Denver Adventure Week 4

The Black family decided to all take a trip together this summer. When the idea first came up, we were pretty sure we wouldn't be able to attend. However, it worked out that the family decided to go to Steamboat Springs, CO, just a few weeks before we got our offer to spend the summer in Denver. Steamboat is only 3 hours away, so we were pretty excited that we would be able to attend, at least for the weekend. Even better, Western Union is really flexible about the hours worked on Friday, so at 1:30pm Devon had his 40 hours in for the week and we were able to head out. We had a great weekend eating, swimming, shopping, rodeoing (is that a word?) and just spending time with family!

West and Creed on the way to go shopping on Main St.

West dressed up for the rodeo

Yee-Haw

Our family on Main St.

Devon and West taking a rest

West all bundled up watching the rodeo

West all bundled up and sleeping at the rodeo

West and Grandma hiking

Fish Creek Falls

Most of the family on Sunday afternoon

All of the cousins

Devon and I have been near family since we started dating, so it's been different being so far away this summer. But we were really grateful, that we didn't have to go the whole summer without our family!

Denver Adventure Week 3

Our weekdays are pretty boring, we get up at 6ish, Devon works out, then I work out while he's getting ready. Devon leaves for work. West and I spend the rest of the day doing various activities such as, walking, shopping, swimming, watching The Hills, The Bachlorette and 16 & Pregnant, playgroups, cooking and household chores. Devon gets homes, we eat dinner and then hang out around the house. So, weekends are where the fun is!

This weekened we were invited to a BBQ at the home of a lady Devon works with. Despite the sudden rain storm, we had a blast! Devon's really been blessed to work with such a great group of people. It was nice for me to meet them and for both of us to get to know them on a much more personal level. Almost everyone had kids so there were tons of little ones running around. West was the only baby, so he got LOTS of attention. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pics!

The next night we took West to his First Dodger game! Devon is not a baseball fan, so he doesn't have a team. I'm not a huge fan either, but I did grow up with the Dodgers. One of the most distinct memories of my childhood is seeing my Grandpa Pikop in his chair, watching the Dodgers on TV with the volume turned down and the radio broadcasting the game right next to him. Hearing Vin Scully say, "It's time for Dodger baseball," always takes me back to those days. But, my grandpa isn't the only Dodger fan in my family. My dad loved the Dodgers, my brother Ricky loves Los Doyers and my Mom loves Dodger dogs. So, it was inevitable that the Dodgers would choose us (Cause as Devon says, you don't choose your team, your team chooses you).

This picture was taken as soon as we got there by the usher. It was hard to see our camera screen in the sun, that is why Devon's head is cut off, but luckily he got the most important people in the pic ;).

Devon bought West this cute little outfit for Christmas last year. Even the Rockies' fans came up and said how cute he was!
I guess these games aren't as exciting for West as they are for us, we're just glad he lets us enjoy them!!

Denver Adventure Week 2

This was a pretty laid back week. West and I spent a lot of time walking and checking out the parks in the area.

I fell in love with City Park, so on Saturday we took Devon on a picinic there. (Sorry no pics)

Since there's not a lot to write about this week, I'll show you some pics of our little apartment.
This is supposed to be our dining room, but it's just turned into the ironing area and the place I let West swing when it's hot (it's the only place with a ceiling fan and we're trying to save money by not running the AC).
This is out modest kitchen with an even more modest amount of kitchen gear. We brought up the bare necessities and eat off paper plates and plastic utensils.
This is our living/dining/office/play area. The couches may be ugly, but they are pretty comfy!

t doesn't get much more classy than a TV sitting on the floor. We decided not to purchase cable this summer, but luckily we have netflix through the Wii!
Our/West's bedroom, Mickey Mouse comforter and all...

Grandma/apparently Hamilton's room. This was the only big furniture we brought with us and we lost a piece on the way up here, so it still hasn't been set up.

We think it's kind of funny that we're moving backwards. Instead of starting off in a little apartment and moving into a house, like most newly married couples, we started off in a house and have moved into a little apartment. While I miss my home TONS!!!! It's kind of nice not having all the responsibility that comes with owning a home. It literally takes me 5 mins to clean (10, if I do a deep clean). So, the rest of the time is spent playing with West!

West the Comedian

The other day I was getting West ready for bed, by swaddling him. In order for this to work most effectively, his arms need to be down at his sides, this usually takes a couple of attempts. The other night West was being particularly difficult. I would put his arms down and he would immediately lift them over his head. After he did this about 10 times Devon was ready to step in to assist. I tried one last time by myself and this time as West’s arms went up he let out the loudest giggle! It was as if he was putting his arms up on purpose, and then let out the giggle when he couldn’t hold the joke in any longer.

Just a few days later, I was sitting on the couch holding him. His head was cradled in my left arm and I had my computer on my right side. I was looking over at the computer, when I heard him make a noise. I turned to look and he was holding out his pacifier about ½ inch away from my mouth, ready to stick it right on in. Once again, he let out a loud giggle!

These are probably just coincidental incidents, but since I’m a mom I’ll just think that my child is a naturally gifted, budding little comedian.

