Weekend in Grand Junction - 1 Month old James! :)

We are on our way home from grand junction after a great weekend visiting family and going to our friend, Drew's, graduation party from nursing school. Figured I would take some time to type up blog post that I can post later on when we get home. :) 

This weekend was the first time James was able to meet his Grandma and Grandpa (Scott's parents) and his Uncle Bryan and Aunt Charlori. He loved meeting them and did wonderful on his first big trip away from home! :) He only cried a total of maybe 15 minutes on the way over Thursday which was such a blessing and his brother and sisters did wonderful, also! I love having the older kids finally at an age that makes traveling in the car enjoyable! They have leapsters which only really get used on car trips so that keeps them very entertained and then we are also getting the Adventures in Odyssey CDs on iTunes to be able to listen on trips and Daniel and Lydia love those! 

Friday morning I was able to go into Gj with James to meet up with a friend - Hannah - to meet her adorable new baby boy, Lincoln, who was born just four days after James. We had so much fun being pregnant at the same time with due dates just a day apart so it was fun getting together and having a little bit of time talking and seeing our boys together. :) After that James and I went to meet my mom and had her do some cranial work on him to help with some overlapping plates he has on his head... Doctors had noticed these on his head when he was like a week and a half old so we've been told to take him to a chiropractor and a cranial sacral therapist which has been helping to move the skull plates back where they should be! 

Friday afternoon Scott and Daniel were able to go on a coffee date with Grandma which they enjoyed and then Bryan and Charlori came over to spend time with us and have dinner which was a lot of fun. It was good to see them and the kids had a lot of fun! 

Saturday we hung out around Fruita for most of the day. Lydia and I were able to have our chance to go on a coffee date with Evelyn (Scott's mom) too which was a lot of fun. Delicious Aspen Street Coffee and we were able to sit outside in the downtown fruita area which was fun! It was a beautiful day! I was also able to put some cute jamberry nails on my toes and the girls' toes which was fun! :) That evening Scott, James, and I went to Drew's graduation party at their house which was so much fun! Andrea had so much amazing food and there were so many people who came! It was fun seeing many old friends from our church there and old college friends. Other people held James for a lot of the time including my sister, Amanda, who was there so we were able to play some backyard games with the other couples which was fun. Then we ended up staying until midnight just talking with our old college/family group! They are the couples who are still our best friends. Old roommates and their spouses and other close friends who we began to get together with every Sunday evening in college for "family dinners" and we met with them all the way until we moved to Denver three years ago. We have still kept in contact with them and gotten together with them many other times over the years. So thankful for those long term friendships where it doesn't matter the distance or time since we were together last! So great reminiscing, laughing, and talking about random things! 

Today we met my family at the park for a picnic lunch to celebrate Mother's Day together. It was fun to see everyone and be and to visit even though it was very brief! 

Now we are headed back home. Excited to get home even though we have a lot to organize and clean there over the next few days... But I'm very excited because my boxes of homeschool curriculum arrived while we were gone so I'm super excited to see all of it tonight! :) 

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Thursday was James' 1 month birthday!! He is growing and growing and such an amazing baby! He has his fussy days from time to time from gas and stuffiness lately (we are thinking he has a bit of a cold right now), but overall he does amazing and even though he still loves being cuddled and held during the day he also usually takes at least one good 2 to 3 hour nap in his bassinet during the day and sometimes more when we put him down. :) But holding him is real nice too... At night he's been having a consistent 4 to 5.5 hour gap between nursing for the first part of the night which has been amazing and then usually goes around every 3 hours for the rest of the night and during the day. He also goes back to bed very easy at night which has been so nice. Helps out a lot since I don't usually get the chance to take naps with the other kids and needing to get things done. So thankful for Scott's help whenever he's been home because he is AMAZING with James and the other kids!!! James has been having more awake times during the day which we love and has been trying to lift up his head more and more each day. We have started doing a bit more tummy time which he seems to like for a few minutes. :) I'm excited to see him grow and continue learning new things this next month! It always amazes me how much babies change at this stage!

James David - Birth Story

Our sweet baby boy, James David, was born two and a half weeks ago! I know I haven't written on here in so long but I don't want to miss getting the chance to share the birth story of our newest addition to our family! :)

First of all, I'll go ahead and highlight some of the main things I remember about his pregnancy.

1) 1st trimester was rough! I had a lot of nauseousness and all-day sickness because of it. Plus I was tired and all that was quite rough with taking care of the other three kiddos. But, I made it through those months and...

