five!

oh boy! it's taken me almost a month to post about our FIFTH anniversary! i know to a lot of people five years isn't that long, but i still can't believe we've been married five whole years. time really does fly! my parents were kind enough to babysit so we could go out and celebrate. 

to commemorate such a special occasion i even straightened my hair. i honestly could not remember the last time i straightened it (too unbearable to blow dry it in my hot house this summer). special day indeed!

after a disappointing dinner on our fourth anniversary we headed to the cherry cricket where it was guaranteed we would enjoy our dinner. the cherry cricket is a local favorite and has been featured on the travel channel and the food network. so while it wasn't necessarily romantic,  it was dang good food! and that's what we like!

after dinner we headed to another local favorite, bonnie brae ice cream. no joke, on any given night if you drive by the ice cream shop there will be a line. but the ice cream is yummy and the servers must be used to the constant line because they move you through quickly.

there was a one man band playing and so we sat and enjoyed the music, our ice cream and the beautiful night. 

throughout the evening we talked about our favorite memories from each year of marriage. it was fun to reminisce and hear what the other said. it was also horrifying how bad my memory was ("now what happened during our ____ year of marriage?!") poor, poor memory.

we decided not to do presents because we are going on an anniversary trip to nyc this fall... although it has to be postponed a bit now :( but i wanted to do something to surprise him and tell him how much i love him. i saw this idea on pinterest and decided i would attach a favorite memory from each year of our marriage to each balloon. and then i thought it would be even better to attach a picture of that memory to each balloon. but then i couldn't narrow it down to just 1 memory per year, and in the end, 5 pictures turned into 41! oops! so i scrapped the balloon idea and just attached the picture and memory to ribbon.

our anniversary was on a saturday this year which made pulling this off a little more difficult. normally i would have put it up while he was at work but since that wasn't an option i stayed up late the night before, watching the olympics and moving my chair all around the room hanging pictures. the whole thing was pretty time consuming (choosing the pictures, writing the memory, printing, cutting, assembling and hanging) but it was so much fun to be reminded of so many of our fun times over the past 5 years and was totally worth it. 

dave got up the next morning for an early morning run and was quite surprised by what he walked out into!
below are the pictures/memories i chose:

i also made him a "love mix." most of the songs have significance to us as a couple, but i threw in a couple of love songs that i have loved for years. i have always been a romantic and i listened to plenty of love songs during my growing up and single years, dreaming of the boy i would one day marry. it was fun to listen to some of those same songs, only this time thinking not just about some boy, but my boy and the life and family we have created together! 

dave gave me beautiful flowers (boy do i love flowers). but my favorite thing was ending the night watching a video about our 5 years together that he spent months making (he is clearly not the procrastinator he wife is). it was such a wonderful surprise and it will be something fun to watch and share with our kids in the years to come. 

i can't wait for all that is yet to come! 

i love you baby!

diva dash

a couple of weeks ago my friend mindy and i ran in a women's obstacle 5k run. mindy found a deal on living social and it sounded fun, so we decided to go for it. it was held at the boulder reservoir, so we headed up together and our families met up with us at the finish line. i was a little disappointed that mindy and i weren't dressed more "appropriately" as divas for the race. we didn't wear a tutu or have funky socks or blinged out tank tops, but we still had fun. although, both of us were actually disappointed in the obstacles. they were kinda lame and not quite as challenging as we were hoping or expecting. but it did add a little something extra to a 5k. maybe we should try out the tough mudder if we're really looking for challenging obstacles, eh?!

