Visits from our beloved MN friends

Oh how we love visitors!  It rocks that we live in a place where friends want to come visit.  We were so blessed to have two of my dear high school friends come spend some time enjoying Colorado fall with us this September.

First Alix, who has traveled to so many exotic and remote places around the globe, came out to do some hiking with me in Rocky Mountain National Park, as well as check out a bit of Denver and Boulder.  We really enjoyed reconnecting on our two hikes, talking about family, sustainability, and social justice issues as we hiked the high alpine Ute Trail (8 miles roundtrip) on Saturday and through the woods and up some rock scrambles to the alpine Sky Pond on Sunday (10 miles roundtrip).  Alix jumped right into some hard hikes at altitudes over 10,000 feet...impressive!

Then Anders' friend Bryce came to hike with him (transported by Becca and Luke Ludwig).  Anders and Bryce are 4 days apart, but both happy, mobile, and cuddly little guys who cheerfully but assertively took each other's toys, cups, and paci's all weekend.


We all went up and stayed at a friends' condo in Frisco, which allowed us do to some hikes out of Breckenridge.  We did Mohawk Lakes (6 miles roundtrip) as a group, then the guys did Mayflower Gulch on Sunday without moms and babies.  Becca and I strolled our cuties into town and enjoyed hot drinks while exploring the main street of Frisco.  She also took me out to a super yummy dinner in Breck Saturday night where we discussed some of the issues of being wives and moms.  Thank you Becca!


Looking forward to our next visitors, Grandma Marcia and Grandpa Al, next weekend...

Things that just make me laugh about my boys

Soren has said some things lately that Matt and I just crack up over.  Like just now I heard him upstairs in his bathroom going for it, grunting, etc...and it ended with "whoa, that's some big poops! (flush)"

The other day we got a Halloween box from Grandma Blueberry which included, among other things, some fake teeth to put in a pumpkin jack-o-lantern.  When Soren asked what they were, I said they were pumpkin teeth, to which he replied "but mom, I already have teeth!"

Last weekend when he was playing outside with some neighbor kids in our cul-de-sac we heard the doorbell ring.  Matt answered to find Soren, pants around his ankles, matter-of-factly asking "can you help me pull up my pants?  I just went pee in the grass."






A couple weeks ago I took Soren to his first college football game, when the CU Buffalos played Hawaii.  We went with his best little buddy from church, Brock, and his mom Christin, because one of Matt's friends on the football team had given him free tickets but Matt was off hiking that day!  It was exciting and energizing (even though kickoff was at 1, so we sacrificed naps that day ;-) but after about one quarter, they asked, "when do we get to see the buffalos play??"  Lucky for them, the mascot Ralphie is a real buffalo... Ralphie runs, and I mean RUNS around the field at halftime, which thrilled Soren and Brock!  

When I'm a daddy

Soren likes to talk about what he's going to do when "he is a daddy".  Today he told me that when he's a daddy, he will always use the word "awesome", and never use the word "cool".  Because awesome is a way cooler word, I suppose.  Also to come, when he's a daddy:

• he'll be able to ride his bike
• he'll be the strongest boy on the earth
• he'll marry me
• he won't wear any dresses, only shirts and shorts and pajammies
• he'll climb all those mountains (the ones we can see when we drive around town)

Oh patience, where art thou?

I think patience might be the trait in others I most admire.  Maybe it's because mine is so lacking, at least in certain contexts.  After a long week with the boys needing me emotionally & physically...constantly...I just seem to be on edge.  Case and point: it's Friday night, I overreacted just now to Matt, and now I'm stressing about my 30th birthday party which is supposed to start in an hour.  It's my party - it's supposed to be fun, not stressful!  But Soren didn't nap today and he is whiny now - I just lost my patience and after asking him nicely twice, yelled at him for playing on the floor in the kitchen right under the oven where I was frantically trying to finish dinner (although now I'm doing better, because he's upstairs in the bath singing a Katy Perry song, which I find hilarious).

I want to be more patient.  I can be with my friends, and with random people.  But for some reason my family always gets the short end of the stick with my patience.  Luckily Anders is so cute and smiley these days, he usually puts me back in a good mood.  He has a "limp-crawl" - his right knee never touches the ground.  He crawls with his left knee and right foot (like a half bear-crawl)...so distinctive and cute.  When he sees me across the room he lights up and starts booking it toward me, giggling, with his lopsided crawl and it warms my heart. 

Off to celebrate the big 3-0!