NoCo News

Thanksgiving

2011-11-26T13:13:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to go up to the mountains and spend a few days in Breckenridge, CO. It is only 2 hours from our house but we hadn't been up there yet. We had Thanksgiving dinner a day early on Wednesday and then headed out on Thursday morning.
As soon as we arrived we strapped on some skates to go ice skating. They tried to rent Kyle some skates with toe picks, which hurt his Canadian pride. He had to ask specifically for 'hockey' skates. He insists he doesn't look like a figure skater...
This was the first time skating for Brooklyn and only the second time for the big girls but they all did great and had a fun time.
These sisters are so cute together.

Of course, hot chocolate is a necessity when skating.

Our hotel had a staircase in it with a loft up top. The girls thought it was the coolest to have stairs in a hotel room.
After skating we explored the town. It has a really cute main street with shops and restaurants. The ski hill is right beside town. You can see it behind us in this picture.

The next day we went swimming, shopping and eating. We had a little trouble with some altitude sickness as Breckenridge is at 9600 feet but other than that, had a really great Thanksgiving. weekend.

Italy 2011!!

2011-11-22T12:12:00.000-08:00

In September we were fortunate enough to be able to go to Italy with our good friends and Europe buddies Quinn and Mekell Lybbert. I am late blogging about this trip because I have been waiting for their pictures to add to mine but I decided to blog a little now and a little later. We left Denver at 11:00 am, arrived in Rome at 9:30 the next morning, met each other, picked up the car and got right to sightseeing. Quinn was our brave chauffeur and got us safely through Rome to our hotel.Our first stop was the Colosseum. We were part of a tour that gave us the history of the building.

After the Colosseum we walked around the Roman Forum and other ruins. This was the political, spiritual and economic center of Ancient Rome with temples, government buildings and shops. I am standing in the house of the vestal virgins with the temple of the vestal virgins behind me.

It is now a tradition that when on a trip with the Lybberts we do a segway tour. This is a great way to cover a lot of ground and get an overview of a city, not to mention it is FUN!
Overlooking the forum.
Behind Kyle is Trajan's forum which is essentially a shopping mall.
The next day we started at the Vatican. Mekell had set up a private tour for us so we had a guide all to ourselves. This is the ceiling of the gallery leading up to the Sistene Chapel.
I am looking up in to the dome of St. Peter's Basilica.
This is the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica.

After the Vatican tour, some lunch and one of our two daily gelatos, our next stop was the Pantheon.
Here is a view from the top of the Spanish steps. It was very busy that day. We climbed to the top and had a rest people watching.
The next day we began our drive to Siena. Kyle insisted that we stop in this little town called Civita. I have to admit that at first I was a little grumpy about it. I thought that we were running around seeing too many places and I just wanted to get to Siena. Once arriving though, I had to eat my words. Civita was amazing. Just look at it. You cannot drive to it. The only way to get to it is to walk across a pedestrian bridge.

Once we got to the town it was picture perfect. Every street was like a postcard.
This wall was part of a building but the other side is now nothing as the rest of the building fell off the cliff.

We wondered around enjoying this treasure we found and then we had a wonderful lunch in a small cave-like restaurant.
After our wonderful Civita experience came our trial. On our way to Siena our car broke down. We were on the busy highway and didn't know what to do. Mekell made dozens of calls trying to get us to Siena and get us another car. Nobody seemed to speak any English and everyone we talked to would tell us to call someone else.
Some police came up behind us and they called a tow-truck. The tow-truck operator did not speak one word of English. He had us get in the car on top of the truck bed and started driving. We had no idea where he was taking us. We finally stopped in some small town where he had his shop and ended up sitting there, calling more people for a couple of hour until finally he called us a taxi who took us into Siena.
By the time we arrived in Siena it was dark. We were not able to go in the church as it was closed.
We walked around a little and had a nice dinner. Siena is a beautiful city. I guess I will need to return to Italy so I can see it in the daylight.
This is from our hotel window. The bells in the tower were my wake-up call. (Best way to wake up).
After going to the Florence airport and getting another car (it sounds easier than it was), we began a tour of Tuscan towns. Our first stop was San Gamignano. Fourteen years ago Mekell and I saw this town on our European tour and we said then that we wanted to bring our husbands back one day. Little did we know that we actually would and that we would do it together.

Next was Volterra. Anyone Twilight fans?
We stayed at a pretty villa in the countryside close to the town of Lucca.
After we checked in we went in to Lucca and drove this cart along the top of the walls that surround the whole town.
Cathedral in Lucca
The gardens of our hotel.

Next we were on to the Cinque Terre. These are 5 small remote towns that hang on cliffs overlooking the Mediterranean.
We stayed in the northern most village called Monterosso Al Mare. The villages are connected with a path that you can hike. We hiked from Monterooso Al Mare to Vernazza. It took a couple of hours but was well worth it. This is the view coming in to Vernazza.
Sadly, a couple of weeks after we were there the region had torrential rains and mud slides. Monterosso and Vernazza were hit the hardest. Most of the two villages were covered in mud, rocks and debris. We hope the people there can rebuild their lives and their beautiful villages.
After lunch in Vernazza we took a boat to the southern most village of Riomaggiore. This is what one of the villages looks like from the water.
From Riomaggiore we took the path back one village to Manorola. This path is the easiest and is called the Via d'Amore as it is a beautiful and romantic stroll.
I loved this scene of the old Italian grandpas sitting on a bench shooting the breeze.

The Cinque Terre is a unique and beautiful place. Definitely need to return here.
On to Bologna we went. Bologna has miles of covered porticos. Some are more plain and some are ornate.
Bologna is considered the culinary center of Italy. We took a cooking course where we made three different kinds of fresh pasta and then sat down to feast on what we made. We were in the home of Italians making their family recipes. It was a great experience and the food was amazing.
We made tortelloni, tortellini and fettuccini which they call tagliatelle in Bologna.
Luciana was our teacher. We grew to love her in the few hours we were together.
Next day, Venice!
We all loved Venice. It is so different than any other city we have been to.
Of course, you can't go to Venice without going on a gondola ride.
Rialto bridge from the Grande Canal.

St. Mark's cathedral.
We took a tour of the Doge's Palace. The Doge was the ruler of Venice.
This was part of the palace.
In the lagoon by Venice there are a few islands. We went to two of them. Murano is famous for glass blowing and we saw a short glass blowing demonstration. Then we went to Burano and fell in love.
Burano is famous for lace making. It was a small fishing village. All the houses were brightly painted for the men could see their houses from the lagoon.

On our return trip to Rome we decided to take a detour to San Marino. This is an independent city state inside of Italy. It was a gorgeous drive to this city on the top of a hill. There are three castles there and we explored them all.

