Trip to Kansas

March 8th-13th, 2012

Keira and I were so happy to have the chance to go to Kansas for several days while my good friend Mariana was on her spring break from med school.  We got to fly there so we could spend an extra couple of days with them.  It was sooo much fun to be out there and see them again.  Todd was out of town so Mari and I had lots of girl time together.  Her boys Gabriel, almost three, and Nicolas, 15 months, had grown so much since the last time we saw them in July.  It was so cute seeing Keira and Gabriel play together and it was like they had never been apart from each other.  Mariana and I even got out for a movie night by ourselves (I can't remember what we watched) and a trip to Trader Joe's!  It was wonderful!  Of course I totally stocked up, almost an entire suitcase just for food!  I just need to wait a couple more years, and Trader Joe's will be in the Denver area!

Bath time is always so much fun with friends and new toys!

 You know my belly is getting big when it's used as a pillow!

 We played at the park.

 Watched a couple of new cartoons and a movie.

 We took the kids to the Community Center.  It was really awesome!  They have a free indoor play area for the kids.

 Todd's Mom, Ginger, took Keira, Gabriel, and I to downtown Kansas City, MO to check out some of the waterfalls and other sights.  It was really pretty, and even more so in the summer I'm sure.

Smiles

End of February

Keira loves singing!  Here's a short video of her singing "Smiles."  She also knows how to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," "I am a Child of God", the "ABCs",  "Once There was a Snowman", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider:"  She has such a cute voice and an amazing memory for songs.  I LOVE it!!

Numbers

Counting in February.

February Review

Here are a couple of pics of our review of February.

Keira loves playing in the snow.  Here's her first snow angel.

She also loves visiting Daddy at work (volunteering at the FD) and sitting in the fire truck.  She especially loved this day because the fire fighters gave her this bunny, Flopsy, which is still to this day one of her favorite, if not her favorite stuffed animal.

And that's all you get because I can't remember anything else about February.  :o)

Downtown Aquarium

February 27th, 2012

We had a really fun day visiting the Downtown Aquarium so I wanted to post some pictures.  Chris and I had been there many years ago.  Keira really enjoyed it, although she did start to get a little tired.  It made me want to go to the ocean even more!

Too bad the family pic didn't turn out better.

At the end they let you pet the stingrays which was cool.  Keira didn't really have much of a chance but she sure had fun reaching for them.

We rarely go out to eat but really made this a day and ate at the Aquarium.  It was quite delicious and it was wonderful watching the fish and sharks swim by while we ate!

Chris' New Bunker Gear

January 29th, 2012

An update on Chris.  

He is still volunteering with Arvada Fire Department and things are going well.  They just bought him all new bunker gear which is very exciting!  They're also going to be putting him through an FI (field instruction) program where they train him to be paramedic volunteer.  In the past volunteer paramedics could only work as EMTs.  So we're excited about that!

May 10, 2012 Update:
Chris is still in the training program and has a couple more weeks to go.  It's been pretty time consuming.  He volunteers a 24 hour shift every week, and sometimes two shifts in a week.  This of course is on top of working 36 hours one week and 48 the next at his paramedic job with AMR.  We'll all be glad when the training is over.  At that point, if he passes he will almost definitely be hired next October.  And if not, then he'll also be done volunteering with Arvada.  So keep him in your prayers!

Awesome Winter Hike

January 23rd, 2012

It was a beautiful late January day so we decided to go for a hike and it was soooo much fun!  Keira loved climbing on the rocks and walking through the snow (although there isn't any snow in these pictures).  Daddy was very proud of his little climber.