A Sampling

Here is a sampling of our photos from Colorado. We'll have to make you guys a disc when we see you next. We had so much fun and were sad to leave. We miss playing Farkel with you.


 

Rocky Mountain High

We just returned from another family adventure in Rocky Mountain National Park. The 7 of us woke every morning (naturally!) before 6 AM to arrive at the day's trailhead by 7. We then climbed mountains, forded streams, followed rainbows until mid-day when we ate a brief lunch and hiked back to the car. The views were beautiful and the immersion in nature was refreshing. I expect that the rest of the crew will post more stories and pictures, but I'll leave you with the high and low point of the trip (depending on who you ask).

On our way down from Fern and Odessa Lakes I somehow ended up way in front of everyone else. When I saw a small cave to the left of the trail, I couldn't help myself. I looked back and signalled to Laura, who wasn't far behind, that I was going in. She moved a bit in front of me to watch the others' reactions when I jumped out at them. I waited and waited and finally heard voices approaching. I waited until I saw the tip of a shoe before bounding out of the cave shouting and flailing my arms about. The couple that leapt back in surprise were not my intended victims--in fact they were people I'd never seen before in my life (and I hope I never see again)!! There was absolutely NO WAY to recover from that blunder; I fell to the ground in mortification as they fell to the ground laughing. Oh to be able to disappear in moments such as those! I've decided to act like a grown-up from now on to avoid such faux pas in the future.

Soft beneath our feet

When I set Elinore down on the new carpet, the first thing she did was run her fingers through it. It was like she knew how special it was. 

Camping

The whole walk back from the beach, Elinore sat there with her mouth hanging on the backpack. She cracks me up. I guess she'll be content for hiking in Colorado!! 

Smile

On a lighter note, I took these pictures of Elinore on Monday, she was being so cute I couldn't resist, honestly just look at that face, no one can be upset when you've got a cheerful face like that around you :-)

Cont...Poor Mrs. Norris

After having pulled her into the garage, the back windshield collapsed...here is what she looks like now :-(

Wed., June 7, 2006...Poor Mrs. Norris

At around 7 this morning Kevin awoke to my car alarm going off. Oh nothing to be alarmed about, he thought, car alarms go off all the time. However, when he got up to see what it was all about he discovered a smashed rear window. Nothing else on the car appears to be damaged, except the rear window...perhaps because I'm from Albion?? Who knows. The car was parked comfortably in their driveway at the time of the incident, and I, having taken some nyquil for my cold and to help me get some shut-eye, didn't hear a thing. Jen came and woke me up to let me know that Kevin was in the process of calling the police and having them come to make a formal report. There's a little bit of glass on the inside of the car, but for the most part the damage was contained to the entire rear windshield and the two side which seem to have burst up from their downward angle due to whatever force caused the damage. For dramatic effect, as well as documentation of the event I have a few picture to help you visualize what happened...

Elinore's First Party

Yesterday our friend Leif had his 3rd birthday. They had the party at Crazy Bounce (a big warehouse full of inflatable games). Most of us were adults, and we had just as much fun if not more than all the kids (who were all pretty little - I think Sam was the oldest). Elinore wore one of the little smocked dresses Mom made. She was SO cute. Everyone commented on the dress and were amazed when I told them that she made it, and that we wore it when we were little. She didn't do much bouncing, but she seemed to have a great time, nonetheless. 

The Wedding

Well, I always post pictures of Elinore because it seems like that's all we ever take these days. This is a photo of Kev and I from Jeremy and Lindsay's wedding last weekend. We had such a wonderful time and were so glad to celebrate with our friends. Glad to see you all this weekend, hope you are getting back into your week! 

The Exersaucer!

It's a bird, it's a plane,...no, it's Elinore in her exersaucer!! Amy lent me this exersaucer she had. Elinore kind of sits/stands in the seat and can spin around and play with all of these toys. It's not a walker (she can't move across the room or anything). The first time I put her in it she got so excited!! She just kept squealing and laughing and flailing her arms around. I can't wait for you all to see her and how big she's getting!!

Happy birthday to me.

I treated myself to a pedicure on the way home from work on Tuesday. It was a birthday present to myself. I reveled in my freshly painted toe nails, wearing flip flops despite the chill.

Then my toe got infected.

Now the French pedicure is overshadowed by the red, swollen big toe.

Happy birthday to me.

