5 years

As promised, here is my blog about our anniversary.  I know everyone has been on pins and needles waiting for this - or not.  Anyways, it has been 5 years since Sean and I got married.  Getting marries was just a bit of a formality for us.  We knew we loved each other pretty early one, hence being engaged after just 6 months of dating.  We knew we would spend the rest of our lives together, so the day didn't change too much for us.  We just had gotten Burton (and boy, did I not like him, funny how he sleeps in bed with us, pushing me out of bed and that's all right these days) and our new house.  Our life was rolling along and we were thrilled.  Don't get me wrong, we were excited to get married, have a wedding and all that.  It was going to be a great party to celebrate our love with friends and family.  And it was great, we had such a great day, minus a few glitches leading up to it and a few decisions on saving money that sort of backfired, but it is what it is.  It was an amazing day to join our love together and just be with each other.

Fast forward 5 years - wow, I never could have imagined we would be here.  After our wedding, life continued as usual for us, happy, exploring, adventuring, just being in love.  We spent our honeymoon hiking the Four Loop Pass (I mean the Four Pass Loop) in Maroon Bells and had an amazing time.  I have pictures on my computer of that trip that come up on a pretty regular basis and it reminds me how much I want to go and do it again.  We hoped for this year, but that just didn't happen, who knows, maybe we will go this weekend!  It was a great trip and made me realize how much of the world (all right, maybe just the state of Colorado) I want to see with Sean.  We continued to live our adventure lifestyle, local ski trips, local camping trips, some big trips - Whistler, Colorado again for some off roading, Breckenridge and probably a few places in the middle I am forgetting about.  It was great, the life I wanted, the life I was loving...where would we go next, would we climb or mountain bike.

Then screech - mommy has to stop doing quite a few things!  We decided it was time to start our family.  I'd have been thrilled with adventuring for about 10 more years, then have a family, but let's be honest, I wasn't getting any younger.  We found out were having a little baby in early April of 2012.  We then found out it'd be a boy and he'd be here in December.  I won't go into those details, that sounds like another entry, but Liam came and has turned our world upside down, mostly in a good way.  He showed us how it's love is the craziest emotion of all - it actually multiples, you can create more and more of it.  You don't love those in your life any less, you love them more, actually, and the new addition.

We lived our life happy in Illinois for a few months with Liam.  Sean still had an itch, an itch to be somewhere else, Colorado.  He knew he loved it here, he knew I loved it here and he wanted to put me here.  He knew what the mountains and nature here do for my soul, so he worked to get a great job out here.  He got an offer - that's when the decision was made - we were going to pick up our lives and move here.  So, we did.  And that gets us to where this blog starts.

So, the 5 years with Sean has been amazing and has show me more than I could have ever known was possible.  The adventure has been nothing short of wonderful.  The bumps in the road have made us stronger and our love deeper.  The kid, well, the kid has taught us all kind of things in our relationship, how to be more patient (me), how to be more relaxed (me) and how to just laugh more and enjoy the moments.  The love I have for Sean is the love you read about in books, or see in movies or even dream about.  And I have it, in my life, and in my life for forever.  While this is just the beginning on our life together, it seems like we have so much happiness already, I can't wait to see what comes at 10 years, and more.  It's been such a great ride so far, and it just seems to keep getting better.  Instead of waiting for it to crash down, we'll continue to write the story of us, the story of true love and the powerful connection it can bring.  Ahh, 5 years, so amazing...so wonderful...so happy!

About a year

Yes, it has been just over a year that Sean and I moved to Colorado.  Well, I guess not really.  I mean, Sean moved out here with all of our belongings, but I was still back in Illinois, finishing up my last event with SOILL and tying up any lose ends.  It has been fun to use the app Timehop to remember where we were a year ago.  I looked back at my blog and realized most of what I was worried about was being without Sean.  Liam and I had just left on the plane and Sean was starting his tough schedule to get his new job going.  My phone is full of pictures I had to send to Sean to remind him about Liam and tell him how much we missed him.  I look back now, a year later and things are so different.

