Zoo

Stacia and I braved the heat to go to the zoo.  I think it was the day we had a record breaking 105 temp.  We had fun but were ready to cool off by 11:30.  The kiddos did great!

 Got to see the new elephant exhibit:

 Viv pointing to show me what they were doing:

 Checking it out!

 Trying to keep cool!

It's more fun to go with people!  Thanks, Stac!

Family Pics

A few days ago we decided to do some family pictures.  Now I had two cute outfits picked out for Viv.  We had to do it in the evening because it's been 100+ degrees here.  So we go to downtown Golden and it rains on us.  Once it stops raining, Viv decides that she would rather do anything besides take pictures.  It was quite the challenge.  We managed to get a few good shots but gave up after 15 minutes and only one outfit. 

Viv will be 14 months in a couple of days.  She's walking well now.  She says "woof", "nana" (for banana) and "hi."  She never quite caught on to the whole clapping thing until a few days ago.  Now she claps for everything and it's so cute!  She is into everything now and following her around all day is exhausting!  She is also quite bossy.  Don't know where she gets that.  She will point and grunt to instruct you to do things for her.  She has a killer smile!  You won't see it in the pictures but trust me it's great!

 Using bubbles to get Viv to sit still... You can't see the bubbles but we're excited about them =-)

It's been so hot here.  Today was the 5th day of temps above 100 degrees.  It's crazy and our state is on fire...literally.  Some of our family from Colorado Springs has been evacuated.  Our family in Fort Collins are still in their homes.  Please pray for all those fighting the fires here!

Yard Work

Three years ago (the summer after we moved in) we started a few projects in our yard.  Our yard was very plan - grass with a rock border.  No plants except two trees in the front and 3 bushes in the front.  No plants or trees in the back. 

We started by making a flower bed and planting a Norwegian Spruce in the back corner.

 Three years later:

 Our front yard had this lovely rock bed with nothing in it. 

Three years ago:

 Now:

Two years ago we planted three dwarf spruces in our back yard.  Our hope was to cover the electric  box eventually.  Three weekends ago we decided to plant more spruces and make it a bed as well.  We put a retaining wall around the electric box.  Hopefully that will keep Viv away for awhile.   

 Half way...

 The finished product.

 Two years ago we took out the rock border at the back of the yard and put in bushes and flowers!  They've really grown!

The next goal is our basement but then we would like to redo our deck and retain our fence. Hopefully those changes will make it so we actually want to spend more time in our back yard!