Hot fun in the summer time

Before leaving for Denver, we inflated Sarah's new princess swimming pool that she got as a birthday gift from Kirk's parents. All three of us enjoyed soaking especially considering the temperatures are on average in the 80's deg F.

Kirk and I have been encouraged lately with two things...Sarah's interest in sitting on the potty and the fact we have two friends in the midst of potty training now. So I'm taking time off next week to give us a full 5-day stretch in hopes that we can capitalize on her interest in the potty and move to big girl panties. We are armed with M&M's, Jelly Beans and a couple of bigger prizes if all goes well. We shall see...wish us luck.

Road trip to Denver

We enjoyed 4 days in Denver via road trip in the Toyota last week/weekend. The ride both to and from Denver went really well considering it's over 6 hours with a 2 year old in tow. Sarah was a trooper, took great naps and enjoyed movies on the portable DVD player (which is a godsend).

We had a great time visiting my parents, Grandma Ann and Grandpa Jerry, whom we haven't seen in over a year. Jessie the dog was also a hit with Sarah though seemed a bit squirrely when our crazy kid was around because of her limited exposure to small children. Their newly remodeled home is very nice and they are now in the process of putting on the final touches. We hit all our favorites stores/malls while in town including Flatirons Crossing in Broomfield which I love. The Nordstrom there is quite large with the shoe department taking up over 1/4 of the bottom floor.

Aside from the shopping fun, we visited the Butterfly Pavilion which was really neat. Sarah was in hog heaven with the fish tank ("Dori" and "Nemo" were represented) along with being able to touch a starfish and walk through the butterfly room where the butterflies flutter freely. There was a turtle in the butterfly room that made an appearance a couple of times. Sarah also loved the bug room which I wasn't a fan of mostly because the critters on display are those that I ask Larry's Pest Patrol to target around our house. We skipped the opportunity to hold Rosie the tarantula. And I couldn't understand why Sarah was SO fascinated with the African cockroaches display. I guess that may be a sign that a stint in Houston could be on our horizon and she will be ready? We were fortunate to catch up with friends from Alaska and our BP days in Golden. We appreciate Alex, Katie and Ella offering their home for the occasion. We were able to visit with the Kroms and Grigels plus meet two not so new anymore babies. It was heartwarming to see everyone happy, healthy and enjoying life. Before arriving at the Yancey's house, we did a quick tour of the Colorado School of Mines campus. Boy has it changed in 12 years including Kirk's old house being torn down in what is now the acreage occupied by the new Student Rec Center. We tried to stop at the bookstore to only find out it was closed. Dang!

I know that Kirk is whispering to Sarah "don't worry sweetie, we will get a doggie soon. We will keep working on your mom so that the doggie can come sooner rather than later."
We had a combo celebration with my parents - Sarah's birthday, Kirk's birthday and Father's Day. Sarah has a new favorite thanks to Grandma Ann and Grandpa Jerry - a Cat in the Hat doll.
Before our departure on Sunday morning, we enjoyed sipping coffee on the deck and watching hot air balloons take off from down the street. The wind was blowing east so we tried to get pictures before they were too far away.

Call the doctor!

Last week Sarah was playing around in our closet. She likes to pull our shoes off the shelf and prance around the house with them on. So, she decided to put on Kirk's slippers which are size 11. She walked out of the closet and through our bathroom only to walk into the wall as she was entering the bedroom. I don't know what forces of nature led her to walk into the wall. Anyway, she started to cry and carry on. So I picked her up and put her on our bed to calm her down. In the midst of her of crying she exclaimed, "Call the doctor!" Too funny.

Sarah wearing my slippers after the incident. Maybe second time is a charm.

Family, Birthdays and Road Trips...oh my.

We had another jam packed weekend of fun. It started with a long overdue visit with my brother Andy (Drew). He was making his way back home to Orlando from a 3 week work trip that had him in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Honolulu. He managed to delay his flight from Phoenix to Orlando by a couple of days in order to make a quick visit with my older brother in Phoenix and come up to Farmington. It was great to see him!

Sarah and Uncle Drew next to the dressed up pig at the El Paso Grill Restaurant.

Kirk's 34th birthday was on Saturday. We started the celebration with a nice dinner on Friday night with my brother and then another smaller present opening celebration on Saturday after my brother had to leave. The dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting made by Something Special Bakery in Farmington was a hit! Kirk and Sarah were in heaven. Sarah sang the Happy Birthday song all weekend to daddy which was super cute.

