October Highlights

 Girls trip! My sisters, mom and I went to Astoria, Oregon for the best weekend with exploring, good food, and so many great chats. The best trip!

 Zoo trip to see the new lion cub and all the Halloween decorations. Tessa insisted on a ponytail and a headband--her style is definitely coming out.

 Second row to see AJR at Red Rocks. It was an amazing show--especially being so close!

 Exploring at Barr Lake and soaking in gorgeous fall weather. This was the day before the temperature dropped 50 degrees and it snowed.

 Library dress ups. She was so proud of the look she put together!

 Rhett had a day off school, so we went to the pumpkin patch! We made it through the kids maze pretty easily, so we decided to do the big maze. We almost got lost a few times, but we made it out and felt very accomplished.

 Tessa finished her first session of gymnastics. She loved "sticks" so much and can't wait to start again!

 Another soccer season in the books! Rhett improved a ton this season and loved having Andre as the assistant coach.

 Finally got our family trip to pick pumpkins in on the last weekend of the month--it was busy!

 And then it snowed. After a few questionable calls, Rhett ended up with a snow day after it had stopped snowing. It was freezing, but we still explored and went to the best sledding hill in town.

Halloween! The kids bundled up and were the best trick or treaters! Tessa is already talking about going next year. 

september highlights

A month of transition, but I think we're finally in a routine! School schedule, new activities, and lots of fun. Here are our September highlights:

 Zoo day! 

 Andre got to come to Elitch's with us! It was so much more fun with Dad

 Early morning stuffy parties--going for a ride on Flutterbee

 Tessa started gymnastics and she is obsessed. She's the smallest one in the class but she has already improved a lot and talks about it every day (she calls it "sticks")

 It's soccer season! Andre is helping coach Rhett's team this year, which means Tessa and I have lots of fun together during practices. 

 Crazy hair day--this is as wild as we got. 

 The older girls in the neighborhood tied Tessa and Sofia's cars together to create a train to drive up and down the street

 Rhett's fun run! He was super focused on getting all the laps and even did 10 extra laps!

 Andre scored a huge bin of Duplos from a guy at work, so our front room has turned into Duplo central for the neighborhood. Hours of fun, including this super tall tower they were so proud of. 

 We drove to Georgetown to see the fall leaves and stopped at a fun wooden playground. Tessa said, "Mom, take my picture!"

The leaves were beautiful! Definitely worth the drive. 

august highlights

And just like that, summer's over. Sure, it's still 100 degrees today, but now it's september (!) and we're in the school groove. August was pretty great--here are the highlights.

 Cousin trip to the zoo when Finley was visiting

 Rocky the Nuggets mascot. Tessa was super excited to see him but not enough to be in the picture. 

 Petting zoo at the fair. This girl is an animal lover!

 Sunday morning scripture reading in bed. It's the cutest thing to hear Rhett read the scripture stories to Tessa. 

 Annual trip to Lakeside with our passes from the summer reading program. It was as dirty and broken down as always, but the kids had a great time

 End of summer play group trip to Belleview Park. The kids played in the creek for hours and rode the train around the whole park. 

 First day of school for this big first grader! He was so brave and excited. Moving to whole day school was a transition (he was so tired for the first week), but he loves school!

 Camping at Golden Gate Canyon. This park is the best. We tried a different campground this year and loved it just as much. So many rocks to climb on!

Lounging in the library hammocks

 Tessa is quite the artist and covers the paper with very deliberate, small marks

 Back to school time means the splash pad was deserted. 

 Book fort at the library! 

We took a weekend trip to Breckenridge with just Rhett. It was nice to spend time with only him. The highlight was definitely riding the gondola to the top of the mountain to play in the snow in August. Rhett was amazed. I wore sandals and froze my toes. 

July Highlights

Crazy that summer is almost over! We've been living it up in July. Here are some favorite moments. 

 4th of July parade in Vernal, Utah. Tessa saw the hot dog across the street before it started and yelled "Hot dog! Hot dog!" over and over 

 Backyard swing at the airbnb. 

 We had to get matching dino sunglasses for the cousins before Dinosaur National Monument, obviously. 

 Rhett did a photo shoot with stuffed animals one afternoon.

 Holding hands and walking around the temple.

 Back in Colorado for a concert at Red Rocks on the most beautiful summer evening. 

 Girls Camp! We somehow didn't have any matches, but the girls were resourceful and persistent and started a roaring fire with a flint and a tampon. True mountain women!

 Princess Tessa of the Beach

 A beautiful day at Cherry Creek!

 Fort-making day at the library. Rhett even decorated the walls of his fort with artwork.

 A Rockies game in 100 degree weather. Rhett is showing his batting stance, obviously

 We had to break out the backyard splash pad for the super hot weather!

 And this massive sprinkler, named Tyrannosaurus Wet

 Cool optical illusion room at the science museum 

 Rhett riding his wolf, which he named Kevin. 

 We celebrated Rhett's birthday by letting him choose two friends to take to Elitch's for the day. These kids had a blast!

 The birthday boy!

 A demolition derby cake

The kids were obsessed with their face paint from Andre's work picnic. Taking baths that night was a little tragic.