Fall Fun, Flowers, Leaves, and Swimming

Fall has arrived and here are some pictures of our beautiful roses in the back yard.

Raking is a new experience, one that the kids took in stride.

Traveled to Durango for a swim meet. 

Here are the girls getting ready to start their heats. They swam five each.  

When there was a break between heats, this is what the siblings were doing outside...

And then back to the swim meet.

One last hurrah before we left for some A&W dinner to celebrate. A nice family day.

Good Times

Our neighbors dropped by with these zucchinis.  I didn't know you could actually cook with them when they got this big.  Grated those babies down and had about six cups from each zucchini.  We have been living off of banana walnut zucchini bread ever since!

 The cousins came to visit, and we had a wonderful time. 

Birthday girl was treated like royalty.... 

 Not sure what the game was, but it was hilarious watching!

 Soccer season has started with a vengeance.  In the distance you can see Karina, in the middle by the white square thing.

 Matthew worked up a little sweat. 

Cousins at play.

 Michael. Enough said.

 Kayla has been on a science kick, and decided to do some home experiments just for fun.  Here is her "rock candy."

 And the proud scientist herself.  She said they make good eating.

Here is Kimberley and Kayla at a YW activity, showcasing the Halloween cakes.

Just everyday life, but good times.

Sweet Sixteen

So our little girl turned 16.

 

To celebrate, she had an all girls pajama party.  Here they are playing spin the bottle.

There is just something about cupcakes...

...and balloons and banisters...

Opening presents...

In honor of her birthday, they decorated the sidewalks...

 

And then there were family presents...

 She decorated her own bathroom with some of the gifts, the rest she picked out (and paid for) herself.

And last, but not least, she went out on her first date....with her dad!

The last sixteen years have been sweet, Kimberley.

Our Trip to Mesa Verde

We went to Mesa Verde a few days before the kids returned to school. What a remarkable experience.  We will return again and again, until we have gone on all the tours. You can easily spend a week here.

These ruins are untouched, they haven't been rebuilt.  Amazing. 

In front of us is about an 8 foot drop. The roof had caved in.

 

We all got to climb down into a kiva.

It was dark, and pretty cramped.

  Hiking back out, we had to squeeze through some tough spots.

And there were a lot of ladders. 

 Nothing like jumping for joy.

 This was a picture we took as we left the park.

And a few minutes later....

Home Sweet Home

After almost nineteen years of moving from state to state, our family has finally settled down! We have moved into our new home, our boxes are unpacked, and now we are figuring out where to put furniture, and what to put on the walls. 

We now have a lot of lawn, and so our kids get to add lawn mowing to their chores.

 I think the moving company was paid by the box. The entire bay is filled with empty boxes!

 For Kayla's birthday, she celebrated with a water balloon fight in the back yard.

Michael lost his first front tooth. 

I have spent some quality mornings chopping down the jungle, and clearing the dead stuff from the roses.  I have actually had a lot of fun.

  From our home, to yours, life is good.