All Aboard!

Jared has really been into trains lately.  Awhile back some friends of ours mentioned there was a train ride at Cripple Creek.  We decided we would wait to go ride it until the fall.  That way I could get my fall colors fix and Jared could ride a real train.  (I am not sure if he counts the ride we took on TRAX in Utah as his first train ride this one was  a bit more authentic) He of course loved it and you already saw the pictures of what I loved. The day before we went up we told Jared what we were planning on doing the next day and so when he got up that morning he came into our room and said: " Mom, it's going to be a great day!" It was super cute. And here is the super cute boy loving his train ride.

 

We explored the "depot" a little bit before our ride.

 

 

Our train engineer told all kinds of fun stories about Cripple Creek. It was fun to learn about the town. It was your typical mining town with more saloons then anything else.  It was at one time the third largest city in Colorado which seems crazy seeing it now but makes total sense as well.

 

"It's Thomas!" Jared was convinced this was Thomas and kept asking why we weren't riding him.

I ♥ these three

 

8!

 Sunday was Lydia's 8 month mark.  Normally I can sit her down and get cute pictures of her right away but this day she was not in the mood or rather she just didn't want to be sitting still.  She really is getting close to crawling. We have to be really careful to not leave doors open if we put her down upstairs and then leave to get something because the next thing we know she is headed towards the stairs by rolling, scooting, and army crawling, however she get herself where she wants to go.

 

 

 

Lydia is a happy, sweet girl. She sleeps great, eats well, thinks her brother is pretty great and loves it when we sing to her, especially "The Itsy Bitzy Spider" which was Jared's favorite song as well.  When Lydia gets fussy and Mark or I are in the middle of something Jared will run over to her and sing it to her.  Its pretty adorable.  She love to play with my necklaces and is very ticklish and I love her cute baby laugh. I love this little girl with all my heart.

 

Annual Fall Drive

We headed up to the mountains today for our annual drive to go find some fall colors.  I am happy to report we totally picked the right weekend.  It was so beautiful. I love all these pictures. It really is so tricky to not go too early or too late.  This year we headed up Hwy 24 then took Hwy 67 to Cripple Creek.  It was gorgeous. Jared enjoyed it until he threw up twice, yes twice.  We were only about 25 minutes away from our destination too so that was a bummer.  Poor kid.  He really struggles with driving in the mountains.  I don't think the elevation change helps him at all. Enjoy a little taste of fall here in beautiful Colorado or "Colorful Colorado" as the welcome sign says when headed from Utah.

 

I saw this red building and knew I had to get a picture of it.

 

 We found some red and orange! No small feat here.

 

If only fall lasted longer then 2 weeks.

Maybe the AMAZING weather will hold out after the leaves have gone. 

Next week: 83, 79, 68, 69, 73, 75, 74 PERFECT.

Look out drivers!

Every time we are getting out of the car Jared asks if he can play in the front seat.  Typically we say NO because we are going in to eat/make dinner or do something and I remember waiting in the car for my Mom once (I was considerably older then Jared) and I moved the gear shift into reverse and the car stared moving, it was freaky (luckily no harm done)! So I am a little hesitant to let Jared sit here but yesterday was his lucky day and it made him so happy and he looks so cute. I love that he wanted to wear the buckle so he could be safe.

How to entertain two 3 year olds and a 2 year old

Moon Sand!
I saw a "recipe" for moon sand a few weeks ago and have been meaning to make it.  Today was the day and after the boys helped me mix it up they entertained themselves happily for 45 minutes. It was great and so easy.  Give it a try!

8 cups Flour
1 cup baby oil
Colored chalk (optional) I smashed it up in a Ziploc bag.

Or you can half the recipe.  It's a really fun texture/sensory thing.

Smash your chalk if you want it to be colored
Measure out flour
Add smashed chalk to flour mix
Add baby oil till well mixed.
Store in air tight container.

BFF I hope!!

Lydia is so dang cute!

 And Jared adores her completely. I love to watch him interact with her.

Recently Lydia has been thinking about crawling.  She will get herself into crawling position then just hold it for awhile like she is wondering what to do next.  She has become quite proficient at rolling to get to where she wants and army crawling.  Its really fun to see her figuring these things out.  I have yet to get a good picture of it though.

This picture makes me laugh because it is Lydia's newest face she scrunches her face up and breathes in and out really quick. Its adorable.

 

Who knew laundry could be so exciting?

Forever and then some

Family pictures are always what I tell Mark I want for any occasion/present. I love them and photographers do such clever things these days. Unfortunately they are pretty pricey so we don't get pictures done professionally as often as I would like. But this summer Mark's awesome niece Kierstin of Kierstin Yates Photography (recently relocated to BYU Hawaii if you know someone there who will need pictures) came to the Spencer family reunion in Utah and she took our pictures for us.  Jared was not in the mood to take pictures he just wanted to run around and play (in his defense we were at a park...) but we did get some cute ones and now we have this fun wall in our living room. And we got all out frames for 1/2 off at Hobby lobby! I love Hobby Lobby!

"Forever and then some" is our little family saying. I got it engraved on Mark's ring when we picked it out and that is how long we want to be together. Forever and then some.

Here are some other cute ones.

 We got there and Jared walked to this spot and said "This is my spot." It was really funny and cute and then he didn't want to take any more. I guess he figured he had done his job.

The next two: Pure happiness.

 

 

 

We were pretty excited about this one. A 2.75 year old and a 5 month old both looking and smiling?  incredible!

Thanks a million Kierstin!

Colorado Balloon Classic

I love hot air balloons. And so does Jared. So we got up fairly early today and headed over to Memorial Park for the Colorado Balloon Classic. (Held every Labor Day weekend here in the Springs) It was a beautiful morning and well worth getting up at 6:00 AM. Jared loved it and Lydia didn't seem to mind being woken up a little early.  One of these days (maybe next year) I would love to go to the huge hot air balloon show in New Mexico.  We enjoyed watching the balloons fill up and then take off.  From where we were  we counted at least 30 balloons up in the air at one time but there was probably more.  After we watched the balloons we took off and grabbed some donuts because why not? There is also a balloon glow at night where they stay on the ground but I bet it looks cool. Maybe we will check it out tomorrow night.

 

 

 

The mountains are a really nice background. We do live in  a beautiful place.

As a side note, I am so happy that it is September01! Now it is time to go put up our Autumn (not Halloween) decorations. So Happy