2) The rest of the pregnancy went really well overall! I felt better with his pregnancy than with most of my others. I could move around easier and I didn't have to go to the chiropractor as much.

3) I did pull my back really bad in September and had to just rest for almost five days... :( But my mom came over which was awesome and it made me take a break.

 4) My blood pressure started going up by 16 weeks along. Had to take blood tests but everything looked good so the midwives just kept an eye on it even though it stayed higher for the rest of the pregnancy.

5) We found out at the 21 week ultrasound that we were having a boy!!! I totally guessed it right! :) We were all super excited!

6) Also found out at 21 weeks that I had complete placenta prévia. That made for an interesting pregnancy not being able to travel, having to go on pelvic rest, and overall not being able to do anything very intense for the next 16 weeks until it moved just enough by 37 weeks to be ok doing a vaginal delivery! The nice thing with it was that we were able to have more ultrasounds to see baby James at 28, 32, and 37 weeks! :)

7) James was a mover! I am pretty sure he moved/kicked/punched more than any of the other kids did inside me! I loved feeling him move and he didn't keep me awake at night so it was all good. He just definitely let me know he was doing well! :)

Ok now on to his birth story... :)

Monday - April 11th, 2016

I was 37 weeks and 6 days along in my pregnancy and this was the day I started some "natural inducing" things at home to get things going. The week before I had gotten cleared with the placenta moving to have a natural vaginal delivery and he was measuring big - the ultrasound guessed his weight to be 9 lbs 4 oz. So the midwives said to start what I could the next week. Took evening primrose and drank raspberry tea and started using an essential oil which were all supposed to help. Little did I know, none of these would even have the chance to start working!

I went to my weekly midwife appt that afternoon after our staff meeting. Just went by myself thinking it would just be a quick checkup. I had had lots of Braxton hicks contractions over the past few months but hadn't had many in the last week so I wasn't even going to have them check dilation. I went in and had my blood pressure checked and it was 160/98 which made them worry. They measured baby and checked his heartbeat and then told me to head to the hospital for about 2 hours to be monitored and to have my blood work done. I headed home and told Scott so we waited for Daniel to get home from charter school and then dropped off the kids over at Jesse and Rhonda's fully expecting to come pick them up in a few hours...

We got checked into a hospital room around 4:30 and the nurse checked my blood pressure again and it was up to 165/110. She said there was an almost guaranteed chance that I would not be leaving the hospital until after I had had my baby. Midwife came and confirmed that news a bit afterwards. It was time to soon meet our son!

5:00 - 9:00 pm - I was checked for dilation and was between 2 and 3 cm. but otherwise not thinned out or ready at all. :( And I also started on blood pressure medication through an IV. They let me eat dinner and prepared to start the cytotec for inducing. Baby and I were monitored for quite awhile and Scott headed home during that time to pack our bag which I had still not packed. We also called mom and dad and they started heading over from Delta.

10:00 pm - I took the first few pills of cytotec orally and then was told to rest as much as possible. That is very hard to do on an uncomfortable hospital bed while pregnant with monitors attached and having my blood pressure taken frequently. But, I remember getting short bits of rest and then finally sleeping for like an hour and a half at 2 am after I took two more induction pills...

Tuesday, April 12th

3:30 am - 12:00 pm - I was woken up around 3:30 am by a nurse walking in with my parents and I realized I was feeling contractions finally! Then began the long labor... I had contractions that were fairly intense (I had to breath through them) for the entire morning but by 11 am my midwife came in and said that my contractions were not consistent or intense enough to be doing much so she let me eat lunch and then I began pitocin around noon.

12:00 - 5:00 pm - The contractions definitely picked up after that IV began. I was able to move around a little bit with a portable monitor since baby had to be monitored from then on out. I sat on the birthing ball, labored in the tub, and actually sat in bed quite a lot which was so different than what I liked best during the other kids' labors. So crazy how different each labor is! I had some back labor but definitely not as much as the other labors which was so nice.

Our nurse was amazing during the day, too! She was extremely nice and helped me through many of the contractions with good ideas of how to focus. The afternoon actually passed very quickly even though I was so exhausted.

Around 3:30 they checked my dilation again and I was only dilated to 4 cm even after 12 hours of labor! :( Things were going so slowly and the pitocin was definitely the main thing keeping contractions going at all. They would have broken my water by this point but James' head was still not fully engaged and they could tell I had a lot of abdominal fluid which makes it more dangerous to break the water in case the cord comes out with the rush of fluid. So we continued to wait and I continued to labor.