Liam is so different.  Sean thought he missed a lot those few months with Liam, but to be honest, Liam was little, didn't know too much and was barely getting into the trouble he is into now.  He was cute, of course, but still so young.  Today he is this little kid, with the sweetest side and the wildest side.  Last night, he came up to me and hugged me and told me he loved me while getting his pajamas on.  Just before that, he threw a huge tantrum during dinner because he needed to have mac and cheese before yogurt pretzels.  The kid is a hoot, he cracks me up on  daily basis.  He laughs when we laugh, he laughs when he thinks he is being silly, he laughs when he is supposed to go to bed.  He is a happy kid, with such a sweet side.  He has turned into our big boy, even spent the night in his bed, all night last night.  What a change from a year.

I am a little different, have a little baby squirming around inside of me.  I can feel it move each day at some point, seems to really jump around after M & M's.  Sean even felt it move the other night when we were in bed reading.  I have a doctor's appointment this Friday, our anniversary - crazy we have been married for 5 years, but that's another entry for tomorrow.  It was supposed to be my 16 week, but I had a hard time finding an appointment so it's my 16 week at 17ish or so weeks or 18ish.  I'm not so good at keeping close track.  Thankfully the time has sped up since the early few weeks.  I felt they were dragging on.  But now, now that I feel good enough to workout and be awake and not be sick, it's like I'm almost normal again - very exciting.

And Sean, he is kicking butt at his job, just today he is observing a new person, just thinking a year ago, that was him, but not even.  He was just watching and learning.  He watched and learned and has found his spot, I think.  He has ideas and presentations for things that are mostly even above my head.  He is working hard to find his spot and I think he has done it.  I tell him now and again how proud I am of him, how great he has done with his job.

And my job is great.  I certainly miss my old co-workers and old job, but to be honest, I still miss the Lambs Farm days.  I think I'll always miss my jobs and the places I was in, they were great.  But now, now I have my dream job.  I am running the state events for Special Olympics in Colorado.  And  yes, things are different, and at first, I thought that was bad.  I think I have changed my thinking, different isn't bad, it's just a chance - a chance to change or a chance to improve or a chance to learn.  All of which I have done and I look forward to leaving my mark with SOCO.

So, yeah, it has been a great year.  It has been hard at times.  When I first got out here, and Sean was working so much, it was hard, it was me working, in charge of Liam and man, it was tough.  But we are working it out, we are getting settled in our house, making it how we want it.  We are enjoying Colorado.  It was a busy year and we didn't get to do as much as we wanted to, but new jobs and a new house left us a little busy.

I'm excited to look forward to next year, to camping, climbing, being outside as much as possible.  And yes, I know it'll be harder with the extra little one, but people do it, and we want to be those people, scratch that, we are those people.  And we plan to enjoy every moment we are here with our family.  It's been a good year here!

Mountain Day!

Yes, we finally had a day off, both of us, with no plans, nothing going on.  That meant I needed some mountain time, and not some typical mountain time...something new, something different, something bigger than just our hike to the dog park (not that I don't love those hikes!).  Liam woke up nice and early, which I was not thrilled about, since I was up early the day before working.

Which is another topic - finished my last state games with Colorado - finally.  Been through all of them once and looking forward to next year.  Just a few complaints, nothing too big.  It mostly went well and I'm happy to have each event under my belt and I look forward to next year and doing more, making events better and better!

So, we got up nice and early, lazed around in bed a bit.  Liam likes to read books in the morning and I like to watch the sunrise.  So, we finally made our way out of bed, still on track for an early departure from the house.  We got dressed (once we figured out what we should wear due to the weather), Sean showered, Liam made some messes and we decided to grab breakfast on the way.  I thought it'd be great if we just supported small businesses all day long...that started in Evergreen that morning.  But first, the process of getting out of the house.  It works pretty well, we each have tasks we are in charge of.  I got all the winter/hiking gear ready.  Sean took care of getting the food and kitchen items ready to go.  We filled our camel backs with water, loaded up on snacks, had to run back inside about 5 times to get this or that, but finally, well before 9:00 AM, we hit the road!

