Goodbye Training Wheels

Ashtyn is riding her bike with NO training wheels - You Go Girl!

Matt has been working with her for a couple weeks and she finally nailed it!  I was pretty impressed with how quickly she learned - I think I had training wheels until I was ten or so!  I am sure hanging around boys all day long may have had something to do with it - but she did it and we are so, SO proud of her!

Matt got quite a work out running behind her - but what a great daddy he is!

I remember when we bought her that bike for her third birthday and now a year and half later she looks so BIG riding it!  May need to upgrade soon...

Good job baby girl - you are growing UP so fast!

Can't wait to go on bike rides with you next summer...I hear Broomfield has a million bike paths to explore!

Under Contract

It's official, on December 13th we will be closing on our new home and become residents of Broomfield!  Finding this home has been such a blessing - it's absolutely perfect for us!

I refer to this house as our "Grown Up House" - where Matt and I can raise our kids and grow old together!  Our house in Erie never felt like "Home" - it just felt like a big box and no matter what color I painted the walls, no matter how many little remodel projects we would do or trees we would try to plant - it still always felt like a big box where Matt and I were "playing" house and kids just kept popping into the picture. 

But the minute I walked into this home that "feeling" rushed over me - I was home!  It had everything we were looking for - older house, older neighborhood, GREAT schools, front porch, BIG, mature trees, bright GREEN grass, planted flowers (Ashtyn's request), hardwood floors, vaulted ceilings, the cutest brick fireplace, a place to park the trailer, fully landscaped backyard with a deck, NO HOA and brand new windows, roof and furnace - the list goes on!  The worst part of the house is the dated kitchen and bathrooms, but I am pretty sure I can take care of that...

(probably the thing I am most excited about!)

 I am not going to lie though - I may have freaked out a bit when the idea of actually putting in an offer was on the table and started second guessing if this was "THE" home.  You see I contacted our agent, Joan, on Monday, saw about 20 houses on Wednesday and Thursday and by Friday at noon we had put in an offer - how crazy and overwhelming is THAT!  I thought for sure the process would take much longer - especially after seeing dump, after dump, after dump...and started to think our very conservative budget was not going to buy us much!

But Joan is AMAZING and just knew when she saw this house come on the market - way under our budget - it would be the one!

Matt fell in love with it instantly - he couldn't get past the backyard with the hot tub!

It truly is the PERFECT home!

The overwhelming feeling of packing, moving, taking down 30 year old wall paper and painting is starting to set it in - but we are so EXCITED to finally move into OUR home and get OUR household back together!

We are very thankful that we took a step back a couple years ago, and even though its been challenging and dramatic at times its allowed Matt and I to humble ourselves and really find the home that fits our lives the best and allow us to provide our kids with the best life we could possible give them!

Honey - I think we finally made a good decision together and have found that home we can live in forever...with a front porch where you can sit and drink your sweet tea!

The countdown is on...

Corn MAZE!

We headed out to Rock Creek Farm this weekend for our annual pumpkin picking! 

After freezing our little butts off Friday and Saturday the warm sun felt so good on Sunday and provided the perfect day to spend at the farm. 

Ashtyn was on a mission to find a very small orange pumpkin, but after lots and lots of searching came up empty handed and a little bummed out - Last year we found all kinds of small pumpkins, but not this year...



Eli found BIG pumpkins and liked to "ride" them as he would say...but quickly got bored with the whole pumpkin picking thing!

So we moved on to the festivities that are hosted every year at the farm. 

We visited the farm animals we love so much and were pleasantly surprised to meet a beautiful horse - never have we seen her there before...

...along with the piggies, sheep, goats and cows!

Then the real FUN began -

Ashtyn jumped and jumped in the Bounce Houses, while Eli and Payton played on the hay stacks! 

 Eli still is not real sure about bouncy castles - he says they are "Too scary!"

Ashtyn LOVED going down the slide - they oiled it up this year because those kids would fly down, very FAST!  Again, Eli thought it was "Too big" and "Too scary" so he just watched as Ashtyn had the best time EVER!

How cute are they - and Eli's smirk is "classic!"

After Ashtyn had her fill of the bounce houses we headed over to the corn mazes. 

 I have never, ever done a corn maze and was so excited that the kids were finally old enough so we could do them!  We had SO much fun, running through the mazes, playing chase, hiding in the corn stocks to scare each other and watching my kids GIGGLE!  It was so great and also a GREAT work out - some of those mazes were 3 miles long!

Matt and Ashtyn would hide and then scare Eli and I when we would walk by - Eli would giggle so hard!  Then Eli and I switched it up and started scaring Matt and Ashtyn!

 

BOO!  We would say...

We did get lost in one of the mazes and couldn't find our way out, so we put Ashtyn on Matt's shoulders so she could guide us back...good thing Matt is tall!

We had such a fun, family outing at Rock Creek Farm and the corn maze was definitely my favorite part!  We worked up quite an appetite after running around the corn stocks so we ended our afternoon at Pizza Hut for lunch!  What a GREAT day!

