Summer Begins

The last day of school for the county is today, but we began our summer almost a month ago, when Simon's taxing 2-day a week school dismissed for the summer. Because he worked so hard all year long, we decided we needed to fill the summer with a lot of fun. Three weeks in, and I'm exhausted. It's been a good summer so far!
Here is a bit of what we've done.
Simon's last week of school, he went on his first field trip (the three-four year old class apparently doesn't do a lot of field trips). The kids took an exciting trip to.... a nursery!!! They learned about petunias, snap dragons and dirt. I'm glad Simon gets to have these valuable life experience to shape the man he will become.

His last day of school included a picnic at the neighborhood park. The plus side was, the park is the same one we frequent often, so it was withing walking distance and Simon was familiar with it. We've loved Simon's preschool. Luckily, he's registered for the same preschool next year (he'll be in the 4-5 class now. Our child did not fail pre- preschool) with the same kids.

Our big news: WE GOT HARD WOOD FLOORS! WAHOO!! When we saw this home for the first time, one of my first comments was "Who puts carpet in a dining room? That has to go." After Lucy and Simon destroyed a good portion of the carpet with milk, easy mac and blueberries, we decided it was time to act.

So far, we've spent the summer checking out all the parks in the area, swimming, visiting the library and going to the zoo (we're very thankful for our annual membership).

Simon is learning to read. We're shocked at how well Simon reads. We get reading books from the library every week and Simon plows through them. I'm such a proud mom!

Our first summer trip was to Cheyenne to see my niece Emily dance in a ballet recital. Watching 6-year-olds dance ballet is always a cultural, artistic experience. Sadly, I don't have any pictures from the trip as I was wrestling with the ever-growing Lucy during the performance, but while we were there, my mom gave Simon his own Buzz Lightyear sleeping bag and flashlight. He walked around the house like this for three days, claiming to be going camping.

Simon discovered a love for super-heroes, particularly Superman (mainly because when he asks to watch Batman, I tell him he's not old enough for that yet). He wore a blanket around for weeks and of course, mini-Simon (aka: Lucy) had to join in. Because the blanket wouldn't stay on, Jacob found Simon a cape and mask on clearance. Don't bother telling him Superman doesn't wear a mask. He'll just argue with you until you're too exhausted to care... so 2 minutes.

Memorial day weekend, the kids got to go out in a canoe for the first time. Our good friends who live just a few streets over were kind enough to spend the morning with us canoeing out on the lake. We had to take turns since there were eight of us, but it was a great time. Since we live 1/4 mile from a lake, I think we'd better invest in a canoe.

We're very excited for the rest of the summer!!

One year later...

I have to apologize in advance. This post is going to be VERY picture-heavy. Today we celebrate the one year anniversary of our move to Denver. One year ago today, we pulled up in front of our rental house (which we were locked out of) and began unpacking in snow. Today I'm happy to report, we're moved in and it is 64 degrees.

We've had a lot of great experiences since moving here, and this post is to honor those experiences.

Simon potty trained the week after we moved here!! 

We've spend many mornings at the Denver Zoo. 

...and the Denver Children's Museum. 

We still miss our old friends very much, but we've been very blessed to make new, wonderful friends.

We watched the fireworks together for the first time ever as a family. Arvada has GREAT fireworks! 

Our new home: This is the home we plan to be in for many, many years. We're so happy we found this wonderful home!

The Lake: The lake is where we walk, play, and chase geese.

We took Simon to an amusement park for the first time, and realized he's a daredevil. 

Swim Lessons:

Simon finally realized his dream of being Buzz Lightyear... at least for Halloween night. 

Ringling Brothers Circus! 

Getting visits from family, even though they are far away. 

Toy Story on Ice/living close enough to see the Piviks regularly. Simon loves Buzz Lightyear and his cousins, so this was a very memorable day. We're so grateful to live close enough to see my sister and her family so  often!

Our field/coyotes. We live across from a city-designated "open space." This means, it will remain undeveloped. It happens to be home to two coyotes. We look for them each morning, though it's harder to find them in the spring.  

 Simon started preschool!!! I wasn't sure about putting Simon in preschool since he has another year before Kindergarten, but in the end, I felt this was the right choice for him. I'm SO glad we did this. He loves his friends, teachers and learning new things. 

Simon finally ate ten new foods!! This took nine months, but Simon finally completed his sticker chart by eating ten new foods. 

Lucy turned one/we love Dave and Shauna! We are so blessed to have Uncle Dave and Aunt Shauna living in the same town! They celebrated Lucy's first birthday with us!

Simon turned four! We're happy to report, we had perfect attendance from the Sunbeams at Simon's birthday party. Since it was his first birthday here, we decided to go all out and held it at the local swimming pool. 

Christmas! Simon participated in his first Christmas pageant as a shepherd...

and we felt tremendously blessed to  host Jacob's brother's family, Jacob's parents and my parents for Christmas. It was WONDERFUL! We're very grateful to live so close to Tim and family. Again... Simon loves his cousins!

Our first winter in Colorado was VERY snowy, but we enjoyed it. Perhaps it's because Arvada is OCD about plowing roads. It made it much better.

Our first family vacation! We've taken trips to visit family, but this is the first time we left town as a family purely for a vacation. Of course, we went to Disneyland!! 

And the best part about this year: being together as a family!!! For the first time in many years, we get to be together almost daily. We all live in the same house, and Jacob never has to travel for work. 

Though we miss friends, family and many things about Provo, we're very happy to be here in Arvada, CO. It's a beautiful place with wonderful people. We're very happy to call this place home, and hope to for many, many, many, many, many, etc, etc, etc years. We've already made lifelong memories here and we're excited to see what else is in store.