Liam was ready to go, Burton was so excited to get to come with and daddy was happy he got to wear his new hoodie.  Liam looked a little silly with his long underwear, boots and vest, but I couldn't pass up how cute he was being, running around in this little outfit.  

We got in the car and headed to downtown Evergreen.  There is a place that does BBQ and donuts, heard really good thing about the donuts so I had to take Sean there - and of course, I knew Liam would be thrilled.  We got our donuts and went down the street to a coffee shop to get a couple of bagels to fill my void of cream cheese of the morning.  We had a donut break while waiting for the bagels and boy - those donuts were great!

Liam has gotten very good and just eating off the frosting part and then asking for me - in a very polite and cute way.  We got our bagels and headed off on our way.  I guess the donut wasn't enough, Liam thought he needed more snacks so he found some in the car and happily enjoyed those as we head out - about 30 minutes away from home, but on our way!

So, we headed on our way, out to 70, then to Georgetown, then up Guanella Pass.   As we drove, Liam had fun yelling Hang On - or Wheee!!  And soon, his yelling stopped.  I could tell he was getting sleepy, but I also knew we were getting close to the top.  I stopped bugging him for about 2 minutes and he was fast asleep.  We made to the trailhead at Mt. Bierstadt and were excited to take a little hike around, knowing we wouldn't make it up the 14er.  Sean had to take a rest stop, so he got out while I sat in the car with the sleeping boy and the dog.  Liam was passed out.  There was not much getting him up, Burton was whining, winds were shaking the car and this kid was out.

So, Sean and I snuck out, let Burton run around a bit and we walked - not far at all from the car, but a little bit.  We were in the same spot about 4 years ago - when we first came out for a job interview for Sean and there was MUCH more snow.  That was the day we were attempting to reach our first 14er.  There was no way, without snowshoes and with all our gear, and no acclimation to the altitude that we were going to make it.  I vowed to be back to summit at some point and I will - just not yet.  So, we grabbed a quick picture and ran back to the car as fast as possible.  

Brr...it was cold, but I was pretty happy with my new hat and new coat.  While my new hat will not replace my Whistler hat, it's toasty warm, so I'll take it as a replacement for now.  We got back in the car, after Burton finally caused a few problems and woke Liam up, we headed back down the other side.  I was set on Coney Island hot dogs for lunch.  On the way, we stopped at a camp ground, no one was there, so we got to get out and play and explore.  We found a great little stream, with some ice on it, that Burton fell through.  I log to cross the stream, a huge patch of ice to play on and plenty of space for Burton to run through.  Here are a few pictures from our stop - not the hike we had planned, but so much fun nonetheless!

Yes, the one above is Sean and Liam digging through poop - I mean, they are learning.  Sean decided that Bear Grizzles would check to see what the animal had eaten - or to find out what animal it was - neither of which we discovered, but if I want a boy that likes the outside, he is bound to get dirty and explore animal poop, right?  And this picture is when he sat down and decided to just plan in the dirt.  Ah, nature - I can't wait until he picks up bugs and snakes and gives them to me!  

So, that was our day, we drove and saw some great mountain views, we remembered our last trip out when our life was SO different.  We got to get out in the sunshine and play.  We got to enjoy a trip together with no agenda, no set plans, just going out and exploring.  And yes, we did get our hot dogs on the way home and some ice cream.  We came home to clean and get the house in some order, which was much needed.  And how can a house get so messy when I feel like we are barely home - oh yeah, I have an almost 2 year old...that's how it happens.  Ahh, with another one on the way...I shouldn't spend too much time thinking about that....right?  It'll all work out, right?