Happy Fall...

Kid Kwotes

Ashtyn and Eli are running around the kitchen, playing when Ashtyn says...

 

"Come over here you little fur ball and give me a hug!"

 

- Ashtyn Faith, age 4 1/2

 

 

I notice Eli chewing something in his mouth, and I ask...

"Is that gum?  Eli, where did you get that gum?"

 

and he answers with a big grin on his face...

 

"In the couch"

 

- Eli Matthew, age 2

 

 



Happy to you...

 We celebrated Matt's 32nd birthday this past weekend - getting old Trujillo!

We started celebrating on Saturday night going out with the Ohlheisers...

We headed down to Toby Keith's Bar, but it was a little slow that night, so after having dinner and a beer in those awesome Mason jars I love so much we then decided to go bowling...

 Moonlight bowling at Chippers!

Always a good time...

 On Sunday we spent the morning laying around and watched the Broncos finally play well and WIN a game - Although Matt did bet against the Broncos - he's not a fan of Manning!

Around half time we headed over to Pam and Steve's to have birthday dinner for both Allie and Matt.

Allie was back in town for the weekend and we were SO excited to see her and give her hugs, kisses and of course hear all about her new life in New York!

Allie is AMAZING - she really is! 

I am so proud of her for leaving our tight nit family - and maybe a little envious too - to live out her dream of being a PA!  She is doing SO, so well and has met a great group of friends, so I think it gives all of us peace knowing that she is happy living in New York and will be nothing but successful - But she better get her butt back to Colorado as soon as she graduates!

I can't wait to go visit her though - We all know I LOVE New york and now I have a HUGE reason to go there...besides for shopping!

 Allie missed out on roasting marshmallows on Labor Day, so we did it again!  I think the kids have more fun setting marshmallows on fire then they do eating them...I don't think one s'more was actually made or consumed...

 I LOVE you Allie!

 Of course every birthday has dessert and candles! 

Matt's favorite it white cake or what he calls "Wedding Cake" for dessert.  I let Eli pick out the design from Kings and I think he did a good job - he knows his Daddy for sure - or he just wanted that 4-wheeler for a new toy?

Blowing out candles is always a HUGE event at every birthday party in my family - Tradition states that every kid gets to blow out candles and be sung too...Well Eli put a little spin on it!

Usually it takes forever to get through all the grandchildren, Papa Bill gets antsy and the candles are melted to nothing by the end - not this time!

Eli got so excited to blow out the candles, that even before everyone was done singing he would start blowing them out - even if it wasn't his turn! 

Well, the older kids didn't want to miss out on their turn especially by a 2 year old, so they would quickly blow out their candles before Eli could get them all!  It was hilarious to watch and I never knew how competitive my son is - at such a young age! 

I will say it made the whole tradition much more interesting...and funny, and Papa Bill got his dessert much faster then usual!

 Happy Birthday to my favorite cousin EVER and my SEXY husband!

Love you both!

 On Monday night, Matt's actual birthday, we headed to dinner with my parents at Outback - Our Favorite!  I looked forward all.day.long to dinner - how sad huh?

The kids behaved so well and we actually really enjoyed Matt's birthday dinner...and dessert!

Happy Birthday Babe!  I hope you felt celebrated, loved and enjoyed turning 32!

Happy to you...

Tailgating

 Even though the CU Buffs absolutely SUCK this year, there is really no better way then to spend a fall afternoon Tailgating!  My Mom invited us to the tailgate party this Saturday before the Buffs played UCLA so we could share in all the fun, FREE festivities they have going on before the game starts.  After enjoying tacos, burritos and of course some Coors Light we headed over to the party where they had jumpy castles, footballs, spinning wheels for prizes, tattoos and FREE Chocolate milk - my kids were in heaven!

 Ashtyn of course got a CU tattoo right away and then headed straight for the jumpy castle!  She jumped and jumped until her little legs were like jello!  Then she went with Nana to play games and ended up winning the cutest little CU bear and also got to go and meet Ralphie...

 Eli LOVED playing with the footballs and actually got really good at throwing them...

 He even threw it and made it into the hole over and over again!

Maybe he will be good at sports...but hopefully not with his paci in his mouth!

 Then the best part was having the band march through and play all the fight songs!

Ashtyn is starting to learn the words and cheers and I could see her mouthing along to the songs - Mimi would be SO proud!

The kids got REALLY bummed when the band marched into the field house and the party was over...I think they were having a good time!

Ashtyn even got more upset when she found out we weren't actually going to the game and especially unhappy with not getting to see Ralphie run!

So I am thinking I will get some tickets to the next home game, so she can finally experience a CU football game - They are practically giving tickets away now after Saturdays game, so hopefully the band and Ralphie will keep us entertained, because I hear the actual game is HARD to watch!

Even if they are horrible, I still will ALWAYS be a Buff fan, and I think my kids are quickly becoming fans too!