Another month went by super quick! I can’t believe how fast this year has gone. We did slow it done in October mostly, but still had a handful of fun stuff to do.

First, we celebrated Xavier’s first birthday with him and the family. He’s just adorable, with his beautiful blue eyes and it still amazes me how much he looks like Trevor! We got the classic first birthday cake shots, which are hilarious.

I had taken Jordan to a pumpkin patch last year that was close to the house, but our neighbors have been telling us to hit up Rock Creek for the last few years, so I got in touch with Malinda and Trevor and we took all the kiddos out to pick pumpkins. They even had a whole kiddie area with a slide and maze and petting zoo. The kids loved it, and I got some great fall photos.

So of course the biggest event in October is Halloween!!! Since Ryan had to work on the night-of, we made sure to hit all the parties the weekend before. The kids costumes turned out to be pretty cute - Jordan was a bride and Caleb was the Hulk, although he would have been Spiderman again this year if I’d have let him wear that poor torn up costume.

Happy Birthday, Xavier!

The scrapbook page I made him!

Scott Family at the Pumpkin patch

Scarecrow & Pumpkin Boy

Hulk & Ms. Bride

Happy Halloween!

~Jen 

I can’t decide which was more busy, August or September! We had stuff planned for every moment of every weekend it seemed. We started the month with Rich & Melissa’s baby, Harper’s 2nd birthday! It was nice to see some of my Denver coworker’s outside of work for once.

The next weekend, I had arranged for Ryan and I to sneak off to Breckenridge for the weekend once again and made sure that I planned our weekend to coincide with Oktoberfest! Can you believe it, Ryan even got me to drink beer (and I liked it!)?

Another weekend and it was our good friend Tommy’s girlfriend, Heather’s birthday. We joined a group of the old McLane crew in Westminster for that party.

One of Caleb’s dad’s closest friends also had a little boy about a month after I had Caleb, and while the couple is not together any longer, she and I keep in touch as much as we can. We hadn’t gotten the boys together since Caleb’s last birthday, so it was long overdue and I met up with her in downtown Denver one day so the boys could play. I was amazed, little Alex can already ride a bike with no training wheels!

Just before my little sis, Rachael’s birthday, Jordan and I got our braces from the orthodontist. Yep, I am a 29-year-old brace face. And it’s no fun, but I’ll live. The doc promised me that we’d only have them for 6 months, so I figured what-the-heck.

Unfortunately, that same week, we planned to spend time at the cabin with Jason and Rachael Williams, so they had to endure my whining and non-friendly self while I adjusted to this crazy contraption in my mouth. Nolan and Danielle joined us for a night as well. But, it was still nice to see them all and the kiddos, at least from our perspective!!

Another thing I had wanted to take Caleb to see but hadn’t gotten around to it until this year was "A Day Out With Thomas." I had heard about it years past but had missed the opportunity to get tickets, etc. so I finally bought them early this year. The unexpected treat was that I got take my niece, Winter along with us! It was so great to see the cousins together, since they are only 17 days apart in age. They LOVED riding the train and seeing all of the sites at the Railway Museum in Golden.

We finished out the month with Danielle’s 23rd birthday during the Broncos vs. Kansas City game at their house. I don’t want to talk about that game, thank you, but we had a good time none the less.

Ready for pictures? There’s a BUNCH!!

The Davis Family (Melissa, Harper, Rich)

Oktoberfest in Breckenridge

Heather’s birthday

Alex & Caleb

Tinsel Teeth!!

Guys at the Cabin

The Girl Cousins!

A Day Out With Thomas

Danielle’s Birthday!

I can already tell you that October’s post will not be this long as we are finally into the "slow time" for plans!!

~Jen

August was a super busy month for us! We have a ton of friends and family that have August birthdays, so it seems like the busiest month of the year usually.

Ben & Heidi’s baby, Torin, turned 1, so that was the first party of August. Then for boy-Jordan’s (as Caleb calls him) birthday, we went to Elitch’s. That night, we ran up to Loveland for Sage’s birthday.

I took a trip to Omaha for work and finally got to see the PayPal office and what life in Nebraska is like. I have to admit, I really liked the area, and was pleasantly surprised. I just happened to get the week of the best weather of the summer, so that was awesome.

After I got back, we had a crazy weekend where a bunch of us went out to the Bit of Billiards in Longmont for Kelli’s birthday. That place always cracks me up. There’s this staple group of people that have been going there for like 10-15 years now and I swear they still go every weekend!

We also went to Jordan and Riley’s joint party at Naomi’s but the kiddos missed it as they were at the "other" parents. Our Jordan started school super early this year, but so far, so good.

I think we’re finally getting back into the fall/school year groove.

~Jen

I also got a photo CD from Ryan’s Aunt Connie with more pictures of Frank, so I added those to an album called "Frank James Clark" on the photos page.

