5 years - wood?

while we were in crested butte, we celebrated our 5 year anniversary - wow! 

what a great 5 years it has been.  we settled in colorado, richard finished his residency and started a fellowship, we bought a house, we had 2 kids (!), we travelled to costa rica and we did a lot of other fun stuff along the way.  i don't feel 5 years older in a lot of ways but in some ways i do.

the thing that has surprised me most being married to richard?  how much he likes cars and how much he knows about them!  i laugh everytime he starts listing stats about random cars on the road - not something that came out while we were dating!

i sure love being married to this guy and am so thankful for the life we have started together.  i couldn't really ask for more. 

for our anniversary we didn't give each other anything made of wood - we went out for tapas!

what does it mean?

we saw some cool rainbows in crested butte, but nothing compared to this guy.

http://youtu.be/OQSNhk5ICTI

enjoy the laughs!

crested butte

Fuquay family vacation 2011 took us to a new spot in Colorado - Crested Butte!  After 3 years in Breckenridge we ventured to central Colorado and really enjoyed it.  it seemed greener, more open and somehow even more beautiful than the front range.

we enjoyed an easy family hike one day with brooks in his backpack and kate in the snuggli.  the kids loved the mountains and even shared a room for the whole week with no trouble.  brooks loved riding his trike in the driveway and playing golf in the backyard.  we also found a park in town and the house had a play fort with swings.

christmas card?

two nights we made a bonfire in the backyard fire pit and toasted smores.  it was brooks's first smores experience, and even though he can't eat the chocolate, he really liked the rest.  even kate wanted in on the action - she said "forget rice cereal, i want the good stuff."

maybe we'll be back in 2012 - this place was amazing!  thanks mimi and granddaddy for an incredible week. 

5 months

5 months

Kate's highlights:

• rolling over both ways and sleeping on her tummy
• eating rice cereal (sometimes)
• smiling and laughing a lot
• first plane flight - to asheville, nc for wake girls reunion
• dropped another feeding - now eats 4 times a day and tries cereal 3 times
• sleeping about 7:30 to 7:30 unless she wakes up on her tummy and freaks out!
• usually takes 2 solid naps during the day and sometimes a cat nap late in the day
• started playing in the exersaucer and snuggling with a lovie in her crib

we didn't get an official weight this month but kate continues to be quite the chubster with rolls upon rolls.  she is quickly outgrowing 6 month clothes and moving into 9 months sizes.  her hair is coming in redder and redder and is so cute.  we just can't get enough of her!  what we want to always remember about kate right now is how she already seems to have the personality to light up a room and is such a happy girl. 

kate and her handsome brother getting ready to go on vacation to the mountains

we love you baby kate!  you are quite the cute nugget.

cereal days

kate is starting the rice cereal this week!  while she is still uncertain if she likes it or not, it is doing the trick for the sleeping.  after being a great sleeper for many weeks, kate was starting to wake early out of her naps and very early in the morning.  after 5 days with this stuff things are back to normal and she is sleeping well again!  yeah!

does starting cereal mean these cheeks could get even bigger?!?

summertime

just a glimpse at the last week or so with nice warm days here in denver.

kate is living in the bumbo these days and seems to really like it

brooks going on a "golf trip" turning his little car into a golf cart in the backyard

b-man excited for a run through the sprinkler

kate happy to watch the sprinkler fun from the porch

brooks and xander having a fun morning at the zoo - checking out the polar bears

kate relaxing after a long summer day

action shot in the sprinkler

10 years and counting

i can hardly believe it has been 10 years since i graduated from college, but what a great ten years it has been.  one of my favorite traditions of these years is getting together with my college girlfriends for our annual memorial day weekend trip.  this year we met up in asheville, north carolina for the long weekend and had 7 of the 11 girls and even two new babies.  it was one of our more beautiful settings (although all have been pretty awesome!) and we spent the weekend going for walks around the lake, playing mexican train and catching up.  i am already looking forward to next year's reunion whether it be east or west, beach or mountain - as long as i am with these girls it will be perfect!

the train!

baby kate playing with charlie rietz

out for mexican food and margaritas