Ella Bella

I got to vistit Jen, Kevin, and little Elinore this weekend. It was much needed and SO nice. Ella is just as cute as ever! These are some of the pictures I took while I was there.

Hopefully, I will have a job this summer and I can live with them. It would be loverly.

Elinore Sits

Well, look at that big girl! I have to prop her up like this and then I only have a couple minutes before she falls on her face. She sure looks like she knows what she's doing, though. She also ate solid foods yesterday for the first time, and she rolled over for the first time on Monday! What a week! I better go take a nap. 

April 18

Well, yesterday April 18th was rather special. Mike and I have officially been together for a year. Big happy face on my part. We celebrated by taking a little trip to Don Pablo's Mexican restaurant, it was glorious and then we went shopping haha. Mike needed some nice clothes for some interviews he's doing for his social psychology class. Strangely enough, I kinda of enjoyed helping him pick out the clothes, and he looked SOO professional. I'll have to take some pictures and post them on the blog so you all can see how cute he looked haha.

For Easter I got to go home for a couple days, partly to go to the doctor and get some new glasses, but also to just get away from Albion and see Mom and Dad. We went to the Arboretum on Saturday and it was just BEAUTIFUL. I wish I would've been able to see Caity, but it sounds like she was having a pretty wonderful time in Texas. I can't wait to be done with school, to be honest, it's starting to take it's toll.

Homecoming

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend! I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday with Brandie, Ariel, and Greg, my 3 best friends from college, whom I haven't seen since graduation almost a year ago! Hard to believe the time has gone by so quickly.

We spent the time doing nothing special, and that was the beauty of it. It's been a long time since I've laughed so hard and felt so comfortable in my own skin. I have been blessed with really the most affirming friends a girl could ask for. This kind:

Friend #1: "You are sensitive, kind, and a wonderful listener. Your turn."

Friend #2: "You are beautiful, charming, and so talented! Your turn."

Friend #3: "You are intelligent and wise with a wonderful sense of humor. Your turn."

Friend #4 (Greg): "Umm, are you guys going to do this all night?"

Etc, etc. If you're friends aren't charged with making you feel good about yourself, who can you turn to??

We roamed the town, ate slice and bake cookie dough with spoons, reminisced about our past antics, took advantage of the $7.00 bottle of champagne Easter Sunday special at El Arroyo to accompany our Tex-Mex lunch, gawked at how strange it felt to sit around the apartment telling each other about our jobs, sat together at the Easter vigil service (where I accidentally snuffed out Greg's light of Christ. As we stood there with our accidentally unlit candles, Greg stoicly commented, "Ooohh you're going straight to Hell." Oops), gussied ourselves up for a night of Latin dancing, layed by the pool and came away with some terrible-looking sunburn patterns on our bodies, ate the world's worst guacamole dip while watching "Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants," and ultimately reveled in the time apart that we had. Greg even spiked his mohawk in my honor.

Not going to lie, I came back a little melancholy, having had a little taste of all the things I miss. I dearly, dearly hope that we will be able to visit one another more frequently than once a year.

Easter

Happy Easter, everyone! Elinore's first tooth appeared through her gums today! 

Delta Tau Delta Formal

These are some of the pictures I took at Mike's fraternity formal. We'll have been together for a year next Tuesday, and we FINALLY have more than 2 pictures of us together. We had such a good time, the formal was in Windsor, Canada. Dinner was at one of the clubs and afterwards we danced the night away, returning to the hotel at around 2 with the other guys from Mike's suite and their dates. The girl in the picture with me is my friend Amanda, she's dating Gary Peters, one of Mike's roomies. Anyways, we had sooooooo much fun and I'll be happy to be home for a little while next weekend.

Bath

I was just noticing how Elinore is on the verge of outgrowing her baby bath. Her feet hit the edge of the little tub. I was thinking about how tiny she was when we brought her home. It is hard for us to realize how much she has grown and changed. The bottom picture is from her first bath. The top one is from tonight when she got a bath. Her legs look so scrawny in the newborn photo; she's gaining muscle! Anyway, thought you would like to see a comparison.
 

Discoveries

Just today Elinore has sort of discovered her feet. She's been playing with them, trying to grab them, and tugging at her socks. It is so cool to watch as she discovers new things.

Yesterday I did this thing where I gave her silly kisses on her neck, and she started giggling. She's only giggled a couple times before, but this was the first time that something I did made her giggle. It felt so precious and amazing that I had done something that made her laugh.