the promised catch up finale

Ok. Here it is.

Again, I apologize for doing this when not in a blogging mood. ;)

I want to update. I do. I just want to go to bed more.

...

A late September skinny dip in a REALLY SMALL pool.

Celebrating our 9th anniversary. Couldn't be more thankful for this man in my life. I will spare you the cheese, but he is precious & I love him in so many ways & for so many reasons. (& we went to Cafe Prague in Morrison. GO. It was yummy & made us feel like we were in Europe) {KIND OF}

A phase Lilli went through in her brother obsession. (she's past this now, I'm sure Emmett is thankful) This girl LOVES. HER. BROTHER. I have no recollection as to why he's not dressed.

I caught a genuine smile!!!

Ok. Hold on tight. This is a series I like to call Batman on Potty. I tell you what, you get a mask on this boy & he really does morph in to someone else. I am hard pressed to pick a favorite. 

Ahhhhhctober. 

Oh, glorious pumpkin patch outing. We are still refining our strategy. This year, we almost nailed it, but we brought the wrong transport vehicle & then spent our life savings on smallish pumpkins. I have carving pics on my phone, but you've seen carved pumpkins, right? (I could use that argument for this entire blog's activities)

Lilli's 2nd Birthday.

Another reason I love October? Baby Lilli. Well, baby no more, I guess. Sniff, sniff. We had a small scale celebration, but invited plenty of balloons, so all went well. Here we are getting lots of help from big brother (a theme throughout the night) with presents, etc. Please, please, pay attention to my dad in some of these shots. Classic hilarity.

Also, I was strongly encouraging Lilli to wear something cutesy for her "party"-- a dress or whatever. NOPE. It was Sunday. The Broncos were playing. Emmett had his jersey on. Dave was proud of his daughter's choice. I guess in the end so was I. I do love the Broncos. 

But I also love cute.

oh! I love these cake shots.

My two sweeties having a little TV picnic, that apparently Emmett isn't impressed by.

& our Halloween Hoopla.

I was determined to make their costumes this year. Not make my mom make them, make them. It was fun, & I was happy with the end result. But let's be honest. Kids in costumes are cute. They could be a beer can & a cigarette & I'd still be like, "Look at my little darlings!!!"

My Tinkerbell hair hat needed a little more finessing. But still.

& at last, the end. 

Raking leaves with David. Such fun sweet times. Emmett was in heaven being thrown (& then disappearing) in to the leaves. Love these fall days. Love any day that makes me feel like I have it all. They're kind of frequent, which is a huge gift from the Father. I'm just thrilled to be able to enjoy it.

more is more

Well, I'm glad I didn't make any promises at the end of the last post re:a big picture dump not happening anymore. People, it has not been my year, generally speaking. Have I been hospitalized? No. I have had other things keeping me busy w/my body (no, not working out. Come on, don't you know me at all?) Anyhoo, that is for another time & place.

The kids are huge. They strike me with their bigness. It is scary & startling & wonderful all rolled in to one. Lilli's talking up a storm. Honest. It is mind bottling. (oh, please, more than one person know that joke) Since Emmett never really spoke until well after his 2nd birthday, it is crazy to hear this tiny little peanut (she's barely above 20 lbs, & she's my good eater) talking in full sentences. No examples come to mind, you'll just have to trust me. Emmett is precious to her, as a rule. He is patient & generous & a great example to her most of the time. Every rose has its thorn, however, & there are flare ups, but they are thankfully minimal in occurrence, & of course range in severity.

Ok. I should not be blogging right now. I am too tired & in too serious a mood. And really, isn't pictures what we all really want in a post, anyway?? I have it on good authority that that is true. So, here is our life since... 

August

We went to Aspen on vacation with Dave's sister's family. Can I state for the record that Aspen is, indeed, all it's cracked up to be? Unbelievably beautiful. Incredibly casual. Charming. I saw at least 20 people that I know were famous in some cloudy way. Dave saw Dwight What's-his-name who used to play for the Magic & now is a Laker (I think? I'm in over my head here). What I'm saying is, it's LOADED w/people of prestige (worldwide! Another WF reference for the avid fans) & money, but there is no pretension clouding my good time. Did I feel comfortable, you ask, in my Target cargo pants from 5 years ago, without make up & with dirty hair? Yes. Yes, I did.

GO. If you can figure out a way, GO. It is worth the amazing drive. And there's a really amazing pizza place that I would be happy to dig up the name for if you find yourself within Aspen city limits.

Another element to guarantee a good time? Good company. And I mean good in the most elaborate definition you can find.
I. Love. My. In-laws.

Here we are at the top of Independence Pass. It's about a 5 hour haul from the Denver area, so we were ready to stretch our legs in this beautiful scene!

Here we are at the base of the Maroon Bells. Can you believe this? I want you to know that I am too lazy to Photoshop, so all these beautiful colors are from God's wonderful palette!!

This woman was doing some delightful watercolors, which I wanted to buy, but did not. This is Aspen for you, again, fancy pants artists in old tee shirts at the base of mountains just painting like it's no big deal.

My lovely in-laws.

& us.

Emmett & Lilli would be content to live by a body of water for their entire lives. They could not get enough.

Dave found us this little gem of a spot just outside of Aspen. My green box setting on my SLR got disturbed somehow, & with my eyes as bad as they are I was not entirely convinced these pictures were actually out of focus. The truth will out, people!!! They are completely out of focus, & I have included them here anyway-- just imagine how great these pics would've been IN focus. 

These are real mushrooms. Not just made up by Mario Kart, or other myriad illustrations. They exist!

 I want a garden of them.

I'm sorry, but could my nephews be sweeter???

especially this one! A true loss!!!

This is by no means a good pic, (you can see my green box got righted at some point), BUT I'm nerd enough to want a pic of my Lilli with Gilly. I prepared you for how stupid it is, but that doesn't detract my love for this pic of these two.

PICKLES!!! This is a new interest of mine-- &
 thanks to my friend Amy, pictured with her precious newborn below, it is FUN & easy. & oh, so tasty!!

I want you to know I have pics picked out & ready to go, but I have overstepped my curfew & am making myself stop for the night. Plus I'm almost out of my Milano Minis (HELLO!!! These were a bad idea but a delicious one). To the most minutest fraction of you who have been irritated that I never post, I submit my most sincere apologies. I have recently joined Instagram (@machtfour) & it has taken the place of this in an odd way. It is barely the same, but it is easy & fast & requires no sitting down, no flipping through hundreds of images searching for the perfect ones. SO, all that to say, it has not been so easy for me to pop in & update. BUT, I really want to be done with this year this year, so you will hear from me again soon. Can you get over that sweet baby Violet giving you the stare down? Because I can't.