First trip to Steamboat

In early November we took our first trip to Steamboat Springs, CO.  It's a gorgeous place!  We took many more trips there after this, as you'll see. ;-)  We hadn't gotten much snow at home, so the kids loved being able to tube and play in the snow in Rabbit Ears Pass.  

Sam and Sean Searle getting ready to ignore the no sledding sign!

Jessica Searle was really good about playing with the girls.  She helped them make this fun snowman, and took Paige up and down the hill a few times on the sled.

This is a gorgeous hike to Fish Creek Falls.  It was so amazing to see the beautiful water falling down the rocks amongst the snow.

Repelling

 We were fortunate enough to make some good friends quickly that are from here.  So they know all the fun stuff to do - and they do it all!  In the fall they took us repelling in Castlewood Canyon State Park, which is just 10 minutes away from our house.  The kids were definitely scared at first, but it ended up loving it.  Even Paige wanted to go, but she wanted to be hooked in with me instead of Tyler and I wasn't ready for that yet.  Hopefully we'll get to go some more.  It was a cool adventure!

Halloween 2013

A red crayon, Texans cheerleader, adorable black cat, and a football player.  Jaxson brought our friend and neighbor, Kaden Billie to the ward Halloween party.

Thought I would have some fun with the kids this year and dress up.  Wonder Woman was quick and easy!

And of course there was pumpkin carving!  We had a family home evening with our friends, the Searles, and the kids carved their pumpkins from the pumpkin patch.

On Halloween night the kids ran around the neighborhood with all our neighbors.  There were lots of kids out and everyone had a great time, and of course, got too much candy!

Fall Fun

Fall brought pumpkins, cooler weather, red trees and dying grass.  We spent a Saturday at Anderson Farms by Denver.  They had a fun corn maze with games for the kids to play while walking through.  They also had go carts to ride and a pumpkin patch to choose from.  After playing, we went to dinner - it was a great family day.

Girls Trip

In October I got to go on a girls trip with my friends from Katy.  We all met in St.George Utah for a weekend and had a great time.  We went hiking in Snow Canyon, saw a show at the outdoor theater, and did plenty of eating and catching up.  It was nice to see them and felt like I hadn't been away at all!

Esther Boyer, Kim Peterson, Kim Taggart, Me, Melissa Callaway, and Nora Robinson

Outdoor Adventure

Soon after moving here we learned that students in Colorado spend many years waiting for 6th grade.  That's the year they get to spend 3 days in the Mountains having lessons and attending workshops during Outdoor Adventure.  I was leery of sending her at first.  We had only lived here a month, it was in September, and her spending the night with kids and adults we didn't know didn't sound good.  But Sam was able to take a few days off work and go as a volunteer.  It eased my fears, and was a great time for Shaye to spend with her dad.  He got to know some of the girls she hung out with at school, and they got to do some of the activities together.  

Shaye's group of 6th graders had their Outdoor Adventure at the YMCA facility in Winter Park, CO.

New Team, Same Game

Football practice started for Jaxson the day we moved in.  He played with the Parker Hawks.  He played safety quite a bit this year and did a great job!  Their team went 5-5.  Much better record than when he played with the Texans, he was happy to win a game.  ;-)

Go Wildcats!

We were pleasantly surprised to find out that school sports started here in 6th grade.  Shaye chose to participate in cross country, volleyball, and basketball at Sagewood this year.  It was much easier to have practice right after school and a good way to get to meet people as she started in a new place.  She did a great job, even making the B team for basketball.