Denver Adventure Week 1

I've always wanted to go to Mount Rushmore, but never had the chance. After I found out we were moving to Denver, I looked up to see how far away it was. I was surprised to find it was only 6 hours away! I talked to Devon about it and we decided we'd go on one of our long weekends. It just so happened that Memorial Day was out first weekend in Denver and it worked out well for us to take a little trip. We headed out early Saturday morning and headed straight to Rushmore.
The next day we decided to head down to the Minute Man II missile facility. It was one of the places they had missiles ready to launch during the Cold War. Since it was a 2 hours drive from Mt Rushmore area, I was a little skeptical, but it turned out to be really cool.
This is the door into the room in which the missiles would have been launched from, we got a kick out of it.
This was the actual missile, located down the road about 5 miles.

All of this was located just outside of Badlands National Park. So, one day before our annual pass expired, we were able to see our 7th and final National Park of the year.
That night we took West swimming for the first time. We were surprised that he really seemed to like it.
The rest of the summer had a lot to live up to!

Hopefully now that I’m officially a stay at home mommy, I’ll be a little better at staying on top of this blog! Here’s what’s been going on in our life since our last post….

December
As usual, we took our annual trip to California. This normally the highlight of our winter, as we get to get out of the cold. Not this year! We hit California just in time for monsoon season. Despite the horrible weather, we had a great time with family and friends.

January
During this month, the miracle of all miracles took place! My brother, Ricky FINALLY got married. We were able to fly down for the wedding and this time we really did get out of the cold. We were greeted with 80 degree weather the entire weekend! The wedding was BEAUTIFUL, as was the bride. Ricky didn’t look to shabby either. I guess the old saying is true, ‘The best things do come to those that wait.’ Ricky has a wonderful wife and I lucked out and got a fabulous sister-in-law! That makes me 5/5 in the good sister-in-law department.

February
Most of this month was just spent waiting for little Weston to make his appearance. While waiting I did have a couple wonderful Baby Showers to help me prepare for his arrival.

March
9 months of waiting was finally over!! Weston Richard Black made his appearance, March 4, 2011 at 10:47am, weighing in at 8lbs even and measuring 19” long.

He was even more handsome that I could have ever imagined! I won’t lie; the first week was EXTREMELY hard! I thought, ‘there is no way I can ever do this again.’ But as my body adjusted to very little sleep and he adjusted to being in this new world, things got a lot better! We were really blessed with a wonderful little guy!

April
Unfortunately, I had to go back to work just 6 weeks after West was born. Luckily, it was only for a month! Although it was hard to be away from the little guy, it gave dad and him a little time to bond. At the end of the month, we got to celebrate West’s first Easter!

May
What a crazy month and it’s not even over yet!!! May 1st our little guy was blessed!!! This is a day I’d been dreaming of since I was about 12 years old. It did not disappoint! Devon gave a BEAUTIFUL blessing!! All of our families were there and we even had friends come in for the big day.
The week after everyone left, we headed to Denver, Co. Earlier in the year Devon was offered an internship with Western Union, which we gladly accepted. We took a long weekend trip to check out our apartment and meet the people he’d be working with. After all the business was taken care of, we were able to have a little fun and drive up to Rocky Mountain National Park.

That pretty much catches you up! I’ll keep you posted on our life in Denver. We’re looking forward to play dates, swimming, weekend trips and LOTS of sporting events!

Baby Moon

Devon and I aren't avid travelers, but we do enjoy - and have been able to take quite a few -weekend road trips. With West on the way, those trips will soon be few and far between. So, while Devon had a week long break, we figured it would be a good time to take a little baby moon. Since I still had to work and we had a lot going on that weekend, we ended up with just a Thursday and a Friday to get it done.

Thursday

We left Thursday morning and headed to Moab. I'd never been to Arches and really wanted to hike to Delicate Arch. Devon insisted it was an easy hike, so we took it on. It wasn't as easy as it would have been had I not been pregnant, but it wasn't bad and was very well worth it!

After taking in a few more of the sights...

We headed to our hotel in Cortez, Colorado.

Friday
Friday morning we went to Mesa Verde National Park. From the moment we drove in, I was blown away.


From there, things only got better. We were able to hike down to and take a tour of the Cliff Palace Dwelling. It was amazing, it almost looked like it wasn't real.

We left Mesa Verde and headed to Four Corners. This was a place that I've always wanted to go. Where else can you be in 4 places at once?!?!?

Four Corners is literally in the middle of nowwhere. When we were about 5 miles away Devon said, " I hope they take a card," as we had no cash on us. We pulled up and sure enough they only took cash or traveler's checks. We asked the attendendent where the closest ATM was, she stated that there was one at a store just 5 miles up the road. We headed out and found it with no problem, however the ATM wasn't working. We asked the clerk where the next closest ATM was. She stated that there was a gas station just up the hill. So, we headed up the hill. Ten miles later we were at the gas station. We walked in, found the ATM and, guess what....it wasn't working. We asked the clerk where the next closest place was and he stated Shiprock, New Mexico, which happened to be about 20 miles away. After a small break down in the gas station (I think I'll blame it on the pregnancy), we headed to Shiprock. Per our Tom-Tom, it appeared that Shiprock only had two gas stations, so I wasn't too optimistic. But when we pulled in there was a little shopping center. It had a grocery store and a quick loan store. We figured we'd try the grocery store first and if all else failed maybe we could take out a loan for $6. We found an ATM in the grocery store...yep, you guessed it, it didn't work!! Luckily, the store offered cash back. We left armed with a pack of gum and a twenty dollar bill.

An hour and a half later, we were admitted into Four Corners. I do have to say I was a little disappointed. The idea of it is cool, but the monument was under construction, so there were cones and caution tape all over the place. Nonetheless, we got all the important pictures.

I love these little trips! They may not be fancy, but they're memories we're going to have forever.