this picture? It says it all, with Jules' little tongue sticking out because Lauren is a bit heavy for her, and Lauren's face, like "umm this is not so cool." Love it!) Julia is such a great big sister and wonderful helper to me! I love her so much and am always so proud of her! She protects Lauren something fierce! Most of the time Julia is grabbing Lauren off the bottom stair or two to save her from falling off the stairs. Which is the next trick going on around here. Lauren crawls up our stairs like its nothing! I can't believe how quickly she caught on to that! She stands alone really well too, so I am sure walking is not far away. My baby!!! Come back!!!
This weekend Julia's school had a Fall Festival. Ryan volunteered to help in the jumpy obstacle course so the girls got unlimited access. They had a blast. They have such a fun dad! He had a blast launching Julia over the walls and jumping with Lauren in his arms .

On a rare note, Ryan and I seemed to learn a new trick ourselves, putting the girls to sleep and watching movies! Can you believe it? We did something together without the girls and stayed awake???? We watched The Break Up and Click, both super funny. It was a lot of fun. Yeah especially to watch Ryan's amazement at the amount of food I am able to consume late at night. I love me some Halloween candy, and popcorn, and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies; I can't help myself! Holiday eating has begun here!

Snow MUCH Fun

Making Snow Angels!!!!!
I was surprised when she said she wanted to do this, HOW DOES SHE KNOW THESE THINGS? She must have the best memory because it has been two years since we played in snow.

LOOK AT THIS CUTIE!!!!

Poor little pumpkin is nothing but a big bundle of winter clothes. What a rolly-polly. Reminds me of the little brother on A Christmas Story.

BIG ICICLE!

Julia is not sure about icicles yet. It is always so much fun to teach her new things, then two years later find she has retained it!

TASTY SNOWFLAKES!

Seriously I have been so happy today realizing we LIKE snow! I took Julia to a friend's house (Which by the way when we pulled up she said, "this aminds me of Jaron and Avry's house", I swear she said exactly that! She kills me.) but as I drove there and home I was over come by how really really beautiful snow makes everything. The only thing I can compare it to is the Christmas decorations you see in stores of snow covered villages. I mean even the trees were so perfectly frosted and dusted with snow, I was truly awed! I kept thinking this is a REAL Winter Wonderland. Christmas will knock my socks off this year if it looks like today did. How sublime.

Chicken Noodle Soup & Hot Chocolate!

Well it happened, the first snow of the season. This picture was taken around 1pm and as of now there is probably 2 or 3 inches covering EVERYTHING. ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I thought this picture was funny of my neighbor's house because their Halloween decorations are being covered with snow. Snow before Halloween? CRAZY!

We had chicken noodle soup and hot chocolate for lunch. yay!

Julia played on the deck for a little bit before Ryan got home, we got her a pair of snowpants, but she needs boots and better gloves. That didn't stop her from tasting the snow and bombing Moby with fist fulls. Lauren was not too thrilled to be bundled up, so tomorrow I am looking forward to Lauren napping so Jules and I can go wild in the backyard! I can't wait!

When Ryan got home he informed me driving in snow is hard. He slipped and wiggled just going up the driveway! We're in for quite an education this winter (I'm nervous!).

Ryan snapped these pictures last night and I just love them! Spending quality time with my Lauren Grace is so precious to me. This is her favorite book; she loves the animals, and loves being able to feel the furry pages. It is really hitting me how big she's gotten. Maybe it's the time of year because I keep thinking how I was getting so big last year at this time, how excited I was to have this miracle baby in my arms, how I couldn't wait to see who she was. Now I know her and she is more than I ever knew she would be. She is sooooo full of love and sweetness. I love her big smiles and cute laughs. She amazes me everytime she crawls and stands up, she's so strong and determined. She is screaming her head off at the moment (she's with her dad) so I better go save them!

I love my life

I walked to pick Julia up from school today. I put Lauren in the snugglie (she's not a huge stroller fan) and it was so fun. Julia liked walking home and it just felt perfect. I always envied the walking moms when I was a teacher, now I am a walking mom. I am really getting use to the chill in the air, when its sunny it is beautiful, epitome of fall. Happy moment.

The Quilt..

YAY! I did it! I love it and am obsessed now! I want to make a baby one for a friend and a Christmas one for the living room! FUN!

