perks of the peak

living minutes away from air force academy has it's highlights.

for their graduation ceremony we watched a couple days of practice & then the day of performance of the thunderbird jets.

literally OVER my neighborhood.

it was saweet!!

i felt bad for those at work because the whole town paused to enjoy the fighter jets.

construction workers perched on an unfinished roof, people congregated in the field behind our street, cars pulled onto the shoulder of the freeway, peoples excitement was about as cool as the actual show!

the only unhappy campers in all of colorado springs were the birds. haha they were going nuts!

i talked to an elderly couple in my backyard one of the practice days that have lived here for decades & they gushed about the air shows & how even after this many years the community is just as in awe as the first time. :) they were darling.

my little spectators were the best though. especially our wannabe pilot ellery. haha

air force one landed at austin's work for the president to give the commencement address at the academy which was kinda fun. my favorite shots were when the thunderbirds weaved across the front of pike's peak. so loud & sooo fast.

this place may just be a perfect fit for us :)

2 down, 2 to go

christmas & mother's day are set aside as missionary call days!! the couple times a year that we can actually make phone calls to our family missionaries. upgrade! we got to skype michael AND zachary this time! yay for technology! of course considering that they are in neighboring south american countries, it just so happened that their calls overlapped. unlike last cmas it was only a bit so we tried to make it work. we were in seattle so while michael still had to group chat all over the country, zach only had washington & id to reach.

man do i love those boys! i swear i'm not exaggerating when i say they are two of the very best people that i know. i try not to focus on this part, but i miss them like craaazy!! i wish 2 down, 2 to go meant that they were at the halfway mark but unfortunately michael's at 7 months in & zachie's at about 9... they are so fulfilled & productive that it makes it semi bearable. :)

sleepy from seattle

we took a long weekend & austin, ellery, cossette, me, & my giant chin zit all went to seattle!!! sadly i forgot my lovely camera at home. i did not stop complaining about that fact the whole time we were there. it meant that my phone was perma-attached to my hand & all my pics came out sub par. i'm still grieving.

stone's little bro derek is going to medical school in downtown seattle with his wifey kelli & their darling 2 year old boy jack. their location is awesome! we had such a great time and the weather could not possibly have been more ideal. flawless from the second we woke up and on.

 we flew in eye level with mount rainier. GORGEOUS.

& ellery helped keep sister safe while we anticipated seeing...

this little guy!!! happy, athletic stud that woke us each morning with his impeccable siren calls. by far better than any rooster or alarm clock. :)

when we weren't out & about we were hanging around their place, eating all their food & being outside as much as possible.

the cousins got along super cute & jack-man was a very good sharer of all of his things. FYI i did not tell them to line up like this. they were playing a game where they each took turns taking pictures of the others with their hands up to their eyes & saying click. haha don't know where they learned that...

 the first morning we ran out to gas works park which gave us this beautiful view of the whole city.

 we chased geese, played soccer & threw the frisbee around the old, overgrown machinery.

 the kiddles could have tossed pebbles into the water for days if we'd have let 'em.

 haha we did a lot of jumping & chief & i started to get jack to warm up to us.

 i just thought this was darling

& this is always fun. i love asking strangers to take shots like this. guaranteed to get a hilarious, furrowed brow reaction. i like that we each have a kid, even if kelli's hasn't made her debut yet. :) we cannot wait for her to come!!

under a bridge close by they have 3 metal billy goat gruffs leading up to the creepiest, most gigantic troll under the overpass. kind of hilarious & super dirty. he even has an actual vw bug in his hand.

the next day we went downtown seattle! the waterfront really made me miss my own city by the bay. 

the famous gum wall was obviously kinda nasty but pretty impressive at the same time. "first off, you see gum on the street, leave it there. it's not free candy."

off to pike place market!! woot woot!

the sailors were a riot handling/juggling the fish. it really upset ellery & jack. haha we also went to beecher's & watched them make cheese & snacked on mac & cheese with martinelli's & fresh peaches. yuuuuum.

all the flowers were insane! especially the tulips! the top left is a hybrid tulip/peony. stunning. oh my heck maybe my favorite part of the whole trip.

 the space needle!

we played in the international fountain in seattle center for hours. some of us got much wetter than others.

the fountain was all synced up with the music & so much fun. it would lull out & we'd run up to touch the dome. after a time or 2 ellery started warning us not to trust it. she was very nervous. "guys it's tricky, the waters are coming back!"

when we went to pick up our car from long term parking we had a little situation.

after the mr. changed the tire we were only supposed to go 50 mph on it. we pushed 70 & still weren't home until 2 in the morning. suuuper tired but worth it for a great weekend seeing family & touring the emerald city. if only my chin zit hadn't returned home with us. :(

that's my girl

in the battle between nurture & nature...

nurture from me

& from him often win out.

pretty scary.