What's That Noise?

Lately Lily's language has just exploded. And her new favorite question is-

"What's that noise, mommy?"

I hear this multiple times a day- sometimes multiple times a minute.

She is VERY curious about noises- all noises.

But it really is adorable and every time she asks in her sweet little voice I am amazed at how she is speaking in full sentences.

I think I fall a little more in love with this girl every day.

City Park Pool

While there may not be an abundance of natural water resources in Colorado (you know oceans, lakes, rivers, etc...) there are plenty of other fun water sources (like pools, fountains, and even streams). We had a blast last weekend at the City Park Pool just a short bike ride from our apartment. The pool has tons of little water features (even a slide) for little ones. Lily must have gone down the slide 20 times easily (and even learned how to do it all by herself)! The girls also had a blast jumping off the side of the pool into their dad's arms (as you can see). I have to admit that I really wish we had a pool like this near our house- I guess I'll settle for the oceans and lakes!

New Family Picture

We needed to send an updated family picture to one of the churches that supports our ministry- so we (okay I) decided that we would take a new one while out in Colorado. Here's the results! And in just a few months there will be a little boy to add to the picture!

Which Tree?

Tree #1

Tree #2

Tree #3

Tree #4

Sometime this summer/fall I'm hoping to redo Lily's room a bit... take out the changing table/baby stuff, move some furniture around, get a frame for her bed, paint, and do some fun art on the walls. Currently her walls are light blue and I painted on them one sprawling green tree (pretty much exactly like the one in picture #3). Since I'm going to paint the whole room a simple white the green tree will get painted over (which is okay- it turned out a little too crooked anyway). I would like to paint a few trees around her room this time and I could use a little help deciding which kind of trees to paint. So, which trees do you think I should paint on Lily's walls? Ignore the colors if you can (since I'll likely come up with my own color scheme). I really am torn on this one- so please help! And yes, I have considered using vinyl clings- but have decided to paint. Let me know what you think in the poll off to the side!

Best Friends

The last 5 weeks or so we have been living across the hall from our good friends John & Kelly Kidd (who are also on staff with the Lifelines ministry- in Virginia). Their daughter, Libby, is 3 years old and over the last 5 weeks her and Lily have become inseperable. They see each other pretty much every day- often multiple times a day. Seventy five percent of the time they play together wonderfully and the other twenty five percent of the time they fight (mainly over sharing toys). Really, they act a lot like sisters. About a week into our time here Lily came up to me and said, "Mommy, I have a best friend." She was so happy and it literally brought tears to my eyes. You see, I have been totally blessed with a number of "best friends" over the years. I know how wonderful it is to have that one special friend- and to be that one special friend to someone else. And I want that for Lily more than you can imagine. Next week we will return home to Maine and Libby will return home to Virginia and I totally expect for Lily to ask for her hundreds of times in the following weeks. And I'm praying now that God would give her a best friend or two just a little closer to home.

Rocky Mountain National Park

After our morning/early afternoon at the Alleuvial Fan we spent the rest of the afternoon taking in the amazing sights as we drove up the high road to the Alpine Visitors Center in Rocky Mountain National Park. By this time the weather had turned rainy and overcast, but the mountains were still incredible (and Lily loved watching the storm come in). Lily also enjoyed watching for elk (which we did see a few)! We finished the day with dinner at the amazing BaldPate Inn (the place where Joe and I ate dinner 8 years ago on our first date)! What a perfect day!

Alleuvial Fan- Part 2

Throwing rocks into the stream

It's hard to keep this one on dry land!

After our morning hike to the top of the alleuvial fan we headed back down for a picnic lunch where we were greatly entertained by very friendly (and hungry) chipmunks. After lunch we walked back up to the base of the falls/stream and just spent some time there letting the girls play near (basically in) the water. They could have spent hours throwing stones in the water!

Alleuvial Fan

All of our little hikers

My guy and my girl

Kelly & Libby

The view near the top

Hiking down

Last Sunday we spent the day in Rocky Mountain National Park with our friends John & Kelly (and their little girl Libby). We spent most of the morning/early afternoon visiting the alleuvial fan. In the 1980's a flood created this beautiful landslide of boulders (creating an incredible scene for a little stream/waterfall). We hiked pretty much all the way to the top- not very far, but still a pretty good feat with two toddlers and two pregnant moms!:) I think I could have stayed all afternoon enjoying the view, climbing on the rocks, and of course taking pictures!

While I Take Pictures

As you can see I am more seriously trying to do photographs of other people/children/families. I have a long way to go and a lot to learn, but I am learning something each time. So, the more I photograph the more I learn and hopefully (ideally) the better I become. And along the way I hope to give these families a few good photographs! For the first time, while I was photographing the Hoskins Family, I had Lily with me (Joe was in class)! Thankfully she did wonderfully. It helped that she was entertained by food and Sarah's purse while I was taking pictures of the whole family and was later entertained by Steve and various combinations of their children while I did the rest of the pictures. I caught these couple of shots of what she was up to while I was taking pictures (as you can see it involved a lot of running). I just love the first one of my little girl on the go!

The Hoskins Family

I would like to introduce you to my friends- The Hoskins Family. Sarah was my best friend in high school. She was also the one who really first introduced me to Christ and brought me to the youth group where I would later become a Christian and start a real, personal relationship with God. In the years since we have been in each others weddings and have managed to stay in touch despite living (almost always) in different parts of the country. It just so happens, however, that Sarah and her family live in Fort Collins where we are training for 6 weeks this summer! I can't even tell you how wonderful it has been to be here with her and to experience a small piece of life with her and her family. I did a little photo shoot for them last week and had a blast taking pictures of her and her beautiful family. Now if only I could take them back to Maine with me!