We Are Family

Let the picture say it all... We went to Oktober Fest in Castle Rock and HAD to stop at this booth...very exciting. I just love thinking about being in politics someday. Ryan is so supportive, he was asking about things I could run for. I had to slow him down- not until my girls are grown!

We got our rake and had a romping good time jumping in leaves all weekend. Good times! Dads are so much fun!!
I LOVE THIS PICTURE!!!

Good mom in Autumn

WOW! Pictures actually worked today!!! I may have gotten carried away, but we've been having some FUN! WE LOVE FALL!!!!!! Check out the beautiful colors around here! It's amazing!! We especially love the tree in our front yard- the one Julia is posing under. That was last Friday by now almost all the leaves have fallen. We're getting a rake Friday and plan to do some major playing and jumping!!!
Today I made pretzels. Soooo yummy! Don't ya wish blogger had scratch and sniff? Julia helped and when they came out of the oven she was so excited to eat one. "MMMMM, so nummy" she said and I suddenly felt like such a good mom. The bad days always seem to be at the forefront of my mind, so it felt great to think, "I'm giving my girls such a happy childhood". Warm homemade pretzels on a crisp autumn day, hello Norman Rockwell. Speaking of Rockwell moments, this morning I went on Julia's class's first field trip. It was awesome, I am such a dork for forgetting my camera, but we went to this canyon and they took a nature hike and filled baggies with things from fall. They had fun and it was soooo cute to watch. But there always has to be one kid who pees their pants right? Too bad today was MY KID'S turn. Poor Jules. It's my fault for not taking her before we left, all I could think about was Billy Maddison- "Its cool to pee your pants". Fuuuunay! Luckily another well prepared mom had an extra pair of pants in her car so all was well. Wearing some boy's sweatpants with no underwear- now that makes a field trip great! I love how adaptable Julia is!
This weekend we went to the dogpark and remembered our camera. The view in this shot isn't very pretty, and does no justice to the great surroundings, but we're all in it so what's better than that? Ryan says this will be one of those old family pictures that the girls will remember for always. We look like weirdos!
Also loved Conference this weekend! We watched all but the first session Saturday morning (hence the dog park). I'm so grateful to be a member of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. Thankful for a prophet on the earth today and the guidance and encouragement he and his counselors give. Love the spirit that fills our hearts and home when we listen to them speak of the Savior and His love for us. I want to be a better member missionary, want to be bold and excited like I was before I was baptized. I'm going ot be more conscious of that.
Finally I am almost done with Julia's quilt- it is AWESOME!!!!!!!! I am way excited!!! I need to make it a little bigger so will take a picture when its done. I just love being creative!!!

Happiness is..

1)Fitting in to jeans that I bought before I was pregnant with JULIA. I have never been able to wear them and now they fit like a glove- yahoo! I have never been one to make too much of a big deal about my "shape" especially in the past 3 years; bearing children takes its toll, but I must admit I am super excited to be fitting into these jeans. And to be able to do it WITHOUT exercise is a huge plus! I know changing my eating habits have made a big difference, plus the nursing. I over heard a woman at church who obviously just found out she's pregnant, complaining about BEING fat, not going to be fat, but being. Mind you she's can't even be a size 2, and I'm not exaggerating. I wanted to strangle her!!!! Umm, yeah it must be soooo stressful to be able to get pregnant and then have to worry about being fat!!! I would give up these new jeans in a heart beat to be able to get pregnant. It's all perspective though, I know.
2) Getting answers to prayers. I met a lady at the park yesterday who is looking for someone to babysit her little girl one day a week. I have been stressing about how I can bring a little extra moolah into this household, and this is perfect. I told the lady this would be an answer to my prayer and she said it was meant to be because she never stops at the park. I can see the Lord's hand so clearly in this and it makes me so grateful. He blesses so abundantly when we keep our covenants.
3) Teaching Julia to ride her bike. There are a lot of moments of frustration, but when she peddles for more than 5 seconds, we both get so happy and excited. She has a lot of determination in her, after freaking out she always calms down and tries again, Im so proud of her. She teaches me how to calm down, she so so so very sweet, I love her with all m y heart! Too bad its so hard for her to push the peddles forward, she always wants to go backwards, then her foot slips off the peddle, man its rough. But it was way nice to to go to the park and have Lauren in her walker too, I thought that was such a great idea. When its beautiful here the whole world feels right.