I am looking at the third castle from the second.
Italy was absolutely amazing. We had such a wonderful time and are very grateful that we had the opportunity to go and wonderful friends to go with.

Fall Fun and Festivities

2011-10-30T13:19:00.000-07:00

October was a busy month with concerts, birthdays, fall activities and Halloween. Here is a rundown of our month. It started with Mia eating grilled cheese dipped in ketchup. I think that she thought the ketchup was to dip herself in. She smelled so gross.
Ellie had her fifth grade concert. They did Aesop's fables. She had a speaking part and did a great job. It was a fun concert.

One Saturday we went to a farm and pumpkin patch as is tradition for many. It is always fun and makes for cute pics.

They advertised pony rides. We were disappointed when we realized being pulled behind a miniature pony was what they meant. The kids still had fun.

If you are noticing that Ellie is missing from these pics, she stayed home. The teenager attitude has already kicked in and she decided that she was too cool to go to a pumpkin patch with her family.
We had some friends over for the annual pumpkin carving family home evening.

Ellie turned 11 this year. For her party we ordered pizza, went swimming and had a sleepover. The kids had fun and the parents survived. A success in my book.
One of the presents from her parents was this engraved jewelry box.
Halloween. Cowgirl
Zombie fairy
Cleopatra
Little red riding hood. (She has a rug-burn on her face from a face-plant a few days earlier.)
The girls have been asking me to dress up for the last couple of years so I decided to join the fun this year.

Emma's baptism

2011-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

This weekend was Emma's baptism. It is crazy that she is old enough to be getting baptized. How did that happen?Before we went to the church we presented her with a few gifts: scriptures and case from Gr and Gr Sherwood, baptism bracelet from aunt Binny, necklace and baptism book from Gr and Gr Lambert and jewelry box and baptism necklace from mom and dad.
None of the Sherwood side was able to come but they sent us some videos of them singing songs. One was from the cousins and one was from Grandpa.

We had a ward baptism so there were two other children from Emma's baptism class getting baptized at the same time; Anna and Caeden.
Grandma and Grandpa Lambert were able to come be with us for this special day which was wonderful. Because we didn't have much family there we didn't have a big dinner afterwards. Instead we went to Chili's. Emma was just as happy with her cheese quesadilla and chocolate molten lava cake and mom didn't have any dishes to do.

Summer in Canada

2011-08-09T12:00:00.001-07:00

We had a fabulous month of July in Canada. It was so good to hang out with cousins and do things that we only do in the north country. We always have a list of activities (Writing on Stone, Waterton, climbing wall, etc. but just as important, and maybe even more so, is our list of food. Chinese, KFC, slurpees and chocolate bars top the list as all are better in Canada. It was nice to be there for the whole month as we didn't feel so rushed and we could just enjoy our time there.

Here are some of the girl cousins after I took them all to get their toes painted.
We went to a farm to pick strawberries. They were small but sweet. After we picked them we went back to grandma's and dipped some in chocolate.

One of the Canadian traditions is to have a family talent show organized and put on by the children. Because we were there for a month, we had two talent shows this time. The highlight of the show is always grandpa whether he sings, whistles, plays the harmonica or leads us all in the Hawaiian war chant with his ukulele.
Here Emma is playing a duet with Binny for the talent show. We had a range of talent including dancing, singing, playing the piano, magic shows, juggling, jumping on one foot, plays and art work.
The university of Lethbridge has a climbing wall and Matthew and Joshua took a course to be belayers so that we could go climbing. This is the first of two times we went to the wall.

Auntie Sammy took Ellie and Emma camping for a couple of days and to a wonderful firework show called Thunder in the Valley. They had a fabulous time. Thanks Sammy.

Because we were in Canada for the whole month we put the big girls in some lessons to keep them busy. They took tennis and golf lessons and had a great time.
Writing on Stone is Ellie's favorite place on earth. It has Hoodoos which are rock formations that have been carved by the wind. You are allowed to climb all over them and explore.

We spent some time with the Lamberts in Vulcan. The every tinkering Grandpa made this rickshaw for the kiddies.

We went to a train museum in Nanton where we rode on a little train and looked at the model train village.
Grandma snuggling with the grandbabies in the morning
Brookie has been asking for months to ride a real horse so on our way up to Waterton we stopped and rode some. She was all smiles from the beginning and we could not get her off.

In Waterton we hiked bear's hump. All the kids did great. Even the three year olds.

This is the view of the lake and the town from the top of Bear's hump.
The morning we left Canada Kyle, Ellie, Emma and I participated in the Milk River Bonanza Days 5k run. Kyle got second and I got third. Ellie and Emma did great. I was so proud of how hard they worked.

ahhhh to be rich

2011-04-20T12:04:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to the Rockies game with some friends of ours. Now I've been to professional sporting events before, but never like this. The friends that we went with work for Comfort Dental which is a major sponsor for the Rockies. Dentist who are part of their organization take turns having the corporate tickets for the games and we were able to score an invite to go along.

After parking in the VIP parking lot we entered a private door and went up an elevator to the club seating. There was an all you could eat buffet with all sorts of wonderful food like pork tenderloin and halibut filets. After we stuffed ourselves silly we went out to the game where we sat RIGHT behind home plate and RIGHT beside the dug out. It was so exciting to be so close to the players. Mandy just leaned over and asked Dexter for a ball.

Even though we were already hurting from eating so much, they kept on feeding us. All throughout the game people came around asking us what we would like to order. There were hot dogs, sliders, nachos, popcorn, ice cream and anything else you could want. During the sixth inning they started passing out warm cookies. It was crazy. The Rockies lost by the way, but who cares with an experience like that!

The girls are decorating Easter cookies.Things got a little messy but yummy.

So many things...

2011-03-23T15:59:00.000-07:00

I figured it was time to blog again since it has been a while. My parents came to visit us for our Spring break. One of the fun things we did together besides eat alot, was go to the children's museum in Denver. The kids had a great time. Here they are being vets.

Our little artists

There was a bubble display where you could make bubbles and even go inside one.

Brookie is the checkout girl at the groccery store.

Snuggles with Grandpa

I came downstairs one day to find the babies in laundry baskets being dragged around. It was very cute and they were having a great time.

Brookie's third birthday was in February and this fishing rod was one of her presents. It kept her busy for hours. She didn't catch anything, she would just release it over the railing and then reel it back in.

Her very own pillow pet was another present. I think his name is Red.

New dress up clothes

This is the face of victory when your parents cave. Our kids have been begging for a pet for years and we finally gave in.

Meet Coke, our dwarf hampster.

We'll see how long the excitment and promised cage cleanings last.

ooshie fairy

2011-01-10T11:51:00.001-08:00

I thought it was going to be impossible. I didn't know how we were possibly going to do it. I had heard other parents tell their stories but I didn't believe it would actually happen to me (or at least without many hours of crying and misery). I am talking about the rite of passage of giving up the pacifier, or in our case, the ooshie. Brooklyn is 2 1/2 and we knew that she needed to move on but I didn't know how to help her. My two older girls didn't take a pacifier so I had no former experience of which to draw upon.

