February 2009

Hi friends and family. I am finally updating our blog for the month of February. We had a fun filled busy month!!! I hope you enjoy the pictures. Much love and blessings to you all.





In these two pictures Kassidy, Ellie and Josh are busy making their valentines. It is fun being able to do fun crafts with them!



We had our friends over to make Valentines cookies!!! Lots of frosting...lots of sprinkles!



We had a very special Valentine's Day. For the past three years we have all gathered at my mom and dad's house for dinner. They spoil us as they make a delicious meal and we have a romantic candle light dinner. They also share a devotion and prayer with us. It has become one of our favorite traditions. This year we brought the kids and they had their special dinner and dessert first and went to bed early so the adults could have a quiet dinner. We also spent the day up in Palmer Lake and went to their winter festival. They had free ice skating on Palmer Lake, a bonfire, hot dogs and hot chocolate. We have come to love our fun outtings in Palmer Lake!

Nana and the girls. So much love!

Josh and Ellie aka "The Twins"

Mommy, Daddy and Kassidy ice skating. Kass loved it. I went ahead and went out with my boots. They didn't have my size left and I took that as a clear answer from God that I shouldn't be ice skating! (for those who forgot I broke my wrist last year ice skating)

Nana and Papa loving life with the grandkids.

We thank God every day for our two beautiful girls.

Nathan and I are still so in love!!!!

The girls all got matching outfits for Valentine's day from Nana and Papa. Don't worry Josh you won't be the only boy for long. Noah is coming in May!

Kassidy turned 4 this month. Wow! Where did the time go? She had a High School Musical birthday party with her friends.

Here she is with her pinata.

Kassidy and her best friend Baylie are probably HSM's biggest fans. They are too cute!


For Kassidy's birthday many of her aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, etc. got her a gift card to Mollycoddles where Kassidy got to go adopt a baby doll. She had so much fun and now loves her baby and takes everywhere. Here she is giving her baby a check up with the nurse. It was very cute to watch Kassidy light up as she went through the whole process.

Here is Kassidy and her baby doll. She named her Kelsey.

Some highlights not pictured....Ellie moved into a big bed this month. She is doing great and the girls are loving their new bunkbeds. I (Michelle) got to go backpacking/snowshoeing with my dad and some friends to a hut in the mountains. It was beautiful and I loved the time I got to spend with my dad. Kassidy is signed up to go to preschool in the fall. She can hardly wait...I am not quite ready but I know God will prepare my heart.

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us. I will post another blog for March soon. We are doing well and are so thankful to be having a very healthy winter. God is so good.

January 2009 Estes Park

We had a wonderful January; it was a nice relaxing month which is out of the ordinary for us! At the end of the month we were blessed to be able to go up to Estes Park to a YMCA camp for two nights. We had a small two bedroom cabin and Kass kept calling it a "barn". She makes us laugh! What a nice getaway. Here are some of the pictures we would love to share with you.


Kassidy put her swimsuit on right when we got there. We went swimming twice and Kass said that was her favorite part.


Daddy's girls!

Ellie got to eat in a big chair the whole vacation.

Kassidy and mama made a bracelet and necklace at the craft center.

Kassidy was so proud of her jewelry!

Only on vacation do you get lollipops before lunch. :)

Kass loved roller skating!

Ellie insisted on trying to rollerskate but she would not let anyone help her. She is so independent!

Ellie and mama snoozing away!

This was the view from our cabin! God is so great and we are thankful to live in such a beautiful state!


Hope you are all doing well and may God richly bless you!

It has been too long since we have updated our blog. I hope to have a slower paced year ahead and in turn hope to update this more frequently. Our family is doing well and we have much to be thankful for. I will share some of our pictures from the last month and hope you enjoy them. Our girls are full of life and bring a smile to my face every day. We look forward to the year ahead and know God has much in store for us. We are trying to capture the blessings of each day as it is truly a gift from Him. Thank you Jesus!

We went up to Castle Rock for their Star Lighting. What fun!

The girls loved decorating our tree with our crown on top. Kass says it's because Jesus is the King of Kings!!!!!

The girls got to do some special things in December. They made aprons with Nana, had a special lunch at gigi and g-pa's where they made ornaments and they made a gingerbread house. Kass loves doing crafts.

Here is our gingerbread house! The girls each did their own side.


Every year on Christmas Eve the girls go to Red Lobster for lunch. Yum! Baby Ashley got to join us this year. Although, she slept most the time.

Christmas Eve night we went to church with Nathan's family and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's house. We had a special night. Ellie was making everyone laugh because anytime someone got a pair of pants Ellie would try and put them on! Kassidy and Ellie loved having their cousins from Texas here for Christmas.

Christmas morning we open our stockings and the we read the Christmas story. After we read that we put baby Jesus in the manger and talk about what we can give to Jesus this year for a gift. Kassidy said her gift this year to Jesus is her smile! After that we open our gifts and head up to Nana and Papa's for the day. Our biggest blessing is our families. How great that we get to spend each Christmas Eve and Christmas day with them.


My parents got a Wii this year and Bobby (cousin) got Rock Band so he brought that up. We spent the day Rockin out! Many laughs! Kass looks like a drummer with her new hat.

Spring Break in Texas

We decided to go to Texas this March and spend some time with my sister Katie and her kids. This was Kassidy and Ellie's first true road trip and we were unsure about how it was going to go. In the past the girls had struggled being in the car for any more then 2 hours. This trip ended up being about 14 hours and it went really well. God really blessed us as Nathan's brother Kevin came with us and he rented a mini van for us to go in(our car in not big enough for 2 car seats and an adult).




Every night when we ate dinner Kassidy, Bailey, and Savannah ate dinner together at the kids table. They laughed and played more than they ate but they all had a good time.


















Kassidy had to share her favorite movie "High School Musical" with her cousins. The girls had fun time watching movies.














A highlight for the all the girls as they went swimming in Katie's big tub. They took dips in the tub 2 times while we visited. In the end I think that more water ended up on the outside of the tub than in.












Here is a picture of all the kids while they were hanging out on the couch. From left to right Savannah, Hunter, Bailey, Ellie, and Kassidy. The kids had a blast together while we were there.















We colored some eggs on the day it rained. They made some beautiful eggs and for the most part all the fingers stayed the right color.











A big highlight of the trip was when we went to the exotic zoo in a small town outside of Killeen, TX. The zoo was setup so that we drove through the park and animals would walk up to the car or they would completely ignore us. Some were shy others were not--- right Michelle.

Below is a nice photo with me and my new friend. The zebra even smiled.




















Ellie really enjoyed being out of her car seat and being able to look out the window at all the animals. We saw lots of deer, rams, zebras, lots of little ostriches, a huge ostrich, and lots of other kinds of animals.













Here is our little soldier, Kassidy. We took a tour of Fort Hood and visited a museum for the 4th Infantry Division which is where Kassidy dressed up. The museum was really cool. It told all about 4th ID through the years of Vietnam and since.

4th ID was the division who actually captured Saddam Hussein. They had a display that showed how they came to finding the spot where Saddam was hiding and how they went about finding him. They also had some of the artifacts that he had with him at the time of his capture.

They also had a memorial for all the soldiers who have lost their lives while serving.










Here is a picture of all of us outside of the museum. Our photographer is none other than Michelle.

The trip was a blast and we really enjoyed spending the time with the Crabtree's.

Please remember to pray for Philip while he is serving in Iraq and for Katie and the kids back home.