Andy, Tara and Austin

Austin and Landon

2010-11-07T06:45:00.000-08:00

Riding the longboard... The boys thought this was so much fun. They rode all around the parking lot on their stomachs.

Austin and Landon

Austin had his first sleepover at our house. His buddy Landon came over and spent the night and then I took the two boys to Nickelodeon Live at the FirstBank Center. We sat in the FirstBank suite and the boys loaded up on cookies and popcorn. They were so excited to see Dora and the Backyardigans. We had quite the day.

Hot Air Balloon Festival

2010-10-17T21:38:00.000-07:00

We went to the hot air balloon festival in Snowmass, CO up by Aspen. Austin even got to ride up about 30 feet in one of the balloons! He couldn't stop talking about it for days. He kept saying "I rode in the balloon high in the sky".

Looking inside the balloon before it was completely filled with air.

Snowboarding in April

2010-06-11T20:24:00.000-07:00

Ryan and Kelsey spent the day snowboarding with us....so much fun. I miss those guys!

First Day of School!

2010-03-08T19:17:00.000-08:00

Austin started preschool on February 22 - the day after his third birthday! He got a Buzz Lightyear backpack for his birthday and was so excited to wear it to school. He was even more excited about getting to ride the bus. He goes two times a week and gets to ride the bus to and from school. He loves riding the bus!! He throws a big tantrum when he has to get off the bus at the end of the day. Silly kid!

Cancun

2010-03-08T19:07:00.000-08:00

We scored a killer deal on a snorkeling adventure. We had two guides take us out in a private boat. One of the guides put Austin in a life preserver and pulled him along the whole entire way from one end of the reef to the other. The second time we snorkeled, we left Austin on the boat with one of the guides while the rest of us went snorkeling. Austin loved it! He waved to us from the side of the boat while we swam away.... no separation axiety what-so-ever!

Spent the first week in February in Cancun, Mexico. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the greatest, but we still had a blast!

Christmas in Arizona

2010-01-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

Mt. Lemon in Tucson, AZ

Letterboxing:)

Christmas Day! So warm!

Went to Casa Grande, Arizona to visit Andy's family during Christmas break. We had so much fun!

Cheez-its

2009-10-31T15:34:00.000-07:00

I turned around to look at Austin in the backseat and he was eating his Cheez-its with his toes. I busted up laughing and he just got a huge grin on his face and kept right on eating them. Check out the video....

So sleepy....

2009-10-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

We had just put Austin to bed and we were downstairs watching t.v. when we heard a loud 'thud' come from Austin's room. I went upstairs and found him completely asleep in this position after falling out of his bed just moments ago.

Austin fell asleep on the floor in our room on his big Lightening McQueen pillow

Nap Time

2009-09-30T19:29:00.000-07:00

Austin found the jar of vaseline and went to town on his hair. Wanted to look like daddy I guess:)
After he was done styling his hair he rubbed the excess all over his sheets!

Just woke up from his nap and look how he slept with his shirt wrapped around his back. That has to be uncomfortable.

Fell asleep in his laundry basket. He made sure to have all his blankets and his stuffed dog in there with him:)

Another time I went to wake him up for his nap and he was stuffed inside his pillowcase with the pillow. As soon as he woke up he freaked out because he had no idea what was going on and why he couldn't move... funny kid!

More Fourteeners.... (in reverse order)

2009-09-12T13:18:00.000-07:00

We made it! Green grass is a good indicator that we are down at the bottom and finally finished with our trek. I was done with the rocks. The way down was so steep and just a bunch of loose rocks. We had to rock slide down most of it....crazy!

Very fun...but so glad we were finally done!

Yay! Mt. Bross... last and final of the four. Finally get to head all the way back to the car. We can see in the background of the picture of to the right is Mt. Democrat. That was the first mountain we started with. Talk about a long ways!! It was so cool to look back and to see every peak we summitted that day.

Me and Ash... so much fun!

4 Fourteeners Continued....

2009-09-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

Yay!! We made it to the top of Mt. Lincoln. Three down one to go!!! I was so glad I decided to summit this mountain.. this was by far the best of the four mountains. It was beautiful on top and we spent about a half hour on top eating lunch and enjoying the view.

You feel on top of the world when you up there! And you literally are!

Guys.... always goofing off!

Mt. Lincoln~

Are they mocking us???

Four Fourteeners in a Day!

2009-09-12T12:52:00.000-07:00

Mt. Cameron- #2
Top of Mt. Cameron. Second peak we summitted. It was crazy windy up here so we took a few photos and kept on moving.