Luckily, Auntie Sammy to the rescue.

My sister Sam told me to have Brookie give them to the ooshie Fairy and the Fairy leaves something in return. At first Brooklyn wanted the present left by the Fairy but didn't want to give away her ooshies. I thought the idea was cut but obviously not going to work this time. Then, the other day she came up to me and said that she wanted to give her ooshies to the Fairy. So... we packed them up and left them on our porch for the Fairy.

Low and behold there was a present waiting for Brookie. Meet Freckle.

That night she cried a little and she has asked where her ooshies are a few times but, all in all, it has been much easier than I expected. Thanks Sam.

Halloween Weekend

2010-10-31T19:01:00.000-07:00

We began our Halloween weekend with a costume parade and Halloween parties at school on Friday. Friday was Ellie's actual 10th birthday so after school we began her spa party. We decorated the basement to look like a spa by placing candles all over, dimming the lights and covering the sofas with white sheets. Soft spa music was playing. As each girl entered the spa she was given instructions and a welcome by Emma and then given a towel, face cloth and head band to keep her hair back.

One of the stations was making bath salts with different colored pepperment scented bath salts.

The finished product.

Fingers and toes were also beautified.

Face masks were applied. The girls came out with glowing skin after some relax time in the toy room.

Brookie was in heaven surrounded by the big girls and getting georgeous. She is such a girlie girl. I can't paint her toes often enough.

There was also a hair styling station.

After the girls were relaxed and beautiful we had cake, presents, popcorn and a movie and then a sleep over. It turned out to be a great party.

The next day was trunk-or-treating at the ward party and Sunday, of course, was the actual Halloween. Ellie was a pirate and Brookie was a flamenco dancer.

We picked up this costume while in Spain so it is authentic.

Emma was a beautiful genie.

Mia was going to be a puppy (leftover costume from three other girls before her) but she was feeling under the weather so she never got to use it. I'm sure she won't be too broken up over it.

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Number seven

2010-09-29T08:07:00.001-07:00

Emma is officially seven years old going on 25. She is full of fun and energy and adds excitment to our family. These are some of the presents she received for her birthday. For her party we went to Lollilocks which is a hair salon designed for kids.

The party was a spa theme. Everyone got their hair done, their toes and fingers painted and tattoos.

I think Brookie liked it the best. She loves getting beautiful.

They also made lip gloss, ate cupcakes and sang kareoke.

Everyone looked georgeous by the end.

This is a pic from Vegas that I forgot to post last time. I guess we tired her out.

The girls had their first piano recital. There were alot of people there watching and they both did fabulous!!

Vegas

2010-09-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

Ellie and her friend had a hair salon. These are the beautiful doos they gave Brookie and me. We were able to go to Vegas for a long weekend. After we got there we went to the Hoover dam to check it out.

After that went to the Paris hotel to look around. My dad and uncle were in town for a business convention so we hooked up with them for dinner.

Ellie has her dad promising to take her to Paris for her sixteenth birthday so she was very excited to get this preview and stand under the Eiffel Tower. She was even wearing her favorite Paris shirt.

We met up with our fabulous dental school friends Rob and Ashley who we haven't seen for 2 1/2 years and we met their little girl Taylor. It was so fun to see them again. It felt like we have never been apart.

This is one of the gorgeous hotel lobbies.

The fountain shows at the Bellagio was one of our favorite sites. We watched it three times.

Brookie and Taylor became fast friends. It was cute to watch them together.

Family photo opportunity in front of a waterfall.

The Venetian hotel was also a favorite. Our authentic Italian gondalier sang to us and gave us a great ride.

I forgot to mention that we are minus a child in all the pics. Grandma and Grandpa Lambert ended up staying at our house for Grandpa to get surgery on his arm (Canadian healthcare would have had him waiting over a year). They graciously offered to take Mia and we accepted. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!

School begins

2010-08-25T14:33:00.001-07:00

It is hard to believe that another summer is gone and another school year is beginning. We had a fun summer playing in the sun with friends, visiting family and having family visit us. Now it is back to work. Here is the C.E.O of the family taking a break from giving orders. We got a tramp this year and it is great for the hair.

Here are the first day of school pictures. Emma started grade one and is now gone for the full day. She likes her teacher and has already made some new friends in her class.

Ellie is entering the fourth grade. She is growing up so fast. She was excited because she got the teacher she was hoping for and wants to be on the student counsil this year.

Last weekend we thought that it was pretty pathetic that the summer was almost over and we hadn't been to Estes Park yet so we strapped the kids on our backs and went for a little hike.

Cooling off with some icecream and a foot bath.

August also brought our Mia's first birthday. We were fortunate to have Kyle's sister and her family with us to celebrate.

Mia is just barely starting to walk. She is in to everything, however, and is starting to bug Brooklyn by getting into everything Brooklyn is playing with. She has a big smile with three teeth and loves to play. We have enjoyed this year with her and look forward to watching her grow.

We love cousins

2010-07-03T09:51:00.000-07:00

This last week we were excited to have Josh, Traci, Taylor, Nathan and Drew come to visit from Canada. We love seeing family and the cousins had a great time together. But before I tell you about their visit there are a few other things I need to show first, like how adorable Mia looks while sleeping. I love the arms behind the head with the tiny elbows sticking out. Here are the kids with Daddy on Father's day just after we took him out for lunch and gave him his cards and presents.

Here are the cute cousins Brookie, Nathan and Drew. Some of the fun activities we did while they were here include swimming, parks, jumpin' (astro jump place), concert in the park, drive-in movie and going out to eat (of course).

On Monday we went to get a trampoline while we had Josh here to help us put it together. (Thanks Josh). Of course the box was just as fun as the tramp. The kids decorated it and then used it as a club house complete with mailbox and window boxes with flowers.

Kids waiting for the tramp to finally be finished.

I was very lucky to have extended family here for my birthday as usually we are apart. Josh took the little kids while Traci and I had a girls day out with Ellie, Emma and Taylor. We got pedicures but, of course, I forgot my camera. Here are the finished products.

After we got out toes done we went for smoothies. Then later that day we all went out for dinner. It was a great birthday.

The kids decided they wanted to sleep on the tramp. Josh was kind enough to go with them. All was well until 4:00am when the sprinklers went on in the green strip just outside our yard and got everyone wet. They made a mad dash into the house trying to get all the blankets and pillows off the tramp. Fun memories!

Thanks for a great week Sherwoods. We are looking forward to coming up to Canada soon.

