Chris was Working HARD....

While I was in Ouray hanging out with my mom and a couple of friends, my hubby was hard at work on our downstairs. I've probably mentioned it before, but here's how it got started. Two and a half years ago, for our Valentine's Day gift to each other we decided to buy a gas fireplace for our downstairs TV room since our heat doesn't travel down there very well and it would be awesome to have a nice, romantic fireplace. We thought it was going to be a quick re-routing a gas pipe about a foot. However, Chris found mold all along the wall like that room had flooded and they just painted over it. So he quickly tore everything out and it sat, for about a year. About a year later, we had some company in town and he built the frame and hung part of the drywall. And then it sat, for another year and a half. And now he's finally working on it again! And he's going all out!

This is where the TV will be going. There's a bedroom on the other side of the wall and we used the very large closet for this and Chris is in the process of building another closet for the room.

Awesome new dimmable recessed lights.

Stage 2 of entertainment center and everything else

Stage 3

Stage 4 (This is probably where he was when we got home from our trip.)

After TONS of mudding and sanding, primer, texture, primer, and two coats of paint. (I'll be honest, I didn't help much. Only with almost one layer of priming. But I've been busy too taking care of Keira, the house, and working extra.)

It's not suggested to have hardwood in basements, so we were going to go with an engineered hardwood. But the dude at Floor & Decor showed us how easy it scratches so we were forced to go with laminate. But it actually looks pretty darn good! I helped a little with this part and Keira of course was very helpful!

The hard-worker!

Not too bad, right?

You have no idea how EXCITED I will be to have this room completed! At least one of the rooms (often both) in our downstairs has been unusable for the last FOUR years that we've lived here! I'm sooo excited that we'll be able to use them both! Our house will be 50% bigger and be updated!!!!! :o)

The 4th in Ouray

Keira and I had a fantastic six day trip to Ouray over the 4th of July. We really enjoyed visiting with my mom! Keira loves her Grandma and tried to be on her best behavior.

One of my friends from college was doing a three week workshop in Telluride and only had one day off during that time, the 4th. So I left good 'ol Ouray and spent the 4th of July in Telluride. I must say, it wasn't quite the same, although I'm sure I'm prejudice. It was really fun seeing David and going for a six mile walk and hike, although I was wearing flip flops. We went to Twin Falls (I think it's called) and it was beautiful!

David

I also got to see a couple of my friends from high school who I haven't seen in forever! This is Michelle and Tyson.

Tracy and Jake with their cute little girl Ashley.

I've probably known these girls since about preschool. Whew, that's a looooong time!

The Cutie was great on our trip!

Although I think my Mom thought she was a little wiggly.

She loves to stick her tongue out, and loves it when you stick yours out too!

It was a nice and relaxing vacation! I didn't have to work or clean or cook or mow, or do anything really! In fact, my mom often made my food while I was feeding Keira! I also learned (sorta) how to sew by hand. Thank goodness for sewing machines! I can't imagine how anything was ever made without one. Although I've only used one twice now. So thank goodness for specialization of labor. But I would love to sew more!

Keira, Jason, and I went on a nice little walk/hike to Cascade Falls. I remember the hike so much longer and the falls so much bigger!

Keira was being so cute and since we were the only ones up there we had a little photo shoot to make sure we got a good mommy/baby shot. :o)

Keira realized how much fun it is to open and close doors.

We had a fabulous trip but we were actually HAPPY to be home! Because while we were vacationing, Chris was working hard.....

Keira's 10 Month Photo Shoot

On June 29th Keira had her 10 Month photo shoot at Target. It was a very NEW girl but the pictures turned out pretty cute!

My Favorite!

Laurie thinks she looks really cute and chubby here.

I looked at this one and thought what a little grump my baby girl looks like. But then Laurie said how cute it is because this is how she looks almost every time I lay her down to change her diaper or get her dressed.

Keira's "Ahhhhhh"

My Second Favorite!

Life is Even Sweeter!

Keira usually hangs out with me on a blanket (if I'm lucky) on the lawn while I mow. Today when I waved at her from across the yard she waved back! My heart melted! <3>

I have been working at six different emergency departments in the Denver area and have found two hospitals I love working at!

#1. Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville. It's a bit of a long drive, about 45 minutes, close to where Chris works, which means I'm gone for at least fourteen hours, but I LOVE working there! It's a smaller ED and not very busy. I actually have time to take GREAT care of my patients and usually get them what they need or want in a timely fashion. I love it! Most everybody is very friendly, even to us float nurses. A lot of the staff is very athletic doing triathlons and even 100 mile running races. And I've worked two night shifts where we didn't have ANY patients for at least TWO HOURS! I can check my e-mail or blogs or internet stuff AT WORK! I love it!

