My Hard Workin Hubby

Nate just finished building a few big parks that I wanted to show off! This first one is Bear Creek park in Denver...

Yes that is a sombrero slide!

Don't let it fool you...it's really fast!

There is a rock climbing wall behind him that I must have not got a shot of.

This is a sand pit that has fossils built in for the children to find with a brush.

This is a time capsule and underneath it is a box. It's contents include: Nate's hard had, a Colorado Designscapes T Shirt, Nate's business card and a few other misc things...this is not to be opened until 2059!

Aren't my parents cute!

The first kids to try out the swings...they work great!

This next one is the Highlands Ranch Veterans Monument Park. This one is particularly dear to our hearts considering 3 of our grandpa's served this country!

There were about 12 of these made and you can buy a tile with a name engraved for $250.

Nate loves sandblasting.

Nate and his crew did all of the hardscapes that you see here...

Nate got to meet Bill Owens and Bill Ritter at the opening! They even recognized him on stage!

As you can see Nate is a busy guy!!! Hailey went back to school last week and we decided to switch her to afternoons...since Hailey doesn't take naps, it's amazing to have that few hours to get stuff done again!!!! Ashtyn is absolutely everywhere and standing up on everything! She is crazy! She has already had quite a few tumbles...out the front door, off the stair, off a chair...The play pen and gates are my new best friends! She also is such a good eater and LOVES feeding herself whatever I place on her tray! She is also starting to learn a few signs! :)

Welp that's the news around here!

Fun on the 4th!

Finishing Touches II

The modern art I've been working on for way too long is finally hung!

Amy came over on Friday to help me finish. (I honestly don't know what I'd do without her!)

As you can tell...very tedious!

Also, we finished our largest project of the summer...painting the house!

We hired a company to do about 70% of the work and the handyman hubby did the rest. It took us about 2 weeks longer because of all the rain we've had.





Our house before...

...after

Getting Around

Got this video today...Ashtyn LOVES dogs...it's hilarious...she always tries to chase them around! Can't get the video to turn right side up...sorry!

Finishing Touches

We went on break from big projects for a little while, but are back on track now!

Nate finished these built-in's and Amy decorated them before I got home from California...it was a great surprise! We still have to put waynes coating in to make it a little bit more Pottery Barn looking....
I also was delightfully surprised to find 7 rose bushes in our back yard with 6 different colors!

We also are in the middle of getting the outside of our house painted, drapes for the cocktail room, painting the piano and am working on my modern art project....so hopefully we will get them done soon and I will post some more pics!

Time Away...

We finally got use our Timeshare after owning it for over 2 years! We decided to go to Steamboat Springs this weekend for our Anniversary! We left the kids with my family...and enjoyed the entire weekend to ourselves!! We got to see 2 movies, enjoy a nice dinner, attend a concert, relax in natural hot springs, lunch with friends, fall asleep by the pool for hours, sleep in, sleep through the night, read and walk around the shops downtown...all of which are things that are a rare treat with 2 kids! It was sooo relaxing...and so short!! We have some points saved up so we are going to go again with some friends and family for a week in September! We are also looking at where we would like book our big vacation of the year (or more like a few years)...we hope to go in December and are looking at places like Thailand or Honduras. I hope to get my camera back in the next few days and am excited to show off some of our new projects around the house...so check back in a few days!....off to the pool with the kiddos!

5 Years Baby!

5 years ago I began my happily ever after. 5 years ago I made a vow. 5 years ago I could never have never imagined how lucky I would truly be.

Someone once said that Nate and I would not make it 5 years...well here we are.

I can honestly say that I married the man of my dreams! Nate is one of the strongest, most loving, honest, hard working, diligent men that I know and it pours out into every area of my life with him. He is such a wonderful husband and father and I am so thankful for everyday that I get to spend as his wife. I know without a shadow of a doubt that God chose him for me. Thank you Nate for an amazing 5 years. Thank you for being such a great provider for this family and for working so hard on our home. Thank you for my 2 daughters. Thank you for all of the late night guitar sessions calming Hailey back to sleep and for all of the changed diapers and wiped noses! Thank you for always insisting that we never go to bed angry and for (almost) always being the first to apologize! I love you so much! I can't wait to grow old with you! You are the love of my life!~ Happy 5 years Baby!!!

Inch Worm and Cali Slideshow

Ashtyn's been my little inch worm for about 2 weeks now! I honestly don't know what I was thinking placing crackers at a distance so that she would be motivated to learn! As proud as I am of her...she's about 10 times harder to take care of! I guess I didn't realize how convenient it is to set her down with toys and know that she would be there when I returned!...now she loves finding the one choking hazard in the room and trying to eat it!~ It is a lot of fun though! She can be sitting and get to the crawling position and back to sitting again...it's so cute to come and get her in the morning and she will be sitting up in her crib playing! She can almost pull her chunky little body up too! My how they grow so FAST! She's 7 months as of 2 days ago! Thought I would share my proud mom moment with ya'll!

Also here's a slide show of the California pics that I never got to putting up! We had such a great time and can't wait until we get to go out again!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Beautiful Faces

Saturday Nate and I hosted our first Williams Syndrome picnic at our home. I had contacted the regional director a few months ago. There was not too much going on in this area, but if I wanted to plan something she would help get the word out.

We had about 15 families join us. There were Williams from 2 years old all the way to age 29. I was quite nervous...not only for how it would go, but how Nate and my heart would handle it. I had only met 1 other Williams kid prior to the picnic.