Broken Camera

2010-06-12T10:47:00.001-07:00

Well, our old camera finally broke. It was the first digital camera we got about seven or eight years ago. It was a 2.5 MP dinosaur and we loved it. We had received a more modern camera for a present one Christmas and didn't like it as much so we went back to the oldie but goodie. Anyway, I dropped it one too many times and it is officially dead. It took us awhile to get the pics off the old camera so these pics are from a month ago. This is Emma's last soccer game of the season. Her team really improved over the season. It was fun to watch.

For one of the last days of school they had a field day where they played games outside. We met them for a picnic lunch.

Isn't she cute? She already has a better tan than I do. (not that that's hard)

Ellie received the kindness award for her class this year. She was nominated by other students in her class. When they were giving out the award they read some of the things that the students wrote about them. One student said that if everyone was more like Ellie the world would be a better place. We were so proud that she received this award and of the kind person she is.

They did the award ceremony on "crazy hair day". Hence, the crazy hair.

The kindergarten classed did a very cute last day performance and Emma (no teeth Lambert) received her kindergarten graduation certificate.

This is Emma and her darling teacher Mrs. Grauer.

For Memorial Day weekend we took a trip to Colorado Springs, where I killed to camera. Here we are at the cool graffe exhibit at the zoo where you get to feed the giraffes.

We also went to Garden of the Gods and climbed around the cool rock formations.

It was a fun weekend but Brookie got a little sick and I was reminded that it is hard to travel with four kids.

Espana Fabulosa!!

2010-05-18T10:18:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back from an absolutely fabulous trip to Spain. I can't even describe how much I loved it. All the words that you hear that are overused like magical, surreal, quaint, cute, full of character, enchanting etc. are the only things that can come close.

We left on Friday, April 30th and came back on the 9th of May. We were lucky to be able to go with some long time friends Quinn and Mekell Lybbert. We had planned a trip to Spain with them ten years ago but had to cancel when I got pregnant with Ellie. It was great to be able to do it a decade delayed.

There is no way I will be able to go over everything that we did and saw. Between the Lybberts and us we took over 1000 pictures. I'm sure you would like to see every last one of them but I will just hit some highlights. (It is still long but I cut out all I could).

Quinn and Mekell got there a day before us. We arrived at 7:30 am and got right to sightseeing. This is Kyle at Plaza Mayor in Madrid. There was some festival going on there.

Quinn and Mekell saw a bullfight before we arrived and they convinced Kyle to go see one at the end of our trip. I was not at all interested so Mekell and I shopped while the boys went to see it. Kyle was glad he did as it is such a big part of the Spanish culture.

We decided to take a segway tour of Madrid. None of us had ever been on one and it feels weird when you first get on but it is easy to get used to. It was a fun way to see some of the sights of Madrid.

After the segway tour we saw these little GPS go-carts. You use them to drive around the city with a recording telling you where to go and what you are passing. It was a big adventure because if you get off course the lady stops talking to you. (Guess how we found this out?) You are on your own to get back on course. You are also driving with all the regualar traffic. People were taking pictures of us, laughing at us, giving us thumbs up and all sorts of attention. It was great fun.

This is the Royal Palace in Madrid. We were not allowed to take pictures inside.

The next day we went to a town an hour north of Madrid called Segovia. After the day in Segovia we came back to a Real Madrid game. These pictures are out of order as the Segovia pics are next. It was great to be at a soccer game right in the heart of futbol country. There were 80,000 fans there all chanting and cheering. Real Madrid won which made it even better.

When we got to Segovia we parked the car and started exploring. You can see the famous aqueduct in the background.

The aquaduct was made 2,000 years ago by the Romans to bring water to the area. It was made without any mortar. It is quite magnificent and awe inspiring to imagine the engineering and physical labor used to make such a structure.

Here we are at the castle in Segovia. It is the perfect picture of a fairytale castle.

We are on top of the castle with the Mekell and Quinn. You can see part of the cathedral in the background.

The next day we drove to Cordoba which is in the South of Spain. Mekell and Quinn are standing in front of the bell tower beside the Mesquita. The Mesquita was originally a Mosque but when it was taken over by the christians they built a cathedral right in the middle of it. There is alot of Moorish influence in Spain because they ruled it for hundreds of years. More of their influence remains in the south as they were slowly pushed south and back into northern Africa.

This is inside the Mesquita. You can't really tell but the wall above me is intricately carved stone.

There is a room of hundreds of arches when you first walk in. The Christian cathedral is kind of plopped right in the middle.

That night we walked a few doors down from our hotel to a little covered courtyeard that was home to a flamanco concert. Spainiard like to do everything late and this show0 didn't even start till 10:30.

The roads in Spain are CRAZY! The lady driver was driving to her home. This isn't even the squishiest road that we saw cars drive on.

There are beautiful courtyards in the homes all over the South of Spain. This one was in our hotel.

The day after Cordoba we started to explore the white villages or "Casa Blancas" of southern Spain. It was windy and chilly as they are high in the mountains but we tried not to let that deture us from exploring. The first one we stopped at was Olvera. We went in the castle behind us and we were the only ones there. A man unlocked it for us and we just explored the ruins by ourselves. It was so fun to be where no other tourists were discovering an old castle.

Just a picture of one of the white villages. We stopped in Olvera, Zahara and Grazalema before stopping for the night in Arcos de la Fronterra. They were so picturesque and beautiful.

We took alot of pictures of laundry. It gives you the feeling that real people live in these extraordinary places.

Just a picture of an old lady carrying groceries home. Again, I love getting away from the tourist and just seeing how people live.

This is a picture of someone's courtyard in their homes. They even have patio competitions and like people to look in through the gates to their courtyards. We slept in Arcos and enjoyed exploring that town as well. Quinn and Kyle even played a game of futbol with some local kids in front of a cathedral. It is regularly used as a soccer field because it is the only flat spot in town.

The day after the white villages we went to Seville. This is the cathedral there. Christopher Columbus' remains are there. All the cathedrals we saw were amazing and beautiful but I wouldn't want to go to church there.

This is the famous bell tower in Seville. We walked up to the bells. You walk up a ramp that enabled horses to go up as originally it was built to use for the Muslim call to prayer.

This is inside the palace in Seville. It is still used as a royal residence when they are in Seville. It was made by Moorish builders in the Moorish style with the intricately carved stone and bright mosaics and tile. Kyle was expecting Aladdin and Jasmine to jump out at any time.

We are walking around the Jewish quarter of Seville. Many cities and villages have Juderias where the Christians segregated the Jews. They have small winding lanes and are fun to get lost in.

This is the Plaza de Espana in Seville. It was made for the world fair in 1929

We took a tour of the Seville bull ring. It was interesting to learn about the history of the bull fight and how it all works. I still didn't want to see a live one though.