6:00 - 9:00 pm - I think it was around 6 that Tuesday evening that my midwife finally came in and broke my water to get things moving along quicker. She did it in a way that the fluid only trickled out so it was able to be done even without him being fully engaged still! I was happy to be able to get things moving a bit more since I still hadn't made much progress. That helped kick the contractions into gear even more and over the next few hours I had a lot more back labor and was definitely getting nearer that transition period... And then I hit the point where my exhaustion was taking over and the contractions were so much more painful just before 9. I remember feeling like I wanted to start pushing so the nurse checked my dilation and I just wanted to hear that I was at least an 8. She said I was at a 6 and I just broke down crying. That was when I decided to have an epidural which in the end definitely was the best decision.

9:00 pm - midnight - Just before the 24 hour point since I had taken my first induction pills, I got an epidural and was able to rest! Also right after that we had to switch rooms because the monitor was having a lot of issues and even the backup ones weren't working correctly. They wheeled my bed into a much nicer, larger room and my parents and Scott transferred all our stuff over. Then it was time for us all to rest. I was able to get a good hour and a half nap while Scott rested on the couch and mom and dad went for a walk and got some rest.

Right around 11:30 I remember mom and dad walking in the room which woke me up. They asked how I was doing and I said that I was feeling a few of my contractions now even with the epidural and I was beginning to have that pushing feeling. They called in the nurse and she checked me around 11:45. She said he was just about to come out and she called in the baby nurse and got everything out and ready. I was thinking at that point that James would probably be coming out after midnight but my midwife said he would be out before that and she was definitely right! I only had to push for a few minutes through two contractions and then James David was born at 11:58 pm on April 12th!

I was able to hold him right away which was amazing! I remember thinking how little he looked. He was more on the blue side when he came out and only gave a few small shrieks instead of outright crying so they ended up taking him over to the heated baby bed to warm him up and check on everything. Everything checked out good so then I was able to hold him more. He was so sweet and amazing!

He was weighed in at 8 lbs 11 oz and later on they measured his length at 21.5 inches and his head was 14.75 inches. Good size baby for two weeks early and I was so thankful he wasn't as big as many thought he was already! Because he was still being so mellow an hour or so later, they checked his blood sugar and it was quite low so they fed him a bottle of donor milk which seemed to help because over the morning all his other checkups were great! But, because of the first blood sugar level and his lower temp they kept him on the bed warmer for an hour or so before letting me hold him after we got up to our patient room. We got some sleep the rest of the night although I spent most of my time cuddling a sweet little guy. :)

My parents brought the kids to see their new baby brother that Wednesday morning before lunch. They were all SO excited to see him and loved holding him. I don't think I've seen such a big smile on Daniel's face in so long and Lydia just looked like being a big sister was the best thing ever. :) Joanna was excited and gave him some kisses and then decided to spend most of the rest of her time eating off my tray of lunch food. Lol. They came back over that afternoon and we were able to order up some birthday cupcakes for the siblings to celebrate James' birthday! My sister, Amanda, was able to be there that afternoon too which was so much fun! I'm so glad she happened to be in town for a work conference!

We stayed at the hospital until Thursday mid-afternoon. So thankful my parents were able to take care of the kids at our house so that Scott could stay with James and me. Then we dressed him up in his going home outfit and took him home!

Well that took forever to write. Lol. I think I've been working on this for at least a week and a half. Oh, well. Life of a mother of four kids! I wish I could update more on how things have been since coming home from the hospital but we will see if I can write more about that another day... making no promises, though. ;) Thanks for reading this long post! I love having the story here to be able to look back on. Only way I can really remember everything!

Brief Glimpses...

Goodness, it's been forever since I sat down and wrote something for my blog... The days just pass by so quickly and life is passing by so fast. Sometimes I think about writing a post and updating a little on life and our sweet kiddos but then I think of ALL I'd have to write and I end up doing something else instead. Well, I think if I just came on here from time to time and wrote what I can - even if it's something really short - then I can at least get back into the habit of writing and recording some of these moments... So here I am. Now we'll see what I can share. 

