Month: July 2008

Another day has come and (almost) gone. So far everyone is still doing great! Lauren got up and out of bed a few times today. She even took a shower!

Here are a few new pics for you to enjoy:

Annika Nalani Manning was born this morning at 7:58 AM.  She was born at 6 lbs 6 oz and 20.5 inches long.  We are very excited to have her as part of our family!

 

 

Tomorrow is the big day! We’ll post pictures from the hospital so you can see our little addition. We can’t wait to meet her!!! I think she’s anxious to get out too as she’s been overly-restless today. 

Here’s one final belly picture…

Take a good look folks, this is probably the last time you’ll see me pregnant! 

Every summer in the next town over from us (10 min away), they have a festival/fair type celebration; complete with parade, food, jalapeno eating contests, clowns, face painting and fun things for the kids to do. We’ve been looking forward to it for a while since just about the whole towns of Eagle and Gypsum come and enjoy the fun! It was really, REALLY hot with no breeze, which made things a little more difficult but we still had a great time nonetheless!

The parade was the first event…the kids took a few minutes to catch on that they could go and get the candy that was being thrown from the floats passing by…

I don’t know what this doggies was supposed to be, but he was cute!

This was Ammon’s favorite part of the parade!

Some pretty flowers

This was my favorite part! The theme of the parade was Once Upon a Time…

Kevin’s favorite part of the parade! Especially after yesterday at the firestation!

I forget what this group was called, but I thought they looked great!

 

This old car had one of those great old horns that said, A-ooooooooo-ga!

Peter Pan, Captain Hook and the other guy

I call her “rubber-girl”! She was going some amazing stunts. 

This group was playing a “STOMP” style melody and they were really good!

I wish I’d gotten a photo of the end of the parade. The fire trucks turned their hoses on us and soaked everybody! It was a refreshing treat after sitting in the sun for an hour!

Free balloons=happy kids…well, until they take the balloon off their wrist and it flies away

Kevin loves anything that flies, but wasn’t so sure about the noise of the helicopter when it flew over the parade as low as possible….he loved sitting in it though!

You can see the kids and Ammon sitting inside

Here’s the front view…

Here’s Tasha, all buckled and ready to fly

They had an old car exhibit..here’s Ammon’s dream!

He liked this one too

We like the red ones, can you tell?

Waiting in line to go through a blow up thingy

Kevin watching in awe as this cowgirl made him a balloon bunny

Free face painting!

Our beautiful pink butterfly

Our spider-boy posing

Bouncing fun!

Bye-bye helicopter

Our happy boy, despite it being 90 and having spent hours in the sun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since I’m kind of past the camping stage of my pregnancy, we figured the next best thing would be to go up into the mountains and roast hot dogs and do smores. It was a little stormy on the way up, but we perservered and ended up with beautiful weather. The whole drive up, both sides of the trail were fields of wildflowers (which my dumb camera does not do justice to). We found a nice little spot overlooking some majestic peaks and had our little dinner. Kevin and Tasha roasted their own marshmallows with very little help from us. Tasha and I picked a bouquet of flowers to enjoy at home. 

The field was covered in purple, blue and white flowers

Our souvenir!

 

On Friday, for something different to do, I took the kids to the local firestation. Kevin, like most little boys loves firetrucks, so I thought we could meet the firefighters and look at the trucks. I had no idea that we’d end up spending an hour there! The Fireman Chris told us all about the truck and the different equipment, showed us where the firefighters sleep, had another firefighter slide down the pole for us and…..took us for a RIDE ON THE TRUCK!!!! It was so fun and the kids had a blast. I think I had as much fun as they did. 

Fireman Chris and Fireman Lee, our hosts

Tasha, trying to figure out where the firefighter came from

Tasha and Kevin chillin in the truck

Trying out the radio, fire trucks are LOUD!

Riding on the big truck through the neighborhood

 

 

 

 

 

Almost everyday, we go to the park next door and the kids play while I watch/help. We often take bubbles and they have fun blowing them over and over and over. I practically have to drag them back home. Kevin has just recently learned how to blow bubbles and is thrilled with his new skill….

Kevin doing his thing

All that bubble-blowing wears a kid out. Gotta sit and blow them now

Tasha’s turn

Friday evening we went to Vail with some friends of ours. During the summer, the Vail ski resort has free gondola rides in the evenings and entertainment and free lawn games at the top. We decided it would be a fun little family outing. The views from the gondola were AWESOME! Too bad it was hazy that day….oh well, it was still fun. I wish you could clearly see the incredible valleys at the top too. You’ll just have to use your imagination!

The view below

The ski hill we were travelling up

The kids going on the gondola ride up. They thought it was pretty cool. Too bad Tasha’s the only one who looks good in this pic!

Some cute couple we found at the top! 😉

 

Tonight we’re going for a little family outing in Vail. They have free gondola rides up the mountain and music at the top. We’re going to do a little picnic as well since we won’t have time to eat before we leave. Tasha kept asking me for something to do this afternoon, so I thought it would be a good chance for her to learn how to make sandwiches. She was thrilled at the opportunity and did a great job! You can see the pride on her face. How to make a mother’s heart melt!

(my camera focused on the sandwich and not her…grrrrrr…. oh well)

Here are the pics of the new place….

Can I say that I LOVE my kitchen!? The gas stove is amazing and everything is so shiny and clean. Now to keep it that way…..

This is the view from the kitchen (you’re looking through the dining area to the family room)

This is the dining area

Family room…we don’t really have enough furniture to make this room what it could be, but hey we’re still loving it

Guest powder-room

Here’s Kevin doing laundry….ha! I wish! =)

Tasha and Kevin’s room

Annika’s room….as you can tell, we haven’t done much here…she’ll be in our room for a few months

Here’s Kevin posing on our bed….you can sorta see the mountains in the background. There is the greatest view from our bedroom and family room windows! Our bedroom is still not unpacked, so no picture of the whole thing…sorry!

The master bath. I love having our own sinks!

Playroom….sigh of relief for Mom

Here’s the….well…I think it’s technically the back, but the front seems more like the back…..

We were so excited that the back (well, technically the front) is all grass. Perfect for the munchkins.

 

There ya have it!