After Seville we drove to Toledo. This is a view of the city from the other side of the river. It was getting dark as we arrived so the photo is a bit dark. All of the guide books told us to stay over in Toledo and enjoy when all the day-trippers from Madrid go home and you can see the real Toledo. We did this and loved it. When we arrived it was already dusk. We checked in to the hotel and started exploring. We walked around for hours. Most of the tourist were gone leaving the locals and the true feeling of a Spanish town. I felt like I was on a movie set not in a real living place.

This is a typical shop that was in every city we went to.

We took lots of pictures on our evining stroll but most of them are pretty dark. This is one of the better ones. Pictures can't really capture a fraction of the character or feeling of a place.

More Toledo in the day.

After Toledo we had to say goodbye to Mekell and Quinn as they left a day before us. The next day Kyle and I went to a summer palace called Aranjuez.

The gardens at Aranuez were huge and beautiful. There were many little girls in fancy white dresses for, what I am assuming, was their first communion.

While I absolutely loved everything about Spain and would recommend the trip to anyone, I have to say that there was one exception. That is the food. The Spanish food is gross. For the first couple of days I was adventurous and wanted to try things that were typically Spanish (minus the seafood which is everywhere). I tried Paella (just edible), spanish omlette (also just edible), roast suckling pig (taste was good but presentation lacking as it had the hoof, spine and thick crunchy skin still attached), and jamon (thinly sliced ham that was totally disgusting tasting like greasy lard). After that we did all we could to find a McDonald's or Burger King. We had pizza a few times and even took a 1/2 hour taxi ride to a Friday's one night. We also bought ALOT of icecream.

It was truly a dream trip. Great company, great culture and history, great architecture, great scenery, good weather and not so good food. We had a little adventure on our way home as we had to fly a couple hours south before heading north again to avoid the volcanic ash. This added to an already long flight causing us to miss our connection in Chicago. We were re-routed and were happy to finally make it home.

Californ IA

2010-03-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

For Spring break we were able to meet my parents in Newport Beach, CA. We had a great time and perfect weather. The first day we drove around and went on a short ferry ride to Balboa Island. This is a picture of the island from the ferry. After church on Sunday we walked around the temple.

On Monday we spent some time in Laguna Beach, which is a city with cute shops and a fun beach. This is the fam. on the boardwalk.

One of the many swim times at the hotel.

Dad had a few girls to play with in the pool as my cousin Laura and her adorable girl Zoe came to swim as well.

Here is my fab. cousin Laura with the two second cousins Zoe and Mia. It was great to have Laura there as we don't see eachother often enough.

We hiked down to some tide pools at Crystal Cove but the girls weren't as adventerous as I had hoped. There was a big bug crossing the trail that we almost didn't get past. Then the tide pools were full of little flies. We didn't last long.

This is our big beach day. It was perfect weather. My Aunt MarJane was able to come with us which added to the fun.

Brookie could have stayed there all day. My little beach bum.

Playing frizbee with dad.

I am showing you our future home. Only a few more root canals honey.

Our last day was at Disneyland. Another wonderful cousin, Nicole and her darling daughter, Gracie were able to come with us for part of the day. Gracie and Brookie enjoyed their ice cream bars. Thank goodness for wipes.

Emma was pulled out on the street to join the parade for a minute and do the twist.

...and play a drum.

What a fabulous vacation we had. Thanks to my parents, Aunt and Uncle and cousins for making it extra special.

My Sugar Daddy

2010-02-15T08:47:00.000-08:00

For Valentine's Day I wanted to get Kyle a present that really showed him how I felt about him. To let him know what he means to me and how important our life together is.
Valentine's presents for two of my five Valentine's.

Cute cousins

Another hodgepodge

2010-02-08T20:17:00.000-08:00

I should learn to blog as events happen but I seem to get aroung to my blog about once a month. Here are a few of the things that have been happening since Christmas. Grandma Sherwood bought each of the girls a new dress for Christmas. She wanted a picture of them in the dresses so here it is.

CHEESY!!
I just thought Brookie looked cute so I took some pics.

Emma was in a talent show at her school. She just started piano this fall and wanted to participate in the show. We were proud of her that she would be brave enough to get up in front of such a large group. She did great.

Cute sisters. These two have quite the bond.

Mia is almost six months old now. I know everyone says this but seriously, where did the time go? She continues to bring joy to our home.

How could you look at this face and not smile?

Brookie turned two today. Seriously, where did the time go? Did I already ask that?

This was one of her presents. After she went to bed Ellie and I played with it cause we thought it was so cool.

A Dora tunnel and tent was another present.
Her last present was this cozy coup. She stayed in it for the rest of the night.
Even cake couldn't drag her out.
We eventually got her up to the table to eat. Ellie's friends from across the street came over for the fun.

Three Christmases

2010-01-04T11:54:00.001-08:00

This year we were lucky enough to have three Christmases. The first Christmas was at our house in Colorado on December 19th. We had hot chocolate, read a Christmas story and then each child was able to open their "big" present from Mom and Dad. (We didn't want to transport all the gifts to Canada)

Brookie got this kitchen so now she can cook along side of me when I am making dinner.

Emma's present was a kareoke machine and Ellie's was a Nintendo DS which she ended up playing for 13 of the 14 hours to Canada.

Our second Christmas was about an hour away from Lethbridge in Mountain View, Alberta. We stayed in in a bed and breakfast with all the cousins. We played, ate, exchanged gifts, ate, slept (although not very much) and then ate again.

Even though it was very cold it was the perfect Christmas setting with snow and frost on the mountains and on every branch. It was beautiful.

Here are 11 1/2 of the 12 Sherwood cousins (sorry Boo Boo)

Uncle Josh always entertains the kids and is doing a great job here reading 'Petite Rouge' with a fuunny accent. I don't think the kids understood a word he was saying but it was fun.

We had a talent show. Ellie is played the piano and Emma played with two of her cousins who knew the same song.

Our third Christmas was in Vulcan with the Lamberts. This one occurred on actual Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Every year on Christmas Eve we read 'Lowly the Worm'.

One of the fun activities we did while in Canada was sleding. It was freezing cold but we all had a great time.

Emma was heading straight for me. I was able to take the picture and then dive out of the way.

Two little cousing helping eachother up the hill.

We had a great time in Canada and a wonderful holiday. Hope all of you did as well.

Thanksgiving in Utah

2009-11-29T19:35:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving we decided to go to Utah. My parents met us down there for a visit and Kyle's sister, Maryn and her family live there as well. These are the girls patiently waiting to leave on Wednesday morning. Emma and Mia having a little chat.

If this isn't darling, I don't know what is.

We took the girls to temple square as they had never been there. This is outside of the Beehive House.

The Conference Center.

We also toured the lights on Temple Square the first night they were turned on. It was very busy but beautiful.

