Someday...

We are looking forward to the day when this kid - Keegan - can come over and play with us again. We miss this sweet boy and are praying for him and his incredible family while they are at Children's Hospital in Boston. We miss you, Harrison Family.

Little Lainey and Little Keegan

And, this is my favorite picture of the two of them. Taken the day before Lainey knocked that front tooth right out of her mouth!

Flashback

2010

2011

***

We tried to capture a picture similar to this one from 2010. 

It is still one of our most favorite pictures of Lainey! 

Down by the River

A few pictures from Thursday evening...

...and a few pictures from Friday afternoon...throwing rocks down by the river behind Kip's, one of our favorite restaurants in Pagosa.

 
Lainey loves searching for "perfect rocks."

 

As Ben said, "At least the pictures of you with the kids are consistent for this trip." 

(Meaning: These kids weren't doing me any favors in the picture-taking department.)

A fisherman. I'm sure he was thrilled when we left! :)

Sofi

This dog lives a rough life.

Final Days

Our final few days in Pagosa are always a bit slow...lots of laundry, picking up and putting away toys, letting some toys dry out due to water exposure, packing, figuring out what we need to ship back to Texas because we always buy stuff here and never allow for extra room in our bags... Anyway, here are just a couple of pictures from this morning. We thought the hot air balloon was going to land near our house but it didn't. It was fun to think about that possibility for a few minutes, though! 

And here's Lainey with her "Mommy Rock." Emmy is great at making faces on rocks. And, for those who are wondering, the rocks from last summer named Gage, Ainsley, Baby Audrey, Keegan, and Nora are still happily resting in their rock box. :) They are alive and well. 

I Spy...

Dear Mr. Lizard,

      Thank you for keeping Walker occupied for a full 10 minutes. Sorry for repeated attempts to feed you pine needles. And sorry for the squeals, the chasing, and the pokes. I hope you are quietly resting now in the backyard somewhere. Undisturbed. Again, thanks for playing along, Mr. Lizard. :)

Sincerely,  

Walker's Family

Hot Dogs and S'mores

We had a campout last night. With everything but the tent. 

The kids are making a "nest" here. Not sure for what. But, a nest nonetheless. 

Walker's car spent some time in the nest, too.

the scene

Lainey loves the "tree stomps." 

 

ringing around the rosey with Dad

Totally startled by the flash. Sorry, Buddy.

Another one totally startled by the flash...notice the marshmallow in her hair. :)

And this is not from the campout. This is just a little horny toad that I saw while out running. He was cute! I also saw some turkeys but they heard me and ran away. They are quite fast... Ben and my dad saw a black bear a few days ago and we've seen about two dozen deer. I love seeing all the animals around here!

Sleeping Quarters

So...something new for us...our kids have been sharing a room here in Pagosa. Walker is in the crib, Lainey is in the bottom bunk. Let's just say that at night, the kids sleep well. I think Walker wakes Lainey up in the morning, but so far, it hasn't been an issue. Naptime is a different story. They like to play and giggle and squeal...we're not even sure who starts it most of the time but it happens almost every single time we put the kids down for a nap. It's cute for about 10 minutes...an hour later, it's not so cute. Ha! Notice the pillows blocking the open space at the foot of Lainey's bunk. That is to prevent her from poking her head out to talk to Walker. Anyway, I'm glad they're having fun and I'm glad we know that they are able to share a room and (eventually) get some much-needed sleep.

Walker Loves Clocks

Just a little video...Walker gets SO excited about clocks. Especially ones that are ringing. :)

Wildlife Park and Treasure Falls

Yesterday, we took our annual trip to the Wildlife Park in Pagosa. It was a gorgeous day (no rain!). Sadly, there were no horses to ride (they were all out on hunting trips) and Lil' Mama, the horse that Lainey rode last year, has since passed away. Lainey didn't seem too concerned about not being able to ride a horse so thankfully, it wasn't a big disappointment. We got to see all of the other animals, however (well, the ones who wanted to see us, that is) and the kids had fun. I didn't get a ton of pictures because most of my time was spent making sure that Walker didn't feed his fingers to the animals. Especially the ones with "unpredictable dispositions."

Walker loved chasing the ducks.

Typical Walker these days...he's throwing a fit. He was so sad that he couldn't chase the ducks into the pond (and he would have).

Walker loved feeding the donkey - the same one the bit Lainey last year. She did not want to feed it this year. 

Mama Mountain Lion

getting a clearer view of us

Of all the animals, this cat was the most interesting to Walker. He chased it everywhere. Bears? Elk? Wolves? No, thanks. He'll just follow this house cat around.

The cat is in the tree. Walker is figuring out a way to get up there.

These little goats were feisty.

Lainey fed them a little bit, but was quick to back off if they became too eager.

After the Wildlife Park, we took the kids on a mini-hike up to Treasure Falls. 

Lightning McQueen came with us. These days, Walker almost always has a little car in his hand.

This picture cracks me up. My two friends did NOT want to take a picture!

This was Walker the whole way down. Walk, run, stumble, fall, cry, get rocks and dirt on his hands, cry again, get up, and...repeat. He didn't want to be held, though, or if he did, it was only for two seconds. There were switchbacks on the hike, so we had to really make sure that Walker didn't take a giant tumble off the side (hence Ben running behind him and, well, as for me...it seems as though I was a bit more concerned about getting a picture than protecting him from getting hurt here...not one of my better decisions). At one point we had to save Lightning McQueen after he was accidentally thrown down the hill. We may wait another year or two before taking Walker on this hike again. He was wild.

Here is Mr. Blue Lips. He gets SO blue when he's cold. It's hard to see, but his entire mouth area is a purplish-bluish color! Poor kiddo! :(