Sparring

(To My Impatient Friends... =P )

So on my birthday, the boys decided that instead of "jumping rope," they would spar. It was pretty fun to watch.

I don't think anybody escaped without an injury that night, including those of us who didn't spar. I have a small scar on the side of my face from the night. haha! It was a fun time...

So, without further ado, here are the video clips you've been waiting for.
(Thanks to the Adams for some of the videos.)

Jumping Rope

When we had a few families over that are good friends of ours, and all the parents heard that the boys were "jumping rope" in the basement, this was not what they were expecting...

Our new home!

On our sidebar there is a little blurb about us. Part of it says:

Currently, we live in the suburbs in Northern Colorado. That will be
changing soon. Lord willing, we will be building a log cabin on some land,
debt-free, and closer to our church family in the very near future.
Meanwhile, we have to be out of our house in a matter of months, so we are
looking for a place to rent.

Well, we have found the place to rent and moved completely! We are now in Elizabeth, Colorado. It is a beautiful part of the state; half prairie, half trees. Where we are it is mostly prairie. We love the openness and still being able to see some of the mountains.

A Belated Happy Birthday

to Andrea Grace! I love you, Andrea! May God bless you even more in the coming year!)

Andrea turned SEVENTEEN on October 28th.

We had a party with some girls from our church and their families. Abby and Rachel share a birthday with Andrea. Daddy made a really neat tiered cake for them.

Hailey (whose birthday was the 26th) and her family were supposed to come, but were sick. =(
By the time we found out that they weren't going to be able to come, it was too late; Daddy had already piped Hailey's name on the cake. Abigail cried out,"Oh no! They can't come? Who is going to blow out Hailey's candles??" Haha...

                                                                          The Cake:

Fun at the Corn Maze

The month of October has been fairly busy for us. I don’t really even know why…
Anyway, I thought I’d update the blog with atleast one highlight.
Last weekend we invited the church all the way up to the corn maze, where we are selling apples, for a potluck. Even though "only" three families were able to come, there were over 30 kids in our group. =) We had a GREAT time. The weather was perfect, and there were so many fun things to do there.
As usual, the pictures tell the story:

I took these ones...

Some of the handsome boys.

Abby!

They have this box full of dried corn. Waaayyy more fun than a sand box!

However, as Becca Storrie and I learned the hard way a few weeks ago, you still get dirty. =)

Avery emerging.. and Mr. Searcy telling him he looks better under corn.

Luke, burried. Hahahaha.

Goin under.. these boys are way too much fun.

Cutie Aidan A. She reminds me of a Norman Rockwell painting.

Someone else getting burried...

Anna! and Abby! The pedal carts. The boys (and men...) loved these.


Elijah hanging out in our booth, and rating our products. =)

Andrea manning the booth.

Yummmmm.

Hahaha Mr. Adams and Mr. Searcy racing. Mr. Searcy took the inside corner and won. Click on this picture to enlarge it and look at their faces...

__________________

And Andrea took these...

Abigail and Emma!

Awww.

Pumping the water for the rubber duck race.
Abigail and Emma really got into that one!

Friends.

Avery, A.T, Sawyer

Sisters.

I love those girls!

This one, too.

And her, too.

My Aidan!


I guess the pictures don't tell the whole story- about all the fun, the memories, and the fellowship- but they do an okay job. =)

July and August Happenings: Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

So. These aren't really in chronological order, or any order for that matter. But, here we go!

First thing's first (obviously):

Birthdays!

We had Grandma and Grandpa over on Saturday to celebrate 3 birthdays:

Grandpa's- August 15th- He turned 79!

Allison's- August 16th- Her 14th! (That hasn't quite sunk in for me yet..)

Andrew T.'s - August 9th- He reached double digits; 10!

Grandma made her famous "Shrimp, Noodles, and Broccoli." It is a Fountain favorite.

The Birthday Trio

Allen and Grandpa
Aidan Boy

Grandpa appreciating Anna's drawing, complete with a note written in her cute, wobbly script.



Anna Banana

Laughing about the 10 lb fishing pole... or something. =]
____________________

Okay, this wasn't in July or August, but it still needed to be put up.

Annina hosted a book tea at their house (with one of the most beautiful views ever... I think that view is what made me appreciate the prairie and want to move there as opposed to the forrest.)

___________________

The Fourth of July in Thornton.

They've never had these guys drop down at night before! It was really cool.

______________________

Hanging out with the Kaisers

Andrea in her element.

This made me realize just how long her hair is. Beautiful!

Ethan terrorizing me with a chicken...

One of Daniel's cute puppies.

Sam making puppy smile (Ethan in the background getting into the barn with the puppies through the only entrance, unless you can figure out a broken combination lock.)

Allison thinking about walking off with him.

_______________________

Nathan Clark George Concert at the Fine's

It happened to be on Daddy's birthday and also Mr. Martinez's birthday.

Beautiful property!

They were so generous to host this.

Very talented! One of Andrea's favorite artists (second only to Josh Groban).

Some of the boys.

Avery, Peter, Trent, Brice, Luke

Seth Cohen!

I got to hog the baby for a bit.

Pretty Andrea!!

Sammy (I think?) Fine

caught with a messy face. =]

Wary of those who wanted his cake.

Haha I love this!

holding his fork, but not using it

sunset

______________________

Days at the Park
A few times after church some families have gotten together and played softball and volleyball, and sometimes basketball and ultimate frisbee. It's a very fun time of fellowship.

I still don't know what Jared's plan was here...

If you click on the picture you can see it enlarged.

Becky Martin

____________

The Fawn

One day while most of us were playing volleyball, some of the boys were in the nearby field of waist-high weeds playing with their airsoft guns. Out of the weeds came running this little fawn. I have never seen some of those boys run so fast. Pretty soon, Isaac Nabeta brought it down with a graceful diving grab. Apparently, "it's just like catching a goat!"

I can't believe we got to pet a baby deer!

At first, we thought it might die of fright, but it calmed down soon enough and we kept him long enough for each of us to pet him. What an experience!

Bradley.

He chased the fawn down, and Isaac is behind him.

Fun times!
We got mostly everyone in on this one.

Good thing Timmy has Anna's stuffed cat wrapped up in a blanket! =]

We let him go and later saw him walking with his mother and sibling.

We've gotten rained on a couple times (some times worse than others...) but the weather afterwards is always well worth it. I don't know how well this will show up, but there's a rainbow in this picture.

_________________________

Mr. Chapa's Retirement Ceremony

At the US Air Force Academy

Mr. Chapa happened to actually fly that very plane sitting there years ago.

We were fortunate enough to end up in Mr. Chapa's group for the tour. It was so fun getting to hear his experiences and getting know him in that way. He has such a neat story. It was also was also great hearing someone we knew explain everything.

And I love the picture above. I took it thinking it would come out looking cool because Mr. Chapa, a great leader, is in the foreground and the next generation of men is behind him... or something like that.

It looks pretty good at first glance, but then you look again and it's hilarious because every single one of the boys is doing something strange... haha =]

Awww...

Oh, Andrea and I got a new pocket sized Canon camera because a) I really wanted something to take some videos with, b)Andrea wanted a camera, and c) I didn't want to always have to carry around my camera bag full of lens and everything when I just want a simple picture. Anyway, it obviously doesn't zoom as well as my Rebel does, which is why I even thought of mentioning this in the first place.

"Aw," again.
Bradley and Anna.
She loves being held.

20 years, and he accomplished more than most men will in a lifetime in that occupation!

_______________________

Wow, I don't know if I'll ever do a blog with this many pictures again...

Guess I'll just have to keep up! =]