Our "Wishlists"

Rather than e-mailing out Birthday Lists, and Christmas lists, we have created Amazon "Wish Lists" for each member of our family. There are links to each of our lists on the right side of our blog. We are going to try to keep them updated so if you are a family member and are wondering what sizes the boys are wearing, what we need for the boys, or just what we would like for a holiday, now you know!

Little Man Ice Cream

Our favorite Denver Ice Cream Place is Called "Little Man Ice Cream". We love it because all of their ice cream is made there from scratch, It has a park across the street, and it has awesome views of the city. Today after our ice cream we took a little walk downtown.

Grand Lake

Yesterday we went to Grand Lake and Rocky Mountain National Park for our annual Fall visit. Here are our pics from last year, and Here from the year before. Can you believe we've lived in Colorado long enough to have a 3 year tradition! Every time we go back there, it makes us want to own a cabin there. Hopefully someday we will!

Jackson LOVED trying to run off the dock. Thanks to a few quick moves from Matt, Jack never made it into the water.

Again we attempted a picture of the boys together, we should have learned our lesson a long time ago.



We saw lots of HUGE elk. It's the closest Matt will get to them this year, since he's not going to get to go hunting this year.

The Basement "Guestroom"

Back in our townhouse, we had a guest bed in Jackson's room, and when we had guests they got his room and he got a pack and play in the laundry room. Everyone thought it was funny that we put him in there. Now, we're putting our guests in there! I already told you all about my awesome futon find, now I'll show you the basement laundry room/guest room reveal.

I added a curtain to the window for some privacy. I hung a long dowel rod for a closet where a short one used to be. (This is for overflow because our master closet is tiny). I also hung a few sheets over the unfinished walls and put down a rug to make it a bit homier. Mason is really enjoying the new futon!

I was able to do the entire thing for a total of $20! You already know how I got the futon for free. The rug was $15 at Target (75% off clearance). The curtain was 1/3 of Jackson's nursery curtains that I hemmed. You can't see them but on the sides of the futon are two curtain panels from old curtains of ours.The stars were extra from another project. The closet brackets were free from my dad. I think he took them out of a house they remodeled? The dowel rod we put on the brackets was left behind in our house from the old owners. The cream futon cover is just a fitted sheet. I did pay $5 for the brown sheets covering the wall (75% off Target clearance).

I won't show you the other side of the laundry room where I store my excess pantry items and everything else under the sun. You'll only get that pleasure if you are one of the lucky guests to stay in the laundry room/guest room. Now we just need two sets of guests!

A Hidden Gem- Eldorado Canyon State Park

Today we discovered a hidden gem only about 30 minutes from our house: Eldorado Canyon State Park. We took Mason on his first hike in the backpack, and Jack went on his first hike not in the pack!

Jack was a little afraid of hiking on the trails and over the bridges at first, but after a little while he really starting having fun. He loved dipping his fingers in the water, running on the trail, and looking up at all the rock climbers! His favorite part of the day though was when Matt carried him from rock to rock in the river!

Awesome, and more Awesome!

Awesome: A few days ago I told Matt that we should sell our ottoman that we don't use anymore. I was thinking for about $50. Then a few days later we decided that we would put a futon in our laundry room so that we can accomadate two sets of guests at a time. (It is the biggest laundry room in the world, I'll try to share some pictures soon). So, I got on Craigslist and realized that we couldn't afford even a used decent futon. Then, a miracle happened, I came across the nicest futon I have ever seen, listed for $300...or willing to trade for a brown leather ottoman!!!!!!!! I e-mailed the guy some pictures, and he said yes! So, we now have a beautiful futon in our laundry room at absolutely no cost to us!

That, for this! (but just a black mattress)

Even more Awesome: Just in case you're wondering why we would want to accomadate two sets of guests, it's because my sister and her husband are moving to Denver!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They are going to stay in our guest room until they find jobs and an apartment though. (here is their blog) We just don't want to have to turn away other guests while they are here. So just in case all of you out of towners were thinking that we don't have room for you anymore, now we have this great futon so that you can still come!

P.S. I am so excited that my sister will be living in the same town as us. That hasn't happened for 7 years!

Mason Sitting/Jack's Body Parts!

Here he is, the little sitter, he is a bit tippy, but he's doing it all on his own!

Jack LOVES going through all of his body parts and pointing them out. My favorite is his elbow, or in his words his "bow-bow". Last week when he fell and skinned his elbow I couldn't help but laugh as he kept saying the words "bow-bow" though his cries.