A Day with Baby Audrey

We spent a fun-filled day showing Baby Audrey (my brother's daughter) around Denver. We went to the downtown aquarium and ate lunch right next to a tank with at least five foot sharks. We then went to Denver Bronco stadium to look around. Noah sure likes his cousin and is much gentler with her than his own sister. In fact, he said he wants a baby brother just like her!!

A New House

My (Heidi) mom is building a new house just up the road from my childhood home. We spent a lot of time this summer packing her up to move her to a rental, and now, it finally seems like a reality that she is moving on to a better house! The new house is completely framed, sided and the roof is on. Everything is supposed to be done by New Year's Eve so perhaps we will get to watch the Buckeyes in the National Championship on her new plasma TV! It has been fun to show Noah the building process--he especially liked the big diggers making a big hole in the ground. He also likes to have his picture taken in the new "toy" room. Ryan is really exicted too--this means that he won't have to do his numerous duties at her house like cleaning out gutters, pruning extremely overgrown trees, handy man work, etc.

The Buckeyes are Number One!

What a great year for sports in our household! The Bucks are awesome, the hometeam Rockies made the World Series, and Denver Bronco tickets are getting easier to come by! Besides that, a Michigan loss to little Appalachian State, a loss by all of Ryan's other despised teams (Florida, Oklahoma, USC, Nebraska, etc), and we've got a near perfect season! Ryan and I took Noah to see the Colorado State Rams play the Air Force Falcons--he was the only fan wanting to know why the game was over after a major beating, constant rain, and freezing cold! GO BUCKS!!!

Fall Fun

We've already had lots of fun family adventures this fall.

A visit from "Uncle" Colby in September--we all went hiking one day and then, the adults went to see Florida State beat up on poor Colorado (Colby was sure happy!).

Ac couple of weekends ago, we went to the Harvest Farm for our annual corn maze and pumpkin picking night with the kids. It was 74 degrees during the day that day, but wouldn't you know, as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, it got crazy windy and COLD. We finished the corn maze with rain pelting us in the face, but as we were pulling out of the parking lot, Noah told us that we forgot to do the hayride! Obviously , the elements didn't bother him one bit! Ryan and I were so glad to get to the car that we let Noah pick his own pumpkin on the way out-- a huge deformed thing that cost us $9.00! The kids sure enjoyed watching Dad do all of the work carving the thing--Ryleigh just enjoyed stepping in the goo. It turned out really cute though.

Noah's THIRD Birthday

We can't believe it, but our "little" boy is now 3! We had a fun party with mostly family. Noah chose a Diego party (for those of you that don't know, Diego is a cartoon boy that rescues baby animals in the rain forest). We had a picnic lunch with jungle foods (snake sandwiches, snails, frogs and ants on logs). Then, we all headed off to Fort Fun to play Noah's favorite game--minigolf! He has been such a blessing for the last three years, but I will say that Ryan and I are hoping for the TERRIFIC threes to follow the TERRIBLE twos!

Family Vacation

To end the summer, the Smith family spent a week traveling throughout the beautiful state of Colorado. We visited the giant Sand Dunes, Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, took a 3 1/2 hour train from Durango to Silverton, and had a lot of fun camping and hiking. One morning, we spent at Purgatory ski resort having fun with their summer activities--mini golf, alpine slide, climbing wall, and trampoline bungee jump. Noah even did the bungee jump all by himself, flying over 20 feet in the air and laughing the whole time! He is afraid of nothing.

"The Monarch of the Front Range"

We have finally conquered Longs Peak (14, 259 feet)!! Everyday for three years, we have looked at that mountain on the horizon and talked about climbing it. Yesterday, for our eighth anniversary, we decided to do it. We left our house at midnight with little to no sleep so we could get started on the trail by 2am. It was a 7.5 mile haul to the top in the moonlight, with the last mile mostly rock climbing. The summit was breathtaking, with views for over 70 miles in every direction. As one guy put it, we then had to finish the 7.5 mile "death march" back to the trailhead. All in all, it was an incredible day and an anniversary to remember!