We had a wedding reception to go to afterward but wanted our legs to stay warm while we were walking outside, hence the jeans under the dress.

Grandpa was sad to see us leave. Good thing Christmas is less than a month away.

It wa a great trip. Being around family and touring the temple grounds reminded us of the things we are truly grateful for.

YAY STEELERS!!

2009-11-10T12:37:00.000-08:00

Last night we went to the Steelers, Broncos game in Denver. We went with Maja and Jeff McMinn who we were friends with in Pittsburgh but haven't seen in 2 1/2 years. It was such a fun game and great to see the McMinns again. Here is the field. There was lots of action in the game. If you don't follow football the Steelers won, making the night that much sweeter.

There were so many Steelers fans. They have got to be the best fans in the world. I bet it was at least 1/3 Pittsburgh fans. On the way out this was the scene.

Everyone was cheering and singing "Here we go Steelers". I actually think it was more fun than if we had been in 'the burgh' because we made a little Pittsburgh right in the middle of Denver (complete with a guy so drunk that he could barely walk).

Ellie started basketball this year. This is her first game. I couldn't get very good pics but you can see the back of her here. She is number 80.

Some more pics of Mia. She is 3 months old now and as lovely as ever.

We had her weighed the other day and she is in the 95th percentile for weight and the 90th for height. She weighs almost a pound more than her cousin Becka who is six weeks older. We like to make them big.

Mixed Bag

2009-10-24T14:48:00.001-07:00

There are a few new things to report on. We did the annual fall farm thing. (Not as cool as the Pittsburgh farms but still fun.) Here we are in the corn maze.

They had a gun that shot corn out using pressurized air. Both girls got a turn shooting the corn.

This is a catapult that shoots pumpkins. If you look very closely you can see the pumpkin in the air. It was fun to watch because it shot them really high and far.

They had a playground of hay. Emma is popping up from a hay tunnel.

Mia is 2 1/2 months old now and growing so fast. I am neglecting to take pictures of her but I wanted to get a few of her expressions. This is her pleasant smile.

Her big cheesy, I am goin to laugh any minute smile.

Her "What the .... " look.

There was a Halloween party at the school on Friday. Here are the kids in their costumes. Emma is a fancy witch.

Ellie is a hobo; previously viewed on this blog as a mystery birthday party costume. (I love it when they want to recycle).

My little Tinkerbell.

All the Lambert ladies together.

The girls with some of their best friends, all who live across the street.

We had Ellie's birthday party. It was held at a rollerskating rink.

Some of the girls had never skated before but it turned out to be really fun.

I really can't believe that my oldest child is nine. I know every mother says that as their children grow up but really, where does the time go? We love having her in our family. She is the best sister to have and adds so much fun and joy in our lives.

Avid for Adventure

2009-10-07T08:32:00.000-07:00

This week at the girls' school they had a company called 'Avid for Adventure' come in and set up outdoor activities for the students to do. Yesterday Ellie's grade was outside all day doing the activities. After school parents were allowed to come and watch what the students had been doing and siblings were allowed to try. Emma's class goes today but she tried everything yesterday as well. There was a bike course with obsticles. Emma needed a little help on the big bumps but other than that she did really well.

Here's Ellie going over one of the obstacles. The climbing wall is in the background.

Both of my monkeys did great on the climbing wall.

So close to the top!!
There was a pool for kayaking.

The activities were alot of fun and the girls did great. What a fun school day!

Emma is six!!

2009-10-01T12:32:00.000-07:00

Emma had her six year birthday. One of her presents from us was this American girl doll, Felicity. Brooklyn loves her and carries her around all day when Emma is gone. We had a birthday party at Fort Fun. We had pizza, cake, played games and jumped in a jumping castle. Everyone had a great time.

This is the kiddos on the bumper cars.

As you can tell Emma was quite excited about this present. One thing about Emma is that you never have to guess what she is feeling.

One of Emma's gifts was a 'swim to me puppy' that comes with these goggles. Brookie likes them better on her than the puppy.

This is the best I could do to get a smiling picture of Mia. She is a tough nut to crack so even though the lighting isn't good I thought I would post this pic anyway because I was excited that I got any reaction. She is already too cool for Kyle and usually looks away when he is trying to talk to her. Can't wait for the teenage years.

Six weeks old

2009-09-22T19:43:00.002-07:00

It is Mia's six week birthday today. The weeks have flown by. She is growing fast and doing well. She has started to give a few smiles. You have to work hard for them though. I think I have heard one or two coos.

Brooklyn wants to do everything her big sisters do. She is all ready to go off to school here. Every morning she wants to follow them to the school bus. A few more years Brookie.

Ellie went to a mystery bithday party. She was given the character of a hobo so we put this costume together. We had fun ripping, cutting and drawing on clothes. Something that usually you are not allowed to do. I thought she looked great. The stick is a broken croquet mallet that Brooklyn smashed. I guess it isn't all bad when your kids break something.

2009-09-22T19:43:00.001-07:00

Life with Baby

2009-09-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

After Mia was born my mom came to help out for two weeks. At the end of th two weeks my dad, sister SaraLyn and her six week old baby Becca came to pick my mom up. This is SaraLyn snuggling the two babies. She declared this "heaven".

The cousins together. Cute together now, trouble together in a few years.

We went to a flower garden on the University campus after church. Brooklyn almost blends in with the flowers.

My big baby and little baby. Brooklyn all of a sudden looks huge. We have always called her 'baby' but now there is a new baby in town. It has taken us a little while to get used to calling her 'little girl' instead.

Big sister Ellie. What a great big sister she is. She is such a help to me and so sweet to her sisters.

Baby Mia

2009-08-15T20:10:00.001-07:00

She's finally here! Baby Mia Grace Lambert was born on August 11th at 7:13 pm weighing in at 7 lbs. 12 oz. and measuring 20 inches long. I went into the hospital at 9:30 in the morning. By the time they did all the paperwork and finally got me hooked up to an IV (it took five tries and three nurses to finally find a vein that worked) I was able to get the pitocin started at 1:00 and my water broken at 2:00.

The epidural was at 5:00, pushing at 7:00 and baby at 7:13. All went smoothly and Mia is beautiful and healthy.

Mom and baby right after the birth.

Proud Daddy!

All the sisters meeting the newest addition for the first time. They were all very excited and fought over who could hold her.

Brooklyn loves baby Mia and wants to do everything she does from laying on a blanket to making smacking noises when she eats.

The hospital I was at offered a VIP package. We decided that since this is our last baby we might as well splurge. Included in the package was a huge labor and delivery room with this view,

A flower arrangement,

A gournet dinner (I had filet mingon),

A massage (no pictures of that), and a limo ride home.

The girls rode with us in the limo and as she was drinking sprite from a Champaigne flute Emma declared "This hospital rocks!"