Oh, yeah, pictures!

Happy Birthday Torin!

Cousins at Elitch’s

PayPal office!

Girls at the Bit: Sarah, Me, Danielle, Naomi, JoAnn, Kelli, Jayna

Happy Birthday Boys!

Thanks for coming back to check it out … it’s taken me months to get organized enough again to get this site updated. Whew! Now there are some long-winded posts below with a quick snapshot of pictures from each month. If you make it through, you rock.

It’s taken me most of today to get the pictures uploaded and the posts written etc. so thanks for taking the time to keep up with us.

Much love to those of you we don’t see enough and also love to those of you that we’ve had the pleasure of seeing this year so far.

I will update for August at the end of the month as there’s still quite a bit left for us to do as school gets going this week!!

Love, Jen

Well, as you can see, I had to dedicate an entire post just to the Texas vacation… so there was actually a few other notable events in July.

Obviously, the first was Ryan’s birthday, so I made him a yellow cake with a fruit flag [see below]. He played a softball tournament that day and then we ran over to Daisy Duke’s where my brother Stevie works.

Toward the end of the month, Jordan had a talent show for her
"BASE" program. She and her girlfriends danced to Hannah Montana’s "Rocktar." It was adorable and we shot video that will be so awesome to show her first boyfriend.

That night, I took the kiddos to Kidz Bop Live at the Boulder Theatre. I was so impressed, these kids and the two adults that performed were amazing. At the end of the show, they threw out Beach Balls and Caleb caught one and then they signed anything you brought to them afterward.

Quick Pix:

Ryan’s Cake

Dinner with the ‘rents

L to R: V, Jordan, J, E

Kidz Bop Live   

~Jen

In July, we took our family vacation to Houston, Texas to visit Ryan’s brother, Sean and his wife, Lindsey. Other than the heat and humidity, it was so much fun!

The first evening, we just took the kiddos swimming and figured out quickly that even if that’s all we did each day, they’d be super happy!

Day 2 ~ we trekked down to Galveston to hit the beach and had lunch at Fudruckers afterward. That night we hit a local pizza joint and watched the Home Run Derby.

Day 3 ~ we took the kids to the NASA Space Center. I still think it was a role reversal since the kids were bored the first half of the day while Ryan and Sean ran around like kids at all the exhibits. But, afterward, when they got to run around like maniacs and play, they were happy.

Day 4 ~ we drove downtown and checked out the Museum of Nature and Science. We took the kids to see a 3D IMAX movie about the Galapagos Islands, but of course, CJ fell asleep. They also had an awesome exhibit called Geopalooza that had some of the most amazing geodes I’ve ever seen!

Day 5 ~ went to check out the Galleria Mall and took the kiddos swimming. Lindsey and I were to the Art Museum while the boys took the kids to the Children’s Museum. That evening, Sean and Lindsey took us to a place where the kids could make their own pizzas!

Day 6 ~ took the kiddos to a Houston Astros vs. Chicago Cubs game.

Day 7 ~ Keemah and the Boardwalk. That was by far the hottest and most humid of any day that we were there!! It was great to check out the rides and watch the kiddos play games, and then we had a nice dinner at Pappadeaux that night.

Sean and Lindsey were super gracious hosts and we owe them big for putting up with the four of us for a whole week!!!

Check out the Texas Album for all of the pictures… I took about 500 total, but I’m only uploading 65.

~Jen

Earlier this year, Ryan’s Aunt Maria had told us they were going to have a big family bash in Chicago in June. It was to be a celebration for her 50th birthday, their 25th wedding anniversary, and both kiddos graduating from college.

After we finally got our tickets, we decided not to tell the family and surprise everyone. I also realized that same weekend was eBay Live! in Chicago, and I thought it would be fun to check that out while we’re there.

We stayed with Mark and Lindsay’s place again [this made 3 times we took over their place], and they also shared their big news ~ the engagement and move to San Diego!

The next time we go to Chicago, I think we’re taking the kiddos with us as they haven’t seen it or met most of that side of the family and Jordan only saw Chicago as a baby.

Some of the Chicago pictures:

Then & Now… 25 years! Congrats!!

The Family

The bean!!  

~Jen

I’ve updating these months mainly by the pictures I took each month, and when I looked for my May pictures, I was sorely disappointed …And that’s what I remembered why.

On May 9th, I had my tonsil/uvula/soft palette surgery. It was supposed to be a one - two week recovery, but ended up being quite a bit longer. At the 10 day mark, there’s a [usually] small risk of bleeding. Well, I ended up back in the hospital for an emergency re-cauterize dealio. The bad news about that deal was the fact that the clock started over on my recovery. I have to say, the only real big plus on the whole surgery/re-surgery deal is the fact that I truly never want to smoke again.

Once I recovered finally, our summer started to pick up and get into full swing.

~Jen