I wish I could say that I was completely encouraged by the event. It was so wonderful to be able to meet other families living and walking this same journey with me. However, it was eye opening and hard to come to terms with some of the life long struggles we will be dealing with.

It was just how I had imagined as far as the kids loving each other. They truly are so sweet and loving. They were holding hands and playing so well together. Hailey had to be sent to the bathroom to get herself together after a break down...a few of the kids quickly followed "Are you OK?" Exactly how Hailey would. I later walked into the playroom to find a few of them getting into the gum ball machine...I was cracking up. The other moms said how much their WS kids, extremely more than their other children, loved sugar! Ha...well that explains a lot!

I absolutely felt a strong connection with several of the other families and hope that this would bring on a strong friendship. One of them, sadly, lives 4 hours away...but has a beautiful 8 year old girl and a similar story to ours. I practically begged her to be sure to call me when she comes to down to Denver so we could hang out.


I'm hoping to plan a get together once a month for whoever is interested..there were at least 5 families that lived fairly close to us. Here's a slide show of the beautiful faces I was privileged to have met.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Somethings In Life Money Can't Buy...

Gas Grill $500, T Bone Steaks $20, Asparagus $6, Singeing off all my arm hair and half an eyebrow

PRICELESS

Back to the Rockies!

The girls and I just got back from being in California for over 2 weeks. It was definitely a busy trip. I cannot believe how much we crammed in! We were in Santa Clarita for a week with Nate's family and then went up to Kingsburg to visit friends for another week.

Hailey got to spend a lot of time with her cousin Maddie.

If I got a nickle for every time they tried to invite each other to the park... I'd be at Pottery Barn as we speak!

It would be 8pm:

Hailey "Maddie do you want to go to the park with me?"

Maddie "Yeah"

Aunty Jen "Girls we are not going to the park right now!"
Maddie "Hailey do you want to go to the park with me later?"

2 mnts later...

Hailey "Should we go to the park now?"

Ahhhhhhh

Summer is a great photographer...here are the moments she captured...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

...I'll post my pics as soon as I get a chance! I'm busy preparing to host my first WS gathering at our house on Saturday! About three times as many people are coming than I had originally thought. My stud of a man had the house spotless when we arrived home...now I just need to prepare the activities and food! I'll let you know how it goes!

Sissy is 6 months

Sissy (as Hailey and I call her) turned 6 months yesterday! AHHH I can't believe it went so fast! It's been so much fun to watch her grow. She's been sitting up for about 2 weeks now and just popped her two bottom teeth on Saturday. She weighs 15 lbs and is in the 50Th percentile for weight and 75Th for height. She's such a happy girl and LOVES hanging with with Hailey.

I also just gave her some solids yesterday for the first time (carrots)...she LOVED them! She seriously wanted to eat an entire container!
So Hailey, Sissy and I are off to California tomorrow for 2 weeks! We are so excited. Hailey has been walking around telling everyone that she gets to go to Maddie's house. (her cousin) I'll be sure to post pics when I get back!

Quotes Of The Day!

Had to write this down right now so that I wouldn't risk forgetting it...

Hailey "Who has to go poop? Mom do you have to go poop? (raises her hand) me me me me I do I have to go poop!!!"



Daddy "Hailey do you want to go to work with daddy tomorrow?"

Hailey "Daddy can I bring this (a toy shovel) and help you sweep the grass?"

Florida...

Here's a recap of our Florida trip...

Ashtyn had a lot of firsts on this trip! This was her first plane ride...the pilot let her take it for a test drive...Ashtyn's first time in the pool...she absolutely loved it!Nora and I hittin' the pool Fallin asleep in Mr Rose's arms...All the girls: Myself, Chelsea, Tighe, Elizabeth, and Amy
For her senior project Jordan had to write, produce and preform a 45 minutes show...it was unbelievable! I am so proud of her!
All the family members that could make it!

A beautiful day at the beach She can now officially sit up like a big girl with her cuz!

Jordan is a College Grad!

We had such a wonderful time staying at my Grandma Squire's house...we crammed as many people as possible in there...THANKS GRANDMA!

Hailey got to stay home with daddy for the long weekend!...I was a little nervous but they had a a great time and he even took her golfing...she loved it!

A Look Back

Two years ago my little sister's boyfriend of 2 years lost his life in a tragic motorcycle accident. It shook our entire family and it is something that we will never forget. His family lives in New York and we had never had the privilege of meeting. They decided to meet us in Florida for Jordan's college graduation. I had no idea how truly wonderful they were! We bonded with the Rose family immediately! I can't even begin to imagine what they have been through, and yet were all smiles. We felt such joy being around them. Mr. Rose plays the guitar and he would play us worship songs during the down time...His love for the Lord shines through his voice! I know this strength comes straight from the Lord.

Before his death, Josiah was planning on proposing. Jordan found the ring while going through his things. "You guys would have been the best in -laws" Mr. Rose told me. I assured him that they are our family regardless of what happened! I'm so thankful to have met them and hope that we continue to remain close throughout the years! They are planning a trip to visit us in Denver sometime in the near future. We are so excited!

Puzzles

Just thought I'd share Hailey's latest obsession...puzzles! She seriously wants to work on them at least 5 times a day if not more! It's amazing to see her actually put them together! I never knew I could be so proud of something so simple, but for Hailey this is great! She loves showing Ashtyn and scolds her when she gets drool on the pieces!
Just got back from an amazing trip to Florida! I can't wait to share about our trip...but am over booked with laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping and a play date left on my to do list today...