Mia at three days old. Grandma is now here to help our for a few weeks and we are all getting used to the new arrival. We are grateful she is here healthy and wonderful.

Summer Fun

2009-07-26T12:59:00.000-07:00

This past month has been alot of fun. We took a trip up to Canada to visit cousins. A day before we arrived my baby sister had her first baby, Rebecca. I was interested to see how Brooklyn would react to a baby as we will be having our own in two weeks. She absolutely loved her and wanted to hold her constantly. This made me feel relieved. She will probably drive me crazy wanting to hold the baby all the time but it is better than being jealous and aggressive.

We rented an Astro jump for a day. The kids played on it for six hours straight, only stopping for lunch.

Uncle Josh playing with the babies. All the kids love him. (The grown-ups do too because he will entertain the kids)

We had a sleepover in Grandma's backyard. Most of the kids stayed in the tent all night. (Quite a success).

Matt and Lily brought over their Wii. I think they are throwing paper balls at the teacher in this picture.

My mom's sister, Aunt MarJane and her husband, Uncle Greg were able to come spend a few days with us on their way home to California from a trip to B.C. It was great to see them as I love spending time with them. Uncle Greg is facinating all the kids with a mixed up story of Cinderella.

Cute Mackinley sharing her popsicle with Brooky.

Aunt Traci's dad takes boat tours down the Milk River and was kind enough to take us. This is Traci, Taylor and Emma. We saw cows, an owl, river sparrows in their nests on the cliffs and a family of Canadian Geese.

The tour ends at Writing on Stone where there are sandstone formations called Hoodoos that you can climb all over. This is Ellie on top of one. The kids loved exploring and climbing the hoodoos.

Crazy hair Brooklyn at the spray park.

All the grandkids outside of Grandma's house. There are eleven, all under the age of nine. It gets pretty crazy when they are all together.

After our great trip to Canada, my brother Josh, his wife Traci and their three kids drove down to Colorado with us. We had a great time showing them around our neck of the woods. This is a picture of Ellie in the Children's museum in Denver. After the museum we went to Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

The Capital building in Denver.

Fun at a lake in Windsor.

We had a great July with all the cousins and will miss them terribly. Now we just have to get ready for our family addition in a couple of weeks.

Girls, girls and more girls

2009-06-14T20:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official. The Lamberts only make girls. Yes, we found out that we will be having our fourth girl. If anyone has any good names let us know because we are out of ideas. We are excited but I am bracing myself for more hair bows, High School Musical, boy drama and weddings. Of course it also means more sugar and spice and everything nice.

Emma is learning to ride her bike without training wheels. This is her third time out for a lesson with dad.

Mount Rushmore

2009-05-29T12:48:00.000-07:00

Here are more pics of our Memorial Weekend trip. This is the gate where you enter Mount Rushmore. It was very rainy and foggy there and we were nervous that we wouldn't be able to see anything but the clouds parted and we had good views.

The group looking at the mountain.

Cool dude.

We spent the morning at Reptile Gardens where we saw an alligator wrestler, snakes and these giant turtles. One of them was over 150 years old.

The water park was alot of fun. This picture was taken after I almost drown Brooklyn as she slipped off the stair and into the water. She was under for a few seconds until I could get to her and fish her out.

Emma loved the "toilet bowl" and was great at steering her way into the hole.

Memorial Day Trip

2009-05-27T12:45:00.000-07:00

Emma lost her first tooth last night. It needed a little help from Daddy but came out pretty easily. (Thank goodness he's a professional). She is growing up so fast.

For Memorial Day weekend we decided to go to Rapid City and Mount Rushmore. My parents met us there and we had a great time. On the way there we stopped at Jewel Cave and had a tour. Emma is going through a concrete square that you have to be able to fit through to go on the spelunking tour. We saw a lady try to go through it and she declared that it felt just like a mammogram.

The cave walls

The next day we went to bear country where you drive through a park filled with wolves, mountain lions, rams and, of course, bears. Brooklyn was enthralled and spent the whole time grunting and pointing. It was neat because the bears came right up to your car.

We thought it was so fun to see this bear in the tree relaxing.

After this day my camera ran out of battery, of course. When my mom sends me her pics I will post some of the water park, reptile land, and the big finale, Mount Rushmore.

Another hodgepodge

2009-05-16T09:21:00.001-07:00

Ellie after she received her art award at school.

Grandma and Grandpa Lambert were here taking care of the kids while we were in Hawaii. After we got home they stayed for a few days. This is a sweet picture of Grandmother and Granddaughter during Emma's soccer practice.

Isn't she cute?

Ellie's art was also chosen to be in a display in the mall. Here is her masterpiece.

Daddy's big 35th birthday.
The staff at work put a little party together for him. We went bowling. You can see Destiny (his hygenist), Candy (front desk) and Kathy (assistant).
What form!
The girls and I bought Kyle a treadmill for his birthday. This is the condition it is still in as we have not put it together yet. It better be up and running by his next birthday!

Hawaii

2009-04-20T14:04:00.001-07:00

We had a great trip to Kauai. Kyle's parents came to watch the girls and we met my parents and four of my siblings. This is a picture of Kyle on the Zodiac along the Na'pali coast. He looks relaxed but the ride was anything but relaxing as they had to hang on for dear life (pregos weren't allowed to go so I just heard stories).

On their boat trip they were taken into caves along the coast. This is inside one of them. They also got out and hiked to an ancient Hawaiian village and went snorkeling.

We rented Kayaks and went up the Wailua River. Notice how my shirt is dry in this picture. It did not remain that way as a few minutes later, after watching my brother and sister in law get flipped in rapids, Kyle decided that we should try. We actually did worse as after we flipped I was trapped under the Kayak for a few seconds. Funny story now, but scary then.

After we recovered from flipping we relaxed on these rocks and jumped off a rope swing into a pool of water below.

Kyle and me at the Fern Grotto. There are alot of other great pictures but I am having trouble accessing them for some reason. This will have to do for now and then I will post more when I solve the problem.

Emma's talents

2009-04-05T10:28:00.000-07:00

Emma's going to preschool at the 'Rez'. Which is short for Ressurection Fellowship Evangelical Church. She loves going and is learning wonderful things. This is a sampling of some of her learnings. As an added bonus you learn the sign for #2!

Also, Ellie won an award at school for Oustanding Aritstic Creativity. She was thrilled as she wants to be an artist when she grows up. Congratulations Ellie!

A little of this and a little of that

2009-03-22T18:56:00.000-07:00

I am very aware that I yet again have neglected this blog but am determined to post more regularly. This will catch you up on some of the things that have been happening in the last month. Feb. 8th was Brooklyn's first birthday. She was not so interested in the cake.

Ellie was trying to entice her into eating it but she just thought Ellie was funny.