First of all, I have got to share this adorable picture that I took of my handsome hubby and our adorable 9 month old daughter, Joanna Beth! Look how big she is! I took Daniel and Lydia to some friends' house today for their weekly gymnastics class (a college student who I disciple has been teaching them each week on the gym equipment that our friends have and they LOVE it). When we got home - loud and excited to see their daddy - we walked into the downstairs living area and saw this... a tired little girl (working on getting her fifth tooth in and thus not having the greatest napping experiences lately) sound asleep on her loving daddy's shoulder. ADORABLE! :) 

Oh, Joanna Beth! I have failed miserably at writing her monthly letters to her... I guess I shouldn't be that surprised because I do have three kids and we are in full-time ministry and I homeschool two kids and... But, it still makes me sad at times when I think of how much scrapbooking I would love to get done and how much I would love to be better at memory keeping. I feel like my memory just continues going away... mom brain is a little scary at times. Lol. ;) But, I have now switched my thinking somewhat to telling myself that even if I can't have everything written down and photos kept somewhere nice, one of the best things I can focus on is our kids and memory building as a family! And we have been able to do that so much lately! Even in the midst of craziness and busy schedules, I love that we make family times one of our top priorities each week. We love spending time together going out to eat, having coffee dates, playing outside, going to the park (when it's nice out), going to the mall, and lately visiting the Nature and Science Museum and the Zoo since we received a family pass for the year for Christmas presents to each of those! I love spending time with our family even though some days are CRAZY and I am definitely reminded that we have VERY energetic kids aged 4, 3, and 9 months who wear me out... And that is when I have to ask myself the question, "Do I really want another baby sometime soon?!" Lol. But then there are these days when the kids are busy doing things and I tell myself how amazing life is and how much I LOVE this time of life! I think I'll share some little glimpses of those times...

Daniel: When he's sitting in his weekly Classical Conversations class with the other six students listening intently to his teacher or reciting the memory work for the week with them... The joy he has on his face when he is in a classroom learning whether at home or at CC... Watching him be goofy and lean his head back laughing and laughing - he's a bit of a class clown at times... Hearing him talk about his sisters with such large amounts of love - he said tonight that he needed to spend lots of time with Joanna because he was going to grow up fast and not be able to spend tons of time with her later on in life... Having him come out to give "one more kiss and hug" over and over some nights half to be able to stay up later and half because he loves being hugged and kissed and loved on... Getting so excited to play his guitar and show his skills... Watching him build Legos and almost anything else where he uses his brain and designs or draws amazing things... Hearing him talk about baseball... Seeing him hug Lydia and sit shoulder to shoulder with her watching a movie... Hearing his laughter... Hearing him pray to God and believing completely in God's power... Seeing him check the mail every chance he gets just to see if he got anything and it reminding me of when I was little each time doing the same thing... Seeing his excitement whenever we go to the library and watching as he sits in there looking at books by himself... Watching as he reads his first ever books and seeing how proud he is...

Lydia: Hearing her prayers and seeing how quickly she goes to God in prayer, even in the middle of a conversation if needed... Seeing the joy on her face when she is able to go on girls' nights with me especially since she gets to "stay up late" and "be part of the big girls"... Seeing her excitement and the love she has on her face when she talks about her friends and how much she loves them... Watching her put on make-up at a just-mentioned girls' night and having to be told that she had put enough on... Watching her play in the sink bubbles after I'm done washing dishes measuring out water and making pancakes, biscuits, etc. - she'll play for close to an hour if I let her... Watching her play dress-up and walk in her "hike-heels" all over the house... Seeing her carry her sparkly silver purses around stores and in restaurants because we let her take it out for the day... Seeing her excitement the day she was able to get her ears pierced just two weeks ago - she looks even more like a big girl now... Taking her to the store with me to go shopping and seeing how much fun she has just hanging out with mommy... Letting her push the little shopping cart at Whole Foods - definitely the cutest "customer in training"... Seeing how much she loves her daddy and even seeing how sad she is when he leaves for work makes me happy because I know the love she has for him...Watching her paint and draw - she is so talented in that way and loves art...

Joanna: When she plays happily with her toys looking over at me from time to time with the biggest smile on her face... When she crawls around and around the coffee table in our living room "chasing" Daniel who has something she wants... When she "tucks" in Daniel and Lydia for bed, hiding under their covers or standing up and looking out their windows before she gives them kisses and giggles... The way she looks when I nurse her as she smiles with her eyes and seems so content... Her smiles and laughter the other day when Daniel and Lydia pulled her around the back yard in the wagon... The joy on her face when her "dada" comes home or whenever I come pick her up after being gone for awhile... The proud look she gets on her face when she stands lately without holding onto anything - she is SO close to walking... How excited she is every time she sees another baby - she thinks every baby is like her new best friend... 

