Slipping through my fingers all the time...

I love watching them grow, but I sure wish I could slow it down some times!

Cameron is getting to be such a big boy!

Fabulous Family Night

Every now and then, we have one of those days, or moments, or evenings that is just perfect and that we remember forever. This month we had one of those evenings with our family. After a relaxing family evening by the fire, and great lesson together, we all headed outside to the backyard. We played a make-shift game of "baseball/T-ball" with everybody. It was SO much fun!
The kids enjoyed a fabulous treat of candy apples and we played and played and played together.

Everyone had a great time. They've been asking to duplicate the night, ever since we had it.

The teams were boys against girls, although Cameron decided to join both teams and helped us out by hitting the ball, then going after it and getting it himself. It was hilarious and so fun to watch.

Thanks to Dad for the candy apples and the coaching.

Thanks to the kids for being so awesome.

We love spending time with them. We love playing with them. We love teaching them.

This evening was special though, we had such a great time together.

It's one of those memories that we'll cherish forever.

We have our share of family nights that are challenging. We keep trying though and nights like this one, are the ones that help us realize how precious the time with our family should be. So we tuck this memory away and we keep trying to make all of our family nights so special.

My "sweet" son...

I made you some brownies Mom!

My sweet Austin is so thoughtful. He loves to do special little things for us. He can often be found in the kitchen on a weekend morning, whipping up some breakfast for the fam and bringing it to his sleepy parents in bed. He likes to cook! I knew that and have tried to encourage it.

I was still surprised by his sweet gesture last week though. I was in the other room, working on a project with Brooke and could hear Austin doing something in the kitchen. He came over and smiled at me, begging me not to go in the kitchen. I agreed and honestly thought he was doing the dishes for me until I started getting whiffs of yummy smelling brownies in the air.

Austin had baked up some brownies for his chocolate loving Mama and was quite pleased with himself. I was pleased too actually, they were delicious! I was so impressed that he not only knew exactly what my favorite treat would be, but he knew how to make them, bake them and clean up after himself! He insisted that I have the first one and then asked me to please have one more before we rushed off to Cub Scouts.

Those were some good brownies! I ate way more than I should have over the following couple of days, but the pride in my little man's eyes was worth every extra calorie, that's for sure!

I sure love this little guy. He's more and more like a young man every day. Stay little Austin!! I'm not ready for you to grow up. (Although, I do like your baking!)

Day at the Park

Rocky Mountain National Park, that is.

We could have spent a week here and not been sick of it. This is a gorgeous place and we were there at a gorgeous time of year. It was lots of fun for everyone. It helped that we had great company, of course!

I'm only a little jealous that my husband gets to go back and see the fam and the awesome scenery. OK, I'm a lot jealous. Too bad he's sick and won't be able to enjoy it as much as planned. Hope he takes lots of pictures!! ( and gives lots of hugs, with a mask on, of course.)

Summer fun at Grandma's House!

Brooke was in constant pose mode at Grandma's house this summer. Everywhere we looked it was beautiful and "perfect for a picture." So, she smiled and posed and smiled and posed. I'm so glad she did, because it's fun to remember what a gorgeous day it was and what a precious daughter I have!

Cameron had a ball this summer exploring the great outdoors at Grandma's house this summer. He got to climb, throw rocks, pick grass, feed the goat, pet the dog . . . and the cats. He had a ball just being free to play and run outside in the gorgeous Colorado summer weather.

Can't beat that view from Grandma's front porch and back yard huh?