This is on the traverse between the first and second peaks. I was exhausted after the first and second. Almost skipped the third, but decided to plow ahead. So glad I did!

Mt. Democrat!! Made it up the first... 3 more to go!

We woke up at 3:00AM and started climbing around 7:00AM. The round trip effort included a 7 mile trek across four fourteeners. It took close to 7 hours to complete the hike and we summitted all four mountains. First mountain was Mt. Democrat... this picture shows the group slowly hiking towards the top.

Quandary Peak

2009-08-30T15:56:00.000-07:00

Ashley decided to go hiking crazy this summer. I joined her on a couple of her adventures and had a great time. I now know how out of shape I am. I hiked 5 fourteeners this summer and didn't work out a day. Not a good idea! Andy joined me on the last 4 we hiked (it was a combo set). Here are pics from the first fourteener of the summer... Quandary Peak... 14,265 feet.

Galveston

2009-08-15T10:15:00.000-07:00

Swimming

2009-08-15T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Zoo!!

2009-06-13T09:30:00.000-07:00

Kissing a goat

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

Feeding the giraffes

Chasing a peacock

Petting the goats

Memorial Day

2009-06-13T09:25:00.000-07:00

Garden of the Gods

Colorado Springs, CO

More Spring Break

2009-04-07T19:25:00.000-07:00

Snowboarding at Winter Park

Grandpa buried Austin in the wood chips at the park. He just laid there completely mesmerized.

Spring Break

2009-03-31T19:53:00.000-07:00

Austin's Birthday

2009-02-21T19:06:00.000-08:00

Birthday Kisses
Love this pic. They are so cute!

The one time a year that I let him go all out with his food. What a mess!

Happy 2nd Birthday!

Texas

2009-01-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

The Heap Girls
We will try and fit the whole family next time.

Christmas in Texas

2009-01-20T20:17:00.000-08:00

Let It Snow!!

2008-12-21T18:34:00.000-08:00

We picked the coldest day to take our family picture. But Austin was great.

Austin was fascinated with the snow. He loved to eat it.

Sisters

2008-12-21T18:31:00.000-08:00

Me and Shanna. I wished I lived closer so we could hang out more!

Crazy kid!

2008-12-21T18:28:00.000-08:00

More Halloween

2008-11-15T10:12:00.000-08:00

Little Duck Hunter

I know it has taken me forever to get this posted, but I thought I would get the last few Halloween pics up before Thanksgiving came around:)

Boo!

2008-11-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

Austin's little girlfriend. They are so cute!

Halloween Trunk or Treat

Dragonfly

2008-10-25T07:25:00.000-07:00

Austin was fascinated with this dragonfly.

Botanic Gardens

2008-10-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

We went to the Botanic Gardens in Denver last weekend. It was a beautiful day! Austin wanted to touch all the plants. He tried sitting down on top of some of the bushes. I guess he thought they looked comfortable.

Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

It was cold and muddy on the day we went to the pumpkin patch. But we still had fun picking out pumpkins.

Quirky

2008-10-11T08:04:00.000-07:00

I haved been 'tagged' a few times already to write this quirky post. So I am finally giving in and writing it. I think almost all of my friends have already been tagged- so I will write it and tag any of my friends who haven't been tagged!

7 quirky things about me:

1. I don’t eat left overs. They gross me out. There is something completely unappealing about the rubbery texture of food on the second day after sitting in a refrigerator for 24 hours or more. Ugh!

2. I don’t like the feel of flour. I can barely touch it. It gives me the shivers every time I feel it. Sometimes sand gives me that same feeling.

3. I rarely finish the last bite when I eat. I usually get bored by the time I get to the last bite and it is never as good as the first bite anyway. I also like my food to be super hot...like 'burn my mouth' hot. It just tastes better that way. Once my food turns cold it is just to weird to eat.

4. I am terrified of crickets. Wierd. This has always been and will always be. Growing up in cricket infested Texas didn’t help. I remember walking around the house at night thinking that every little dark spot I saw on the floor was probably a cricket and half the time it was. Eew!

5. I love getting into a baking hot car after coming out of a cold air conditioned building. That feeling lasts for only a couple minutes and then the pleasure of the heated situation turns to sheer madness. And since I am so cold blooded, I also love the feel of hot paper after you pull it straight off the printer. If the paper is still hot from the printer, I take it and hold up to my face so the heat from the paper will warm me up.

6. I love the smell of books. I smell every book I buy. I especially love the smell of old books. I open the book and fan the pages and sniff:) Next time you buy a book you should definitely smell it. And while I am talking about scents....I also love the smell of rain. It’s fresh and reminds me of the thunderstorms back home.

