Spring Break Trip

Tim is very excited that he is on Spring Break for a week. To celebrate, we wanted to take a "Babymoon," or one last trip with just the two of us. We kind of threw it together last minute, but it was a fun weekend.

We started the trip driving south and ate a picnic lunch at Castle Rock Park in Castle Rock. We stopped in Colorado Springs for a free tour of the Olympic Training Center:
Athletes in the top percentage of their sport are invited to live on the campus, which is sponsored by several non-government businesses. This location houses many of the summer sports including gymnastics, wrestling, and swimming, which were the sports we caught a glimpse of.
This sign holds a countdown until London and Sochi.
We weren't allowed to use flashes, so the pictures aren't the greatest, but I had to take some pictures of the wrestlers for TJ. The bottom left pic is a gymnast.
I am speed skating-not posing in an evolution picture.
After our tour, we continued to Cañon City where we enjoyed swimming at our hotel and ate at a delicious restaurant.

The next morning, we went to the Royal Gorge
The bridge is the highest suspension bridge in the world.
The canyon itself was really pretty.
The bridge was a lot scarier than expected.
There wasn't much holding us up. The surface was all wood but there were cracks between the slats and we could see everything below.
We paused to smile for a picture, but we were both freaked out. The middle of the bridge swayed a little with the wind.
I love this sign.
It would take a pretty long line to fish from here:
The bridge view from below.
Tim and I, unfortunately, ran out of "time" to ride this tram. It's a shame.
We did get to ride the incline rail to the bottom of the canyon.
Tim is excited to someday ride the train that drives through the bottom of the gorge. The picture below is the part of the track that is hanging-only supported from above.We felt much safer beneath the bridge than on top of it.
We headed home soon after, but not without stopping in Manitou Springs for dinner at Rudy's BBQ. It was a great quick trip, and will probably be our last trip with just the two of us for a long time.

More Baby Showers!

I am really lucky to work with some great people. (If I lived closer to Denver, I'd probably choose to work in the office rather than at home.) A few weeks ago, 2 of my best co-worker friends threw me another baby shower! We invited a bunch of girls I work/worked with over the past year and a half and had lots of fun.

Hostesses: Heidi and Karen (Karen doesn't work there anymore, but when she worked with us, we called her our "Den Mother." She is also the one who taught me to knit)

The Decor:

The girls:

I know a lot of people don't like baby shower games, but I like them! Starr was the winner of the "guess the length of my belly" game. (We're holding our yarn measurements)

We all got these cups with babies in ice and the first one to melt the baby free from the ice won.

More measuring and a good belly shot.

And last but not least, gifts. Here are a few of my favorites.

A boppy!

Karen the host/knitter knitted our little guy this adorable sweater. I wish I could show the details because she used different stitches for the neck and arms. It looks professional. The buttons are wooden leaf shapes. I LOVE it!

I know I am being so spoiled with this pregnancy.
Only 6 weeks to go!!!

About to Pop...

My wonderful friends from church threw me an amazing baby shower with such a fun theme!
I said my friends were wonderful, but did I also mention how talented they are? Take a look at this food:


My shower included some friends from the ward.
I was spoiled with gifts (or should I say "showered" with gifts)
I am currently the 2nd counselor in the young womens at church, so a lot of the girls came too!
The said friends
Thanks for such a great baby shower!!!

Phoenix Fun!

I'm in love...

...with my new little niece Katherine Janean Adkins.

She was born on January 5th (3 weeks early), so I had to be patient until I could meet her. I flew out to Phoenix last week for one last trip while I'm still independent to "help" Mindy with the other kids. I mostly just came up with things to do and dragged the kids along with me.

I also drilled Mindy on information to help me be a mommy. She came to help me register at Target and pointed out the pros and cons of things and gave me great insight on what I will need and what I won't.
Compared to 4 kids, having just one seems like a piece of cake. Especially with this little guy running nonstop. I feel bad this is the only picture I got of him, but I realize it is because he was literally, running nonstop:

My one request while I was there was to go to the Children's Museum. Makayla had school, but the rest of us had fun exploring.

Uncle Terry (my dad's brother) and Aunt Marilyn were unexpectedly in town for work, so they came to church with us and spent most of Sunday entertaining the kids. I made sugar cookies we all decorated after dinner!

We also enjoyed the warm (sometimes hot) Phoenix weather by going on walks, playing in the backyard, going to the park, and going on treasure hunts.

I did a lot of preparation for being a mom by holding Katherine. She was so sweet and cuddly. I loved when she was awake and just looking around at everything.

Bruzer likes her too...

I admit I was exhausted last night when I got home, but now that I've had an entire nights sleep, I miss these kids already. I can honestly say I'm MORE excited to have a baby soon.
Thanks for letting me come Mindy and Thomas!

Manitou Springs, More Snow, and a Bigger Belly

Tim and I had been wanting to go to "The Springs" (Colorado Springs) for a while. Yesterday was a nice day and we decided last minute to go check things out. We didn't have a lot of time, and I preferred we do something besides a hike, so we went to the cute town just west of Colorado Springs called Manitou Springs.

We walked around some cute and interesting shops then found a cool arcade with all kinds of games. Tim and I played some shooting and skee-ball then bought a total of one piece of bubble gum and one "Frootie" candy with our tickets. Tim did well stomping spiders (see below).

We learned why the city is called Manitou "Springs" when we found a few natural springs throughout our walk. We enjoyed tasting them.

We also drove through the "Garden of the Gods" (twice, due to one way roads and poor signage) and got a good view of Pikes Peak. I would have taken more pictures, but it was too dark. The Garden of the Gods is a park with beautiful red rocks and short hiking trails. We'll have to go back to spend more time there.

On the way out, we found a Rudy's BBQ gas station/restaurant and had dinner. Tim was super excited, because we only thought you could get Rudy's delicious brisket in Texas.

We had the day off on Monday for MLK, so we took our snow shoes back up into the mountains with some friends from work. Someone made this awesome igloo. Tim went inside and said it could fit 6 people!

The hike through the trees was nice, but once we got to the Lost Lake, it was snowing and windy.

Burr!

Heidi, Brooke, and Todd-Friends from work.

And last, but not least, a picture of my progression at 25 weeks. Our little boy is growing like crazy. I'm still feeling pretty good, but am starting to get a little uncomfortable-especially since he discovered my ribs. Official due date: April 28th.