Fire

We recently bought a "fire pit".... It's wonderful!  

Daddy teaches the boy about fire.

Daddy, Matthew and Rhubarb (GDB puppy we are sitting) watch the fire burn. 

Run Matthew Run

Alex and Matthew play with willow branches in the grass. 

"why can't I have the big stick to eat!?!!!!

Learning how it's done.

On sunday after Matthew's birthday part we let him have another piece of cake.  This time he grabbed it right away and shoved it in his mouth. 

Yumm, ymmm CAKE!

My smiley boy just loves bath time.

Miss Petunia

We are watching Miss Petunia this week.  She is just over 4 months old and is super sweet.  I took her to work with me today and she made me laugh so hard.  I recently bought this really cheep ($20) kennel at target for work.  So far it has worked great but Petunia figured out that if she jumped on the walls that she could roll the kennel. 

I came out of a patient room and heard laughing near my office.  When I looked in, I found Petunia jumping on the wall of the kennel and moving it slowly across my office.  If you look closely you can see her in the kennel.

After a few that's enough she settle down but insisted on laying with her face pushed up against the mesh door.  Silly girl.  At one point she managed to roll the kennel into the hall outside of my office.  What a goofball.

After lunch I decided to see how she would do outside of the kennel.  She did great!   She stayed on her "bed" all afternoon and didn't try to eat anything.  I was so proud of her.

After a long first day at the office.... sweet petunia passed out at my feet.

Pretty pictures

These are just a few shots I wanted to share.  I do a lot of photography with my big Nikon but... As the saying goes, the best camera is the one that is with you.  I took the pictures below on my iphone while out on runs around the ponds behind my house.

I am thankful for the beauty in my life!  

Puppies

I have been missing Vigo so much lately.  He is now in phase 6.  I wish he would just graduate or fail... the waiting is killing me.  Hopefully we should know soon if we are getting a puppy on the next truck or not.   I was missing a puppy so much the other day that I "borrowed" my friend Brianna's guide dog puppy Irene for about 4 days.  It was so great to have a puppy around.  Irene is such a sweet snuggle bug and I just adore her.

Zora (friend's pet dog), Irene and Jorinda (GDB puppies) playing on the deck.... 

"Please can't we all come in and join the birthday party?"

After the party Irene helped me clean up by checking out and eating the left over ice.  She would dig in it and then stick her whole face down in the ice.  Burr...

Check back later this week for more puppy pictures, we are puppy sitting little Petunia this coming week and Rhubarb this coming weekend.  

Matthew Turns one

I can't believe my boy is one!  I feel like just the other day I was pregnant and on bed rest snuggling with a baby Vigo.  Now vigo is in phase 6 at GDB and Matthew is running around the house.  I know everyone says it... but man how time flies.

Matthew's actual birthday was last Monday but we celebrated it this weekend with a party for family and friends.

This was on Monday on his actual birthday.  He hates having clothes on but he didn't even try to take off the crown. 

Birthday boy on his throne!  He loves to watch us go pee.  So we bought him a potty to sit on.  He sits on it with his diaper on and watches us go in the real potty. 

The birthday party....

My friend Brianna took pictures for me so that I could enjoy the party.  I am so thankful for my wonderful friends here!

Daddy and the Birthday boy.

We gathered around the cake to sing, Matthew watched, not quite sure what to think. 

"Mmmmm.... my own little cake"

What fun!

Balloons!!!  

This was one of my favorite gifts... so true!

"Silly  mommy....  don't put a bow on my head..."

Matthew loved his gifts but he got the biggest kick out of playing with two of the hangers.... go figure. 

And just so you don't think my son is always smiling...   fuss fuss fuss..... 

A fun hike

Yesterday Alex and I took Matthew for a hike in one of the natural areas up the Poudre Canyon.  We had intended to only go about a mile to the lake but ended up hiking about 3 miles each way.   Here are a few pictures from the day.

Daddy and Matthew out on the trail. 

We hiked around and then up and over... and eventually ended up at the lake and found a secluded part and went swimming. 

Matthew just squealed with laughter.  He loves water. 

Mom and her boy. 

We hiked from the other side of the lake up and over the hills to this spot.  

Matthew wanders the beach.

After much bouncing, singing and shhhhing we got matthew to finally sleep for a few minutes.  We then started hiking back when..... I suddenly heard a rattle and looked down.... there was a rattle snake two inches from my foot.   I jumped, held matthew tighter, and ran.  Scared the snot out of me! 

The boys on the way back. 

Matthew cried the whole way back to the car and then as is typical for him, feel asleep right as we got to the car. 

Weekend at Yellowstone

Last weekend I went up to Yellowstone with some friends of mine to photograph wildlife.  I didn't get that many good shots but I did have a ton of fun.  And I think I even learned a bit about my camera.  The lens I normally use broke so I was limited to my telephoto lens, boo hoo, but I made do with what I had.

Yellowstone is full of such strangeness. 

Brianna and I in front of the falls. 

The Bison were rutting and were everywhere. 

We got up each day at dawn 

The Bison are such large beautiful creatures. 

Dawn 

Morning Fog

The morning sun was gorgeous!

The fields of wildflowers were just spectacular.

Flowers

Grizzly Bear

Wolf

Brianna and Sara waiting for Old Faithful to blow.