goodbye rawlings

my sister angela and her family moved to utah on sunday. even though i knew for months that it was going to happen, i didn't let myself think about it much. i kept hoping for a "local miracle," a job opportunity here in denver that would allow them to stay. but this past week i couldn't deny it any longer. i spent days helping her pack and saturday dave provided a lot of muscle while i cleaned like crazy. as we drove away from their house for the last time the emotion of them leaving hit me and i began to cry. sweet logan asked from the backseat why i was feeling sad and i told him i didn't want the rawlings to leave. he was quiet for a moment and then said, "i'm feeling sad too." when i asked him why he said it was because he didn't want mark (my brother-in-law) to go to utah. he then told me i could have his fuzzy blanket when we got home to help me feel better. i couldn't help but smile at his thoughtfulness and how perceptive he is at just 3 years old. that night we went to my parent's house to say our final goodbye. angela and i hugged (and laughed a little) in the driveway and then i got in my car to leave. this time logan said with a big smile, "did ang help you feel better?!" i sure love that little dude! it still hasn't sunk in that they are really gone. they've definitely left a void. i learned so much from watching my sister mother, our friendship grew stronger and i loved watching our kids together. they built such a special friendship from seeing each other so often. i hate to think of the first time that logan asks to play with lexi, josh, myles, cade or carter. we're excited for the new opportunity and adventure this is for their family and we're excited to visit them in their new home. i still just wish it didn't have to be in a whole new state. 

 these kids love emma! they're always trying to hug her and hold her (which she tolerates in varying degrees).

 we missed lexi. she was at a youth activity.

not my cutest look, but after cleaning all day long i just didn't have it in me to do my hair or put on makeup.

summertime

i have totally slacked this year on taking advantage of all the fun and free things that accompany summer time (festival, concerts, etc.). i love supporting fun community things (especially if they're free) and so as a last ditch effort to celebrate summer we packed a picnic and went to a concert at the streets at southglenn that featured an acapella group that performed years ago at a DISH event i planned. i think the streets at southglenn is so darling! it was a fun evening and it felt just like summertime to me...just in time for it to start winding down. oh well, i'll get my act together next summer! the kids enjoyed dancing and logan's favorite song by far was "the shuffling song." he was really bustin' out the moves!

 

 

a little taste of lately

fun with friends...and stickers

pizza and the opening ceremonies of the olympics

sitting on a really big bench

if you have trouble sleeping, snuggling with daddy and watching the olympics is just what you need.

emma's first piggie aka "joystick" (she wasn't cooperating for a very good picture)

logan was giving his toys a bath. it didn't take long for my whole bathroom floor to be covered in water (no surprise there). lots of toys in a little sink. so we moved him to the bathtub where he played happily for almost an hour. when emma woke up from her nap she joined him and i was able to sit (on the toilet) and make my shopping list! giving his toys a bath was such a hit that we did it again two days later. i think we'll be doing this a lot. especially as it gets colder. 

we don't have ac (ugh!) but about a month ago we got this big swamp cooler that has helped keep us cool. and the kids find it really entertaining to stand in front of it when it's on full blast! emma especially loves it.

that's a "hug" in case you couldn't tell ;)

we got rid of our tv programming 2 years ago and because we had an old tv and no digital converter box we didn't even get local channels. but with the olympics coming up, we decided to finally invest in a new tv. we love it and dave and i have been watching the olympics every night! it is so inspiring! i'm still not used to having tv and so i never turn it on during the day, but a few days ago logan turned it on and diving was on. he is quite intrigued by diving and pretends to be a diver. he uses the coffee table as his diving board (luckily he just jumps off it and doesn't dive) and he pretends to be a diver/swimmer in the bathtub! 

logan has long loved sitting at our desk and listening to music and watching the slide show of our family pictures. and now emma has joined in! she will walk up and pat the chair, which is her way of saying, "lift me up onto the chair." right now the music of choice is the mickey mouse clubhouse pandora station. 

yesterday i walked in to find emma reading books in her room. i love this sight!

logan wanted to take pictures with our camera. it's pretty heavy and big for a little guy but he did pretty well. it's fun to see things from his perspective.

fun at the swimming pool and playing in the sprinklers. with food of course!

my sister and her family are moving to utah (and i cry every time i really stop and think about it). we were at their house helping them pack and josh was great to build a train track to keep the kids entertained. 

emma loves the water! she had a great time at the splash park yesterday and kept putting her face in the fountain. everyone thought it was so funny.

life is good!