4) Little Miss Lauren CRAWLING and standing. It is just so cute cute cute! She has been expressing a very sweet personality too. I love this new squinchy smile she gives, she totally has a sense of humor and laughs all the time. She is tough & a bit jealous though, she wants EVERYTHING her sister has- even me and my attention. If I didn't feel so bad for her with this marathon teething she's got going on I might be more inclined to let her cry; on the other hand I love this baby girl so much sometimes I feel like I could implode and there isn't a chance on earth I'm not going to indulge this sweetheart!
5) The Heffalump soundtrack. I've always hated Winnie the Pooh, but that movie and music have totally won me over, the girls love it too (of course). Julia especially likes it when I sing "Little Mr. Roo" to her. She is my little mr. roo and I don't want her to grow up too soon. This stage of make believe cooking, drawings and colorings delivered hourly with such pride, and singing "Weggie Tales" in her microphone to everyone that has a ticket is just precious and I LOVE it!!!
So that's my happiness right now!

Uncle Luke in da house

My brother and his girlfriend came this weekend, it was good times. I love how I don't have to get all worked up when he comes, the plus to having brothers is they don't care if your house is messy. He is so easy going, its great.
Julia adores them. She loves playing hide-n-seek with them, having Luke hold her upside down by her ankles, and pretend to be monsters. Lauren is still getting use to the idea of being held by people she's not familiar with. She's such a mama's girls, and yes I am soooo fine with that!
After picking him up from the airport I took him to the, and I quote, "Most exciting restaurant in the world". I'm quoting the restaurant there. Actually folks, it was one crazy crackpipe place, but Luke loved it. CASA BONITA: a Disneyland style restaurant fully equipped with the chain separators for long lines (ironically there was NO line), cafeteria style way to get your food, and decorated like a Pirate's of the Caribbean South of the Border. There was a huge two story waterfall that set the stage for two "actors" (I use that term VERY lightly) to put on some kind of wild west show where for the finale one guy falls into the pool at the bottom. The subsequent shows are just that same guy doing flips, and then one with a giant gorilla that gets loose and runs around the restaurant, much to Julia's concern. So glad I took Luke and not YOU.
The rest of his stay was not quite as exciting since Colorado decided to show off it's ability to be butt freezing cold in September. Luke & Ryan went to a Rockies game (see his blog), and Saturday we checked out Boulder.
Today Colorado is redeeming itself with bright sunny skies and a forecast of upper 70's. YES!! There is a little worried voice inside my head warning me winter may be more off a shock than I anticipated. Hopefully it will be more fun than anything. We'll adjust. This is what we wanted, when it snowed in Vegas we thought it was great. When it didn't snow in Vegas we thought what the heck are we doing? We need seasons. Now that we got our seasons we just have to learn about them and how they make us feel, good and bad.

A learning moment...

Me nursing Lauren in the car at the post office: "Julia don't stare"
(A mom was getting her OBNOXIOUS children out of the car and trying to keep them by her and help her carry in a package.)
Julia: "Im not, Im just looking at them." (nose pressed up against the car window)
ME: I know, that's starring"
Jules: "Ooohhh"
I left it at that, but a few minutes later...
Julia: "Im oh-nee watching them" (funny she said that cause they were gone. Must have been thinking about what I was trying to explain to her)
Its so funny how kids learn. I started thinking how we know the difference between looking, starring, and watching, but its hard to explain to a 3 year old.
We were "purple girls" yesterday. A fun way of getting Julia dressed, she wanted to stay in her jammies, so all three of us wore purple shirts- I LOVE having girls!!!!!

This would be a great shot

That's what we said over and over this morning as we went to the "Wag n' Tail" event and FORGOT our camera. (When I say we forgot the camera, I mean RYAN did) We were up and out the door by 8:30 to go down to this beautiful area right off the freeway where it turns out is an open dog park and there are trails and everything. The event was F-U-N! Moby got to act like a dog that has a family that cares about her and was just as happy as a dog could be. Made us feel good. She got a frisby and free bag of doggie croissants, what a lucky dog. Jules had a blast chasing her and being concerned about her getting too far ahead of us. She really like that "Moby's best friends" were there. Her new jeans kept falling down, they're a little big, and it didn't help that dad assisted her in putting a bunch of rocks in her pockets!!! It was way cute though! Lauren, our smallest dog lover, looked cute as a pumpkin in an orange fleece Halloween shirt and pink beenie. She LOVES dogs and had a great time on my hip.
We then headed to the fabric store and I got some flannel and batting, I am going to attempt a rag quilt for Julia's bed, PRAY FOR ME!

