The 'Stache

My hubby has been working A LOT lately, so I thought I'd post some funny, light-hearted photos of him! :)

When he was hunting, he grew out his beard...then had a little fun shaving it off.

Vince Vaughn, from "Starsky & Hutch"

Notice the resemblance?

Thankfully, he quickly shaved it all off. :)

Our 3rd Anniversary

For our anniversary, we celebrated at a really unique restaurant in Castle Rock called The Old Stone Church...it really is an old catholic church turned into a restaurant. We requested a nice, quiet table and they gave us the table that was in the old confessional! A little sacrilegious, perhaps...ha, ha! Food was wonderful! And then we went and saw the new Christmas Carol movie in 3D IMAX...so amazing! The story is the same (rather scary, actually), but the effects are just incredible! We jumped a few times, and I think the baby could hear the noise, because she would move like crazy whenever it got loud! I would definitely recommend seeing this movie in the theaters, plus it puts you in a good Christmas mood!

3 Years Later, and yes, I'm huge! :) Full Term on Saturday...3 weeks till due date!

Thanks Dad & Mom Lawson for the evening (as they said, a special date for just the two of us because in another month it will never be the same!)

Sporting his stylish 3D glasses!

3 Years!

The Elusive Elk

This last week Derek got to go hunting! He grew up hunting every year with his dad and brothers back East, but hasn't gone in a few years. And he hasn't been able to go out here. So when his friend Adam mentioned he was going, Derek was so excited to join him.

(We didn't quite calculate how far along I would be in the pregnancy, but as it got closer, I got a bit nervous about going into labor early. So, I enjoyed a mini-vacation at Vicki & Haas' house, which was very nice and relaxing for me...and baby didn't arrive early!)

Derek had hunting tags for elk, and Adam had them for deer, but unfortunately the only large animals they saw the whole week were 5 moose (which they weren't allowed to shoot). So, the trip wasn't exactly a success, but I think the guys had a good time...enjoyed good weather...hiked a ton...and got some experience for next year.

The last day Derek went out hunting by himself and that turned into QUITE the adventure (ask him the story if you want the long version)...he had to help two different people get their trucks out of the snow, and then later almost got his own truck stuck and, needless to say, I am just so thankful that he got home before I started to worry :)

Here are a few pictures he took...just some scenery shots but so pretty in the snow!

34 Weeks

So I have 6 weeks left, give or take one or two! :)

I'm really hoping that she'll wait till December...but not wait too long!

Happy Fall!

Around this time is when we really do miss the beauty of East Coast Falls...the reds, oranges and yellows of the leaves and all the great smells of that time. Fall in Colorado is pretty nice...the weather is very strange though. Last weekend it was in the 80s on Sunday, then it snowed this week, then yesterday it was so windy! The trees do change color, but mostly just the bright yellow aspen leaves. I think as I get older the Fall is becoming my favorite time of year : )

Here are a few pictures from our weekend activities. Last weekend we had some good friends stay with us, then it snowed, Friday we had some friends over for games, and then yesterday we spent the day with Vicki & Haas and his family carving pumpkins! :)

The view from our apartment...you can just barely see Pike's Peak (behind the power lines)

The view in the snow

Snow!

With Megan, Taeya & Phil

Our Pumpkins

I feel like a pumpkin!

Sue's & Haas' Pumpkin Carvings

Jordan's & Kathy's

Katie's, Vicki's, Mine

Mark's & Taegan's

Still Carving...

Glowing Leaves

Derek's Tree

UPDATE to "Failures in Frugality"

So, for those of you interested, I thought I'd give an update on my post "Failures in Frugality". The crib we bought was shipped to us and when it arrived, unfortunately, it had some cosmetic damages. There aren't any structural concerns and all of the scratches are on the back of the crib, but I still was a bit disappointed that our crib didn't arrive in "pristine" condition. Well, I contacted the company and they said that this has happened before, that they aren't going to be selling cribs from this manufacturer anymore, and that they'd give us a 50% refund! So, what was originally an almost $400 crib, we payed $90 for! And Derek can just sand out the scratches! Considering all the new baby expenses parents have, we are SO thankful for this (and it severely lessens the blow of not being able to use my brother's old crib) :)

9 Weeks to Go

On Saturday we attended our childbirth class and that marks 9 weeks left till our due date! The class was good...nothing that we hadn't heard before but it did inspire a bit more confidence in us for the big day. We are both getting quite anxious! :)

Here are a few pictures from this weekend... and yes, I'm huge, I know :) She is getting so big, and I feel her move all the time!

