Crazy Colorado Weather!

This is what we did on Friday night....This is what we did on Saturday!!!

Just gotta love this crazy Colorado weather!!

(thankfully I got cute fall pictures before this happened, our tree lost ALL it's leaves because of the snow and the rest of the green leaves just froze and don't look all the pretty anymore!)

I love Fall!!

Little Ballerina

For as long as I can remember Elizabeth has wanted, dreamed, talked of taking a ballet class. Her cousins have been in dance ever since she can remember and she wants to be just like them!

Nate and I have stalled, not wanting to start her too early; she is so shy and we were sure she wouldn't even want to do anything the teacher said because she would be too shy to.

Well, finally we decided we would try it out. Oh my, we were so surprised by her enthusiasm and utter JOY about her first ballet class. She was literally bubbling with joy and excitement!

When we got home she sat Nate and I on the couch and showed us everything she learned, all the while her sweet little sis watched and learned all E had to share!

On the way there we kept hearing squeals of excitement from the backseat!

Feeling very proud and big!

Our weekend away!

Each September Nate and I take a weekend away together. It started about 4 years ago and we have kept it up each year. We love this time of year, the Aspen trees are changing and it is just beautiful in the mountains! This year we were excited that Nate's parents could stay with the girls while we went away (more on post below!).
Our plan this year was to do another 14er and then have a day to just rest and relax together. As we were watching the weather for the weekend we were going, we saw that there was a big cold front coming in and our climbing day was looking like one of the worst days. So we ended up leaving a day early. The hike was great, very different from Mt. Elbert last year, but still great and we made it to the summit around 10:30am, just before the storm came in. It was truly another great experience together.
We hiked on Sunday and then had until Tuesday to just relax and rest...and did we ever rest!! I don't remember the last time we have slept as much as we did. It was truly a great weekend and I am so thankful for these cherished times together with Nate.
Thanks babe, for making these weekends a priority and a treasure!

A wonderful visit!

Grandma and Grandpa Reinhard came to visit us for 10 days! We had a wonderful time with them and were sad to have to say goodbye. Just today Elizabeth asked why they had to leave!

I always feel so blessed by them, they are such servants and always so eager to help in any way they can. So, not only did they help with the everyday things around the house, they also watched the girls for three days while Nate and I had our annual September getaway! It was wonderful to have time just the two of us and to know that the girls were home enjoying good quality time with Grandma and Grandpa. (more on our weekend away later!)

Thanks mom and dad for coming, we love you!

Celebrating Nate's 32nd birthday together! Sarah thought he should have a tractor cake but we didn't make one, so she decided he would want a cowgirl birthday instead!

It was so cold some nights that we decided to have our first fire, Elizabeth loves to help grandpa and daddy!

A beautiful day in Rocky Mountain National Park!

I know this picture doen't show much, but I just got a kick out of it! The day grandpa and grandma were leaving, Sarah had a few moments to herself with them since Elizabeth was at school. She, grandpa, and grandma were all in this tent together! Grandpa got in trouble because his feet were sticking out and it was "raining" so they were getting all wet!! Such imaginations!

On our last evening together we got out some home movies and watched baby videos of Elizabeth and Sarah. Such sweet memories!

More improvements!

Have I mentioned how wonderful my husband is? I am so blessed by his abilities and talents (and willingingness to help my ideas and dream come true!!)

When we moved into this house one thing we thought we would fix/update right away was the master bathroom. It was in pretty bad shape but somehow I was inspired to do many other things before this tiny little 4x5 room. (yes it really is that small!)

But, my inspiration finally turned to the bathroom and, with a lot of work done by my sweet man, it is finished and beautiful!!!!

So here are some before and after pictures to enjoy! It is quite hard to actually capture how awful it was and how great it looks now because of the size of the room, but I think you'll get the picture!!

Elizabeth's Big Day!

The 7Am and ready for school girl!
My sweet girls! We are so blessed to have wonderful friends to do life with!

(Look at my sweet princess, holding her dress and crossing her legs)
Feeling big and proud!

Elizabeth started preschool on Friday. She was SO excited! She came into our room around 3Am to ask me if I had put her dress in her room! (I had washed the dress she wanted to wear and I told her before she went to bed that I would put it in her room when it was out of the dryer). She was the last one up that morning, but she came out dressed with her backpack on and a Huge grin on her face!

She had a great first day! We are so proud of her and pray God's blessing of friendship, confidence, and joy over her this year! We love you Elizabeth Grace!