pics from fort collins

Our family traveled out to Fort Collins to take Mel to grad school.

We were able to spend a week together exploring the area

and seeing where Mel will be living for the next 2 years

fun at Fort Fun- even Aidan loves mini golf
the AWESOME cafeteria at CSU
Tristan ate so much that he almost popped- he visited the mexican station,
the asian station, the italian station, dessert bar, and drink bar

Mt. Evans- our first "14er"
We had a great day with Liz, Rory, and their kids

Old Town in Fort Collins

Old Town

Recovered Painting in Old Town

a great park in Fort Collins

marathon

I skated my first inline marathon this morning. It was an amazing experience and I'm glad I did it, but boy am I glad it's over! And the best part... I won the raffle! I get to pick out any pair of K2 skates that I want! Not bad.

pre-skate pic with uncle steve & auntie linda

at this point i had 1 more 8.7 mile loop to go!

my cheering section!

all done- relief.

oh, and i finished in under 2 hours- my exact time was 1 hour 58 minutes.

not bad for the first time.

mitty

The kids have been so blessed to have their Auntie Mitty in their lives! They adore her and will miss her terribly when we move- it's going to be hard on all of us. This picture was taken just a few weeks ago when Mitty took Tristan and Ella bowling- and spoiled them rotten!

spring soccer

Grandpa Contant was able to see Tristan play soccer while he was here last weekend!
Way to go, Tristan!

John was the coach this spring- he did an awesome job.

..and here's what Ella does to keep herself occupied during the game!

field trip

The boys and I took a trip to the Legoland Discovery Center. I think they both had a good time- the best part for Tristan was buying a silver stormtrooper lego guy from the store on our way out! Aidan loved throwing the big foam lego blocks!

the past 6 months

Well, if anyone is still checking our blog, here's what we've been up to the past six months...

a lot of GROWING!

Tristan will be 10 this summer and is still my right hand man. He is a tender hearted,

compassionate boy who loves his family. His favorite thing to do is to be home, wearing comfy

clothes, eating Chinese and watching a movie with his family. I hope this lasts a long time!

Tristan is doing well with his piano lesson, art class, and soccer (John is the coach this year!).
Tristan is a great big brother and is adored by Aidan and Ella.

Ella is our sweet six year old, who is almost done with kindergarten! She is extremely

competetive and gives her brothers a run for their money! Ella loves gymnastics and singing

in the church choir. She is also the social butterfly at school, going to every birthday party

and playdate that she's invited to! Ella and John love to dance and listen to music- and her

current favorite tune (with all lyrics memorized) is U2's "Sexy Boots." Thank you, John.

Aidan is a big 2 year old now! He is the funny guy in the house and

loves a good joke! He talks a lot and we can pretty much understand what he's

trying to communicate most of the time. He LOVES any type of ball and has a wicked

throw and can kick the ball pretty well, too! He keeps us on our toes. And yes, the

"nunni" (a.k.a pacifier) is still a dear friend!

the family picture

option #1

option #2

It's that time of year again when we try to get a (nice!) family picture. It never seems to go according to plan, but still we try! Last weekend we had a beautiful 70 degree fall day so we went to a park to have a go at it. Friends of our came too with their kids and we tried a few shots with each family. Boy, it sure is hard to get everybody to cooperate and look like the loving family that we are ;) Well, these are the "finalists." We had some shadows to contend with, but overall, everyone is smiling and looking happy to be there! Thank you, Jen.