Great Garden; No Weeding

Oliver and I went yesterday with some friends to Miller Farms. It is a family farm that lets you go and pick your own produce. You pay $15.00 to get in (kids are free) and they have tons of fun kid activities like a petting zoo, playground, corn maze, tractor racing, etc., after all that you hitch a hay ride to the different fields and harvest your own veggies. Each person is allowed to pick 10 huge bags of produce to take home with them. It is an enormous amount of food. We came home with bags full of fresh corn, beets, tomatoes, potatoes, onions, peppers and carrots. And, we had a lot of fun in the process.

Here is Oliver and Reese Koyle posing for a picture. These guys are best friends (unless they have to share something :)

Here we are picking carrots, don't worry, I managed to knock most of the dirt off that carrot before Oliver stuffed it into his mouth. He sampled absolutely everything from the onions to the corn. He nibbled almost as fast as I could pick!

Here we are in the back of the hay wagon.

Oliver's favorite would definitely have to be the tomatoes. He discovered, much to his delight, that he could squeeze them and make a fountain of juice and seeds squirt out the top. I left him alone for just a second and this is what I came back to. Happy, but messy.

The produce we picked was not at all wimpy. This onion is roughly the size of my head!

Confessions of a Christmas Junkie

Last night, in order to entertain ourselves while Sam was attending Priesthood Session, Oliver and I decided to peruse the local Kohls. While there I noticed that they already had all of their Christmas stuff out. I was shocked, I mean we are barely into October. However, while I must admit that I was disappointed with Kohls, today I made Sam turn on the Christmas music. Just for a second though; I don't plan to keep listening to it non-stop until December 25th. It is just that we spent our last Christmas in Hawaii and while it was lots of fun, I am really looking forward to a traditional Christmas this year. So, if you are like me and just love Christmas time, go ahead and listen to a couple of tunes. You won't regret it!!

On another General Conference note, below is a picture of Sam and Oliver posed in typical Conference fashion. That is: Sam sleeping and Ollie crawling all over him. A friend of ours joined us for conference today because they don't have the internet, her husband is out of town, and she didn't wan't to wrestle with her two kids at the Stake Center. With two toddlers and a three-month-old, Conference time was slightly less than peaceful at our place and we all found President Monson's talk about "Enjoying the Journey" to be both insightful and very timely!!

It has been awhile now since we have posted anything new. It is not that there is nothing new to post, I have just been somewhat lackadaisical when it comes to taking any new pictures and I didn't think that anyone (other than my own mother) would enjoy reading my ramblings if not accompanied by some photos. The past couple of weeks have found us somewhat busy. Oliver got his first of what will I'm sure be many black eyes when he came off worst in an encounter with a brick. He also set a new personal record yesterday when I pulled ten rocks out of his mouth at once. Ollie is a big fan of slides, his desire for adrenaline however is not accompanied by any amount of intelligence. When he approaches the slide he either keeps on walking until he falls and slides down or he dives down face first on his tummy. There have been some rather disastrous results when I am not able to reach him in time.

Sam is staying really busy with his classes. He did have some down time last week and put in a few hours at a construction sight, working for a guy in our ward. Ever since we moved here he has been going through B&K Construction withdrawals and was absolutely giddy when he got to put his working boots and Carhartts back on. Sam is currently occupied with interviewing for summer internships. He has one really good offer so far that might send us to Houston for the summer.

I am loving Colorado and all of the new friends that I have made here. Oliver and I keep really busy with classes, play groups and new adventures. We purchased a bike trailer last week and I have loved riding my bike into town and to the park. I also received a new calling as the 14 year old Sunday School teacher, scary!!! I finished unpacking a long time ago, but I am just now getting the house the way that I like it and that makes me happy.


Oliver insists on being my kitchen helper. Because he no longer nurses and won't drink milk I have been trying to find other means of feeding him enough calcium. A friend told me that molasses is a good source and gave me some good recipes. This is Ollie helping me to make some molasses filled muffins, yum.

Ollie and I go to an aerobics class twice a week at our stake center. Rather than play in the corner with all of the rest of the kids Oliver insists on standing in the middle of all the ladies and performing all of the moves as best he can. He is really good at marching, clapping, push-ups and sit-ups. It is so cute!!

A friend gave us this hand-me-down swing and we hung it up in Oliver's bedroom (don't tell the landlord). He thinks he is pretty hot stuff when he gets to swing in it.

Rainy Day Fun

We have had quite a few rainy days this past week and it can get pretty difficult to entertain a rambunctious one-year-old all day long in our tiny little loft. So, Ollie and I paid a visit to the Denver Children's Museum. It was awesome, they have a whole room dedicated to toddlers and Oliver had a great time climbing and sliding and exploring. Of course, as it was rainy, a lot of other mom's had the same idea so the place was pretty crowded. I think we may try it again on a sunny day just for fun.

Sam and Oliver like to create their own kind of fun, who needs a roller coaster when you've got a dad and a cake pan!

I pledge allegiance to...

This week the talking heads are saying that Colorado is a key state in the upcoming election. Seeing as we live in the liberal hot-spot of Colorado's most populated county, Sam's school got a surprise visit from Barack Obama this week. He is a pretty nice guy, we even invited him over for milk and cookies, but when he saw that we drove a Hyundai with no "Save the Earth" bumper stickers he figured we must be conservatives and politely declined. So, maybe we didn't actually meet him, but his visit did inspire us to register to vote!!