7. I love the sound of the crackling wood in a campfire. I could sit next to a fire all day and be completely mesmerized.

Say "Baby"

2008-09-21T14:23:00.001-07:00

Austin can only say a few words right now...but the cutest word he says is baby. It is so funny to watch him say it, becuase he does this funny thing with his bottom lip. When my family came up a few weekends ago, my mom taught him how to say baby. He doesn't even know what a baby is...but he likes saying the word. (Make sure you turn the music off down below on my blog so you can hear it)

Paddle Boats

2008-09-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

Austin was fascinated with the paddle boats. He wanted to hang over the side so he could touch the water. We had a great time paddling around the lake.

Enjoying the weather

2008-09-20T18:23:00.000-07:00

More fun at the Spray Park. This will probably be the last warm weekend of the year. Colorado summers are way too short!

I love this video of him getting splashed in the face with the water. We loves playing in the water!

Today was beautiful. We went to the spray park again and he of course had a blast.

Our little maid

2008-09-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

Austin loves this little vacuum. He's our little maid...we are training him before he knows any better!

Austin's favorite things

2008-09-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

I am not really sure why Austin is so fascinated by the spray bottle, but he thinks it is so cool that he can suck from the nozzle and is able to actually drink the water that way. He can't use the handle very well yet so he just sucks as hard as he can is still able to drink the whole bottle of water.
I love this pic...his face is so funny!
The laundry basket is also another of his favorite toys. He could climb in and out of that basket all day if I let him. He puts all his toys in the basket and then he tries to fit himself in there with everything else.

100% Boy!

2008-09-08T21:32:00.000-07:00

A little dirt won't hurt...

2008-09-08T21:31:00.001-07:00

We went camping a couple weeks ago and Austin loved playing in the dirt...of course! He thought it was so funny to take the shovel full of dirt and pour it all down the front of him. He was so messy!

So Cute!

2008-08-29T18:01:00.000-07:00

We switched day care providers. Ashley's next door neighbor watches Austin during the day at her house. Austin loves playing with her daughter Kaelynn. They are so cute! Everyday they take a walk to get the mail and they both hold hands all the way to the mailbox.

Spray park

2008-08-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

We took Austin to the spray park in the neighborhood across the street.

He loves the water!

Austin's favorite food is bananas!

My Little Rock Star!

2008-08-18T19:49:00.000-07:00

Austin loves to listen to music with a good beat. As soon as I turn on the radio, his head starts nodding in sync with the song. He's so cute!

2008-08-06T17:40:00.000-07:00

First Kiss

Tubing

2008-08-03T18:59:00.000-07:00

We went tubing down the St. Vrain River on Saturday. It was a blast! We all took tubes down with the exception of Andy. Andy rode the river in an inflatable raft with Austin. They braved all the rapids! Austin was so stinkin' cute in the raft. I think he liked it. He absolutely loves the water.

2008-07-27T20:09:00.000-07:00

We hiked Ten Falls Trail in Oregon and saw some amazing waterfalls. As seen in the picture, the most amazing thing was getting to hike behind several of the waterfalls. You could almost reach out and touch the falls. It felt like we were in Hawaii...the foliage was so lush and green and dense.

Now that I live in Colorado I miss the 'green'. Growing up in Texas, I never thought it was green until I moved here and now I miss all the trees. Most people don't think of Denver as a desert, but it most definitely is. Every tree in Denver is planted- trees don't grow naturally here. Although, the best part about Denver are the sunny blue skies and puffy white clouds. As cheesy as that sounds, I would miss it if I moved. As beautiful as Portland is, they don't get hardly any sun for 6 months out of the year. On the other hand, Denver is the second sunniest state behind Florida. Can't complain about that!

Just Beginning

2008-07-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

So here we go. Unfortunately creating a blog means I have to write. I am not much of a writer. It really isn't my thing. I write and then rewite and rewrite until I can't remember what I even wanted to write about in the first place. My poor edit and delete button get used way too often. I have a hard time finalizing anything or deciding on something that I think will sound okay. I have too many thoughts in my head to focus and can't possibly get everything down on paper. My writing ends up broken and jumbled and pieced together. So I apologize in advance for my unorganized thoughts but hopefully you can see the bigger picture.

Okay, this is for all our friends and family who don't have a myspace or facebook. I feel a little bit of deja vu since this will be quite similar to those pages. I love photography so instead of writing to update you on our life, I will post lots and lots of photos to keep you updated on what we are doing.