Alianna turns 11!

Dylan with his ladies!

My two boys with their hands in their pockets.

Ice skating!

Deja vu...plumbing stinks!

You may recall our plumbing issues at our Quitman house just after Dylan was born. Well they payed us a visit in our new house to. We had the pipes scoped prior to purchasing the house and knew we would have to replace it down the road as they were showing signs of wearing. Apparently the Beal house put our sewage pipes through more use than the lady who lived here prior. So, Dylan got to wake up to a tractor digging up his front yard...he thought it was "awesome".

More Christmas Day:

And when the party was over, we discovered ANOTHER box that Santa left and we forgot to open. It was full of potty books, underwear, and training pants. At least Dylan liked the book and we are happy to say that potty training is going very well!

Christmas morning:

Dylan was very much into Santa this year and the whole Christmas spirit. It was tons of fun to watch him process everything. This is his first glimpse at the massive train table from Santa.

And the gift that was Dad's favorite, a piano/dj system...and he found the volume right away...and prefers it all the way up.

Christmas Eve:

We are so blessed to have room for our family in the new house, and we put it to good use. We had my sister and her family and Nana and Papa stay the night on Christmas Eve. It was the best to wake up Christmas morning together. Dylan and his ladies coloring.

Opening their Christmas Eve gifts.

Dylan was a little bummed that it was just pj's.

And after the kids were all snug in their bed...this was our project. The train table of all train tables. I think we finally got done around 1 am. Everyone got to enjoy some beers during assembly...except yours truly.

Hiking for photo opps...

By this time in Denver (early December) we had NO snow. So we drove towards Mt. Evans to get some pics of Dylan in the snow for our Christmas card. He LOVED it!

Hanging out in a snow fort...it was pretty cool!

Walking with Mom and Cooper (out of shot).

A visit with Santa...a success!

Every year Ms. Linda (D's amazing daycare) throws a great Christmas party for the kiddos, complete with a visit from Santa. Last year Dylan cried...this year was much more successful!

He was hesitant at first, but he was ready to sit on Santa's lap and be a big boy! He told him he wanted toys and lights! :)

This is Ella, one of Dylan's buddies. Santa is her grandpa...and she has no idea!

Parada of Lights...bad idea!

Sometimes I get bright ideas and they end up being flops. Such was our experience with The Parade of Lights. I thought it would be a fun family outing. Instead it was crowded, cold and by the time we saw any sign of a parade, it was time to go home. Dylan had fun until he started freezing. To top it off we took the train into town so it took a while to warm him up. He did love running around the closed down streets of downtown Denver and looking at the lights.

He was running so much this was about all we could get of him!

Just a glimpse of the crowd...

The next day Dylan woke up with a fever, and by the following Wednesday he tested positive for whooping cough. We were quarantined for 5 days...oh what fun!

Cutting down the Christmas Tree:

This is the first year we cut down our own tree and we will do it again. It was fun and Dylan loved hiking around saying "how bout dis one?"

Dylan "driving" while we are tying down the tree.

The result of our hard work.

Just some random pics

Dylan playing his guitar (thanks Beal family!). He loves it!

Dylan hanging out by the HUGE cow outside The Denver Art Museum. We go to the downtown library every other Wednesday for story time and craft then we hang out by the fun sculptures.

Riding the horse at the grocery store...shouldn't have started that, but oh well!

A pic of the family at Chris' wedding this summer, we are all looking pretty sharp. Now I am voluptuously pregnant, we will send some belly pics soon!

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-treating in our new neighborhood was the best! It just had a good feel about it. Kids everywhere and really friendly neighbors. Below are my country and urban cowboys.

Trick-or-treating with the cousins.

And Genia's pumpkin and freckles (aka, babe due March 17th)

Pumpkins and music!

Layne's pumpkin on the left, Dylan on the right.

Genia and Dylan carving. Dylan just kept saying, "yucky" and using the spoon to play with the guts.

Dylan and Layne carving, Cooper watching.

We had to get new tires. During our 2 1/2 hour wait at Cost Co I was very curious as to what we were going to do. Then I turned the corner and found a piano. Jackpot!

But wait! Drums too!!!!!! This kid loves his instruments!

Dylan turns 2...yes two months ago!

Layne and I reached an agreement in November that we each take turns updating the blog. He gets the odd months, I get the even months. So, if you don't (and take notice that you didn't in November) get your monthly updates on odd months...you know who to track down. With that said, here is some updating...I know it is long overdue but we had a broken camera for a while and we have just been busy!

Happy Birthday Dylan!

Riding his Harley with his skull cap and SUPER D cape!

The morning of his birthday, finding his tricycle and helmet in the basement!

Dylan and Layne are down at the bottom of the stands watching the Rockies players warm up. Dylan really wanted to go on the field and play. This was a late September game, and D loved every minute of it.

A look back...

Looking at pics last night (when I should have been working on my course work....blah!) and ran across some old videos. Hard to believe he was ever this small, but he sure was good at practicing raspberries!