#2. St. Anthony Central. The best trauma center in Denver. I've been working there every now and then since December, and I love it! It's busy with high acuity patients but always well staffed and great teamwork! Now if only we could find a way to afford me to only work PRN at these two places, without working more shifts, it would make leaving my baby girl a LITTLE easier and I would be MUCH happier at work!

Ten Months!

I say it every month I think, I can't believe another month has flown by! Keira is sooooooo much fun! She is my little best friend! She usually follows me everywhere, crawling after me. Sometimes even fussing for a few seconds when she sees me leave. She is usually so happy, but gets fussy if she's hungry or tired, and maybe teething. She's eating much better and will eat most everything we give her. She loves finger foods. She's now nursing three times a day and I give her a bottle at night. She usually takes two naps a day, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half when I'm lucky. ;-) She's been great about going down for naps and to bed. It's really cute though. She likes to fight being tired and tries to crawl or stand up in her crib but just collapses down, sometimes several times, and finally falls asleep. She usually wakes up happy too, just talking to herself and looking out to see when someone will rescue her. She's getting better at playing with her toys to keep herself occupied. Right now she loves a photo book with family pictures in it, a little pig toy that makes noises and moves, and others. And of course, she likes anything that's not a toy. She's as curious as can be and notices anything new. She LOVES Jason, Kena (unfortunately for the cat since she doesn't have near the patience Jason has), being outdoors, bike rides, and going for walks. I put her on a blanket while I mow the lawns and she has so much fun playing with her toys and learning about the grass and other yard stuff. However, this last time she got a little more adventurous and decided to taste mud. I didn't even have to trick her into it by pretending it was chocolate pudding, like I did with my sister when we were little. I'm pretty sure I was more disturbed by her eating mud than she was.

Keira has her two bottom teeth with no obvious signs of others yet. Her hair is starting to get longer but it's hard to tell what color it's going to be. Sometimes it looks blond, red, or brown. It's also hard to tell what color her eyes are going to be, some people say hazel, some green, and others blue. Only time will tell. She looks like she might be starting to get a little chubbier which would be reassuring to me since we recently weighed her on our scale and she only weighed 17.5 pounds. Hopefully that's inaccurate. I worry that I'm not making enough milk for her. But she seems happy and healthy. I'm afraid she has my skin, pale with freckles as she has several freckles already. However, I'm sure it will look SUPER CUTE on her!

Keira LOVES her Dada! That's all she says now. She totally forgot how to say Mama. And when I remind her how to say it, she says "Dada." She also loves to be around him! She reaches for him and wants him to hold her.

Keira is now climbing up stairs! We had never tried before and Chris decided to put her down to see what happened. With the first few she needed a little help, but caught on quickly!

She is pretty opionionated and she'll let you know what she wants. She loves to be carried as long as I'm moving. If we stop or sit down she wants to be put down so that she can continue to move and explore. It's getting a lot harder to keep her on my lap in church, she is very squirmy and strong. She hates it when I take something away of if I find the surprise she put in her mouth (paper, mini apples or rocks from the yard). She still dislikes it when I change or dress her. It's just too much laying down for the girl. She's becoming more dependent on her pacifier. Pretty much if she's upset, she feels like she needs a pacifier to soothe her and will start trying to suck to let me know. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about tossing the pacis at 12 months, it's better than a thumb. She's exploring her voice with screams and screeches (usually happy) which is very inconvenient in church or in public. I have enjoyed all of the challenges and pleasures each stage brings and look forward to so many more.

I just can't believe how fast they grow and change. I love and am so very thankful for everyday I get to spend with my cute baby girl!

Part 2: Salt Lake City

From El Paso, we flew to Salt Lake City to visit Chris' cousins Mike and Megan. I took Dramamine before the flight and that seemed to help a lot, not to mention it wasn't as turbulant.

We enjoyed each other's company in the back seat and made faces at each other. :o) Keira did great and slept at least half of the five hour flight.
Mike and Megan took us golfing on our first night there. I guess it wasn't really golfing, I can't remember what it's called but we stayed in one place the entire time and just hit balls. It was both of our first time. Chris of course picked it up right away. It was actually more fun than I thought it would be!

Mike is really good and was a good instructor. Look at that follow through!
Megan and I took turns swinging and watching Keira. Mike and Megan are expecting a baby boy in September.
Beautiful view of the Salt Lake valley from the golf course. They live in Holladay, which was beautiful.
Keira was fussy for a couple of days, mostly in El Paso, and a couple of days later we realized why, she got her second tooth!
Our family in front of the magnificent Salt Lake Temple. One day.......


I had heard so much about Cafe Rio, mostly from cousins in California probably. And we finally experienced it in Salt Lake. And since there is one here in Denver, we didn't waste any time and checked it out on our way home from the airport. YUMMY!!!!!!