Well, there are some brief glimpses of life. Things have been good and I'm excited to be able to share more another day... hopefully not too long into the future this time. :) Thanks for reading!

5 Month Joanna

Dear Joanna, 

Hi happy girl! You are 5 months and 1 1/2 weeks old and I'm amazed every day by how much you are learning and changing! You are such a happy girl and totally brighten our lives! 

You got your first tooth in on your five-month birthday and even though you have been more fussy than normal going down for sleep and you have been waking up more often at night (sometimes every two to three hours!), you are still a happy girl during the day! It's a cute little tooth on your bottom gum and you love chewing everything you can. We are working on your sitting up now so that we can give you your first food soon! Yummy avacado coming up so and I think you will love it!

Daddy and I weighed you the other day and you are almost 18 lbs already! Such a big girl! :) That might slow down soon though because you are SO close to crawling! You have been doing lots of planks for weeks now - lifting your body up with your toes and hands - and in the past week you have been going up on your knees and hands and just today you moved your knees forward several times! You will be so excited once you figure out how to move your hands at the same time. :) I'm excited for you but a little nervous knowing that I'm going to have to keep an eye on you all the time! Especially as we teach your brother and sister what they can not leave around the house for you to get into! 

You had your first plane trip the week before your 5 month birthday too! I went to Texas with you and Pappy, Maw-Maw, Aunt Lelia, and Uncle Wayne for my cousin's wedding and to see family! You met Nanny, Granddaddy, and Great-Grandma along with my Uncle Tommy, Uncle Curtis, Aunt Donna, and lots of cousins! You had a blast and mommy loved getting so much individual time with you! :) Oh and you did awesome on the plane!!! Slept on mommy and only cried a bit!

Ok I'm holding you right now and you are getting tired so I think I'll have to be done with this. I could say so much more but this will do. We love you lots! :) Thanks for your amazing smiles!

Love, Mommy 

Dear Joanna - 3 1/2 months

I wrote this a few days ago...

Dear Joanna,

You are 3 1/2 months and have had such a busy past 6 weeks! Since I last wrote you after your first camping trip, we painted our house and you spent your first large amounts of hours in a baby swing! You do love the swing but you didn't quite understand why you had to spend so much time in it for naps while mommy and daddy painted. But now you have beautiful coral and sand color walls in your's and Lydia's room and I think you will love finally being able to sleep in your own crib in your own room tonight or tomorrow for the first time!

The past month since July 7th we have been away from home in a crazy month of busyness! We spent two total weeks in Durango, a week at Pappy and Maw-Maw's house in delta, a week at uncle Wayne's and aunt Lelia's house in grand junction, and overall you were awesome!!! I'm not sure what happened but right around 2 1/2 months old you turned a corner and became such a happy baby and hardly ever fuss anymore other than off and on the car and sometimes when you have a tummy ache. You have spent 4 weeks now of taking fairly good naps each day as long as we are able to put you down for them consistently. You are a very love-schedules baby so as long as I'm good with feeding you every 3 to 4 hours during the day and then keeping you up only between 1.5 and 2 hours before another nap you do so much better! Makes mommy so happy! Your night sleeping has been a lot more difficult though but I'm sure sleeping in so many different locations hasn't helped with that. Some nights you did 8 to 11 hours straight sleep at night but then we had quite a few nights where you woke up two or three times which is so hard for mommy. :( I get SO tired! But last night you actually slept 9 hours straight and then you consistently go back to sleep right away til usually 9 or 10! Yay!

You are such a cute little girl! Your smiles have been so big lately and you are giggling more and more especially when you are lying down during diaper changes or when we come over to talk.

You have been rolling over like crazy lately! You sleep on your side or tummy most nights because you flip over almost as soon as we put you on your back. Once you get a bit older I'm sure you'll figure out that rolling will take you places! :) I'm gonna have to watch out!

You were 13 lbs 1 oz at your 2 month checkup and my guess is that you are at least 14 lbs now. You definitely look so much bigger!

You are beginning to love playing with toys! I bought you some car seat toys while in delta and you love holding onto them and hitting the noisy owl one. I'm so excited to let you start sitting in the bumbo at home and let you play with toys on the activity mat!

I hear you chewed on a bite of watermelon yesterday at cousin Vienna's birthday party while pappy was holding you! Your first try of food and you loved it! ;) Lol.

Love you lots! We are on our way home right now and you have been awesome the entire hour and a half so far! :) Yay! So excited to be home as a family!