Emma wanted to be the statue of liberty so she has her crown, book and torch.

Emma just started soccer for the first time. This is her first soccer practice.

She's a pro already.

Kyle's sister Maryn, her husband Jamin and their daughters Audrey and Millie came for a visit.
This is a day at the park.

We took them to Denver to the aquarium.
This is a huge eel.

Emma and Ellie climbed the tree to push the buzzer at the top.

Update

2009-02-02T09:58:00.001-08:00

I know it has been awhile since I've posted so I thought I would do a quick one to let everyone know that I am still alive. First of all, was that Superbowl awesome or what? It was so exciting. These are just a few pics of us watching the game with some friends. It was great to have Stefanie and Kevin McMinn come watch with us. They were dental students in Pittsburgh when we were there and it was fun to have other Pittsburgers to help us cheer on the Steelers. The other two families are friends from the ward. One of the guys was a noisy Cardinals fan so it was sweet victory when the Steelers won.

We got a new camera for Christmas and I hadn't put in the new memory card. So just as I was trying to get pictures of everyone cheering, my memory was full.

The reason that I haven't been blogging for awhile is that I have been deathly ill. No it wasn't a disease or a virus, it was a little thing called pregnancy. We were surprised and excited to find out that I am expecting in the middle of August. I have been very sick but am starting to feel better. My mom came to take care of me for 2 weeks which was very helpful. I am definately over the worst of it which I am very grateful for.

Santa Fe, Yay!

2008-12-01T09:47:00.001-08:00

For Thanksgiving we decided to head to Santa Fe and see the sights. We left on Thanksgiving day and got back on Sunday. Our first morning there we walked around Old Town Santa Fe where all the buildings are made in the adobe style and there are many shops and galleries. This is San Miguel chapel, the oldest church in the country.

Theses are other interesting buildings and the sidewalk market where many people display their Native American and Mexican jewelry and crafts for sale.

After lunch we went exploring a National Park called Tent Rocks. These rocks were formed by volcanic ash and then eroded for thousands of years. We went on a trail that took us all around the rocks and gave us great views of the cliffs and mesas around us.

The next day we went to Bandalier National Park where there are many ruins and cliff dwellings of the Anasazi people. We were told that they lived here around 1200 A.D. That is when they began to group together in communities and farm the land. Before that they were nomadic and lived in very small groups.

This is a Kiva where they would hold religious ceremonies and other important meetings.

This part of the site was build in a large circle to represent the sun. This was a kind of village that housed many families. The ring was four rooms thick with all the rooms being relatively uniform and quite small.

Along the path there were many parts of ruins and also caves that the people could enlarge by carving. The rock is quite soft because it was formed by volcanic ash. This was a very large cave. It had a domed roof with noches cut out in the wall that were probably used for some kind of storage. The girls, however, used them for beds. It also had a window and a fire pit on one side with two chimney holes for the smoke.

After we did the main loop we went on another hike. This took us to the 'long house' which was hundreds of feet above the ground in a cliff. It once had as many as 22 rooms with 2 stories and housed numerous families. This is one of the many long ladders we had to climb to reach it. Some of you might know that Kyle is afraid of heights. He was not enjoying himself too much and I think he told the girls to go slow and be careful only 3 or 400 times.

After all the long hiking and climbing we finally made it to the top. The round building is another Kiva. It is amazing that they not only lived here but that they were able to build it in the first place. I don't know how they would have carried logs and other building materials up and down the cliffs.

We had to go back to Old Town after our exploring to get the girls some souvenirs they wanted. It was very cold and windy and we forgot Brooklyn's hat in the car so mommy used her sweater as a hat instead.

Emma found this little snuggly place between the bed and the wall in the hotel room. It was just 'Emma size'.

Tubby time

2008-12-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

The girls were so cute and having so much fun I just had to take some pics.

Family Pictures

2008-11-15T20:14:00.000-08:00

The last time we had family pictures was in the summer of 2005. Ellie was four, Emma was 23 months and Brooklyn hadn't even been thought up yet. We thought it was about time! Brooklyn was perfectly happy before the shoot, perfectly happy after, but not perfectly happy during. We managed to get a few pictures with her in it and then a few with just the older girls.

Ellie's Baptism

2008-11-08T15:04:00.000-08:00

Ellie's baptism day was very special. Grandma and Grandpa Lambert and Grandma and Grandpa Sherwood both made the trip down for the occasion. Her daddy baptized her, Grandpa Lambert confirmed her and both Grandma's gave the talks. There was one musical number that was sung by her Lethbridge cousins on video and the other was by Grandpa Sherwood. She had many friends there as well to support her. We are so proud of the choice she made to be baptized and of the young woman she is becoming.

She looked beautiful in her special baptism dress. She received some nice baptism presents as well such as a bracelet from Binny, scriptures, mini hymn book and case from Gr. and Gr. Sherwood, children's gospel dictionary from Gr. and Gr. Lambert and an opal (her birthstone) neclace from mom and dad.

Cute Pics

2008-11-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

I felt like I was neglecting Brooklyn a little on the blog since there were only 2 pictures of her so I thought I would add this cute one. She is a darling girl with a cute personality. She is very friendly and loves smiling at people and playing games with them. Everyone loves to talk to her because she is so responsive.

The girls have been to a few birthday parties lately that have had face painters. When they come home I am amazed at how beautiful the art is. These are just a couple of examples.

Two more cute pics of baby girl.

Halloween

2008-11-07T13:18:00.000-08:00

This was the first time the girls got to wear their Halloween costumes. It was for the ward party. They also got to wear them for school parties and, of course, Halloween. Ellie was Pocahantas and Emma was Supergirl. Brooklyn was jipped out of a costume this year. I didn't think she would mind too much.

Decorated Bedrooms

2008-11-07T09:12:00.000-08:00

For the girl's birthdays we decided that instead of giving them presents we would decorate their rooms since they were pretty bare from the move. Emma didn't have a particular thing that she wanted but Ellie was very specific. She wanted her favorite color, blue, and she wanted circles. No flowers, butterflies or other "babyish" things.

Park City

2008-11-06T08:59:00.001-08:00

Since we have so many friends and family far away, I decided to get over my lack of computer skills and start a blog. I have enjoyed looking at many of your blogs and keeping in touch with your families that way so I am biting the bullet.

In September we met Grandma and Granpa Sherwood in Park City UT along with Sammy, Mackinley and SaraLyn (Binny). It was a great time despite me getting very ill for part of it. We also got to see Grandma Lambert, Maryn, Jamin, Audrey and brand new baby Millie which was fun.

Brooklyn loves to go to "jail" in our house by playing on the bannister. She pulls herself up on everything and loves to put whatever she can in her mouth. She is also getting pretty good at tormenting her sisters by grabbing and breaking anything that they don't want her to touch.