9/11

This year's anniversary of 9/11 had such an impact on me. I was glued to the t.v. and CNN's website where they showed the attacks in real time- freaky! There was part of me that just wanted something different to happen, that the broadcast would have different results, like "everyone escaped before the buildings fell" or "the firemen put out the fire", crazy I know, but I just couldn't help it. In the end what it did was give me a clear perspective on how blessed I am. I wanted to do something in honor of those people who lost their lives, and the families who have gone through hell and back. What could I do? I finally decided just LIVE. DO something that day because I have my life, I have my family, and I don't live with terrible grief and opportunities taken from me. So we went into Denver picked Ryan up and went to a park to have lunch together. It was so nice! An absolutely beautiful day and it felt wonderful to be with Ry in the middle of it. Thinking of all the husbands/ daddies that were taken on that day kills me. We are so so so lucky and blessed to have Ryan. After lunch and little stroll through a sweet park, the girls and I headed to the zoo. I'm proud to say we tore it up! The ONLY thing we didn't see were the gorillas and orangutans. We went everywhere in that park and the girls were so good. Lauren can really enjoy it now. I think when she saw the polar bear she said "dog". It was the same sound she makes when she sees Moby, VERY VERY cute!!!

Love this picture, even though its a bit blurry. It was taken back when we were all sick, but I think it captures the essence of Ryan's dadness. He loves his girls so much, its so sweet. He is in Montana right now. Our day is going well, thankfully! We went to the library and right now both girls are napping. I think when they get up we'll go to the park, gotta kill some daylight, and its ridiculous for me to live so close to a park and not go all the time! It is a gorgeous day. Last night I was reflecting on how bad I would miss Ryan so we sat up and talked, he had me gasping for breath I was laughing so hard!!! He was telling me about people he works with, funny stuff!

Tomorrow I go to Julia's class, Im really excited. It will be interesting to see what the little kid does for 2 1/2 hours, she never tells me! She always says, "I can't amember mom!" I'm sure I'll have lots to report!

Weekend Update

We got our family picture taken- STRESS! They turned out good, but it took a lot of effort. Here is what Lauren was doing while I was taking a shower. For some reason it is so much harder to take a shower with two kids instead of one. She's such a cutie!! Everything she plays with she puts up over her head and behind her back, hence the tp around her neck like a boa. Back to the pictures- It was hard to get both girls smiling, plus Lauren's teething seemed to kick into high gear while we were there. ( I forgot to give her tylenol before we left. ugh!) Oh well. Our M&M picture is adorable! Lauren is crying in it, but even that looks cute. I just love our little family!!!!
Saturday I was so excited because it was full of possible fall festivals, well I think we must not have gone to the good ones, because they were kind of lame. First was the Gingerbread Shoppe, doesn't that sound cute?? It was advertised as Christmas craft fair, what it really was was an old lady jewelry convention with some random smelly decorations, custom cutting boards, and painted lightbulbs that looked like penguins with Santa hats and scarves on. Hmmm, I don't know what people in Colorado think of when it comes to Christmas, but that was not mine! We then hit an elementary school's fair. The best thing I say is Ryan LOVED the DJ. He was playing David Bowe when we got there, Jack Johnson while we were there, and Rolling Stones when we left. Julia got a rockin tattoo that says PRINCESS, so all was not lost. I warned her the tattoo would come off in the bath, well that night as Ryan was getting her ready she brought in a bottle of glue and a thing of tape and told him it was for her tattoo so it wouldn't come off. She's so funny!!
It's so beautiful here. The trees are starting to turn color, I put my fall decorations up, there is a crispness in the air. Coming out of church today was so nice, a cool September afternoon- HEAVENLY! I want to make pumpkin bread today, really I just want to eat it. Strangely the caramel apples in the stores are not appealing to me this year, maybe I o.d. on them last year- a pregnancy craving! :) Can't wait to go to a pumpkin patch!!!
Ryan is going on a business trip to Montana this week he leaves Wednesday morning and comes home Thursday night- might not SOUND bad, but Im dreading it! I NEED him so much each night! He's such a relief when he walks in the door. I think I am going to try and make a couple dinners and freeze them so that will at least be easy. I love being married to my best friend, love that I can't wait for him to come home each day, not just to help with the girls, but because I love talking and laughing with him too. He makes me feel great about myself as a woman and mother, and that is so wonderful to me! I'm so blessed!