Colorado: Observations of an Outsider

I have officially lived in the state of Colorado for over three weeks and now feel qualified to make rash and biased generalizations about the people who live here. Before I begin I must say that I have found the people of Colorado to be extremely kind and outgoing. That said, I must admit that they are a bit funny.

BMW who?

If you want to make a statement in Colorado you don't drive a Mercedes or a BMW. Oh no. It is all about the Subaru wagon. And what exactly does the Subaru wagon say about a person? Simply said, it means that you are the epitome of outdoorsy. It isn't just a car, it is an all encompassing statement about who you are; the type of person who buys all their clothes at REI and wears temperature controlled clothing inside the mall just in case the temperature differs from store to store. You recycle everything and have a large collection of reusable grocery bags. You are a climber, a hiker, a kayaker, a skier and an avid participant in whatever other sport that Thule makes a car rack for. If you drive a Subaru wagon you don't just love the outdoors, you are the outdoors.

What a cute puppy??

Folks in Colorado are ga-ga for their dogs. I'm not saying that it is a bad thing, I just have never been in such a dog crazy place before. Several times at the park I have been carrying on a typical young-mother "How old is your baby?" "What is he learning to do" conversation with someone, only to discover that while I was referring to my toddler, they were talking about their dog. On top of that, the local target has only one small isle for baby food and four for dog food. Thats right, you can find organic dog food, meaty dog food, vegetarian dog food, and dog food that guarantees to help your dog grow smarter.


Do they come with neon flashing lights?

During those few moments that our faithful Coloradans abandon thier Subarus, they do have another identifying feature. Footware. I'm not quite sure what they are just yet, they appear to be a cross between a hiking shoe and a sandal. The best part about them is that they only come in hiteously bright colors so that they can be spotted from long distances, leaving no doubt as to the message their wearer is trying to send.

Home Sweet Barn

In case you didn't already know, we live in a barn. No worries though, the cows are sweet and the sheep let us lay down on their straw anytime we want. Actually for a barn, our accommodations are pretty nice. Our landlord has a workshop down below us and just finished constructing this loft over the summer. Our barn is snuggled in between North and South Table Mountain so we feel like we are kicking it out in the woods (our yard is full of deer and rabbits every morning). Best of all, the rent is just the right price (cheap for this area) and includes a nice big washer and dryer, a must for anyone who has a toddler. Now that we are all moved in we are ready to welcome anyone who wants to get better acquainted with Denver to come for a visit.


I think that I already mentioned Oliver's obsession with "unpacking", well, he also enjoys emptying things. Normally he likes to empty his toybox and climb in, but yesterday Sam and I left the kitchen and came back to this.



Some babies don't like grass, but Oliver revels in it. Sometimes he just lays down and rolls around in it and smiles. This time he had a handful of sticks.

Lookout Mountain Here We Come

This week we took a drive up Lookout Mountain, it is just a few minutes from our home and they have a big park and lookout area from which you can see all of Golden and most of Denver. Oliver of course was thrilled by the number of sticks and rocks, Sam and I enjoyed the cool weather and pretty scenery.

Things started to slow down for us this week. Ollie and I have tried to find some new things to do but pretty much ended up at our same old parks. We have made some new friends in the ward, Sam is the only "student", but there are a few other couples our age and so we are excited about that. Sam has also made some new friends in his program. Both of them are army officers and they invited him on their Saturday morning workout with them. Sam said he only threw up four times, way to go Sammy!!

Oliver's Antics

Our little baby isn't just walking he is taking leaps and bound towards becoming a little person. He has quite the personality. He loves to wave to everyone and makes a bee-line towards any animal he sees. Anytime we are outside he has to collect all of the sticks that he sees and of course any good sized rock must be stuffed into his mouth. I used to run and remove the rocks but I have come now to the conclusion that it is probably better to just leave the first rock there, rather than keep removing them and have him suck the dirt of thirty or forty more.

He also has a bit of a fetish for toothbrushes. We got him one and taught him how to use it and he now insists on carrying one all around the house with him. His other favorite pastime is to "unpack". After watching me unpack everything for a week he started following suit. He now picks up anything and finds a new place for it. Last week I lost my cell phone and found it in a pot in the back of the cupboard. I pull his toys out of all my silverware and tupperware drawers and have yet to find my comb after he "unpacked" it for me. Ollie is getting pretty smart too, he understands a lot of words and will go find his blanket, binky or shoes if you ask him to.

Summer Showcase

So, to keep myself busy I found a number of projects over the summer. Now that they are all unpacked I figured I would show them to you.

When we learned how much apartments cost here in Denver we figured we would probably have to downsize and decided to ditch our large, corner desk. Over the summer I found this lovely gem for $5.00 at a garage sale. After a lot of sanding and some stain I think it turned out pretty nice. My super-handy dad helped us convert the top drawer into a keyboard tray and it fits just perfectly into our little loft.

My father-in-law made us this beautiful blanket box for Christmas. He gave it to us unfinished and I procrastinated doing anything about it until I had some space to work in. My parents garage turned out to be the perfect spot and after a lot of sanding I think it turned out gorgeous. It is now one of my favorite pieces of furniture, thanks John. (I am planning to make a cushion to turn it into a seat, I'll keep you posted on how it turns out.)

For me, graduate school meant two more years with my garage sale couches. So, in an effort to spruce them up a bit I decided to sew some new pillows for them. Ta-da!!