Our once 6 lb. 6 oz. little boy is no longer "little" anymore.  He is growing right before our eyes, into a good natured, happy little boy!  I went through his clothes and got rid of all the newborn and 3 month clothes because what was once, is no more.  In fact, he wore 6 month clothes today!!  It makes me sad to put his little clothes away, yet excited to see the little man that he is going to be!

We headed to the library this morning to visit with some baby animals from a local family farm.  Kendall was able to pet baby goats, turkeys, and chickens.  She really enjoyed the interaction with the animals.

Back to work tomorrow, so I am going to make sure I squeeze my little ones extra tight tonight.  :)
We miss you all back home!  Lots of love!

This past year has brought many changes in our life, that I felt compelled to share with all our family and friends back home.  After not blogging for about a year, I've gotten the urge to bring it back to YOU.  To keep YOU connected with us, through pictures and videos of OUR life.

A little recap of the past 6 months in our life....

1.  In the fall of 2012, Derek received a promotion at USA Wrestling.  Just before that, we contemplated moving back to our stomping grounds.  We felt blessed to have been given the opportunity to stay here in Colorado to continue living our dream of raising our children in the God given serenity of the beautiful scenery that Colorado offers.

2.  We welcomed our little bundle of cuteness, Sawyer John, on December 14, 2012.  He was a healthy 6 lb. 6 oz. little boy :)

 3.  We celebrated Christmas 2012 with our new family of 4 and welcomed our families to Colorado to meet little Sawyer in January and February 2013.  Kendall experienced her first Christmas with "Buddy the Elf".  He played a big joke on her the last night he was in town before Christmas.

The letter that Buddy left for Kendall reads, "To Kendall,  Today is my last day.  Back to the North Pole I must go, to help Santa get all the presents ready for all the boys and girls.  Please be a good girl for mom and dad until I come back next year for Christmas.
Love, Buddy the Elf"

4.  In late February, I took a new job in the ICU at Penrose St. Francis Hospital in Colorado Springs.  I did have to sign a two year contract but I am looking forward to the shorter commute and challenging experience at one of the top 100 hospitals in the U.S. and also a level 2 trauma center!

5.  In March, Kendall started swimming lessons.  She sure looks forward to every Monday night!

6.  We spent Easter OUTSIDE!  It was beautiful weather....and the next day it snowed.  AND THEN IT WAS 70 DEGREES 2 DAYS LATER!  And then it snowed.  Hence the story of our springtime weather here.

7.  Lastly, we've been enjoying our new family of 4 while trying to find time for fun, educational opportunities for our children.  Kendall and I (and now Sawyer!) spend a lot of time going to the library in town on my days off and now that the weather is cooperating, heading to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to visit the animals :)

So as I sit here tonight and blog, I'm thinking about how I won't see my little girl for 5 days!  That's the longest I'll have been away from her in her almost 2 years of life!  As much as I'll miss her, I know she will have fun going on the airplane with daddy to visit family in Wisconsin.  :)

What a crazy week of weather we've had...just last weekend we were outside playing in Kendall's new pool and just 2 days later, it was snowing!!  Gotta love Colorado  :)

Kendall playing in her pool on Saturday...

Our backyard just two days later!!  (If you look you can see the pool is still set up!)

On Saturday, I met a friend from college (who lives here in Colorado) for lunch.  She brought along her cute little girl who is now 4 1/2 months old, Whitney!  Kendall adored Whitney and she was all for holding her...

Happy May!!

One of my most fond memories of growing up with my dad was flying kites.  We used to rig those kites up with sticks and masking tape so that they could withstand even the strongest winds on the top of the hill of Maplewood Drive.  I thought it would be fun to show Kendall what I liked to do when I was young, so we got a Winnie the Pooh kite and headed over to the Rec Center where there are no trees.  Needless to say, we didn't get the kite more than 10 feet in the air, but Kendall had fun doing it and that is what mattered most to me.

We've had beautiful weather here as of late, but today began the thunderstorms.....that are expected to continue through the weekend.  We do need the rain, so I guess it's a good thing :) 
Kendall and I went to lunch with daddy today, went for a walk and managed to fit some cleaning in.  Kendall loves to help clean...her favorite is to use the toilet brush to clean the toilet.  Hopefully that keeps up into her teen years :)

Daddy leaves next Wednesday for Alaska, so I'm off to work tomorrow for the next five days in a row in order to fit all my shifts in so that I can be off while he is gone.  I can't believe that May is already approaching!  Man time flies!!

Enjoying the sunshine!!

Oooops mommy, look at my hands!!