Love,
Mommy

2 month old Joanna

Dear Joanna,

Hi my dear girl! You are 2 months old and we are headed home from your first ever camping trip! We had a wonderful time with Pappy, Mawmaw, Uncle Wayne, Aunt Lelia, and cousin Vienna in Lake City! You spent a lot of time swinging in the hammock with your daddy - which you loved -, being held around town and at the campground, and you actually took some naps in the camper and once in your bassinet outside! :) You had some rough moments of lots of crying and one long night of waking up quite frequently for you... Mommy has decided you are a lover of our home and you are so ready to be home! But all the other nights you slept really great once you went down and mommy and daddy were actually able to get you down for bed by 9 pm last night to enjoy an evening around the campfire with everyone else! :)

You are growing and growing! I'm really excited for you have your 2 month wellness appt this week to see how much you've grown! You are still smiling up a storm and absolutely love your daddy!!! It amazes me how your face lights up when you see him! :) You are liking car rides a little bit more than you had been but you are still quite a fussy rider! :( I wish I could do more to make you happy in the car, like right now, but you just seem to greatly dislike them... :( So sorry little girl!

You rolled over for the first time this week in Lake City in Pappy and Mawmaw's camper!! Just once from tummy to back but you were quite proud of yourself and then not so happy when I put you on your tummy to try again! ;) I hope we can give you more chances to have tummy time because you definitely seem to be liking it more lately!

You have been sleeping great and fairly consistently sleep from around 9 to 4 or 5 in the morning! My goal in the next few weeks while we are home is to work on putting you down for naps more consistently than we have been because I'm thinking that would make you a much happier baby! :)

You love to be outside! We went fishing yesterday and it was cloudy so Mawmaw was able to hold you for awhile without covering you up and you loved just looking at God's beautiful creation! The bright sun is not your favorite...

You have also loved spending time lying on your back and just watching your sister and brother or others play or work. You are very observant and definitely enjoy being around people more than being alone! Maybe you'll be my social butterfly!

Sometimes mommy gets extremely tired and overwhelmed from taking care of all three of you kiddos but I absolutely love when I get to feed you even at night in the quiet times... I love those sweet moments of bonding with my sweet Joanna Beth!  :) You have added so much joy to our lives and I'm so thankful for every moment we have with you!

Love you sweet girl!
~Mommy

On the Way to Lake City...

I wrote this in the car a few days ago...

We are driving to Lake City, CO right now so I figured I had some extra time to be able to write another blog post! We are meeting my parents there and should hopefully be there in three hours at least! So far the kids have been great! Joanna took a wonderful morning nap IN HER BASSINET - that is BIG news!!! :) - for over two hours this morning so that was perfect for Scott and I to get everything loaded up.

Joanna is definitely getting out of her little newborn stage more and more especially with her sleeping lately. Just in the last week or two she has been sleeping better and finally likes her car seat much better than before. (Ever since Memorial Day she absolutely hated her car seat and screamed almost the entire time she was in it until Scott put extra cushion in the form of a folded up receiving blanket under her hips! She just wanted some extra cushion. Lol.) And she is finally taking more naps not on us... Either in her swing (which just broke so we are ordering a new one - Daniel swung in it all the time as a baby and must have worn it out), in the front pack, or sometimes in her bassinet or on our bed!!! Yay! :)

Anyway, I'll share more of Joanna soon since she turns 2 months old on Friday... :)

The other night I went back and read through so many of my blog posts after Daniel was born. So much fun remembering those days and made me want to keep up with blogging mainly for myself to be able to read back on in future years. :)

I'm looking so forward to the next four days in lake city! Mom said it's crazy windy there right now so fishing isn't the greatest and she said there aren't too many people there right now, but I'm still so excited to be back and enjoy the time as a family. I have loved building memories as a family and I love how much Daniel and Lydia enjoy looking back on pictures from Disney world and other trips and watching random videos I've taken... Definitely one of my favorite things to do with our family - travel, family "dates", and building other fun memories!

I'm so excited to be able to go more consistently to small groups from our church in Denver... We have only been able to try one one time so far, but I'm excited to go there a few more times at least and hopefully try another one, too. Praying that God shows us clearly which group he wants us to be a part of and praying that we can build some great friendships with other families at church. Deep, wonderful friendships that go further than just seeing them at church or small group! It would bd so nice to have friends we could hang out with at other times over dinner, play dates, etc. Miss having friends like that so much like we had on grand junction.

Ok I think that's all I'll write for now. Will try to share about our time in lake city maybe on the way back! :)