Lil' Biggs

Elaine and Suzzie

Matthew and Audrie

Braden and Nathan

Elaine, Nathan and Ammon driving the fire truck.

Little Suzzie and Elaine playing dress up!

Matthew is the cashier and Nathan the bag boy. I need one of everything you have left.....looks like the shelve have already been emptied. I wonder if there is a crisis I don't know about.

So that is where all the food went. Medic Matthew has run off with it.

Baby Nancy and Daddy hanging out at Lil' Biggs in Colorado Springs.

Snow Sleding after the Blizzard

There was a big blizzard that hit while we were visiting Julia that kept us from being able to drive home, but we made the most of it. We played games, rented movies, made yummy food and went snow sleding!

The kids had lots of fun going down the big hill by the nearby school. Matthew and I made snowmen with the baby. They got tired after a while and became whinny so we left. I didn't mind because back at the house was a nice hot pot of Enchilada Soup Nathan had made before we left. IT WAS SO GOOOOOD!
We ended up being there from Wed thru Saturday with only two pairs of clothes. Of course before we came out Julia's dryer died so we had to wash and hang dry our clothes there. Not a big deal since I hang dry all my stuff at home.

Thanks Jim and Julia for letting us stay with you and hang out. I hope we weren't too much trouble.

Just Him and Me

Nathan and I went to Colorado Springs to visit his sister Julia and her family during our Spring break. We did a trade off of babysitting each others kids so we could go out on dates. Nathan and I went first and we had so much fun. We went to Olive Garden for dinner...yummy soup and salad. Then we went miniture golfing $4 and then Bowling $9. We also got some ice cream from Safeway....love Skinny Cows!

Colorado Springs has the best date night stuff for cheap. We were suppose to go to see Bedtime Stories at the dollar theater for $3, but we didn't make it in time and I don't care because we had a great time together just hanging out having fun. Total coat of date and all the fun things we did $30. SWEET!!!

A Day At The Temple

It was an 8 hour day between driving, taking turns going to sessions and fitting in lunch in the middle.

We both enjoyed ourselves and the kids enjoyed having one on one time with us.

We went into the visitor center and read the friend, took pictures and played in the grass off to the side by the parking lot.Nathan took them with him to the church bookstore and let them pick out some rubber bracelets. Matthew’s is black and says “Future Missionary.” Elaine’s is pink and says “Choose the Right.” They also picked out a heart locket for me that says “CTR” on it. Nathan got a black oil vile for his key chain. All in all it was a good day.

Enjoying the warm weather

So the forecast said SNOW….so about 4:30pm on Sunday I went to go to choir practice for the first time, but no one was there.So we all went up into the Flat Iron Mountains and went for a walk on the Walter Orr Roberts Nature Trail to enjoy the last of what was supposed to be warm weather.
It is now Tuesday and not an inch of snow has come.We are hoping it doesn’t….at least not during our spring break. But we will see..........

DENVER SCIENCE AND NATURE MUSEUM

On Saturday we went to the Denver science and nature museum
about 45 minutes away from our home.
It was so big that we spent over 4 hours there
and still did not see everything.
We didn’t even get to read or learn much
because we couldn't stop…
the kids kept seeing new thing they wanted to go see.
So it was MOVE…MOVE….MOVE.
We also went to the planetarium
and saw two shows while we were there too. It was a long and very fun day.
We will be going back in June for their free day.

GRANOLA

We got a recipe from our friend Jenny’s blog that is really yummy. We made a big triple batch for daddy while he went out on his 20 mile bike ride. We have been eating it every morning for breakfast. Here is the recipe if you want to make it too.
I changed a few things like I used Honey instead of brown sugar and I also added in Golden Raisins.

BROWN SUGAR GRANOLA...Mix together in a nice sized bowl:3 cup oats (not the quick kind)1 cup wheat germ1 cup chopped nuts (I used almonds, and they were heavenly.)

Also add in any other add-ins*
Simmer until it's syrupy, just a couple minutes:1 cup brown sugar1/4 cup canola oil1/4 cup water1 teaspoon cinnamonAdd 1 tsp vanilla and pour over oat mixture.
Spread on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake in a preheated 350* oven for 30 minutes or until crisp. (It took me maybe 7 minutes, then I stirred it a bit and put it back in for 7 more minutes.)

*Add ins: 1 cup dried cranberries, 1 cup ribbon coconut, etc.(I used both of these in mine and they really added to it and made it incredible - especially the craisins.)

First day of Spring

For the first day of spring we went on a walk along/behind the creek that flows along our apartments. The mosquitoes have come out to suck and infect again though so the next time we go out we are going to need to spray repellent first. Then we went to the playground and played in the sand pit. The kids took their shovels and buckets and made sand castles. Matthew enjoyed crushing them. Elaine enjoyed having mom do all the work. Nancy just enjoyed being outdoors.

TWO LITTLE MONKEYS...

As read before in previous entries, my kids and I go to a music class on Mondays and their new favorite song is Monkey’s Swinging in a Tree. But this video isn’t that song. This is Monkey’s jumping on a bed. They are not suppose to jump on mommy's couches, or anywhere in the house since we are on the third floor, but just this once we did it because we wanted to have fun and couldn't go outside.

BATMAN

Matthew’s batman shoes he got for Christmas came with a matching costume. Elaine calls it the “Scary Monster” and loves to run around the apartment in it. Matthew knows it is batman and likes to terrorize the girls with it. Nancy doesn’t know what’s going on, but thinks it’s fun to watch them run around.

Visiting at Aunt Julia's

We spent the weekend at Aunt Julia's and went to Church with her on Sunday. Matthew and Elaine looked so cute.

Matthew got new church clothes at Ross for $12! He is looking sharp. He can match with his cousin in the picture below now who also wears a vest suit for church. Elaine got new dresses when we went out to California last. One of mom's daycare kids (an only child who hated wearing dresses) had out grown them and gave them to Elaine. So now she has lots of pretty and new church clothes and shoes FREE.
MATTHEW, SUZZIE, ELAINE AND BRAYDEN

Focus on the Family

In Colorado Spring, near where Nathan's sister lives is a visitors center called "Focus on the Family." It is an indoor...FREE...playarea. The kids love going there. It is run by a Christan organization and it is a nice place to go on a day too cold for the park. They have a mini big screen area that plays Veggie Tales movies, and a BIG slide that goes up to the second story and goes down to the first, plus aLibrary with a cut out of the Characters And Puppets to play with and a stage to act stuff out on.Then we ventured through the Wardrob to NARNIA.Matthew is lost in the Witches Winter Forest.The other kids play finding game on the back of the door with Nathan. They have to find things and characters hidden in the room's art on the walls from the book.

Of course baby Nancy wasn't really big enough to do much but she had fun watching all the kids run around.

Camp WHAT-A-NUT is for ages 0-5 yrs, but we let all the kids go.

IT WAS A FUN FILLED DAY OF COUSINS AND GOOD TIMES.