Failures in Frugality

In my posts on my "thoughts on pregnancy", I mentioned how I am trying to keep costs down and be very frugal. I think it started last fall when we were expecting the twins. In order to save money, it was brought up that my brother's crib was still in my parent's attic, waiting for a future grandbaby to use. I quickly jumped on the idea, knowing that cribs are expensive (and we might even have needed two!) So, when we found out we were expecting this little girl, I had already decided that getting this crib was a good idea. My Mom said it was beautiful, it certainly worked well for my brother, and I remember it being a lovely "powdery/stormy blue" color (which I thought would contribute to a lovely blue & white color scheme for a little girl's nursery since I really, really don't want to do pink!). So, this summer we decided to join my family camping in CA, and then swing by Santa Rosa to pick up the crib (and some other baby things). We then waited to set up the crib until we moved to our new apartment.



Well, unfortunately, after we set up the crib, we quickly realized that this was not the ideal place to put our precious little angel to sleep in. It had a lot of scary-looking metal pieces on it, was rather rickety and wobbly, and one of the drop-sides was broken so it wouldn't stay up. I was so distraught! I had such high hopes, such sweet sentimental thoughts of our kids using the same crib as their Uncle Ricky had. Of course, when my mom relayed this sad turn of events to my brother, his only comment was "I could have told you that...its over 20 years old!" So, while my mom, my sister and I all loved the sentimentality of this old piece of furniture, the men in our family showed us that safety trumps sentimentality any day.

Ok, so it doesn't look that bad in photos, but trust me, it was really unsafe. Derek discussed ways he could "jerry-rig" it to work and be sturdy, but we both realized that wasn't a very good parenting decision on our part.

And so, Derek & I set out to buy a new crib. We found one we loved at Babies R Us, then found it on a different website for much cheaper and in a color that we liked even better. And, since Babies R Us was doing an event where you can turn in your old baby stuff (like the "cash for clunker" thing), we got a discount that we were then able to use for our car seat! :)

So, while our baby won't be using the same crib as her Uncle Ricky, she (and hopefully other future children), will sleep (or cry all night) in a very safe, very sturdy and very beautiful crib :)

Lesson to other "frugal moms": don't skimp on the crib...buy a nice, new one and keep your precious little one safe :) (I couldn't resist trying it out with my old Cabbage Patch doll...even though that is 20 years old, after a good washing, I think its safe for her to play with) : )

After the whole nursery is decorated, I'll post more pictures. Still sticking with the white/light blue/wood-tone theme, though...no pink :)

Derek's 14er

Well, we are slowly getting settled into our new apartment. I'll post pictures once we are all unpacked :)

A week or two before our move, Derek had the opportunity to hike a 14er with some friends from church. For those of you not from Colorado, a 14er is what people call the 54 mountains in Colorado that are over 14,000ft in elevation.

In Colorado, elevation/altitude is a really big deal. If you live most other places in the US, you probably have no clue what the elevation is, but in Colorado, it is just a fact you are supposed to know... ie "I live at 5,000ft, camped at 8,000ft, etc". And people know that there are a lot of changes that accompany this higher elevation. First off, you get really dehydrated....its so dry that you need lots of water (and lotion)...and you get sunburned much easier since you are so close to the sun. Baking (cookies, cakes, etc) requires a whole new skill set (unless you are baking something from a box, in which case they give you the "high altitude" directions). And, fun fact, if you go back to sea level and go out drinking, apparently you can hold your liquor much better (if that kind of thing is important to you :).

Anyways, at the altitude Derek was hiking at, all of these changes are magnified. The air is much thinner, making it much harder to breathe. And, while it was in the 80s here in the Denver area, it snowed up on top of the mountain. They had a great time, but he didn't quite reach the summit as a thunder and lightning storm broke out. They had to quickly descend the mountain, which is actually more difficult. Our friend's poor dogs, while they loved it, had some damage to their little paws. But they all had a great time and Derek really wants to do it again. Perhaps I'll join him next time, as long as I'm not 7 months pregnant! :)