We took a road trip on Sunday to Telluride for a swap meet of sorts and family visit. We caught up with Kirk's aunt and uncle who live in Telluride along with Kirk's parents and cousin Chris. I was hoping that maybe we would have the slim chance of catching up with TomKat in hopes that Sarah and Suri could have a play date. But we didn't make it to Mountain Village. Darn! We did enjoy a nice family lunch and had another cake celebration for Kirk's birthday. Chocolate on chocolate again but this time the cake was gluten free because both his aunt and mom have gluten allergies. Who would have thought that stuff would taste good? Kirk and his cousin also did a swap...his cousin now owns Kirk's Ford F150 and we own his cousin's pop up trailer. The trailer will allow for an upgraded camping experience now that we have Sarah. I have no interest in tent camping for the time being especially with a toddler. It's either camper trailer, really big rock star touring trailer or 5 star spa resort for me! ha! We are now working through plans on renovating the trailer with new fabric, curtains, and flooring. I put in the request to also paint flames on the side and have the twirling gangsta chrome wheels put on but I think my suggestions were disregarded...wonder why?

Sarah helping Uncle Jim put candles on the cake.

Kirk and cousin Chris being silly.

Sarah not to sure about the dragon hand puppet that Aunt Deree is showing her.

The girls in the craft workroom.

Sarah, aka the Bird Whisper, channeling her inner Snow White.

Having fun running around in the camper trailer.

Fun Pictures

Below are pictures from the past couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Daddy's little helper.

Now it's time to wash Sarah's car after helping daddy with his truck.Say goodbye to decorative wood chips and hello to landscape rocks with flowers.

Being silly.

Mama's helper with the flowers. Too cute!

Sarah LOVES to play in front of the mirror. She is "fixing" her hair.
It is getting warm in New Mexico...80 deg F and up. We broke out the tie dye t-shirt from the AK State Fair that we purchased last year before leaving Alaska.

Weekend Fun

We had a nice and productive weekend. Kirk and I hauled gravel on Friday in an effort to spice up the place and rid it of decorative wood chips. We are not fans of anything wood related (other than trees) near the house after living the nightmare of carpenter ants in Alaska and then finding that the southwestern areas are prone to termites. We also bought a bunch of pots and flowers to add color...pictures to come when it's done.

We made it up to Durango on Saturday for family fun at the Durango Rec Center. The pool is very nice and there is a large section for kids including a big water slide. After she warmed up, Sarah was in heaven and a big fan of the slide. We made it down several times. Afterwards, we went to lunch at one of our now favorite places Steamworks Brewery, which was yummy. Later on that night, we were treated with a call from Australia and got to catch up with the Davies-Hinks clan. We miss you tons!!

Sarah is amazing us everyday with her development and character. The other night, Kirk was trying to get her to say water emphasising the "er" at the end. When she says the word, she adds an "ed" at the end so it sounds like watered. Kirk kept saying to her, "No, it's watER". She was starting to get frustrated and replied to him at one point "No dada, it's watered". Too funny. She is also into wearing her princess dress up shoes lately with no socks. She also loves to put her own shoes on and is doing well with getting them on.

Sarah moves up to the next classroom tomorrow. She will be with 2 year old kiddos, mostly boys. But she will also reunite with one of her buddies from the younger room. We are excited because she will have more exposure to watching her peeps go potty which will help reinforce the training we are going to start at home once we get back from Denver mid-May.

Sarah Bear

Sarah is continuing to blossom each day to our amazement. She is picking up new words, forming sentences and now singing songs on her own. Last night she sang "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" after I put her down for the night. Too cute. We are trying to get her to sing 'ABC's' but so far she only chimes in at "X, Y, Z". She is also trying to learn how to channel her frustration without turning into the Tasmanian Devil. We taught her to tell us "Sarah frustrated" when she is just that...frustrated. It seems a 2 year old gets frustrated a lot because they want to be so darn independent and are still trying to communicate. She loves to get her groove on. We didn't have the video recorder on last night as she was shaking her booty to Lady Gaga's "Poker Face". Her new favorite phrase is "love him" or "I love him" in reference to any of her dolls, toys, "Fishy", etc. There's a quick update to the world of Sarah.

Happy Earth Day!

Kirk and Sarah show off their chalk art work at the front entrance of the house. Included is Darth Vader's star fighter (I know, I'm a dork)