Tenth Anniversary Trip - May 4-8

Our tenth anniversary was May 24th, but we decided to celebrate a little early with an anniversary trip before it got too close to baby's arrival. We drove to Colorado Springs, left the boys with Danny's parents for a few days and then drove to the Four Corners area in Southwestern Colorado. It was a wonderful four days and we were amazed at how much we were able to pack into such a short period of time!

We woke up our first morning to several inches of snow on the ground and more falling. It was a spring snow, so it was really wet and most of it had melted by early afternoon, but it was a fun surprise for the beginning of May! Since it was snowing we spent most of the morning at the Anasazi Heritiage Center and then took a short hike to some local Indian ruins.

My noon the snow had stopped and the roads were clear enough for us to drive up to Mesa Verde National Park. Even though it was a Saturday afternoon, the weather kept most of the visitors away and the park was nearly empty. Danny got some great shots of the ruins in the snow - not something that you get to see very often!

More pictures from Mesa Verde...
The next day we drove to nearby Hovenweep National Monument and took a short hike (see photo above). It only took a couple of hours, so we decided to do something spontaeous (you can do that without kids!) and drove the two hours to Arches National Park in Utah. Neither of us had ever been there and we'd always wanted to see it. It was beautiful (see photo below) and someplace we will have to take the boys back to see.

We left the next morning to drive back to Colorado Springs. We stopped for a quick walk and to take some pictures at Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Our home for three days - Flagstone Meadows B&B (no Danny did not make me camp or backpack on this trip!). We highly recommend it if you are ever visiting that part of the country.

Playing in the Rain - May 2

Can you think of anything more fun on a spring afternoon than riding bikes in the rain with your brother?

Wyatt's Preschool Program - May 1

These are just a couple of pictures from Wyatt's end of the year preschool program.Wyatt and some of his buddies.
Wyatt and Mrs. Sheffy, his preschool teacher.

Dimmitt's New Clinic - April 29

The hospital just finished building a new clinic and renovating much of the current hospital space. We took these pictures at the open house they had last month. Danny's favorite part about the clinic is that it is adjacent to the hospital (the old clinic was several blocks away) which makes it much easier to take call and see clinic patients on the same day.

Danny's new office - he finally has a window!

Colter's First Haircut - April 28

After almost 2 1/2 years, Danny convinced me that it was time for Colter's first haircut. I didn't cut much, just enough to keep him looking like a boy!

Colter's Truck - April 19

Colter discovered this truck in a box of outside toys and quickly claimed it as his own. He drives it all around picking up sticks, rocks and anything else that isn't moving and then finds a spot to dump it all out.

Sedona, AZ: Little Hikers - April 10-14

It's hard to believe that just a couple of years ago we were taking backpacking trips where both boys were being carried. Now they hike on their own and do a great job! Of course a hiking stick and a snack always helps!
Danny has more pictures from our trip on his blog www.griffisfamilyoutdoors.blogspot.com.

Sedona, AZ: "Rocks!" - April 10-14

While Wyatt was busy identifying and collecting trees, Colter was picking up every rock he could hold and then looking for "wa-wa" so that he could throw them and make a "big splash!" When we were hiking and he would find a rock, but didn't see any water, he would ask me to put it in his backpack. Every 30 minutes or so we would have to discreetly empty his backpack so that it wouldn't get too heavy! But as soon as he found water (even if it was just a puddle) he would stop, pull out all of his rocks and start making them splash.

Sedona, AZ: Our Resident Plant Expert - April 10-14

Wyatt's favorite part about our trip to Arizona was collecting branches from all of the different trees. He quickly learned their names and would identify them as we were driving down the road.

"Look! There's a Ponderosa Pine! It's really big!"

Danny and I also had to learn some new plants because Wyatt wanted to know the name of every tree and shrub we encountered. Thankfully Danny thought this might happen and brought the tree guide book with us to make things a little easier!

Sedona, AZ: Camping Fun with Anna and Kara - April 10-14

We met our good friends, Brad and Missy Griffin, and their daughters Anna and Kara, in Sedona, Arizona for a camping and backpacking trip. The kids hadn't seen each other since our trip to Yosemite in July, so they were happy to get reacquainted again over their favorite activity - playing in the dirt!

Easter Egg Hunt - in the Snow! - April 7

We had a fun treat this year - a snowy Easter! There wasn't much snow, just enough to turn things white for a day or so and to make hunting eggs a little chilly. After they found all of their eggs they even threw a few snowballs at Daddy!

Easter Fun - April 5-7

We had lots of fun decorating bunny cookies and...dyeing Easter eggs.
Here are the boys with their favorite eggs.

Wyatt's Easter Party - April 3

Wyatt enjoyed his preschool Easter Egg hunt, even though he didn't end up with the most eggs. He learned very quickly which eggs he wanted and would walk right by the hard-boiled eggs and even shake the plastic ones to see how they sounded before deciding if he was going to put it in his basket or back on the ground! Colter, who doesn't like to be left out of anything, got to hunt Easter eggs with the younger kids. He is so ready to go to school next year!

Water Gun Fight with Daddy - April 2

For Danny's birthday the boys decided he needed some water guns. They were excited to find a package of four so that we could each have one. A few days after Danny's birthday, he came home from work and Colter greeted him at the door saying "wa-wa dun. outside." What Daddy can resist an invitation like that?

Patriotic "Stars" - April 1

Wyatt's preschool class participated in "Dimmitt Follies" (a variety show at the high school) this year. He had fun being up on stage and told us he was going to sing loud enough for us to hear him in our seats!

This was a picture I took after his teacher told the kids to sing louder. Wyatt made sure he did his part!

"Dan-De-Li" - April 1

Colter's first attempts at talking could be classified in two ways: repeating the first syllable of a word (Wy-Wy for Wyatt, wa-wa for water, pot-pot for potty) or using sounds (choo-choo for train, shhhh for airplane). This has continued for many, many months! Lately Wyatt has been working very hard to get Colter to repeat words back to him. I think Wyatt just thinks it is funny to hear the way Colter says the words, but Colter plays along with it. Dandelion was one of his first three syllable words that resembled an actual word!

Planting "Trees" - March 24

One of Wyatt's favorite new activities is "planting trees." It started with him "planting" pieces of mulch in the flower bed and calling them a forest and has progressed to "planting" limbs from trees in the yard. If you ask him, he will tell you that he is just "pretend planting" because his trees don't have roots. This has triggered a huge fascination with trees, which is a little strange since we live in an area with very few trees! When we are driving out of the city (where there is mostly pasture and farmland) he will often look around and say "Hey! Where did all of the trees go? Did someone forget to plant them?"

Jacksonville, FL: St. Augustine - March 19

Before leaving Florida, we drove down to St. Augustine to tour some of the old forts and see the lighthouse. The boys especially loved the old cannons.
Aren't they cute? : )

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Jacksonville, FL: Hunting for "Sea Turtle Eggs" - March 18

Since it was so close to Easter, Danny's mom planned a "sea turtle egg hunt" on the beach for all of the cousins. They had a great time digging in the sand for the eggs and then opening them to find prizes inside. It was the first of many egg hunts this Easter for our boys!

Jacksonville, FL: The Wedding - March 17

All of the kids did a great job during the wedding...but they were happy to be able to run around again after it was over!
Wyatt, Colter, Abbie and Emma dancing at the wedding.Colter enjoying some cake - yummy!