July 2009

July was full of fun and enjoyment! I went to girls camp with my girls in our ward. It was nice to be able to go to camp and not have to be in charge of the whole event. I had fun getting to know the girls better. They truly are a delight in my life. We were attending the Arapaho Stake University (ASU) and all of the wards were a different college. We had the chance to be the college of CHARITY! Our camp director had written a song that she taught the girls and we had a great chant that was a lot of fun. The stake kept us busy and when we had a chance to have time together as a ward we loved it. Some fun around the fire

All of us

The Smoky Hill Ward Leaders
Rochelle, Santa, Pauline,Heather,& Alice

We had so much fun. Our leaders were fabulous and we probably had more fun sometimes than the girls. I am grateful for them and the friendships that we have made. Chris had to work while I was at camp but he was able to help us get there and set up. Thanks to my wonderful mother and her willingness to come and watch my kids for the week I was able to engrave another wonderful memory of camp into my life and see the beautiful testimonies grow in myself and the girls.

GARDEN OF THE GODS

We decided to go to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs on the 24th of the month. It was beautiful! The kids had a lot of fun climbing on all of the big red rocks and we watched some men repelling and hiked for a while.

Aren't they so strong!!

Alec enjoying himself

Alyssa and Hayden sitting in the shade

After we visited the Garden of the Gods we drove up to Mueller State park where we had a picnic and then toke a 2 mile hike which turned out to be about 3 1/2 miles instead. The hike had a lot of steep inclines which the kids did not enjoy but the park was breath taking.

Chris and I before our hike

The kids near a pond on the hike

We love Colorado and all the things it has to offer. It makes our family happy to be outdoors and enjoying the things that Heavenly Father has created for us.

Rest of June 09

I could not get all the pictures for June to upload so here are the rest! At the beginning of the month Chris and I were both so excited to accept a new niece and nephew into our family. They were both born on the same day and only a couple of hours apart. The kids and I got to go see my niece when she was 2 weeks old. I was so excited to see her. We were able to see YaYa on the way to Snowflake as usual and we always love getting to do so. When we got to Snowflake we were able to spend some quality time with family. So here is Rilynn! She is beautiful!

Kera came to church with us and it was so nice to have her and the baby there!
My mom with our kids!

The kids with there cousin! They loved getting to hold her!

My mom with her granddaughters

She is so adorable!

While we were there we had a Bigler family reunion. The kids had a blast! They got to canoe, swing have a horse ride and run around. The boys kept asking Papa to take them out on the canoe which Uncle John came to the rescue. I felt so bad for him. Not only did he take out Alec and Hayden but he toke out his own boys and then he had to go out again to rescue Alyssa who was going in circles in a kayak. His arms had to be killing him. Thanks Uncle John!

Hayden would not get off of this swing! The trip was a lot of fun and we were very glad that we went! It was so nice to get to hold and cuddle my sweet niece!

June 2009

The kids really enjoy riding their bikes in our cull-d-sac. Hayden really wanted to learn to ride a 2 wheeler and he did it within a couple of hours. The kid has no fear and he was quite funny to watch because he never really would watch where he was going, instead he would turn and look at us and say " look I'm doing it" He is a little speed demon now and he just zooms around corners as fast as he can. It gives Mom a heart attack!

The kids did not get out of school until the beginning of June. Here is Alyssa and Alec on their last day !
Chris works a really weird schedule so any day that he gets off we like to drive to new places to see what there is to offer. On this occasion we went to Breckenridge, CO. It is so beautiful there. They had lots of little shops down main street and the rushing river ran right through town and the mountains were breath taking.

The boys loved this bear carved out of wood

This is Frosty the Tin Snowman. Alec carried a newspaper around trying to sell it. He has been watching the movie Newsies and thought maybe he could get some cash. Unfortunately I think $20 was a little to high!

THE AIRPLANE MUSEUM

A couple of times a year our museum here is lucky enough to have star wars items on display. In fact on Halloween they have a lot of people dressed up like clones, Darth Vader and so on for a party so we are looking forward to going to that!

Alec loves giving me faces like this for pictures!

We had a lot of fun in June and the kids were loving being out of school! July's updates will be coming soon!

Rest of April and May 2009

Let's see. I figured I would tell a couple of months at a time! After Mother's Day it snowed here alot! It was nice and deep in the back yard. The kids had a blast with it. The snow here is wet and soft and tends to melt away in a 24 hour period. Much different then ND.

As you can see Chris had a great time himself!

MAY
We have done quit a bit of exploring since we have moved here. We received a zoo pass and we went to the Natural History Museum. The boys loved the dinosaur displays and they ask to go there often.

On Memorial Day Weekend Chris had some time off so we decided to do some camping at Estes Park which is one of the entrances to Rocky Mountain National Park. We had so much fun. It did rain every day and at night it was very chilly but we loved being outdoors and being together.

Alec with a walking stick that he found. All of the kids loved taking turns with it. It became a very nice writing stick too.

The day before we left we went for a hike on a trail head that took us in to the Park. The beginning of the hike was a steep incline and the kids kept stopping every couple of minutes saying " I'm tired and I need some shade" Chris and I would just look at each other and think "You're tired? What about Mom and Dad. After we got to the top it became very simple and we were hiking amongst aspens and pines with the beautiful peaks in view.

I love this picture. Alec loves being up high!

We hiked right into the Great Basin Campground. If it would not have been for the beetles there would have been alot more trees. On the way back it started to rain and we spent most of the evening playing games in our tent.

SCHOOL ALREADY

It is so hard to believe that summer is already over. The kids were so excited to go to school this year! Thursday the 20th the school had Peekaboo where they were able to see who their teachers were going to be and they also got to meet them. Alyssa's teacher was not there that day, she was taking her youngest to college. We went back on Friday so she could meet her! Alyssa with Mrs. Balagna(pronounced like lasagna)

Alec with Mrs. Deutchmann or Mrs. D as the kids call her. He was so excited that he got her he had been hoping this is who he would get.

Hayden with Ms. Berges. He is in Kindergarten this year. It is going to be hard to see him go. He is so excited though. His first day is today at 11:45 PM and he keeps asking every 5 min. if it is time to go to school yet!

Alyssa and Alec started on Monday the 24th!

So off to a new year with hopefully some kind of schedule now. I will try and post all about our summer soon!!!!!!

Mother's Day 2009

I have always enjoyed church on Mother's Day. However today brought on a lot of emotions for me. My morning started with Alec bringing me a huge bowl of cereal with a side of yogurt. Who can complain about breakfast in bed? I received a box of flowers and pictures from my kids that I saw them working on this week. It was so sweet of them to think of me. Aside from that we began getting ready for church while it was raining outside. During announcements I received my calling as the YW president in our ward. I have known about this for almost 2 weeks and it still had me feeling excited and nervous at the same time. The YW were sad to see their previous leader leave but they were kind to us as a new presidency. After church we were all set apart. I left feeling a huge load lifted off my shoulders knowing that the Lord is my guide and having an instant love for these girls. I know a lot of responsibility follows and I hope and pray I can be all that I need to be. I reflected a lot on my YW leaders that I had as a youth and of course that led to thoughts of my sweet mother and the wonderful example that she was and is to me. So thank you Mom for being who you are and for loving the Savior like you do. I love you!!!!! Happy Mother's Day!!!!!!!